Seeing is believing

I was walking through Zona T the other night, and thought a photo would be appropriate to show just a little bit of how festive and intense the Holiday spirit is here in Bogota. Since it doesn't snow here, the light arrangements around Zona T (a couple of streets making a "T" intersection that have been closed to traffic making a pedestrian mall lined with bars and restaurants, and surrounded by high end stores and shopping malls) are designed to look like snow. Pretty cool to see in person.

When Nature Calls...
... you answer! While coming back from buying some supplies for CrossFit Bogota the other day, I turned to my right and happened to see a father, holding up his young daughter (maybe she was 2 or 3 years old) to let her pee. This was in broad daylight, along the side of the autopista and right next to some woman selling stuff that he was talking to.

But then a minute or two later, once again I look to my right to see nature's hand at work again. Well, maybe not hand. Two dogs were banging away, do the nasty doggy style. I just started laughing as I saw two guys watching the dogs get down to business as they walked by. I tried to get a photo, but we turned before I could.

Somebody's watchin' me.
This weekend was a blitzkrieg of drinking. We started Friday night checking out a new bar called Victoria, and began an abbreviated bar crawl. None of us were that into the scene there, so we drank our drinks and proceeded over to Penthouse, which just opened a week ago. Penthouse is supposedly a 4 floor club that even has a sauna. There was a 180 Aguardiente party there, but rather than deal with the door we looked at the crowd and decided we would rather go to our sala de estar... Maroma! After engaging in de rumba for several hours, and getting some girls' numbers, at 5am or so it was time to call it quits.

When I get home, I realize I lost my key, most likely somewhere on the floor at Maroma. After about 10 minutes of trying to wake Ernesto, he came to the door 3/4 asleep and let me in. Literally, a minute or two after I walk in the door the intercom rings. The doorman tells me a girl is downstairs, and asks if he should let her come up. I told him "no way" and that I'll take a look from the balcony to see who the hell it was since I wasn't expecting anyone. Unfortunately, this mystery girl was already in the building's lobby when I went to the balcony, so no luck. I went downstairs to confront this possible late night casual encounter.

A girl was standing there all right, but I had no clue who the hell she was. She proceeds to tell me her name, that she lives in the next building, that she saw me at the club tonight and that she recognized me from the neighborhood. Whoa! That's creepy. Couple that with the fact that something similar happened with another girl a couple days after I moved into the building. I acted gentlemanly, got her number thought I can't remember what she looked like at all, and went to bed.

The next morning, my doorman said that I'm being watched 24/7, and should hire a private body guard. We're all having a good laugh about it, although it is incredibly strange and flattering in a disturbing in a sense.

Llamadas!
I didn't understand what this was all about until last week. In Colombia, the three mobile phone carriers: Comcel, Tigo and Movistar, charge extremely high per minute rates for phone calls made from one network to another (Comcel roughly controls 60% of the Colombian mobile phone market). So, some clever folks came up with the idea to "lease" mobile phones out to people on the street for anywhere between COP 150-300 per minute (roughly $0.09/minute). Pretty expensive, but I guess it is less expensive than calling on your own mobile phone. I'm not sure why the costs are so high, but they are.

You can see people on the street every 20 meters or so yelling "Llamadas! Llamadas!" This explains why so many times when I call or sms someone, they ususally call back from a different number. At first, I thought everyone here at multiple cell phones, so I'd save the numbers. But when I received calls from the same person from more than three different numbers, I thought, "what the hell?" Now I know, and knowing is half the battle!

Clothing Line.
This week CrossFit Bogotá T-shirts arrived! All the initial clients will get one with their membership, and then they'll be for sale for COP 20.000 each (a little less than $10). They came out great, and were custom tailored. The shirts were actually made from the raw fabric, not bought and then screen printed. Gotta love the textile/garment industry down here. I wear them every day when I go to train a class or do my own workout - advertising!

