Bogota!

I didn't get the chance to really "conocer" Bogota well because I arrived at the airport in Bogota at night and we were mostly focused on getting to Villavicencio and in my mind, quickly before getting robbed. After 3 months of working and living in Villavicencio, we finally mustered up some courage to ask for permission to get a day off from work to travel to Bogota. I was quite excited and couldn't go to sleep the night before, in anticipation of what Bogota must be like. Finally, I was going to the real city! Villavicencio is a semi-rural, semi-urban area where you can see cows and horses walking in neighbourhoods and streets, monkeys in trees occasionally and a lot of plains.Also, occasionally you can hear "country Spanish music" in the taxi and on people's phone. I often poked fun at them and say "campesino".

Anyway, we woke up early and got ready to meet Niza,(a graphic design student at the university where I work) and we took a taxi to the terminal. After, we paid for a bus to Bogota. I didn't get a chance to eat breakfast and so I carried a cheese sandwich , an apple and water. I still wanted to buy something warm at the bus terminal, but Niza advised that it was better to eat breakfast in Bogota.We left at around 7:00am. It took us about 3 hours to get to Bogota from Villavicencio and during that trip, I observed the beautiful mountain/hillside ( I never could really tell the difference-shame on me!) and scenery while listening to music. 

I also shared some of my music with Niza and she was pleased that we had similar tastes in music and asked to let her have the names.
 I started to correct some exam papers that I brought along with me to correct while on the bus and soon became bored and fell asleep on Shakira's arm.

I didn't realise time flew so quickly while I was asleep. When I woke up we were already in Bogota and it was already minutes to 10:00am. I looked around me and saw a very crowded neighbourhood like I had never seen before. I looked around and smiled while in the bus when I realised that finally I was in a different part of Colombia. 

I have to work a lot here and I hardly have time, so I was thrilled that I finally got the chance to travel.

We came off the bus and met with Niza's father. After Niza took us on a little tour at this place called Primer de Mayo or something. We took a few bathroom pictures and of the inside of the mall.

 We were more interested in getting something to eat because we were so hungry, (no, the cheese sandwich and apple didn't do much for me :P ) and so we spent time looking for a place to eat as well as browsing by possible stores we would visit to buy gifts and clothes.

We found a place to eat and I had an arepa with cheese which was delicious with pepper and onions on top, scrambled eggs with a slice of white bread and a cup of delicious milo.

 At the end, I was waiting to hear a high price for the meal. However, to my surprise, I only paid for the eggs and milo. The man forgot to include the arepa with cheese. What luck ! ^^ Well, the other girls had scrambled eggs and sausages with milo and Niza had eggs and rice with coffee. I felt relieved to have had a nice warm breakfast! I was ready to walk across the world now that I was full of food and energy. How wrong was I!? By midday we had already gotten tired (well Shakira and I) of walking soo much and not having a clue where we were going.

Let me backtrack a bit to after breakfast. We visited a clothes store called "Arequipe" and there I bought a shower curtain for my mother, a shirt for my friend and a navy blue bolero for church. I was looking earnestly for an orange scarf with Indian design for my best friend Matuka and presents for my other friends and penpals.

We passed a little shop that sold mochilas, scarves, tams and jewellery. I was more interested in the mochilas and bought a little one which I love. After a little browsing and shopping, we decided to take a bus to a next town so that we could see some more sites of Bogota. I was excited at the thought of seeing museums, monuments and other interesting Bogotano things! I mentioned to Niza, "so no more stores right?!" She said, "yes, no more". We arrived at our destination after being in a packed bus and watching my bag carefully as it was in front of a seated woman. I kept watching to see if her hand would move to pull the zipper and I thought, ok, maybe I'm overreacting as this is an old woman. Nevertheless, the elderly has to eat too. After standing in the bus for a while and yearning for us to reach our destination, Niza said, "ok we'll come off here". The driver stopped and we tried to get off. The bus was packed and so we didn't get to exit in time and he drove off! We were so angry and we had to come off a next bus stop and walk for a long while to where we wanted to go.The bus driver almost carried Niza away and oh what a horror it was to imagine what we would do without our Colombian tour guide ! 

