Bogota Week Six

Ah this was the moment I found out my flight had been cancelled. Woohoo. Refund of money that I would end up spending on flights again. It would have been a little less the next time, but the Colombian inability to make plans and decisions and stick to them thwarted this effort. I started a new healthy breakfast regime. I believe that lasted about one week, but I may be being generous there. I spoke to my dad on the phone for the first time in ages. Then I went and had lunch with Jennifer. He cousin had died in a car accident on the saturday night and so she had to go toe funeral rather than have English lessons. That's quite understandable. I really need to write to her actually. Ok just did that. I went to the language meeting in the evening and it was a fun night until the end. Gloria received a phonecall from her mum that her sister had been rushed to the hospital. She was not going to tell me, which is odd. If you are seeing someone you tell them everything normally. I said I would come with her. She seemed surprised, but it really is normal in England. If you are seeing someone or they are a friend you would always go with them to make sure they are ok if they have a problem. We went to the hospital and I was not allowed to enter so I made my way back home. She called me later to say that her sister had had a miscarriage. Terrible news. It must be really rough. It happened to my aunt twice and I know it was really difficult for her. I made it back to the flat to await the phonecall and Praveen dragged me out to join some Brazilians and other Latin Americans for some clubbing close to our flat. We went and joined them and it was a fun half an hour or so before we went back to the flat.

I had a healthy breakfast again and then I was suffering from back problems and I thought I must have a really bad kidney problem. So I booked in to see the doctor again. This is where I got the more detailed hernia advice. Gloria came with me again and it turned out I was fine and that my bed was just crap and destroying my back. This doctor's appointment actually happened three days later but who cares I am covering it now. He suggested that I take painkilling injections and pills. They take medication for fucking everything here. Its why Jennifer said English doctors are racist because they don't give antibiotics to Latins for colds. I pointed out they don't give them to anyone. In fact the doctors in England will never precribe medication for something that can be handled by rest. I ignored his advice. If it was just my bed I could fix it by changing my sleeping position. Gloria had suggested I get her sister to have a look at my back, but I did not want to bother her after a miscarriage. What do you say. 'Hey I know you just lost a baby, but I have some small back pains. Can you check them for me.' It was far too insignifcant to trouble her with. I do miss the NHS the more I am away from it. Its so much nicer not to have to pay.

That afternoon I headed out to join Adriana for a coffee. We had long philosophical conversations as normal and she invited me to go to a reggae gig on the friday of that week. I concluded that people have to stop attacking capitalism and democracy. In both systems you get what you deserve and subsequently we and not the corporations or governments are to blame. If we are apathetic, don't vote or worse vote for an idiot then we get the government we deserve. If you really care that much, stop complaining, get up off your arse and stump, campaign or run for office. The same goes for capitalism. Are Coca Cola really evil for selling us their products. Don't they just sell us what we want. If nobody bought their drinks because they had too many artificial flavorings would they still be made. Of course not. They supply the market. They are a slave to the market. We are the market. Therefore they are a slave to us. Therefore it is our fault as bad masters if they produce crap stuff. If nobody wanted it they would not make it. They make it. Therefore people want it. Blame the people. Educate them, campaign if you must, but put the blame where it belongs. On us. This excuse ridden culture covers up the fact that we are ultimately responsible for what happens around us and generally if your life is shit, its your fault. Nobody elses. Get up, be counted and change it. Obama said 'we are the change we believe in.' That is bang on, because only we can change our circumstance. Stop looking for someone to fix what ails you and have some ownership of your problems and your life. Personally I think both systems are very good. All we need is a better education level. I bumped into this slaggy friend of the complete bitch from last time in Bogota. She did not remember me. Good as she is a gringo hunting bitch. I went to Gloria's house in the evening and we chilled out watching District 13 (Most of it was in English, but we had to watch two parts in Portuguese. It felt like I was drunk again). Praveen was supposed to go clubbing with the Brazilians and so was I. He did not bother in the end and neither did I, as I spent time with Gloria instead.

