Buenas Dias from Colombia!!

So here I am... in Colombia. It's been 3 days and I still have to remind myself that I am in South America. It's very different here but also very much like everywhere else. It's almost like Colombia doesn't have it's very own feel. We are in a more rich area... and you sometimes feel like you're downtown Montreal. Aside from the crazy traffic, horrific drivers and the very South American looking buses you could easily be in Montreal. The drivers here are WAY crazier than in Montreal and pedestrians have even less right of way. It's mayhem. But the restaurant scene is very North American, except for the fact that lychee martinis are only $8!!! WOO HOO! And the altitude makes for very cheap drinking cuz you only need 1 or 2 to feel a buzz. Fantastic. The public parks are fantastic too. I'd have to say they are much nicer than in Montreal. It's quite rich here... thanks perhaps to the drug trade that once ruled the country more so than now... and Colombia as a nation is quite eco-friendly. Taxi cabs are as abundant as in NYC and are all the same little mark of Hyundai... all of which run on propane. I thought that was pretty cool. Unfortunately they export all of their 'good' diesel and keep the bad stuff for here so the pollution from the buses is quite extreme... but it's the idea of the propane cabs that counts. It's a step in the right direction. They are also avid recyclers and you get money for bringing recyclable materials to the recycling plants... so you often see people rummaging through the garbage looking for paper & recyclable plastics to bring in for money. perhaps we should do the same at home and not only give money back for cans & bottles.

So... 4 days in. I've done more walking in the past 3 days than I did in all of 2010. My legs, especially my calves, ache like you wouldn't believe... and as if that wasn't enough I took a vinyasa yoga class yesterday and now my upper back & ribs are aching too. It's a 20-25 minute FAST PACED walk to yoga so once you get there you're already burnt out. The vinyasa/ashtanga styles are much more aerobic than the sivananda I am used to... so I worked up a sweat. Luckily I haven't been effected by the altitude, unless a sore throat in the mornings counts as a side effect to high altitude. My head is a bit heavy too... but I otherwise feel fine. My mom has been walking me ragged all over the area they live in and I've been trying to take as many pictures as I can despite a few obstacles. Apparently photographing flowers in some areas is a breach of security... and photography near anything military is a big no-no. So much so as I had to show the soldier that ran after us down the street with his big machine gun the pictures I was taking, along with our identification. Lucky for me I hadn't taken any pics of the soldiers and he didn't mind the shot of the hibiscus tree or the VW beetle...

So I'm waiting for my mom to get back from her tennis lesson. I opted out of the 15 minute speed walk to go watch her so as to give my muscles a rest. But I'll leave you know with a brief summary of the things I have learned so far about Bogota...

1. As mentioned, photography in certain areas is a breach of security, even tho all I was shooting was this..

2. No park is safe enough without it's own private security... the focus here is on the weapon of this measly security guard.. not police, security guard. In a park. Where kids play. Sorry about the distance, but I had to be stealth. Geez... if taking pictures of the flora was a no-no, imagine what taking a picture of the security is...

3. Altitude is a bonus for cheaper drinking.



4. If you want to make a living here... sell umbrellas. NO ONE leaves home without one because the weather here changes from sun to rain and back to sun again with the blink of an eye. If you're caught in the rain without an umbrella, you'll find these on every other corner...

5. People make a living in various ways, from umbrella salesmen to...

6. Eucalyptus trees grow on every block.. AWESOMMMME!

7. I mentioned the recycling... here's one of the recycling 'trucks'

So there is more to add to this list. And I have taken some nice photos that I will upload later. Mom is home so we're off on another adventure... much to the dismay of my leg muscles.