Back in The Bog.

I'm Back!! No time to waste. 

After a month of being away from my new found home I have finally gone back to continue on my mission. The month home was really blessed and being away from home really helped me appreciate some of the finer things. With all that said I didn't once stop thinking about my plans for what I'm going to do my second time around. I knew it would be different, well it had to be since my complete approach had changed to living in Colombia. When I first realised I was going to be in Colombia my first thoughts were things like, Is it really as Dangerous as they say?, Can I survive without knowing Spanish? and Can I live outside of my comfort zone, Canada? Well now those questions have been answered and someone like me wouldn't go back unless I was planning on doing something different with my approach.

Plotting on the city takeover.

I'm writing this almost a week after I arrived and I still have the ear-to-ear smile going every time I step out onto the street, even after being attacked by Skinheads! For the passed week while I look for an apartment of my own I have been staying in a North House Hostel that's located in the Bogotan equivalent to Granville St in Vancouver, only out here its a whole neighbourhood. This was one of the best decisions I made because since I'm such a homebody if it were up to me I wouldn't leave the house much. Staying in this hostel I not only met some cool people, but I was also motivated to go see the touristy things in Bogota that I couldn't seem to get done in the 5 months I was here before. These include the must-see places like Plaza Bolivar, La Candelaria and of course I had to go back up Monserrate again. La Candelaria is the historic, touristic place to visit in Bogota and Plaza Bolivar is a Huge square located in the middle of the historic district. A week or so before the mayor of Bogota was kicked out of office by the Anti-corruption tsar for abusing the office in a garbage collection dispute. A lot of people in Bogota thought that was unjust and as a result the main square in Bogota is now home of a friendly a protest which has almost a hundred residence taking to the square in tents to "occupy Plaza Bolivar." The protesters were nothing but friendly and they took us on a little tour of their tent town while explaining why they were out there. It was beautiful to see Adults, Kids and Animals alike coming together using friendly means to spread a message.

This is Bogota. Beautiful Monuments covered in Graffiti. And Of course the Mountain Dropback

You take the good with the bad, these artists are so creative.

Showtime In Plaza Bolivar.

Live music is never far in Colombia.

Inside Tentcity. The other side of Plaza Bolivar

Bruh, I told you, I don't speak spanish.

The Tree Of Life

Inshallah this is going to be my last semester of school! I am currently enrolled in my last 2 econ classes required for my degree.. the catch is they are completely in Spanish. It will definitely be interesting to see how those turn out. The vibes on campus are so lifting. Every time I come to campus and see the wide open well kept fields I get filled with energy, and I can feel my Seratonin levels surge to intoxicated levels. Not to mention those paths between those well kept fields act as run-ways to all the beautiful, well dressed Colombian females.

Campus bridge views.

These "clouds" inspire me everyday. 

While walking alone on campus today I came to realise how my experience with women in Colombia have resembled my experience with fruits. When I go to the market(aka school, mall, bus, street) to get fruits I have no clue where to start. As I walk around I become almost overwhelmed with the selection, coming in shapes and sizes I have never seen before. I continue looking around and realise I'm not even looking to get fruit anymore, but I have been reduced to a state of strictly spectating and being mesmerised by whats in front me. I soon after leave empty handed. I guess the paradox of choice was right.

Getting come advice over some vegetarian cuisine

For some reason my video uploads are not working so I will update this section with the video when it starts functioning again. 

Jah Bless
Jah Guide
Jah Rule

Bogotan Rivalry

Last week  (well actually last month... I've experienced technical difficulties.. Too many trips.)  I went to my first Professional Soccer (futbol) game in my life. Who can blame me? Vancouver is the first team on the west coast to have a professional team and they are only a few years old. So basically I have never really experienced what I have heard to be the most devoted fans in all of the sports world, all I knew was from T.V.  and of course what you see on the news and T.V is exaggerated and you really can't believe it. Or so I thought. The Futbol game I went to was strategically chosen because it was between the two teams that call Bogota their home, The Millionarios vs Santa Fe. A classic as they call it here. Even though soccer isn't one of my favorite sports I had to see a game as Colombia is about to qualify for the world cup and as they say, When in Colombia, do as the Colombians.

