More Colombia Bullet Points :)
I typed the last post so fast I didn’t even have time to spell check, haha… Fixed now. Anyway, see what I did there? With the title, haha? Actually, there’s very little evidence of the violence most gringos seem to think happens here. Only the army guys with machine guns out in the countryside…
I took the above photo while riding on the back of a horse who was freaking out about how to avoid the truck. To the Colombians, I must have looked like one of those jackass tourists on the Golden Gate Bridge, taking pictures while riding a bike!
Here’s some more stuff I’ve noted so far:
- Stop signs are pretty much just a suggestion here, in fact it can be downright foolhardy to obey some of them!
- Colombian beer (Aguila) is pretty good!
- There really are frequent instances of people with horse-drawn wagons in heavy traffic! That and people carrying 50 gallon milk urns on a bicycle!
- The mountains around Bogotá are incredible.
- Most cops in the small towns are teenagers.
- Milk in Colombia is sold in a plastic bag and isn’t refrigerated until opened.
- There’s no way I’m going to try road biking here. It would be suicidal.
- The weather in Colombia changes very quickly
- The sun sets around 5:45 to 6:15 PM year-round.
- It took about a day for my sea-level lungs to get used to the thin air.
- Even though the beef kicks ass and I found guacamole I like, there’s no way I’m eating lengua (cow tongue).
- People here don’t drink nearly as much coffee as a gringo would think. Mostly they drink juices.
- The servings of coffee in Colombia are quite tiny compared to the US. I bought a large mocha at a chain coffee stand (ie – kinda like a Starbucks but not) and it came in an 8oz cup! For comparison “tall” (small) at Starbucks in the US is 12oz.
- Cañelazo pretty much almost killed me in the states (thanks Andrés!). Even though it’s delicious, I can’t bear the thought of drinking it. Seems to have minimal effect on Mr. Molano though.
- Colombia is in need of an interstate-type highway system. The highways get closed to outbound traffic at the end of weekends for a period of time to allow inbound traffic to the city more space. Cars line up and park on the side of the road for hours waiting for the highway to reopen!
- There’s a whole mall dedicated to just computers and electronics in Bogotá. I was surprised to find prices pretty much comparable to US prices (I was warned they’d be higher). Replaced the Molanos’ ancient 802.11b router that wouldn’t configure correctly with a new 802.11n router. I did this all on a computer that’s in Spanish running Windows Vista (AY! Mierda! Haha!) mind you!
- Chevy is a hugely popular car brand here, but the cars aren’t actual Chevys. They’re rebadged Isuzu, Toyota, Suzuki, Daiwoo, Opel, Saab, and Suzuki models. Ironically most are better cars than most of the current “actual Chevys” in the brand’s native country.
OK… My “quick bullet points” are becoming long-winded and they’re coming less quickly. It’s time for lunch anyway. More later.
Wonder how many of them vote
I don’t like higher tuition so I’m going to block traffic on the 880 Freeway by running across the other freeways… Maybe I’ll even get hurt jumping from the freeway to avoid custody. No. Nevermind. I’m a rational human being.
What is it about people in California (especially the Bay Area) thinking that a great solution to their grievances can be achieved by obstructing the civil liberties of other people? Oh, and if you’re going to do something illegal in means of a protest, you should be prepared to get arrested vs. jumping off a freeway and showing up in the ER (I’m hoping daddy has paid their insurance premium).
Blocking people in traffic doesn’t “raise awareness” or “wake people up,” it just pisses them off. When it happens with great regularity (I’m talking to YOU, San Francisco Bay Area), people often do the opposite of what you want… which is not caring about your cause because they see you as an annoyance.
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