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!