Shortly after my arrival to Colombia
I felt the usual urge for climbing. And so I went to Suesca, a place about
60 km north of Bogota. There is a massive crag along a neglected railway
track with established 400 sport and trad routes, including some
multi-pitch climbing too. I have made friends with some local climbers as
soon as I reached the crag, with whom I have climbed many times ever
since. I slept on a beautiful ledge within the crag my first night which
proved very pleasant. And so we climbed and enjoyed it as ever. The
following night the 4 of us squeezed in a Miguel’s little room just to
rest before leaving for another nice climbing spot in Suta Tauza where
there is plenty of boulder problems surrounded by the magnificent scenery,
green and rocky valley. The night after we stayed at a
friend’s parents’ “finca” indulging ourselves in a hot Jacuzzi bath which
was my first experience of this kind. I also cooked with “tomates de arbol”
which I found growing in the garden, I added them to the morning omelet which was interesting
but I learned that they taste better in a jugo (pronounced /hugo/)…
A week or so later… I was moving from
my first CS host to another, from northern part of Bogotá to the central
one. It was all happening later in the evening as the circumstances
didn’t allow it any earlier. When I got off the Transmilenio bus
(local transportation system) I guessed my way through. It is not
that difficult here as they use the grid street system where the streets
and avenues are numbered. The trouble began when the little alley I was walking through got narrower. As
started to think that this might be a little bit dodgy, a guy, who I noticed
with the corner of my sight, started to follow me. He soon got very close
to me and started saying repeatedly “celular” (mobile phone). When I
looked at him he was holding a knife blade right next to my face,
threatening me with it.
Honestly, I didn’t have a clue what
to do, it felt unreal and I was scared as hell, unable to run fast with
20kg on my back. I kept telling him I didn’t understand him and kept going
my way while he was pulling me back into the dodgy alley. At this point I
realised that my escape was only about 20 meters ahead of me, at the main
road. In the meantime a young woman entered the little street and, when
she saw what was happening, she started banging on one of the metal
gates. This made the robber step back and gave me enough time to
escape.
Shaken but happy that I survived such
situation scratchless I reached my destination. I stood there ringing the
bell but no one answered. The light in the apartment seemed to be on, I
even tried to speak to the neighbour but I think my Spanish wasn’t
sufficient to explain my situation. Then, suddenly, a car pulled over
about 30 metres above the entrance where I was standing. Two lads came out
and started walking towards me. I greeted them hoping they might let me
in. Instead, one of them pulled out a knife and the other one grabbed my
bag and started to run with it towards the
car. “What the fuck”, I thought aloud. It took me about 3 seconds to wake
up again. I caught up with “the other guy” who was already inside on the
back seats with my backpack but he didn’t manage to close the door yet. I
grabbed hold of him trying to
pull him and my luggage out and asking him all along, and not very kindly,
to return my property. But he sat there quietly not letting go of whatever
he was holding onto. Menwhile, the other guy and his weapon, also slightly
taken with my sudden reaction, tripped over and dropped his “gun”. Then he
quickly got into the car while “the other guy” held on even tighter. The
car started to move. I started to walk. It speeded up. I started to run.
And soon enough it was going too fast for me to keep up so I let go. That
was it, all gone. Well except my passport, debit card, a bit of cash,
broken mobile phone, pocket knife, the clothes I was wearing and my
lovely boots! They almost robbed me of all my enthusiasm too, but it kept burning and, thanks to all my dear
friends, it is now back to its full blaze! It wasn’t easy, in my head
there was a proper turmoil going on. But few days later I got a
teaching job and people looked after me. And going out in Bogotá may be
fun too…
Especially if you go to
the underground salsa club and you are not sober, accompanied with
some alike crazy people. Everybody dances like there was no
tomorrow, aguardiende is drunk straight from the bottle, sweat condenses
on the ceiling and rains back onto people. Spectacular! The other time I
went out was again with my dear doctor and some more of her friends and
two bottles of Famous Grouse. We made it to a private party in an old
and huge apartment downtown. We danced, we drunk, we had tons of
fun until, and that I don’t remember, we left. Apparently we took a
taxi. Apparently I opened the door before the taxi managed to stop and
I started walking. Then I remember this glimpse of a struggle to find
my way around even though I was nearby and it’s usually very easy.
There are the signs with street and avenue numbers on almost each corner
of the block. But by the time I got to the next corner I couldn’t
remember what the previous one said… I woke up in the morning, in my bed,
very thirsty and with some blood on my trousers which wasn’t my. Who
knows. Not me.
Bogotá is full of homeless people who
are often drug addicts or “recycladores” (people who collect the street
refuse and take it to the recycling collection points and so earn some
pennies) or both. The later ones are my personal heroes. They can often be
seen pulling a two-wheel cart, piled up high with rubbish, right through
the crazy Bogotá traffic. Once I approached one of these guys and asked if
I could help him pulling his cart. He was hesitant but, when I
insisted, he agreed. And so I pulled and he collected. I think we must
have made a good team as we got some attention from the onlookers, while
we were stuck in traffic (with the trolley, ridiculous). It’s hard to
survive
in Bogotá doing this. Once I was
walking home when I saw another recyclador loading his trolley so quickly
and skillfully that I had to pause. I shared some bread and water with him
and helped him to finish it off. This is, by the way, how I pay the taxes
here, directly to the hungriest, with food.
Once upon a time, when coming back to
the “Colombian capital of chaos” from Suesca, I found out about a trash
metal concert. So I went. It was a good one, sound bands, reasonably
priced beer but not very lively audience. I had to mosh alone. After the
gig I didn’t have enough money to pay the taxi all the way home so I went
looking for someone to share it with. The first
guy I asked was up for it but in the end we took a bus because he knew
how. I invested the spared capital into a slice of naughty pizza and even
naughtier beer. And here comes the cherry: My landlady locked me out of
the house (“she thought I was not coming home that night?!”). When no one
answered my loud-enough-to-wake-the-
Truth, it was alright to live this
family but things changed. First I lived with a girl, her father and
another girl who was renting like me. After about a month or so I came
home and the renting girl said she was sad. Why? Because the other two had
left. Where? Buenos Aires. Really? Really! Funny, I told them two off for
making noise moving the furniture after midnight the night before. A
mother (of the girl who left with her father) moved in. With her boyfriend
who didn’t like me. And his son who was quite funny but I didn’t
understand him. They were alright too and they tried my birthday space flapjack
but apparently didn’t feel anything. Except the son who thought that
someone was touching his feet all night long. I got high too, the ladder
must have had many steps because it took me a while to get back down...
Some interesting projects I have come
across so far:
Educational institute for children
from a poor neighbourhood in
Food for homeless people in Bogotá:
Homestay for mentally disabled adults
near Bogotá:
Organic coffee farm near Armenia:
Organic and spiritual farmstay near
Armenia:
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