She said she wanted to take us to see Maloka, but first we went inside a huge mall as I was in search of a dictionary for my student,Yesid, as a gift and the other girls were in search of clothes. After browsing around and seeing that the dictionary was way too expensive, as well as the clothes,we left to see Maloka. I took a couple pictures of the scenery and my friend Niza took a couple pictures of me as well. Maloka is this huge dome shaped cinema and below was this technology and science expo I suppose.

 I was excited as a kid with a lollipop to hear about something scientific! Oh how i longed to hear the word science and see something with science. The other girls Arita and Shakira weren't quite intrigued. We decided to find out the cost. It cost $15,000 pesos. As much as I would have loved to go, I knew they wouldn't accompany me and so there was no point in paying to see that alone or just with Niza.

Niza suggested that we see giant chess pieces. I stupidly asked, "to do what? to play them or to take pictures?" ^^ She laughed and said to take pictures of course.

So we walked some more and while walking I overheard Shakira telling Arita that she was bored. I guess sightseeing is not their sort of thing. It was quite chilly outside and I was just so happy to be in a different climate.I was looking forward to seeing some sites and taking pictures. Apparently they had a different agenda- to shop and only that! Now, I don't see anything wrong with shopping but with everything, there is moderation. Need I say more...they didn't obey that rule. As soon as I had finished taking pictures of the chess piece monument and secretly wanting to play in the fountains, I heard Shakira say, "ok show us some more stores now." Oy...! 

We went inside a next mall and browsed around a bit.I passed some restaurants and I saw a box that advertised taking pictures like that kind we see on tv. You know, the kind where you can take silly pictures in a box and receive 4 pictures on a strip. I thought oh, cool,let's do that. Shakira agreed. Arita wasn't too all for it but we convinced her. We went but it appeared that the woman who was supposed to do that, was on a lunch break. I suggested we do it anyway, but with our camera and use the background. 

They laughed but we did it anyway and after a while the woman came back to see 3 black girls sitting in a box and a Colombian girl standing looking at us. I walked out and pretended as if I did nothing and walked straight outside. I can't even tell you what the lady looked like because I didn't even make eye contact with her. That's a thing with me, when I am in a situation of being caught, I will walk away as if nothing happened. The other 3 girls remained and I don't know what they said to the lady as by that time, I was outside waiting on them. They saw me and laughed. We then went to a pharmacy and then took a bus called a "transmileno" to a next town where Niza said we could find cheap clothes and in hope for me, souvenirs. We had to use a bridge to get to the other side so we could take the transmileno. It was really high and we had a nice view.

(this photo makes me smile each time I see it lol)

While in the transmileno I observed the scenery of the city and the graffiti designed walls. Some were horrific while some were quite a delightful sight to see. 

After a long journey and my feet becoming numb from standing, we arrived at the new part of the city and decided to get lunch first before searching for things again. 

As usual, I'm the problem when going out to eat as people have to search for a restaurant where I can join them in eating something vegetarian. How annoying the vegetarian girl must be huh? After turning down a few places because it didn't meet everyone's taste, we finally found a cheap place that sells soup , a main course meal and a drink for 5000. I wasn't very intrigued at that idea because that is the same kind of meals they serve in Villavicencio and I decided that I won't come all the way to Bogota to eat something that I eat often in Villavicencio at school. Shakira and Arita stayed and ate. Niza and I didn't want that and so we decided to look for an interestingly new place to dine. We saw a burrito restaurant and thought, hey, we'd never had that before and so we went right in.

 They even had a vegetarian offer as well! Niza had a regular burrito and I had a vegetarian one. It was a little like the Subway restaurant as I could choose what I wanted to put in the burrito and she would just add it and roll it all in one and fold it. It was quite full by the time I had finished ordering what I ordered and we wondered, how would we eat that. The lady put them to warm a little and handed us our burritos after. Niza asked," How do we eat this? With a a fork or what?" I said, "Well, just with our hands, like a sandwich". Mine was quite spicy, just how I wanted it and we had fun taking pictures and having the contents of the burrito fall in the tray, on my clothes and random places I dare not say ^^. 

