Bogota Week Three

Week three started with a trip up Montserrate with Hannah. I had been up there before with Dom when I was last in Bogota. We went walking through the woods at the back which was cool as had not been to that part before. Looked around the monastery and enjoyed the views of Bogota from the top. We went with Praveen to a vegetarian restaurant for lucnh, which he had found. Quite good stuff. We went early to the language meeting and met Cesar (not drunken Cesar). He had wanted to practice more English. We were drinking and chatting English for most of the night. I got Praveen to join couchsurfing. Sorted out some stuff for Gloria. Don-t really remember what that was and then I went to the shit bar with Hannah, Lenin, Cesar and Praveen. There was a dude from Cali who was eventually kicked out for stealing and trying to sell cocaine. He was hitting on Hannah loads so we pretended to be in a relationship. It annoyed the Cali man, but the old man said we made a great couple and when were we planning on getting married. There was also a weird crack addict woman who was missing all of her teeth. She took a shine to me and so was pissy with Hannah and ended up spitting beer all over her back twice. Hannah had thought that she had thrown the liquid, but I pointed out in fact that she had spat it all over her. Another crazy night in the shit bar.

I wrote I can't drink beer anymore, but I think that refers to Praveen. His father caught a photo of him with beer on facebook and banned him from drinking. This position would change in the future but for now he can't drink. I went and had lunch with Angelica in McDonalds as we started to become good friends and could practice our Spanglish. I spent a long time online and then met Camila later for drinks close to Los Andes. Hannah, Praveen and Jenny joined us as we headed to the rock bar. Its a shame Jenny had a boyfriend as we both enjoyed our time together and agreed it was frustrating to spend time together but not be able to do anything. Rock bar was cool and then we ended up in Gato Greis for some drinks.

Hannah went with Praveen in the morning to Uribe's Palace and to have a look around the downtown of Bogota. I then went and bought the food and we went to Alexandra's place. I cooked for her, her housemates, Hannah, Praveen, me and David. It was th first time I had met David, but he would go on to become one of my better friends in Bogota as well. Funny how you don't realise these things when you are keeping your diary. We then went to th shit bar afterwards and clubbing in Quiebra Canto. I was supposed to meet Alejandra there but we ended up missing each other and that bar is still as shit as it was when I went with Dom. I still maintain its a crappy little bar with bitches who go there only to hunt for foreigners and I have still only had one good night there. Praveen likes it though. We went back to the shit bar and drank there for the rest of the night, though it lacked its usual crazy clientele.

I met Hannah for breakfast and then had lunch with the lawyer Alejandra who I had missed the night before. Afterwards I met Angelica (a girl from Los Andes) and her friend for some afternoon cocktails. Was a lot of jetting around that day. I don't really like the Los Andes set that much. My housemate said they walk in the clouds. I don't believe they live in the reality and Praveen just reckons they are a load of bitches. Take your pick. Lots of money, no sense. They told me I should go to Andres Carne de Res. Praveen hated it when he went and I still maintain it is likely to be very similar to Mangos in Medellin and therefor quite shit. Ireland are hanging on 0-0 with France at halftime. I went with Hannah afterwards to buy an adaptor plug because she spoke no Spanish. Not that I knew what adaptor plug was in Spanish anyway. Afterwards I met Gloria (long day and the cocktail at lunchtime explains why I was tired. I had forgotten that) and we went to see 'Los Demonios' by Dostoyevsky. That's hard work in Spanish. It was killing me about halfway in but I got the overall plot, even if I did miss a lot of the details. Still it was brave first effort. Will have to go and see some more plays in Buenos Aires. i was liking Gloria quite a lot at this time and we went afterwards to the Alice in Wonderland bar, but she had to go home as she was working the next day. Ah I forgot. We had gone for dinner at the famous Italian restaurant where a crazy Colombian war veteran had executed a load of customers after killing his mother, a student and I believe her mother as well.

I woke up in the afternoon. I think the long day and the Spanish had taken quite a lot out of me. Gone to the crap bar I wrote. Maybe I went there with Praveen afterwards. Not sure. Was meeting Jenny the day after. I went for drinks with Angelica and some of her coursemates in the early evening Was about 20 of us. Found a guy who wants to study in England and only later told me he was half English. I told him he should get an English passport, but his mother had never remained in contact with his father and so it would be difficult. There was a very pretty girl there, but Angelica reckons she looks like she is made of porcelain and far too young for me lol. We met up with Gloria and Alice came along when we went to a weird bar to meet the girl from Cali. I never did end up meeting her. We had plans for an all nighter that night. The bar was strange, in Chapinero and had a space theme. The music was weird spacey techno and lots of people were dressed up accordingly. We ended up getting into a drinking competition which Praveen instigated and I danced with Gloria. Praveen says it is less dancing and more two positions of the Karma Sutra, but we ended up hooking up and went back to my place instead of going on to other bars. That was the first time me and Gloria got together. Ah yeah Gloria left at 5am and the cocksucking guard would not call her a taxi. Forgot that.

Spurs won again the next day with a last minute winner against Birmingham but we lost Luka Modric to injury and he as yet has not played for us again. It was a bigt blow losing our best player and playmaker to a rash and loose challenge. I had lunch with Jenny and Alice (I have no recollection of that lunch at all). Then we went to the train bar for cheese and chocolate (ah now I do). I went to Gato Greis with Jenny and it was a good afternoon just chilling. That evening Praveen and I went to a house party. Another Bogota gripe. The stupid transversal system with its damn red crosses. In order to harmonise Bogota's road systems they renumbered a lot of the streets, esepcially the diagonal ones, but they did not remove the old numbers. Instead the old ones exist with a red cross and the new ones without it. Ridiculous system that mans you always get lost whenever you visit anyone who lives in one o the transversal areas. The house party was at Luisa's house and there was a lot of karaoke and a reggae band. We were trying to guess which band member Maria liked, but by the end of the night she managed to get her man. Praveen and I had been trying to guess if he liked her, but the attention instead convinced him that we were gay. He was a bit of a dick in the end though and seems to believe the whole world was in love with him, be they men or women.

On sunday I grabbed lunch with Hannah before she left for the coast. Then I was supposed to go to Leonardo's to teach him English. I got back to the building and got stuck in the fucking lift. Fucking hell. It was stuck between the fifth and sixth floors and it took them ages to get me out of the damn thing. Ah fuck Portugal scored. I had to leap between the gaps in the floors once they crowbarred it open and I still had all sorts of images from Final Destination flashing through my mind. Eventually once I was free I went to teach Leonardo some English and due to all sorts of transport problems and mistakes we were very late getting to Gloria's place. There I cooked Chinese pork and cabbage soup again, but it did not come off quite right. It was weird as I had to pretend nothing happened on the wednesday. Afterwards I went back to the flat and had a weird lump on my neck and head. I am guessing that was the beginnings of the genesis of the proper outbreak of tonsilitis and my bad health spree.