I woke up in the afternoon after a long day. There is apparently a sequel to District 13 called District 13: Ultimatum. Have to watch that some time. This youtube is pissing me off. Gods it takes ages to write all this when you keep getting sidetracked. I could not watch or buy Lost. I still need to see series 5. I love that program. Gloria came over and the guard lied to her, saying he had called us when he hadn't. He was beginning to piss me off. I wrote 'cock' in my book. I ended up having a longer conversation than I would have liked about extreme rollerblading in urban environments with Manuel. This was the night that we had a problem with the condom slipping. Maligno. It was off to Profamilia in the morning, because they for some reason don't sell the morning after pill in shops here. Though Alice (ever the feminist lol) informed me that they do. Research pays off apparently. We ended up chatting about our potential Australian kid. Was quite a fun time. Also slightly scary, but it brought parenthood to a focus. I concluded that I was sufficiently mature and ready to have a kid if needs be, but that I did not particularly want one now with all my travelling to do. I also thought it would be better to have the kid in the US as then it would have the strongest two passports.

In the morning I met Gloria at profamilia bus station. At least I now knew why it was called that. It took me 40 minutes to get there by bus. Never mind the fact I can walk it comfortably in 25 minutes. Fucking transmilenio. Bane of my existence. Hmm ok so they have budgetary restraints, but it must be a little embarassing to have group sessions for advice to the women who come in. I was sat in a room with 10 women and a specialist discussing their health problems. Ok I don't speak amazing Spanish, but that must be embarassing for them. Some wanted their ovaries removed to prevent cancer, some had pregnancy issues with their boyfriends, some were surprisingly young to want this surgery. We then got a lecture about 15,000 different types of contraception and preventative measures. Was quite educational, what I understood about it. Apparently there is a chip you can put in your arm that works as a contraceptive for 5 years. What the fuck kind of Terminatoresque thing is that. Become a cyborg and avoid pregnancy. How does that thing even work? I have no idea. There were some other strange things. I hate anything artificial anywhere near my body. My body keeps chucking out my only filling. Its a little xenophobic towards foreign objects. Probably the reason I don't like piercings, tattoos or jewelry on myself or others generally. Anyway after a 20 minute lecture we were given a ticket to see the main reception. There we queued to be given a ticket to see a doctor. So what the fuck was the point of the first part again. I thought that was the doctor. Nope we queued for half an hour even though there was noone else there and then Gloria saw a doctor. He gave us a ticket to see reception again and finally they gave us a ticket to buy the pill. Fucking hell. Read this and tell me the NHS is not miles better and we don't even pay for it. Gloria came to mine and cooked a good breakfast before I went off to the doctors. Oh yeah my cyst is fine as well. Good to know. Gloria was nauseous from the pill and so I took a taxi with her to her place. Then I had to dash back to teach Jennifer, but she missed the classes due to phone problems. Was a chaotic rush, but I had to make sure Gloria was ok. I met Angelica M for dinner and we went to Gato Greis for drinks. Then we had some weird Egyptian tea. It was a fun night of random conversation. We concluded she was in fact an armadillo that lived underground, but that she had a drug problem and subsequently had caught armadillo aids from sharing needles. All this stemmed from the fact that apparently drinking armadillo blood is a cure of some sort for Asthma. I ended up having a one hour chat with the guards to clarify my friends were not prostitutes and I don't use drugs. I was going to tear into them, but my new found maturity suggested diplomacy was a better tactic and it worked sort of as we ended up chatting about cooking and recipes for many hours. We both agreed French cheese was the best and left it at that. I think my charm is superior to my anger, but its nice to know I have both for when I need them.