Niza :)

I thought, my gosh, what a difficult and messy thing to eat ! Nevertheless, I enjoyed it and we went back to the other restaurant to see and Arita and Shakira paying for their bill. On our way back to the other restaurant, Niza and I saw a a black couple and on seeing us they started to kiss, so I pulled Niza by the hand and pretended to kiss her cheek to annoy them and they gave us a strange look haha.
Afterwards, we all left the restaurant and walked to try and find a souvenir shop as I still hadn't gotten the chance to buy some souvenirs. We went to an area that was like a market for clothes. We entered and Niza and I, having the same style in clothes, walked together and Arita and Shakira, with similar tastes, stayed together as well. I saw so many lovely clothes, shoes, scarves and dresses. Niza and I found a lovely blouse, plaid to be exact and it was just so cool. We tried it on and it fitted us well. We both bought one, but a different colour. I paid the lady, she took the the money and did a Catholic sign and I left and walked around the market happy with my purchase, when I thought about the other gifts I didn't buy yet! I counted my money and realised I didn't have enough. I had just a little extra than my bus fare. I thought, no, I didn't buy the dictionary or souvenirs yet. With such shame, after begging Niza to explain to the lady and her refusing, I had to explain to the lady that I didn't realise I didn't have much money left and I had other plans. She hesitated and I felt bad, especially after my purchase she said God bless me, but I really couldn't buy that blouse. She probably felt sorry for me as I showed her how much money I had and I mumbled how stupid I was to not carry more money. She gave me back the money and I returned the blouse, head hung in shame. Arita and Shakira bought a couple things and we left.
We went again with the aim to find that souvenir place. We walked a lot until we lost patience and Arita had to use the bathroom. Niza accompanied her to find a bathroom while we waited in front of a church. It was a pretty church.

Finally they returned and we went to an area we thought would have souvenirs. Arita and Shakira found a next store that sold jewellery, bags and other girly stuff and decided to enter. Niza and I were a bit annoyed but tried to not display it on our countenance. We spent such a long time in the store, I tried to make the best of the situation and look for gifts there,but didn't see anything that enticed me or seemed to be of quality. It started to rain and I got so bored of waiting, and decided to take pictures of the scenery outside of the store.

Eventually we left there and it got late and dark, and everyone forgot about what I wanted to do in Bogota. They all started to hurry and say that we had to leave soon. I was sad but didn't make a fuss, ok, well I did a little. Niza said she had to go meet some friends and so told us to wait at a place while she went. We stood waiting and it was so cold, even smoke came out of our mouths , which we all found cool. I realised nearby there was a bookstore. The books seemed old but I thought to kill time, I would walk around and browse through what they had. To my surprise, I was able to buy a lovely dictionary with pictures, yet very advanced for one of my weakest students, Yesid and I was extremely pleased and satisfied! What made it even better is that I got it for a cheap price. It felt better buying that dictionary than the blouse to be honest. 

 

( I am going to miss you)

I didn't get to buy the souvenirs but thought I would the next time I go to Bogota.
We got tired of waiting on Niza and walked over to a next store with such expensive clothes,we just looked around while I was still sad and annoyed that the most we did that day was shop. 
We crossed the street again to where Niza said we should wait.We stood near a haberdashery and a little boy, who was eleven years old, was standing at the entrance trying to get customers to come in. I chatted with him a bit and gave him a mini English class after he asked me, how to say " a la orden" in English. I asked him what else he knows in English and it was so cute to hear him say words like, hello, thank you, bye and some numbers. He asked me my name and likewise, I asked his, though I can't remember what his name is now. On leaving he said, "bye Alecia " and it made me smile a lot. Shakira bought an umbrella from his store and I bought a pair of earphones, after testing two of them with the store owner and finally finding one worth buying. I was left in the store fixing that problem, when I was rushed by Shakira to hurry because we had to get a taxi now before it got too late. 

We went in the taxi and Niza asked if we all had a good time. I said yes and Shakira made a comment that broke Niza's heart. She said it was boring or  something that showed she basically had a dull day. Niza felt so bad and we had a conversation by texting on her phone about that and I consoled her and told her that I had a good time and I appreciated her tour and company. She was happy and texted " te quiero Ali" and likewise I texted the same.
It was silent in the taxi and we just looked at the buildings all filled with lights as we made our way to the terminal. I also looked at the raindrops on the window, rolling down , to pass time. We used the bathrooms at the terminal, after paying 600 pesos to use it, not including toilet paper as the sign indicated .We said our goodbyes to Niza, hugged and went on our way back to Villavicencio.