Juggarnauts on deck. 

As we walked up to the stadium it was quite evident that this was a Millionarios home game as everyone was wearing Royal Blue and all the street vendors had their millionarios gear on deck. I heard later on that they only allow 1 section of tickets to be sold to the visiting team to help combat the combats. I decided to go with a neutral one and black outfit and I have heard about the Red vs. Blue color wars in California and I didn't Want to get caught on the wrong side. Better to play it safe in these types of situations. Once we get passed the initial Security check which doesn't allow belts, watches, umbrellas or ciggarettes passed, we stopped in our tracks to see about 20 police in full on riot gear just roaming around the stadium, That's when I realized how real it gets out here. After meeting up with some friends we headed to our seats about 2 minutes after the game has started. Surprisingly everyone was still standing and chanting something I couldn't understand. Finding our seats was a whole different issue. In Colombian fashion, the rules are ignored and our assigned seats held no weight, It was a free-for-all get whatever seat is open type deal. I ended up being alone about 7 rows up, right in the corner between a Uber- horny couple (I thought it was the Colombain valetines day, turns out it was only a preview) and a Family of about 5 with 2 little girls. My first experience of a corner kick of the other team proved to be interesting.. as he was setting up I learned all the Colombians who could not bring their watches and belts in, managed to smuggle in a whole grocery store worth of toilet paper rolls which they threw on the field as well as an Air Canada fleets worth of paper airplanes that were used to try and distract, or poke an eye out on the field.  The thing that was even weirder was that when the double length, Single ply toilet paper unraveled on the field, they just left it there for the rest of the half. 20 minutes into the game I realized that sitting during was not going to be an option and I accepted my fate standing for the entire 90 minutes, Plus injury time because we all know soccer players love to fake, or exaggerate their injuries. Although I do think its part of the Colombian culture because I see the same things happenening on the basketball court, but that's another subject.

Is that a belt I feel Kid??? 

The environment in the stadium was exactly what I had expected to see from T.V. They had a few sections of the Die-hard fans which were singing whole songs throughout the game with a Band and all. I don't know where they get all this energy from but I must say I felt a bit of jealous of the players as I wished their was a basketball environment possible of matching this party in the stands. They make NCAA college basketball fans look like they are Surrounding a tee waiting for Phil Mickelson to putt. Since it was such a family environment it really shocked me to hear what these parents beside me and everyone else was yelling. I think the most common word I heard all night was "puta," and they were yelling it at their own players as well.

"PUTA".... definitely not a childrens environment. 

As you noticed I didn't mention anything about the actual game or players as the game itself was really boring as it ended in a tie 0-0. After 90+ minutes of standing I was ready to get out of their and get a good meal in, only to see everyone sitting once the game ended... did I miss something? maybe there is an Overtime or penalty kicks. Nope, turns out they only let the one section with the Santa fe fans out and the rest of the stadium has to wait for half an hour. That's about 1 tenth of the stadium that was given a head start to get away from the rabbid fans supporting The Millionarios. It was crazy to see the exits that were close to us blocked by about 15 police with dogs. I wonder how many police they have to staff each game just to keep a Riot from happening. I immediately felt embarrassed when I remembered I showed the Vancouver riots to my classmates during a presentation. This is completely normal for them, meanwhile in Colombia they take it in stride.

When they Finally let us out it was now a battle of who is getting on the Transmillenio first. And I thought It was bad before just go back to my last post about the transmillenio and imagine 5.6 times worse. I'm just happy I got home in one piece.. Until next time my peoples. The journey continues. 