My wounds were pretty much healed by now. I had lunch with Carolina and Angelica. Carolina did not like my theory on paying. I stated that most Latin women who expect you to pay for everything are bitches and that most decent girls pay 50-50. She said it was tradition there. I still maintain and David agrees, that all of our good Colombian friends pay their own way. That is the only way to know they are interested in you and not your money and a fast way to flush the 'putas que quieren las pasaportes de los Gringos' (Snappy I know. It means the whores who want the passports of the Gringos or foreigners). Passport hunting bitches is a bit snappier. We had a spiceless Mexican. Here in Colombia they have identical food to the actual countries. The only difference is they subtract the spice as they hate both spicey food and rich sources here. Its an Achilles Heel for people who actually like good food. They gave Praveen another Spanish lesson on top of the one I had given him, but frankly he just never bothered to try. I met up with Adriana and we went to a cafe and then for some more Mexican food. We went to the reggae gig (Thank God not salsa) and did some crazy dancing. I did capoeira/hip hop and she did hip hop/yoga dancing. The whole club did not know what to make of it, watched us a lot and then danced salsa, because its the only goddamn dance they know how to do. Its not important the music. With salsa, they dance salsa, with electronica they dance salsa, with reggae they dance salsa. For fucksake. Its goddamn reggae. Dance it. I know it does not have any rules, but sometimes you just have to be spontaneous or creative. There were a lot of very hot girls in the reggae concert. It was a benefit concert. Which we did not know and everyone kept thanking us for coming until they realised we did not know what they were talking about. I had to leave early and walk to Candelario to join Praveen and Gloria etc for Jaime's leaving do. Everyone was drunk except Mariann (who does not drink). I kept saying excuse me, but the drunken fools still stood in my way so I started just throwing them into the walls if they did not move. Gloria was wankered and Praveen was completely plastered. I stayed and danced till the end, although it was shitty salsa and then we went home.

I stayed in an internet cafe as Liverpool and Arsenal won. Not sure why I did that, but apparently I did it. I wrote it. It must be true. We went to Gloria's house for her leaving barbecue. There I met the Texan guy Justin. Cool guy and he had done the CELTA before the same as David. I would only see him once more though and that would be at my leaving do. The barbecue was good, though Praveen seemed to have got me into trouble somehow. Iranis rang me. She could not make it to Bogota to stay as she had been accused of kidnapping someone. She had had her mobile phone stolen and then the person who stole it had used it to phone in a ransom request. She had reported the theft, but Chavez's system of government is not known for efficiency. So she had to be investigated as a kidnapper. We arranged instead that we could meet up at the border in Cucuta as we had planned to meet up from the time I was in the Amazon. We planned a fancy dress night for Alice's birthday and Praveen's leaving do, but this did not happen because Colombians are scared of looking foolish. Us English have never suffered from that problem. Its just in our genes to look foolish, intentional or no. We went to Changos and Gloria was really upset, because one of her friends (who is a total bitch) had laid into her on her leaving do and insulted her many times. I spent half an hour talking to her and quelling her fears, before insisting that she should enjoy her leaving do with her friends as you don't realise quite how strange it is not to see them again until you actually leave. I have been gone over 15 months now and I don't think either me or my friends fully realised the implications of my trip before I left and the leaving do may have been a little different if we had known. She ended up enjoying her night with her friends and I was happy for her as its a rough time leaving and then she came and stayed at mine.

I got up and made breakfast and when I came back Gloria was funny with me. She said the milk was cold and they prefer warm milk on their cereal here which is odd. I knew something else was bothering her but did not know what. I would find out the next day. She left seemingly a little cold. I watched Spurs get smashed 3-0 by Chelsea with Manuel and Praveen. Bassong was seemingly killed, but it turned out to be less serious than feared. Shitty. We really need to win the next four games. We didn't. Bassong hit his head so hard on the turf he actually caused a power cut in Bogota. Or maybe the tv could not take any more of our performance. I then went to watch 'Taking of Pelham 123' which was an enjoyable enough film. I have missed so much quality in the cinema this year through travelling. I came back and went for pizza with Manuel. He told me about his money problems and I suspect he stole at least 50-100,000 pesos off me in my time there as I don't make mistakes adding up (former maths teacher) and I was short a few times. Praveen even saw him in my room one day. I met his drug dealer mate and while we were waiting for him I had got chatting with a girl Fernanda from Bucaramanga in the street and she wanted to join us for some partying the week after.