Culture Shock in Colombia

Some time in July, 2013
So before I start to give details of the places I have been and what I have been doing, I prefer to write about some instances of culture shock that I have experienced while here in Colombia, before I forget them.

Toilet ISSUES
Although I was warned by my El Salvadorean teacher in Jamaica about a certain situation in Colombia, it still was quite a shock to me when I saw the method of disposing used tissue in the bathrooms. In Jamaica, and probably most places in the world, people flush their tissue in the toilet. Here in Colombia, people give you surprised expressions when you only mention the idea of flushing the tissue. It is the norm here to dispose of used tissue in a bin or a bag in the bathroom. At first, hearing about this, I was very shocked and thought it was the most repulsive thing ever. However, after a month and some weeks being here, I am still repulsed by the idea but not as much as I first was. I remember telling my Jamaican friend Jermaine about this issue and he made a lot of bad puns and found it to be so nasty to do that here. People here find it very normal to put all their soiled tissue in the bins. I don't have a bin and so I have to use a bag.My El Salvadorean teacher warned that we might consider it nasty but this is how things are here and that the toilet system won’t be able to manage flushing all that tissue. She said that if we dared flush it and it gets clogged, we would have the responsibility of unclogging the toilet as they would automatically know it was the Jamaican. Of course, I didnt want to be coming home after working and spending my evening deep in the toilet, wondering how I would fix it. I certainly wasn't thrilled about that so I will do as the Colombians do.After a while, I must admit, it started to feel quite normal although I still feel grossed out when I see other people’s tissue when I use public bathrooms. The other day at the university, I went to use the bathroom and the bin was removed in one of the stalls, perhaps to wash it. I thought, ok, now I have an excuse to flush the tissue and I did. However, when I looked on the floor beside the toilet, there were little stashes of tissue slightly damped. I was in shock that they still refused to flush the tissue even then!

*January 16, 2014. So now that I am back in Jamaica, I have more time to write in my blog. Hopefully I'll remember most of my experience.
Continuing.... So after a while, it became quite the norm, so that even when I returned to Jamaica and used the bathroom at my cousin's house for the first time, I almost threw the tissue in the bin. I paused and laughed to myself, on seeing how I really became a part of that lifestyle.^^

Sharing 

At first I was amazed at how kind people were here. They just met me only for one day and offered me to come to their house as soon as they realised they liked me and we had things in common. They also presented little sweets as gifts for the first week which I thought, ok, they are being extra friendly because we are tourists. It didnt stop there, one of my co-workers wanted me to teacher her 12 year old daughter English for 2 hours one day. I gladly took up the offer as I love working withe children. After enjoying my class, the little girl decided to take me downstairs to get ice-cream as a way of saying thanks. She told me to pick anything I want. Of course, I picked the cheapest one and she was telling me that it doesn't matter and I should pick whichever I want. I still picked a cheap yet tasty one with arequipe flavour ;)

She bought some kind of fruity cherry flavoured popcicle thing in a cup and we went upstairs to resume the class. While eating and teaching her English and going through her book. she offered me to taste her popsicle. I refused but she insisted that I try it. I still said no and before I could tell her it's ok, she shoved the same spoon she was using in my mouth with some of the popsicle. Ok, she is a child. It's alright. She is super friendly I thought, but it didnt stop there. The same day I went to Claro in Unicentro (a mall here) to get a modem,so I could get internet at home. Pedro spoke with a lady called "Leidy" pronounced just like Lady in English and he discussed with her about Arita and I needing a modem. I barely spoke to her and just listened while they spoke.

The following day back at the university, she came to give Arita and I the modem. She said she needed to go outside for something. I went downstairs to wait on her and saw her coming back with a cup full of some smoothie looking drink with chopped fruits.I asked "Oh what is that?" She explained and then before I could say "oh", she asked if I wanted to try and pushed the spoon so close to my mouth as if she wanted to feed me! Now this girl doesn't know me that well yet she was glad to shove her spoon in my mouth. Of course, since I didn’t want her to feel offended, I took the spoon from her and tried a little. For those who know me, can tell you that I have a phobia of saliva :P So I was quite courageous that day. 

