Colombia Part 7: Bogota Part 2

We never seem to leave Bogota. Its a cool city, we liked it there and we elected to stay for sometime more. The next morning was reserved for practicalities. Dom went and got a haircut, we had a shit lunch that he did not even eat and went to find him a simcard for a Colombian phone. When we got back there was a new arrival in the room. Looked latin and spoke good Spanish. I asked her "de donde eres?" 'Holandia" "como?". There was no way I heard that right. She said Holland. Well apparently she is Dutch and was planning on living in Bogota for three months while she did work on films. She was moving the next day into a flat for $70 per person a month shared room and $110 for your own room in a two bed flat. Second stroke of luck. She gave me the details and flat hunting was no longer something I had to worry myself with. We had a birthday party to go to that night for a local Colombian girl and my conversational skills were getting me into trouble again. Jopke had asked me if I ever intimidated other guys with my confidence and personality. I had said I did not think so, but its not entirely true. I know my conversational skills cause people problems as they feel i dominate multiple person conversations. What is a definite advantage for one to one situations was proving a liability in social rooms. It was a problem I had encountered with all of my long term travel companions and especially with male ones and in the presence of women. Bugger it. It was a social skill i had and is probably why a lot of my good friends back home are able to hold a good, strong conversation interjecting over me where necessary. I believe this point stemmed from the fact that both me and Dom liked the Dutch girl. Her father was apparently a famous documentary maker back in Holland. Her vast travelling and life experiences belayed her age and also her nationality. Damn I really was on a Dutch streak. There was no denying that that country held something over me now. Every brunette one of them seems to be able to spark some interest in me. Maybe because they have the combination of humour, craziness and intelligence that I like so much. We drank some more wine and went out to Invitro to meet Raisa and her friends for a birthday. It was a really good club, with excellent music. The only gringos with us were the Germans I had met in the other hostel. I seemed to be in a position that whatever bar I walked into in Bogota I knew someone. Very strange for a new city. I was taught to salsa by one of Raisa's friends and I would probably see her and her friends when i got back to Bogota. Just found out from Caitlin (a Yankee I knew in London) that she has a friend in Bogota who worked in the Norwegian bar with her. One more friend for when I return. I just wish that Liliana would get back to me about meeting up and paragliding.

