Legal Alien!

I just returned from NYC where I got to meet my newborn niece, Rebecca Ann, who was born on February 2nd. I had heard from my parents that she was born with brown hair with highlights, which indicated she was definitely my sister's daughter. But I had to see this sight for my own eyes. On the left you can see her hair, and there are indeed highlights! In the center Rebecca seems to be practicing her "Touchdown" pose, I guess she wants to be an NFL Referee when she grows up.



But my favorite photo is her Statue of Lenin immitation...


So far she knows how to sleep and poop, and kinda eat. I'm sure she will learn more over time, but she's got the basics down.

Home Fried Home.
I arrived in the U.S. at ATL airport, and the first thing I noticed as I exited the customs area was the smell of fried food. There was no mistaken the long forgotten scent of an American's waistlines worst enemy, yet best friend, the deep frier. And as if something out of a movie, as I exited the jetway at JFK airport, I was greeted warmly by a passenger yelling at some gate personnel about something. He was furious. Ah, New York! And as I waited for my bags I wanted a water, until I noticed the absurd pricetag of $2 a bottle in a vending machine! After getting used to paying the equivalent of $0.40 for a bottle of water, no thanks! I'll settle for the water fountain. New York's water is perennially the best in the country.

Before visiting my sister and niece, I wandered through Bloomingdales and Barneys to see if people were still shopping. At lunch time, both were totally desolate. No one was shopping it seemed. And as I walked around the upper 50s and low 60s on the East Side, I noticed "Sale" signs in almost every store window, and a fair amount of vacant stores. I saw the same when I was in SOHO.

I only spent two days and two nights in New York City before heading out to the hamptons to relax, but in that short period I was able to get a true sense of how much has changed in New York. People are very down, and for serious reasons. Everyone knows people, lots of people, who are being laid off, the energy the city once had is just not there and everyone of my friends told me that things are worse than they appear in the media. That's bad!

Out East.
The weather was pleasant, albeit colder than I'm recently used to in Bogota. I got a nice photo of the quiet marina in Sag Harbor, which was nice and calming to just gaze out onto for a few minutes.


And upon leaving, Maggie, one of my parents' dogs, gave me a sad look. When she was a puppy, she once put one of her toys in my suitcase when I visited. I discovered her present when I got home and opened the suitcase. This time she didn't have access to my bags.

I expect to make my next visit to NYC in a few months for a friend's bachelor party. We'll see if things are any better by then.

While in New York, I visited the Colombian Consulate to obtain my Business Owner's Visa. The woman at the consulate was very nice, and helpful. It was my first pleasant experience dealing with Colombian institutions. However, I found it funny that the elevator remained unfixed since my first visit back in September. The elevator opens slightly below the floor level, which means there is a precarious first step to get in or out. Instead of having this problem fixed, they decided to colorfully highlight the floor (pictured to the right). But the good news is that I'm officially no longer an illegal immigrant in Colombia! Actually, I learned that the tourist visa lasts for up to 90 days, so I was never truly illegal, but I thought it was rather funny to say I was an illegal immigrant.

BBQing at 8,600 feet!
Since buying and assembling the charcoal BBQ for the terrace, we've had great difficulties maintaining a fire that allows the charcoal to light. I didn't think about the effect the thin mountain air would have when trying to grill with charcoal, should have put more thought into that. So, half a phone book later, I decided to search on the Internet for some information about BBQing, or just open flames, at high altitudes.

The solution to my problems came in the form of these little brickettes that burn at very high temperatures, allowing the charcoal to ignite. The resulting beautiful charcoal blaze can be seen in the photo to the right. The grill is ready in about 15 minutes, about the same as at sea level. Although I do miss my Weber. But at least now I can happily grill sausage and peppers, steaks and chicken to my heart's content!

Facebook.
Okay, okay! So I finally caved in and joined Facebook. Though the reason I joined was because my friends here in Bogota told me that virtually everyone in Colombia is on Facebook, and that it would be good for business to start a group. I joined and created a group for CrossFit Bogota to see if it helps business. Since joining Facebook, I've been "tagged" in a few photos of debaucherous nights out here in Bogota, as well as an ancient photo from my first visit to Shanghai in 2000. Good times!