(not my photo)

Written on January 16,2014- This is the thing she was drinking. It's called salpicon. Some months later I tried that in the town centre with Manuel from a street vendor. It's a Colombian drink which contains mango, watermelon,orange juice, grapes, bananas and sometimes kiwi. I noticed kiwis floating in the big glass container she had and so I was looking in my cup to locate my kiwi. She apparently noticed this and said, "Que busca mami, kiwi? " which means, What are you looking for mami(a slang in Colombia, like saying girl or something) ? ^^ I answered sí and she added one to my cup! How sweet was that ? :) I surely enjoyed that drink and it was really cheap.

I noticed other ways in which Colombians share a lot, they are quick to share the same cup with you , offer you a piece of what they are nibbling on and taking a piece on what you have been nibbling on as well. Though at first it was strange to me, I found it to be a warm side of their personality and in a sense to be a way to see everyone as one. I sometimes think, how are they so sure I don't have some sort of disease ? lol. Besides that, they are always ready to share or give gifts, from giving chocolates, buying you a drink or an arepa or offering something new to me that they are excited for me to try.

Monkeys and other creatures you see on Animal Planet!

Monkeys

Some days before my trip to Colombia, my grandfather asked me if I will see monkeys in Colombia. I told him no, I won't see any there. What a great surprise I got the first time I saw a monkey in some trees outside of my apartment complex! As an animal lover, I was quite excited and amazed to see monkeys in natural habitats. The first time I saw them was when Darwin, a security guard from school, came to pick me up on his bike very early one morning, around 7am, as it was raining. On passing the nearby forest or jungle as I call it, I saw cute little monkeys jumping from branch to branch. My eyes opened so widely and the first thing that came out my mouth was "wow!". He didn't appear enthused as I was but I guess it must be like me seeing a common lizard in Jamaica.Of course I wanted to see the monkeys again and take pictures. So I tried to come out around the same time on some mornings so that I could see them. As expected they came out around 7am, as if it was some sort of routine thing for them and I looked on them in awe as a I took pictures and made videos. The security guard outside the apartment complex may have found it cute how intrigued I was and smiled at me.

On other occasions, I saw the monkeys again and if I had my camera, I always took pictures and gazed at them. They are so cute! I have never seen monkeys existing like that in Jamaica, hence the long chatter on this hehe.

Snakes

When I heard that Colombia was very diverse in the aspect of animals, I thought, wow, there must be tons of animals to see ONLY in the rainforest. Not the case! I was surprised when I saw a little black snake on the sidewalk near to the university, while walking home one evening with my co-worker Arita.

I showed some of my students the picture, some said, "oh it's harmless" and some said, "it is so dangerous and poisonous and the mother is huge!"

A few days after, my co-worker and I were walking home again one evening and we saw a guy riding a bicycle with a huge, long, yellow snake on a stick parading through the little neighbourhood. I couldn't believe it really was a snake. I asked a security guard from the university about the snake issue and he said that when it rains, they come on the grass. I had been on the lookout for snakes on the grass when it rains, but I didn't see any.

Iguanas and... SLOTH!!

Apart from the regular animals I see on a regular basis in Jamaica such as dogs, cats, cows, horses, birds and lizards, I got the chance to see two other animals, a sloth and an iguana. Iguanas are common in Jamaica, but in special areas, so in the city where I live, I won't see them as easily. However, while in a car with Martha, her son and my two co-workers , Arita and Shakira, I saw a little, neon green iguana running across the street.

 (not my photo) It looked a little like that.

It was quite a thing to see ! 

Then when I went to Medellin and while walking outside of the botanical garden with mi amor Manuel, we heard rustling in a nearby tree. We looked up to see a long, huge, colourful iguana climbing the tree!

he tried to hide as Manuel approached him.

It frightened me to such a big reptile climbing a tree! I feared it would have fallen in Manuel's head due to how it was rustling around in the tree as he approached it.

Before that we were inside the botanical gardens in Medellin and after touring most of the garden, Manuel and I decided to enter what seemed to be a little forest. I walked around and saw lots of plants and as I am not a big fan of plants, I said to Manuel that there was nothing to see in this forest. He then pointed out a sloth, which three other persons were looking at too. I was amazed to see that animal in reality and in a natural habitat! It was hard to see and it was very far from us, but with a good zoom on the camera, we were able to take a picture.