bustling bogota

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Bogota, I can't really say a bad thing about it. I've had a fabulous two weeks living a life I'd almost fogotten exists. I've been 'living it up' so to say and have been lucky enough to stay at Elise's wonderfully amazing apartment in a very nice part of town.
I've seen a different side to Bogota. Most backpackers who come through here do just that, they come through here on their way to somewhere else. They stay in a not so nice part of town; a sometimes dangerous part of town, and it rains a lot here. So they hang out, go out, and feel miserable because yes this place is cold and wet, most of the time.
Lucky me however I've been as I said living it up; sleeping in, watching movies, hanging out, eating delicious ice cream, window shopping, watching more movies, sleeping, eating and spending money on good steak. Yep my two weeks in Bogota have involved very little of actual Bogota and a lot of gathering my thoughts, regaining energy (although I think that me sleeping so much has only made me more tired) and well spending some quality time with Elise!
The past week I did venture out to see more of Bogota. I went down town and looked through the Gold museum which was actually quite impressive, before wandering around the Old City, which was nice; old buildings etc but crazy busy, people and buses everywhere...this seems to be a pattern with the cities in central and south america....we'll see if it continues.
The part of Bogota I'd seen before that was the 'posh' area of town, Zona Rosa. It's where well the wealthier people hang out. The mall is huge but not for the lonely backpacker, shops like Kenneth Cole and Diesel, Bvgari and Tiffany's all have a space as well as high end Colombian stores, expensive eateries and well the best ice cream I've had in a long time! This is where I've been hanging out during the day when I feel like dressing up. Elise gave me access to her wardrobe, bless her, so here I am wearing nice jeans, awesome boots and gorgeous jackets feeling well not in the least bit like a backpacker, which after twelve months is a nice feeling!
My favourite place so far would have to be the local market, which happens once every two months. It was great and could have been anywhere in Melbourne. That quirky, artisan, hippy, alternative style market. Handmade bags, clothes and shoes. Every kind of Vintage item you could ever want, designer threads, cool music and gormet food, it was two hours spent oh so happily, on a cold day in the suburbs of Bogota and it reminded me of home, Brunswick in particular and this feeling is always of absolute happiness!
Elise and Hannah; we make a pretty awesome pair, both 'pices', which we both believe has something to do with it and the same shoe size, even better. Oh and well Elise believes i'm a younger version of her, look out when I get to my late thirties world!! SO Elise being the amazing person she is and me being well almost as amazing we ventured out to the very posh part of town for well our first night out on the town! What a night; romanian drug lords, beer and the awesome el coq bar made for a big headache the next day. Just rekindling our Jaco experiences I guess. Colombia nightlife you get a big tick from me.
Colombia night life you now get two ticks because three nights ago you made my birthday oh so special. A night out at Andres Carne de Res drinking far too many mojitos, eating one two many amazing steaks and laughing oh so much. Add to the mix a german and an austrian, free shots, 'felize cumple' being sung to you by crazy entertainers, roses, good music and an wonderfully good looking waiter and you have yourself a pretty great birthday night! Another very big and very memorable headache followed but one that will not be forgotten any time soon. Happy 24th Birthday to me!!
Wow, I've just read the blog, i was high on life this particular day, obviously! The two days following the day that I wrote this I wasn't the same 'high spirited' hannah that I was here. I was hating on Bogota. A. It just didn't stop raining. B. I had to leave the amazing 'villa de leyva' after after only two days as I was running out of time. C. Bogota has the worst postal service EVER. D Bogota has the worst postal service EVER! I mean it is ridiculous. SOmething as easy as posting a letter should be well easy!! But no no, firstly they list international postal services on the internet that don't exist, unfortunately on day one of attempting to post package I didn't find this out until I had paid $20 to the taxi driver and $1 to the internet cafe where I found a phone number only to later find out it didn't work!! hmmm FRUSTRATED MUCH?!! After hours of research on the internet and phone calls to again non existent phone numbers I found the mother load! FED EX or the south american version, you beauty. After going to sleep grumpy, after having purchased presents to send home and realising I may not be able to send them, I woke up in high spirits. I would post this package. HOLD THE BUS. I was just thinking how silly I sounded saying how grumpy I was after failing to send a package....then i realised I failed to tell you about the rest of my eventful 'amazing race' day. So we'll just go back a few steps. The night of my birthday at Andres which resulted in a huge headache I must have lost the belt to Elise's very nice jacket. Note I wrote, must, as I can't remember, but after searching throughout the house and throughout my belongings it was no where to be found. Job No.1 was to go to Andres and ask (in spanish of course) for elise's belt. Not so easy to explain but somehow I got through to the very patient waitress. However no belt. I searched through store after store for belts, but as you may be thinking, its rare to find a belt belonging to a coat for sale in a clothing store = no luck. Job No. 2 take bus into town and find someone to make new belt. I took the wrong bus, so I got off in a total ghetto area surrounded by well people I guess we could classify as feral = get out of there fast!! So i used my keen sense of direction (mum you should be thankful i have