Well, to be honest I'm also almost out of clean clothes, though I expect to purchase a washing machine this week. And after visiting a local laundrymat to see if they do laundry-by-the-pound like in New York, we learned that 10lbs of laundry would cost approximately COP 70.000, or $35! They originally started taking clothes out of my laundry bag, which seemed strange until we learned that they charge per item - COP 1,500 for a pair of socks and COP 3,500 for underwear! Hell, in five wash loads I'd have paid enough to buy my own laundry machine!

Detox.
We do a CrossFit workout in Virrey that was torture after the previous night's drinking display. Breakfast is an excruciating experience, so we decide it would be best to go to the sauna. Man, was that a great idea or what?!

Marco, Ernesto and I drove out to Club El Rincon, which is located somewhere towards Chia north of Bogota. We arrive and immediately hit the sauna (steam room). It was HOT! We hit the steam twice before taking a breather, literally, and ordering some snacks and juice while watching a polo match. We all then proceeded to pass out for about two hours, hit the steam once more, and shower up to get read for Andres. Man, I'm tellin' ya. After those steams and the nap, I felt like Friday night didn't even happen!

Retox.
Andres was about twice as crowded as the week prior, and the hotness was everywhere around us. We arrived late due to a house party earlier, so we didn't have a table when we arrived despite its being Ernesto's birthday. Luckily, within about 15 minutes one of the tables where we normally sit opened up and we were in business. Turns out that Juanes was at Andres as well, and quite a mob surrounded him as he was leaving to do a late concert somewhere. I guess he wanted to make way for Ernesto's birthday!

Back in the mix.

When it rains...
... it pours, and the signs a massive downpour are coming are obvious. As I exited the Transmilenio after going somewhere to do something, I saw the darkness descend on the mountain. The contrast was so stark that I had to snap a photo. The sky moving east to west was so dark and ominous that it meant only one thing - massive downpour is imminent. Sure enough, I wasn't disappointed. Instantly my street's potholes were filled with water just waiting for the innocent pedestrian to approach while a driver sped by creating a tidal wave about 6' high!

Counterfeit!
On my way to teach English last week I took a taxi because I was running late, and I only had a 20.000 COP note left on me from a withdrawal I made from a Citibank ATM a few days earlier. When I handed it to the driver to pay he told me that he could not accept it because it was a fake. At my destination there was another Citibank ATM, so he said he would wait while I got some cash. The new 20.000 COP note I gave him he said was real, and he showed me how to spot the differences, and gave me change. Luckily I had the ATM receipt from my withdrawal so I planned on going to Citibank with the fake to exchange it later.

When I met my student, I told him that I had a fake 20.000 COP note from a Citibank ATM. He didn't believe that a Citibank ATM would give me a fake, but when he inspected the note he agreed that it was fake. He then looked at the change the taxi driver game me, and he saw the 10.000 COP note and asked to see it. He then told me that 10.000 COP I got from the taxi driver was a fake as well! His coworkers confirmed that both notes were counterfeits.

After examining the notes more carefully, I distinctly remember having notes that looked and felt similar before and being readily able to spend them. So before going to Citibank I stopped at the grocery store to buy a couple of items, and sure enough they accepted my notes. Go figure!

Caras.
A friend told me to pick up a copy of the magazine "Caras" (faces), which is a socialite magazine containing photos of people at parties, events, functions, etc. As I flipped through the pages wondering why I was told to buy this magazine, I came to the section of Halloween photos from Andres. "OH SHIT!" I thought. And then I saw it, a photo of Julio, Shammy and I in our 70s basketball getups, only they got my name wrong. They somehow bastardized my friend's name, which I think shall now become my alias, my alter ego, whenever I'm out.

Pretty nifty.
Given that it rains so much here, the city has come up with some intelligent civil engineering to drain the deluge of water that accumulates when it rains. One that I noticed the other day was these little grooves cut into the concrete on the sidewalk. I never noticed it before, but at least where I saw them on Calle 85 they channeled the water from the sidewalk to the street gutter.

