I've been in Bogotá a few days now, and I've found it to be a fascinating place. The people are embarrassingly nice, the food is amazing, the culture in general rich and unique, and a certain mystery permeates the city, inviting you to dig deeper.
A few observations.
When people say that Colombians are nice, they're really not joking. They make Brazilians look like Mr. Scrooge. And this is in the big bad capitol where life is relatively fast-paced and life is more anonymous. I've heard that in the countryside time actually goes by so slowly it stops, and you can drop an egg and it will just float in space. It's true, I tried it.
Today I asked a traffic cop - that lowly symbol of human signage who regards you as just another potential traffic law violator, how to get to the bus lines. I walked about 100 meters in the direction and, since I hadn't really understood what he said, turned on the wrong street. Well this guy had kept an eye on me, just another annoying tourist, and ran about a city block distance after me to tell me the right way.
When you stop by a store or restaurant to ask for directions, they make it seem like you're practically doing them a favor by listening to their response. They also insist on giving you several different versions and repeating them as you try to walk away - I guess Colombians and Brazilians aren't so different after all.
It is cold here. Gosh darn it. I wear my ski jacket in the house and use like 5 blankets. Vicky has to wake up at 5 to turn the water heater on so we have hot water a few hours later for our shower. By hot water I mean 2 minutes max, and I have to continuously turn the cold faucet down during those 2 minutes as the hot water runs out.
The city itself is actually quite organized and clean. It is laid out on a grid system: the calles run from east to west, and the carreras from north to south. This means that any location can be identified by its calle and carrera. Basically this intersection plus the building and apartment number is the address. If you're really fancy you can even use the Pythagorean Theorem to find the distance to your destination. And you thought all those years of math classes were for nothing.
I had managed to convince everyone that I was a full-blooded Brazilian, which was pretty funny, but also nice, as I was spared some of the gringo skewering (at first). I had my first salsa class today, which took place at the school and included the other students in my class, a German guy and girls from Austria and England. Needless to say, the second I started dancing my cover was blown, and I had to admit I had ´merican in me, which explained everything. Oh well.
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