this) and made my way into town. After being hassled by numerous street vendors to by bubble makers and other useless items I found the 'fabric street' bingo! Now I just had to hunt down the right fabric. Think silky but not shiny silky, thick black fabric. Not so easy to find. Yep plenty of cotton, in all colours, thousands of buttons and lace, store after store of suit materical, but black shiny, not silky, thick black fabric, no. After a good hour of solid searching I found the closest thing possible. However the saleswoman tried to talk me out of purchasing it (a first?!) she said it wasn't the same material; well hello I think I'm quite aware of this fact, now sell me the damn fabric. Can I remind you I did all of this in spanish, very frustrating, but I have the fabric, now to find someone to make me a belt. Hmmmm after trying three places and being laughed at numerous times; do you think I could remember the spanish term for 'make'...I found a lovely old frail man called Alberto who directed me to a tailor, who in turn made me a belt. Two hours and five dollars later I had my belt, a pretty good job I should think. Oh now here I am again, forgetting the part that made me super grumpy. My hair. For those of you who know me, my hair is fairly precious. Not that I look after it, but hair appointments are a time of excitement followed by stress followed by near breakdown followed by acceptance and flaunting. My hair hasn't been cut in well lets say a good 7 months, its totally broken and every time I shower I get clumps of badly coloured hair tangled in my hands. So it was time. I'd ummed and ahhhed about this for quite some time; I should just wait until london and get it done properly, my hair isn't in that bad a shape, Its getting long I should just leave it, I REALLY need a hair cut, I should cut my hair, I'm scared! However I had two hours to wait and I'd already explored all there is to see in the city center. SO i walk into the first salon I see (impulsiveness is my downfall) and ask for a hair cut, yes in spanish. I make sure I gesture, pequito, pequito, pulling my hair and demonstrating how much I want. I got a wash, very relaxing and then we ran through what I wanted done, just the ends off please, yes, good, perfect. Relaxed again. Snip, snip, snip; all is good, tranquillo. Snip, SNIP SNIP, SNIP, snip. Holy shit. SNIP SNIP SNIP SNIP (note big snips equals big cuts equals big chunks of hair cut horizontally, FARRRRRKK! Freaking out right about now. snip, snip, snip; face starts to go red, lips purse together = none existent lips, panic, snip, snip SNAP! I snapped, out of no where (i'm sure she thought) and grabbed my hair. "Esta no pequito, no pequito, no mas, no mas (all whilst pulling hair) tranquillo tranquillo she says as she shows me a piece of hair that is at least an inch long and continues to cut. After three minutes in total she's finished, she's blowdrying my hair and putting in some disgusting wax and I'm handing over $4 for a complete hack job. My beautiful curly locks that were getting so long, hacked. My eyes start to well up, with anger I think and this is where I blame you mum, for making me so crazy about my hair. I'm never happy when I walk out of the hairdressers with a $100 perfectly fine hair cut so imagine me when i walk out of a hair dressers after having a five dollar hack job = absolutely crazy upset hannah. McDOnalds half cured my anger and the ice cream following calmed my overwhelming desire to cry. I walked back to pick up the belt. I collected the belt and I returned home. I cried. I skyped Rachel. I yelled at mum. I vented to Elise. I went to sleep.
So that was a rather long description of why I was grumpy but a good vent (I feel better now thank you!)
And now back to where I was about 500 words ago. Yes waking up in high spirits. I would post this package. Well to make things a little more brief. Internet, phone number, failed call, five dollar taxi, hit the mother load (DHS postal!) waited almost an hour, was being served only to be told I needed my passport. Didn't have passport. Five dollar cab ride back home. Five dollar cab ride back to DHS, found FED EX two doors up, tried fed ex, didn't need passport, told it would cost $360, felt anger well up inside, calm, calm, walked to DHS, served by nice lady, asked her to price the package first, told $350, que anger welling here, tried different box with select items, told $270 with discount. Two hundred and seventy dollars. Nothing in that package was worth $270. Extreme anger. Tear welling (mental breakdown?!) calm calm. $5 taxi home, AGAIN! Time to think. Nothing was worth that much money. There are things I don't need to send home, but I just purchased presents for the everyone because i knew I was sending things home. This included two pairs of woolen slippers. My backpack was packed, they wouldn't fit. Now what am I going to do. Anger, sadness, music, loud singing, CALM! Who cares, it's a package and it can stay at ELise's and thats exactly where it is. The presents can stay and or it can be a gift to Elise for having me. its not worth getting upset over, although clearly a lot of time was wasted on just that. And so this was my day or two days rather of hating on Bogota.
My last day was spent packing, packing and re-packing. I think I've done a good job this time. My pack is the lightest it's been = happy hannah!
I left Bogota on Thursday night after two weeks of well just of...I didn't love it and I didn't hate it but it was absolutely perfect... so thanks Bogota and thank you Elise for reviving me!!! xx

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Photos

cute little bohemian market
mum you would have been in heaven!

Comments

[brittany]

you make me laugh =)
oh hannah my dear. your post made me laugh and then nearly weep for your frustrations. however, i am sure you look amazing still and that your stunning beauty is still lighting up each city you encounter. go on a post a picture of your "hack job" so that everyone can ooh and ahh and tell you that we all still think you are beautiful (or so we can make fun of you and agree that you look hideous). mucho amor.