In the morning I found out that the Dutch girl had fallen through the window of a shop the day before. She had been on the bike with her Dutch friend and it fell out from under them, throwing them through the shop window. The window had cost 300,000 pesos and the medical treatment had come to 250,000. Priorities eh. She was now in our room with an Aussie guy whose mate had been badly in jured when a jeep had flipped on the salt planes of Bolivia. It was an accident prone room, with Dom completing the round up. Anyway she was hopping around the place now. I managed to pick up Hunter S Thompsons 'Hells Angels' for my four stories. A good swap I thought. It was labour day but I had not realised this when I set out. Lots of places were closed for the holiday and I bumped into Jo who had just been tear gassed returning from the protests down by the main square. I had seen them, but thought it prudent to steer clear as best I could. I came back to catch the end of Vicky, Cristina y Barcelona (a great film) with Dom and the Dutch girl (brought back memories of Charleston. You can scroll back to South Part one if you don't remember). Then we watched Clockwork Orange and I had a laugh with the Dutch girl before she left and invited us to a flat gathering that night. I had been drinking wine all day and we met up with a guy from Madrid (Alberto). I had to meet Mayra that night, so we went out to the cheap bar and then grabbed some rum and wine to take to the Dutch girl's flat. I should put in a few words about pig flu as well. It seems to have grabbed everyone's attention and is kind of mental as it does not even appear to be that fatal. Only one death outside of Mexico. Seems bad but no real massive pandemic. Reminds me of the overhyped treatment of mad cow's disease when it first came out. Three deaths later and some people still won't eat beef. That's the real madness. We have been handed masks here, but they look stupid and I won't countenance this continued idiocy down here. However I reserve the right to use the masks if circumstances change. Anyway we got to the flat and it was good to see my future home. It was passable and good for the price. Unless I get a very well paid job I will take that one. Still trying to persuade Kelvin to join me here for a bit. Or maybe Francois. We drank and chatted (all in Spanish so hard for me. It would be 90% Spanish for the rest of the time in Bogota). We ended up around a barbecue and I got talking philosphy with the Dutch girl. Both of them, well at least one, had themselves a local boyfriend and somehow we recruited an old Colombian guy for the rest of the night. It was a fun little house gathering and I will never want company in my future flat. Then we grabbed a taxi for Cha Cha. Except we did not go there. Jenny had decided she did not want to go, so we headed to a shopping centre to meet Mayra there. Then Dom got sick and vomited out of the taxi. Alberto had to take him back before going drinking in the streets. I went with the other guy to meet Mayra. He had no money. So I had to pay for the taxi and Mayra bought him a drink. Jenny took us to a bar with an ex of hers and we drank there before Mayra and I decided to head for the club afterall. We lost the others and set off for the club but it was half two and we were told we could not go in. A star from the telenovelos came out. He could have been anyone to me. Chaotic. They told us a hotel bar was open. It wasn't. Then we walked the streets. Mayra got scared of Bogota's streets. They still seem ok to me, but then me, Francois and the others do like to go to dodgy out of the way places back home and get into equally interesting situations, except at home they are in English. We figured it would be ok if she stayed at the hostel in the tv room as it was late. We figured wrong with Richard and we had to rent another private room. I had stayed in most of the places in this hostel now. Once again i had multiple beds for one night. Three to be exact. Mayra was worried the owners would think she was a prostitute and again i got not much sleep. She debated with herself whether to sleep with me or not and came down on the side of no. So we just had some fun and then when I asked what she wanted she said that she wanted me to be her boyfriend, for me to come to the States with her, get married and have two kids within two years. Hmm not quite the answer I was expecting. I could maybe answer for part one, but only when i was back in Colombia and she was back from the States. We could see then where we were. She told me some more things she had kept back last time and I am still not sure how much I can trust what she tells me. She is quite guarded. Then again she does not trust me and thinks I have a stream of women. Which is not true. Well i never lie to anyone anyway and that part is true. Also this thing is an honest account so she can read it here. I am not sure what I want. She is very good looking, good company when she is not picking on my Spanish pronunciation and we have a lot in common. Equally age wise we have a confidence and experience gap. Would certainly be interesting to give it a try, but then again i doubt she wants to surrender the security of a fiance for a gamble. Not when she likes to be in control. Even if he does write some real saccharine stuff. Most women like to have a degree of control, security and a sense that the guy likes them more than they like the guy. I am bad at offering any of those three. I can only offer my own three of honesty, loyalty and strength of character. They are unbreakable, but that does not help someone if I get bored and move on or they can't keep my attention. I think a fair few people fear that. they are comfortable and easy with me, but far from secure and security is something I have never valued nor prized. Hence why i am wandering all over the place on a whim. Adventure and romance have always more stirred my soul. At the moment I think i am marriage material, but I need to marinate for a few more years before I am ready for the oven.

I grabbed breakfast with Mayra in the morning and then we did a tour of La Candelaria. She taught me the history of the 1985 raid on the Judicial building. Apparently the terrorist group had seized it and the government had gone in gung ho to rescue them. Many died. There was apparently a Colombian rambo who led the soldiers in and the orders to kill everyone and spare no terrorists resulted in the death of 11 justiced. I can imagine that much of Colombia's history is filled with equal stories. I left Mayra battling with the transmilenio and went to watch El Classico (for the unitiated Real Madrid v Barcelona) with Dom and a Catalan girl who was a friend of Albertos. In the afternoon I slept for a bit. Was massacred at this point. It looked like finance was coming together to take the course. I just needed to apply now. We grabbed some dinner and headed out to Cha Cha nightclub. It was Alberto, Dom, two Catalan girls and an Argentine guy. Combined with Mayra, Jenny and the Peruvian guy we had dinner with, everyone was a native Spanish speaker or fluent. The club was on the 41st floor of the old Hilton and had spectacular views over the city of Bogota. It was sensationally located and had an outside grill balcony area for ambience. It seemed the club had a fair few sugardaddies and it was a very good looking club, building and clientele. The eight of us went up and had a good night dancing to electronica, even if it was a little repetitive in places. I did this night on no drink as I needed a break. Mayra and Jenny left midway through the night to go to Teatron (a gay club there friend was in. Apparently it was an awesome night). I kicked myself for the poor goodbye I gave, as I had not recognised that would be the last time I saw Mayra before september. Alberto asked if I was together with Mayra and I said no its a little complicated. In the end we had a good night and headed back to the hostel.

