Bogota - Salsa, Swimming and Scientology (Week 3)

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Not much to report for this last week. Nat and I have been training mornings, afternoons and nights every day. I swam a total of 19.35km, which I was pretty stoked with... it's what happens when you go swimming twice a day for a week, I guess! There weren't any excursions planned this week for school, so I had plenty of time to focus on the UWR. I'm learning heaps from the Colombian team - for example this week we learnt about the "Bottle Opener" which essentially involves popping the goalie off the basket like a bottle top. I'm playing with some really awesome, experienced goalies who are giving me some great tips (with only a few miscommunications along the way) and hopefully when we head back down towards sea level, I'll have a super breath hold!!

The pool we are training in is really nice. The facility is in the Parque Simon Bolivar - a large park in Bogota commemorating the leader who played a major role in the independence of Colombia (as well as Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia). The pool looks out over the park and the mountains, making for a really nice view during the day (not that there's much to see once you're under the water!

On Friday, we went dancing after training with a few of the rugby guys. I have to admit that one of the things that I was a bit nervous about was dancing in South America. It's no exaggeration that everyone here loves to dance - and is good at it too! The club we went to was apparently not a very good one, but to my uneducated Aussie sensibilities, it seemed pretty awesome! The club wasn't playing the music that you can expect in Australia when you go out - it was all Latino, and everyone there was dancing like they were experts! We were led to a table where a waitress took our drinks order. At that time of the night, there were no beers allowed - only bottles of rum! The rum came out with cola, water and limes - and even though it was the house rum, was really delicious! After a couple of glasses, I was ready to give the dancing a shot. I'd already warned everyone that I had no idea what I was doing - but luckily, the men always lead in these dances, so I could just follow along with them (hooray for gender stereotypes!). The music cycled through the different dance styles - Merengue, Salsa, Bachata, Vallenato. Somehow, everyone could tell when a new song started which dance it was, but it all sounded the same to me - I'm sure I'll get the hang of it. The guys were all amazing dancers, and great teachers too! Apparently I'm "una tasa" (which essentially means "a natural" here in Colombia). Who knew I had the Latino blood in me all along! I really liked Merengue, which had the simplest footsteps and involved a lot of twirling around which was a lot of fun. It was quite a work out, and we ended up staying there until 3am, just dancing! Cant wait until next time! Next Friday we will be going to a much better place apparently, and trying the Aguardiente (Firewater) which I think has that aniseedy flavour. Yum!

Only other random thing of note is that on my way to the pool on Sunday, I came across the aftermath of some sort of Scientology festival. They had closed off the street for the entire block near the Scientology building (yes they have an entire 8 storey building) and there was a stage set up with a bunch of seating with there was confetti all over the street. A few people were still hanging around in fancy clothes and there were police everywhere. I snapped a quick photo, but didn't want to hang around in case someone came over and started discussing body thetans with me. I'm surprised that Scientology is big enough over here that they have the funds to build an entire (and very modern & expensive looking building), as well as close off an entire street for the morning! Just goes to show that they're everywhere now... Maybe in cohorts with the freemasons?! Stay safe out there, guys!!!

Over the next week, 4 more team mates are arriving in Bogota to join the training. Julie arrives tomorrow from France, followed by Tenielle from Brisbane 2 days later, and Nicola and Brianna from Sydney a few days after that. Really looking forward to it - this apartment is going to get crowded! The school also has another outing planned for tomorrow at the Plaza de Toros and the Planetarium, which should be muy chevere. Looking forward to it!

Hasta proxima... Chao!

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Photos

Cumplejo Acuatico Simon Bolivar
Dive pool where we have UWR training every night

Scientology Building
Wonder what's going on in there.....

Comments

[Andrea]

Love the blog! Your description of the dancing really brought back memories and I had a quiet chuckle.

[Julia Flavel]

The Aussie salsa queen
You may start a new dancing craze on your return. Well done with the training. You are doing really well and obviously enjoying it. It will be very exciting as your teammates arrive to prepare. Keep safe.