Colombia (Introduction to Bogota)
I signed up for a 4-week construction/renovation placement in Bogota, with the intention to do 4 more weeks in Cartagena. Other than mistakenly making my flight one day earlier than what I wanted (wanted to flight out 130am Thursday--not Wednesday), the flight went off without a hitch. My one-way ticket to Bogota cost me a little above 200 dollars, and the airline wanted to charge me a 300-dollar fee to change my flight to the next day. Ok, yea, that makes sense. So I decided to just fly to Bogota one day early.
Oh, there was one other hitch that I fixed at the airport. I thought that Colombia was one of the countries that did not require an outgoing to ticket prior to entry, and I was wrong. So, I had to purchase an outgoing flight back to LAX, and selected May 29th as the date, not really knowing when I need to go back. Not the optimum situation, but I made my flight on an airline that would charge me only 65 dollars to change it to another day. But, what I should have done is booked my outgoing ticket on an airline that allowed free cancellation within 24 hours, and just canceled it when I landed in Bogota. So now I know for next time.
I landed Wednesday afternoon in Bogota, even though I did not need to be at the volunteer house there until Saturday, a day before my orientation. I soon found out that April is the worst month to visit Bogota, and Colombia in general. It rains everyday in April, and you will be lucky to see the sun. I feel like I am on Venus, except not as hot.
But there is a bright side of this, as the volunteer house is practically empty (only three other volunteers when I arrived). I have a room all to myself, even though the room occupies six, and as a bonus, I actually get shelves to store my clothes. The volunteer houses that I have stayed at before do not have storage, so that you end up literally living out of your suitcase.
The only thing that I had to share this room with is this guy, and it is huge--about a half foot across.
So, it rained so much that I was stuck in the house Wednesday-Friday. But I made lemonade out of lemons, staked out a nice piece of furniture (a chaise, which I have now claimed as my own), and sat there and billed a ton of hours.
Saturday saw the first break in the rain, and I took full advantage of it. Although I am a Coffee Bean person, Starbucks is international, and that is my go to place to do work. There is a Starbucks located in a mall about a mile and a half away, so that is where I went. But I am now spoiled by the Starbucks in Mexico, and this one was a disappointment--barely any wifi to speak of, no sockets, and not enough seating. I would have to find a Starbucks further away, but I was going to save that for another day.
But I did see this one-of-a-kind giant chess board fountain . . .
. . . and I got a semi-good view of downtown Bogota in the distance . . .
While I was walking back, I came upon a rather large park, so with a couple hours of daylight left, I explored it. Despite the inclement weather, it did not disappoint . . .
This park even had an outdoor gym . . .
. . . and what is a park without a giant cross . . .
In the distance I heard some very loud cheering, so I had to obviously check it out. The cheering came from a direction towards an athletic park according to my google maps, so I assumed it was a soccer match. I exited the park, and walked over a bridge to the other side of a freeway.
I first came upon a baseball game in progress, which was no surprise as baseball is right behind soccer in Latin American countries. But the noise was not coming from here.
I walked towards where the noise was coming from, and came across a BMX race track, which I have to admit, I really didn't expect.
I walked further to where the cheers were coming from, and I could only surmise that what I was looking at was a soccer stadium, of course, right? It's Colombia.
I walked up a ramp into the stadium, and I didn't see a soccer field, but rather a velodrome, with what I can only describe as fast-track in-line skating. And that I would have never guessed in a million years.
Apparently, Colombians partake in all kinds of sports. I next saw some clay tennis courts . .
a nice rock wall . . .
. . and I was very excited to see this, three very legitimate sand volleyball courts . . .
I am not sure what this elaborate building was all about, as I could not get into this venue, but there was a lot of noise coming from it. Perhaps this is where they had an indoor soccer game.
I could not gain access to various other venues, but I did get to peek into one where a boxing match was going on.
Given time, I will need to visit this athletic complex again.
Before heading back to the volunteer house, I took a little detour to check out the amusement park . . .
. . . and no, I am not being paid by Samsung.
On the way back home, I came across a dog park . . .
I had walked 10 miles that day, which was a relief as I had been cooped up in a house for the last three days.
The next morning I had orientation for my upcoming program. At least for the first week my project will be in Los Altos de la Florida, a remote town about an hour and half away by bus and jeep. I'm not real excited about the 3-hour round trip, but it was either that or working close to the volunteer house and painting things. I opted for the former for now. But it does sound like a fairly cool project. The story is that the locals fled to this town in response to oppression from FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia). So that is where I will doing construction, most likely houses.
After my orientation, I decided to venture out into downtown Bogota. It was partly sunny, with no rain, so this could be my only chance this week to explore without getting soak and wet. I was also going to do some reconnaissance on all of the Starbucks residing in downtown Bogota, because I will most likely be spending a good deal of time in one of them working. The closest one was 2 miles away, so that's where I walked.
Along the way, I came across two bowling alleys that were literally a hundred yards from each other.
If I would have known they had bowling alleys here, I would have brought some bowling balls. I guess Colombians engage in all sports. I'm sure there is a golf course somewhere.
I then came across a magnificent church. They sure know how to build them in Latin America.
After that, I got down to business and began my inspection of all the Starbucks. My three main criteria: Wifi, amount of electrical outlets, and available seating. After that, I look for ambience. After inspecting the first one, which had good Wifi, but was very crowded, I walked to the next one. This one was better. After inspecting that one, I walked to the next one, and so forth. After walking 9 miles, I had inspected 6 Starbucks, and found the perfect one, which rivaled my favorite one in Mexico City. It's only drawback is that it is 4 miles away (about an hour and half walk). I could Uber it round trip for 6 bucks, and if I am pressed for time I will, but my hope is that I can make the walk there for exercise and general well-being, and then Uber back at night. We shall see how that works out.