Jah Bless
Jah Guide
Jah Rule

Ps. Its really no joke out here. In the passed month after watching that game 3 fans were killed in Bogota for wearing the wrong jersey and 5 died during the celebrations after Colombia qualified for the World Cup. R.I.P 

First Weeks in Bogota Pt 2

It's been almost 2 weeks since my last post but anyone who has ever been to the legendary Medellin will understand how a weekend trip can turn into almost a full week of travel. I just returned from my trip to the Feria De Los Flores and I think I found the city I would want to live in if I were to stay in Colombia long term. I will have to do a whole separate post on my experience there as there is so much to say about Medellin, but until then its back to Bogota.

I always end up in Mountain cities and I love it. The Views are Incredble 

As much as people here say they don't like Bogota, I feel a certain vibe in this city that is unique from any city I've ever been. Maybe I enjoy the controlled chaos of the Transmillenio, which is the strangest form of public transportation I have ever seen. For all my Vancouver people, it's run by a fleet of 99 B-line type buses that operate on their own lanes and have their own stations as if they are trains.

The fleet. I really shouldn't be taking these pictures. They warned me.

The Bus-Train stations. 2 sets of doors to enter the bus. Don't ask why.

For some reason most stations even have doors that slide open when a bus pulls up. Besides the apparent safety features, a lot of the stations I've been on have the whole route map scratched out so its a matter of guessing and hoping you catch a bus that will stop at the station you need. I think the people added this feature to make it easier to "spot the gringo". If your lucky enough to get on the correct bus and are heading to your destination you will still have to deal with the huge pot holes in the exclusive lanes that bring every bus to a slow crawl. Rick Ross should have changed his lyrics in Mafia music to "I'm dodging debacles like pot holes in Bogota".

Couldn't dodge this one. The potholes are seriously everywhere. 

With all that said The Transmillenio is really is the best way to get around in the city, but every time I ride it I really can't wrap my head around why they would build all the infrastructure needed for a metro system but opt out for a bus fleet as their main mode of transportation. And another Shout out to my Vancouver people complaining about the bus transfer tickets not working on the new SkyTrain ticketing system. I've twice been locked IN to a station (yes IN) where the only way I could leave was to pay for another ticket. I needed to buy a special card to leave as well, so instead I decided to get my Spanish sweet talking on and ask an older lady if she could load her card up for me. On top of that, every feeder bus is private and operates on their own fare system. One trip can cost me up to 5,000 Pesos!! That works out to only about $2.75 so I guess I have no right to complain.

I got on 3 buses later... Lucky I still have my phone. I shouldn't be taking these pictures.

Entrance to the underground Salt Cathedral 

To get away from the Hectic city we decided to take a trip outside of Bogota to the Underground Salt Cathedral which is about 40 minutes away from Bogota in Zipaquira. It is one of two Churches in the world that are built underground in a salt mine. The original sanctuary was built by the salt miners as a place where they could pray and ask for protection from the Saints before they started work. The present day construction starts off as a series of tunnels that show the 14 different stations of the cross under LED mood lighting which then leads to a temple that highlights the Birth, Life and Death of Jesus.

One of the 14 stations

I love the setting, my phone camera couldn't do it justice

Can't believe this is all built in a salt mine. 

One of 3 Sections at the temple in the end. 

Representation of the birth of Jesus.

Main alter in the old cathedral. 20+ meters high

It really is a marvel of human architectural accomplishments and the intimate walk through the mine put me in a place of reflection and slowed my mind down to a near meditative state at some points. The one thing that really stuck out to me among all this beauty is that they decided to have a Black Jesus on the cross. This is the first time I have seen such a depiction in a major Tourist area and I don't know if this is a common thought in Latin America but I definitely found it interesting.

Black Jesus, Only 2 years old.

Due to requests from either my extremely busy or just less-educated readers the next posts will have less writing. ;)


Jah Bless
Jah Guide
Jah Rule