Weekend debauchery.
The friend that invited me here in the first place, Alejo, visited this weekend. We started the weekend, Friday night, with a house party at the Embassy (the apartment). About 20 people showed up, and we proceeded to drink ourselves into oblivion. After drinking heavily at the apartment, most of us marched over to Maroma which is where my memory becomes a bit spotty. I remember meeting up with Caroline (or KRo, formerly known as the "Hot Chick") and her friends, who were also plastered. I also recall repeatedly offering our usual bartender some vodka, and then sitting on the bar, not at the bar but on it, at one point. But for the most part my memory is somewhat blank from the rest of the night, however, my friends informed me that I was in rare comedic form Friday night.

On Saturday, we hit Virrey to CrossFit, then met up with Alejo to hit the sauna and sweat out any remnants of Friday night's liver destruction. At around 7pm we were ready to head off to Andres. This weekend we arrived way too early, and while still super fun, it was definitely "chill" for Andres. A lot of people took advantage of the 3-day weekend to head out of Bogota to Cartegena or the far more temperate nearby countryside.

Upon arriving at Andres we turned "Mesa Grande" into "Mesa EXTRA Grande" by absorbing the table next to it. All in, we were about 20 people. The night started slowly, with most of us drinking non alcoholic beverages until around 10pm, which is when we finally showed some signs of life. But our table seemed to be the only one around that had energy, and when Andy, our other friend visiting from Europe, arrived, things really picked up. To make a long story short, we lost Andy for quite a while at one point where some of us assumed he had either passed out under the table, in the bathroom or had crossed the street to fall asleep in one of the recovery hammocks. However, such assumptions were unfounded as he mysteriously surfaced with sparkles and smeared paint on his face along with a Venezuelan girl that he met in the far reaches of Andres who was part of a Venezuelan contigion here for the weekend.

I never really got going, but I did meet another girl. Somehow, while sober, I spoke to her in Spanish and understood what she said for the most part. Now mind you this is while I was sober. When drunk, one gets better at speaking any language, along with getting better at a great many other things. Well, maybe not. But it is further evidence that my Spanish is getting better. Well all right!

Construction.
I have finalized the plans for the backyard construction project, which will house CrossFit Bogota for the time being. With a 50 sm terrace, and rents at high levels going into a definitely recessionary environment, helped along by the collapse of the pyramides, there is no point renting a local yet. Instead, I will wait until I get to about 30 clients, and then look to rent a local. Start-up 101 - keep the burn low! So, to the right is a drawing that gives you the main idea. It will be more than sufficient for the time being, and will allow me to grow the client base while keeping costs low. In addition, we get some much needed privacy. The one drawback to this apartment is that there is a big office building looking down into our terrace, and into our bedrooms. Luckily the previous tenant left their black out shades, so they cannot see in the bedrooms. But the two structures I planned to build will provide the privacy we need, while still leaving much of the terrace open to enjoy the fresh air, and of course to BBQ!

As of this week I've got about 14-16 clients for CrossFit Bogota, and T-shirts are on the way as well. Once the roof is constructed, a pull-up bar will be put up and then some additional equipment will be purchases or finally arrive from the United States. I didn't fully realize the difficulty associated with international shipping, but now I do. No worries though, we will have our equipment soon enough!

It's all coming together...

I returned from NYC this past weekend, and was happy to be back in Bogota. NYC just isn't for me anymore. Bogota has the energy that NYC used to have. It has its dopey nuances like some of the things I mentioned, but it's my home now and I'm lovin' it.

I was sick for most of my time in NYC, and now that I don't have an apartment there I have to commute in from the country. But it was fun to see some of my friends, those who were around, and catch up with them even if only for a few minutes. And I do miss some things, like the subway and the wide variety of people that you see on it -- far different than a ride on a busetta or Transmilenio. It was also strange to hear everyone on the street speaking English, after hearing only Spanish on the streets for the last two months. Here in Bogota, I look up whenever I hear someone speaking English as if there was some unspoken bond between us. I also noticed how many blondes there are up north, something I never really paid attention to before, but I prefer brunettes anyway.

Well, like I said I'm back down in Bogota so hopefully a lot of you will decide to come visit -- I've got rooms for ya!

Bad ideas.