Dom was interested in one of the Catalan girls. The other was with Alberto. Ana was her name. She was the spitting image in looks and personality to Ana in Watford, who was the first Catalan I ever met. Good times. I needed to sleep a lot. this day we were joined by a girl from Switzerland. She actually lives in Turkie, a village between Baden and Brug. My grandmother is from Brug and it turns out I would have walked within 10m of her house when we used to go to the thermal baths. What a small place the world really is eh. I slept through the afternoon and in the evening we ended up at a restaurant that fucked up my order and left me with only one slice of pizza rather than three. We debated leaving for Villa de Leyva in the morning but elected to stay again. It was ok with me because it was only four hours from Bogota and I could visit at weekends. We ended up playing a random table tennis game where we hit the ball and ran around the table alternating before they played some very complicated Spanish card game. Evenr the other Spanish speakers did not understand it so I had no chance. I chatted in Spanish a while with a guy from France. Its much easier when both of us speak it as a second language. I was getting some serious Spanish practice and Dom reckoned that my learning was improving rapidly and it was the first time he had really heard it, as for once Spanish was the default language of a group of us in a hostel. Its moving towards intermediate level anyway. I think living and working in Bogota will rapidly improve it.

In the morning we got up and went to the monastery of Montserrat. There is a path that leads to the top. It is free, but it is also closed. A lot of tourists were being robbed by brigands on the pathway. They claim instead that the path was damaged by rain and we had to use the funicular and cable car. Now the tourists were being denied the free option and effectively robbed by the government to the tune of 14,000 pesos instead of by the muggers who settled for only 100% of what you had. From the top you get phenomenal views of the city and it looks like a mini Switzerland. I could get a geographical feel for my future home city and it would be a good place to come and read if I do not have to pay to go up it. At the back are some spectacular mountains and it looks like I can have some good hiking if I choose to. I was really liking my new home city. Everything except the closing times. Hopefully when I am here I can find somewhere illegal like Pepes or get some good after parties. We joined the Spaniards for a long lunch and some cakes and coffee next door. I talked only Spanish with a guy from Mexico City who insisted he did not have swine flu and he reckons my Spanish is good for 6 months. Afterwards I went on my own to the Museum of Botero. He is a national artistic hero, but he just seems to be a man who takes masterpieces and copies them by just making everyone fat. His art with fat people is as artistic as Little Britain's comedy with fat people is funny. Thats meant as a criticism for any people who still mystifyingly like that program. There were lots of other free galleries as well and most were interesting. Particularly a photography exhibition on the Amazonas region of Colombia. Its apparently too dangerous to travel there, but I want to go there sometime. They said the same about the Darien and it was amazing. I think a celebration was in order as the pound finally hit back to 1.5 against the dollar and is on the rise. Perhaps it will finally save my holiday or perhaps it will still be too late. Bastards. Hmm I turfed in for some reading when I got back. Apparently the Chinese could not testify against white men in 19th century America. Twain says "Ours is the land of the free-nobody denies that-nobody challenges it (Maybe it is because we won't let other people testify)". Shit he is too good. If I could only write half as funny or half as good as him I would make a great writer. Apparently no gentlemen would abuse the Chinese. Only the scum, the police and politicians. Sounds like an accurate epithet for the origins of any racism, race baiting and puire scare tactics against immigrants in modern politics. Never linked them before, but yeah ignorance, abuse of power and cowardice could sum up those three institutions and are the fetid breeding ground for intolerance and lack of respect for your fellow man and the right's he possesses. We had a Spanish meal cooked by the Spanish guys, while I helped Laia with her dual man problem. She had a guy in Argentina she liked and another in Spain who came to visit her in Peru. Now she was torn, but liked the Argentine more if the spark in her eyes was anything to go by. So she would fly back to Argentina for ten days to see how it went, before commiting to returning home. Lets hope it works out. i wrapped myself in a blanket and earned myself the moniker El Rey (actually I gave it to myself). I was thoroughly knackered at this point and turfed in as Spanish is unintelligable when tired. Your linguistic options narrow in direct proportion to how little sleep you get. Besides at half four in the morning we had to get a bus to Rio Claro and go caving. At least thats what we thought, but Colombia's best laid plans of mice and men had other ideas.