And now I start my volunteer work . . .
Oh, there was one other hitch that I fixed at the airport. I thought that Colombia was one of the countries that did not require an outgoing to ticket prior to entry, and I was wrong. So, I had to purchase an outgoing flight back to LAX, and selected May 29th as the date, not really knowing when I need to go back. Not the optimum situation, but I made my flight on an airline that would charge me only 65 dollars to change it to another day. But, what I should have done is booked my outgoing ticket on an airline that allowed free cancellation within 24 hours, and just canceled it when I landed in Bogota. So now I know for next time.
I landed Wednesday afternoon in Bogota, even though I did not need to be at the volunteer house there until Saturday, a day before my orientation. I soon found out that April is the worst month to visit Bogota, and Colombia in general. It rains everyday in April, and you will be lucky to see the sun. I feel like I am on Venus, except not as hot.
But there is a bright side of this, as the volunteer house is practically empty (only three other volunteers when I arrived). I have a room all to myself, even though the room occupies six, and as a bonus, I actually get shelves to store my clothes. The volunteer houses that I have stayed at before do not have storage, so that you end up literally living out of your suitcase.
The only thing that I had to share this room with is this guy, and it is huge--about a half foot across.
So, it rained so much that I was stuck in the house Wednesday-Friday. But I made lemonade out of lemons, staked out a nice piece of furniture (a chaise, which I have now claimed as my own), and sat there and billed a ton of hours.
Saturday saw the first break in the rain, and I took full advantage of it. Although I am a Coffee Bean person, Starbucks is international, and that is my go to place to do work. There is a Starbucks located in a mall about a mile and a half away, so that is where I went. But I am now spoiled by the Starbucks in Mexico, and this one was a disappointment--barely any wifi to speak of, no sockets, and not enough seating. I would have to find a Starbucks further away, but I was going to save that for another day.
But I did see this one-of-a-kind giant chess board fountain . . .
. . . and I got a semi-good view of downtown Bogota in the distance . . .
While I was walking back, I came upon a rather large park, so with a couple hours of daylight left, I explored it. Despite the inclement weather, it did not disappoint . . .
This park even had an outdoor gym . . .
. . . and what is a park without a giant cross . . .
In the distance I heard some very loud cheering, so I had to obviously check it out. The cheering came from a direction towards an athletic park according to my google maps, so I assumed it was a soccer match. I exited the park, and walked over a bridge to the other side of a freeway.
I first came upon a baseball game in progress, which was no surprise as baseball is right behind soccer in Latin American countries. But the noise was not coming from here.
I walked towards where the noise was coming from, and came across a BMX race track, which I have to admit, I really didn't expect.
I walked further to where the cheers were coming from, and I could only surmise that what I was looking at was a soccer stadium, of course, right? It's Colombia.
I walked up a ramp into the stadium, and I didn't see a soccer field, but rather a velodrome, with what I can only describe as fast-track in-line skating. And that I would have never guessed in a million years.
Apparently, Colombians partake in all kinds of sports. I next saw some clay tennis courts . .
a nice rock wall . . .
. . and I was very excited to see this, three very legitimate sand volleyball courts . . .
I am not sure what this elaborate building was all about, as I could not get into this venue, but there was a lot of noise coming from it. Perhaps this is where they had an indoor soccer game.
I even came across an indoor volleyball game, which I do not think I was supposed to be able to see as the door was clearly marked PUBLIC NOT ALLOWED, but I entered anyway as there was nobody there to stop me.
Given time, I will need to visit this athletic complex again.
Before heading back to the volunteer house, I took a little detour to check out the amusement park . . .
. . . and no, I am not being paid by Samsung.
On the way back home, I came across a dog park . . .
I had walked 10 miles that day, which was a relief as I had been cooped up in a house for the last three days.
The next morning I had orientation for my upcoming program. At least for the first week my project will be in Los Altos de la Florida, a remote town about an hour and half away by bus and jeep. I'm not real excited about the 3-hour round trip, but it was either that or working close to the volunteer house and painting things. I opted for the former for now. But it does sound like a fairly cool project. The story is that the locals fled to this town in response to oppression from FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia). So that is where I will doing construction, most likely houses.
After my orientation, I decided to venture out into downtown Bogota. It was partly sunny, with no rain, so this could be my only chance this week to explore without getting soak and wet. I was also going to do some reconnaissance on all of the Starbucks residing in downtown Bogota, because I will most likely be spending a good deal of time in one of them working. The closest one was 2 miles away, so that's where I walked.
Along the way, I came across two bowling alleys that were literally a hundred yards from each other.
If I would have known they had bowling alleys here, I would have brought some bowling balls. I guess Colombians engage in all sports. I'm sure there is a golf course somewhere.
I then came across a magnificent church. They sure know how to build them in Latin America.
After that, I got down to business and began my inspection of all the Starbucks. My three main criteria: Wifi, amount of electrical outlets, and available seating. After that, I look for ambience. After inspecting the first one, which had good Wifi, but was very crowded, I walked to the next one. This one was better. After inspecting that one, I walked to the next one, and so forth. After walking 9 miles, I had inspected 6 Starbucks, and found the perfect one, which rivaled my favorite one in Mexico City. It's only drawback is that it is 4 miles away (about an hour and half walk). I could Uber it round trip for 6 bucks, and if I am pressed for time I will, but my hope is that I can make the walk there for exercise and general well-being, and then Uber back at night. We shall see how that works out.
And now I start my volunteer work . . .
Comments
Post a Comment