There are some bad ideas, and then there are some really bad ideas. But the worst idea may be to shop on Sundays in Bogota. At right is a photo I took of Exito, the Colombian version of Wal-mart on steroids. The place is absolutely enormous. There is one entrance, which is also the one exit -- hmm, perhaps a design flaw? Nope, it was intentional as both sides of the 5 meter wide entrance/exit are lined with cell phone carriers, motorcycle lease financing companies, etc. It took more time to get in and out of Exito than it did to shop! I suppose the same can be said of Wal-marts, Costco's, etc. so it seems the discount bulk stores are the same the world over.

Now, I'm not sure if I'd consider this a bad idea, or just plain stupid. When visiting another neighborhood to visit a t-shirt sweatshop I noticed an apartment that had a second floor that was, shall we say, unfinished yet finished. It looked like something out of the Flintstones. Not sure why you would build a brick wall in such shitty form, then step back and say, "Yup, that's a good looking wall." My favorite part is the windowless window, and doorless door. Trump should take notes from these guys.

Questionable.

So, like I was saying a few weeks ago, one of the things that is really strange here is that the attendents in the men's bathroom are women. Don't believe me? Well, I snapped a quick photo over my shoulder (urinal cam). While Colombian men are equally small in stature, I assure you this is a woman. I didn't think taking a full frontal photo was going to go over to well, so I snuck a photo when I could as evidence. The impact of having women in the men's room at first delivers a case of stage fright. But after the 4th or 5th time you are numb to the fact that there's a girl cleaning the urinal next to you while taking a leak. It becomes almost second nature. I'm sure in some places they may clean more than just the urinal while you're in there.

City of Lights.

I learned that every Holiday Season, the major parks of Bogota undergo transformations into incredible displays of lights. Each park has a different theme, and is sponsored by one of the major corporations based in Bogota. For example, I heard that Bavaria, a brewer here owned by SAB I think, spends $1 million (USD) each Holiday Season to light up Parque 93. This year, the theme is the 4 seasons. Now, I didn't get a chance to photograph that park yet, but I did walk by it and I must say it's impressive. However, I did snap a photo of Parque Virrey last night, which is next to my apartment. Tons of people walk through the parks at night to see the displays, which are quite elaborate. The theme of Parque Virrey is summer. I gotta say, they're pretty damn cool to see. The photo I took really doesn't do the display justice as they span the entire park.

Arrival.

My friend and now roommate, Ernesto, arrived this past weekend from Mexico City. He is working with Marco at Merck GFK here in Bogota. Ernesto happens to play the sax, and is pretty good for only having started playing 3 years ago. He was brave enough to try CrossFit this weekend as well, and endured 3 days of beatdown workouts.

We're going to host a house party this weekend while we have no furniture, or things that can break. This will be the inaugural fiesta de la casa de reyes, and will welcome my friend Alejo from Geneva and Andy from London. This weekend is shaping up to be one for the ages. Hot Chick will be attending, but the Hot Chick #2 will be home as she leaves on Friday. This will also be a diplomatic affair as a bunch of folks from the embassy will be there too. The after party Friday night will be at Maroma, and Saturday will of course be at Andres. And since Monday is a Holiday, Sunday Funday will need to be introduced with authority.

Appliance Love.

This week both the refrigerator and my bed also arrived. Don't ever take a refrigerator for granted! Living without one absolutely sucks. You can't really cook, or eat anything normal. Just be sure to be good to your frige, keep it happy and you'll live a happy and healthy life!

I'm planning to buy a washer/dryer, but will wait a few weeks until I get low on clean clothes. No point lumping all expenses in at once, especially now that CrossFit Bogota is generating revenues, which means I can reduce the burn on my feeble savings.

Fat Burn Delivered Daily.

As I mentioned earlier, CrossFit Bogota is now officially open for business as of Dec 1st. The workouts take place on our private terrace (it's 50 square meters) and in Parque Virrey across the street. Marco met a workout called "Karen" this morning, and the resulting fetal position speaks for itself. People are happy with it, are having fun and are seeing results. I hope I get to around 30-40 clients training in the terrace by early 1Q, and then look to open an actual gym when rents for locals (retail storefronts) come down as the Recession spreads to Colombia. No point renting something now at the top of the market when you can see that the economy is weakening along with the real estate market.