And if you're interested in keeping tabs on me, I suppose you can add me as a friend, although I don't update my status all that often. It amazes me how people find the time, at all hours, to continually update their status. And to be named in a photo, or have a photo you didn't think anyone would ever publicly post is a little strange. Doesn't anyone like privacy anymore?

Honk if you're Colombian.
Something strange I've noticed is that Colombians really love their car horns. They honk for all sorts of reasons, and they honk so much that I actually took notice of it. Here are some reasons I've compiled for which a Colombian driver will honk:

• To signal the doorman/security guard that they would like to enter a building
• To signal a friend to come downstairs because they are waiting outside in the car
• To warn pedestrians they are driving by even if you are standing motionless on the curb
• To warn other cars at an intersection even if the other car(s) are at a dead stop
• To notify a fellow driver that they are going to pass you on the wrong side
• To notify a fellow driver that they are going to turn from the inside lane
• To notify someone that they need to use the bathroom
• To notify the clerk at the McDonald's drive-thru that they want an Extra Value Meal Supersized

Okay, so I was kidding about the last two items, but in all seriousness, Colombians honk a disproportionate amount in my observations. Granted, they are very offensive (as in "on the offense") drivers, but that tends to get them into lots of accidents.

The Truth Behind Bogota's Traffic.
This is really two fold.

First, continuing on the topic of accidents, Bogota (and I think this goes for all of Colombia) has a very interesting law on the books regarding traffic accidents. If you get into a car crash, neither driver may move their vehicle from the point of impact of the accident. This means that if you crash in a busy intersection, which is often the case, and are blocking two lanes, which is also often the case, neither you nor the other driver(s) can move your vehicles until the police arrive to file a report. In addition to causing a massive bottleneck creating a terrible traffic jam, you are fined for blocking traffic! I like the idea of fining people for being in an accident, but I do think they should be allowed to move their vehicles to the shoulder so the rest of the world can go on their way. I wish I had a photo of an accident, but I'm always driving by when I notice one and am too far passed it when I am able to take a photo.

Second, are the buses and busettas. Since there is no central metropolitan transit system, multiple, rival, bus companies compete for passengers along cryptic bus routes. The best part, and what causes all the traffic, is that there are no formal bus stops. Instead, a person can hail a bus, much like they hail a taxi, just about anywhere along one of the roads where buses drive. This also means that passengers can ring the bell to have the driver stop anywhere along those same roads. This leads to buses abruptly cutting off a taxi or car as they kamikaze towards the curb to pick up or drop off a passenger.

No Car Day!
But there is a solution to Bogota's traffic nightmares -- NO CAR DAY! That's right, two days each year, Bogota bans all personal transportation (outside of government officials or those with a special permit) from all roads in Bogota from 7am-8pm. This has to be seen to be appreciated. Literally, the roads are barren. For as far as the eye can see there is only yellow (taxis) and buses and busettas. Everyone on those two days must take some form of public transportation. Here are two photos of the roads during rush hour, which are normally bumper to bumper traffic.

Catching up

2009 has been off to an eventful start. The apartment is slowly acquiring furniture, my Spanish continues to improve, terrorists bombed a Blockbuster a few blocks from my apartment and directly across the street from a restaurant my friends and I eat at regularly, I got to see my first bullfight, watch the SuperBowl for the first time from outside the United States, CrossFit Bogota continues to grow at an impressive pace and I just became an uncle!

I know it has been nearly a month since my last update, but I've been busy working on the new business and haven't had the time to provide any colorful updates on my experiment here in Bogota.

Bombing
A week ago, a bomb blasted through a Blockbuster store on Kr 9 Cll 82, which sits directly across the street from Bagatelle, a brunch restaurant my friends and I frequent on at least a weekly basis. The bomb blew apart the garage and most of the front floor of the building. One 25 year old woman, and a man, were killed when the bomb exploded, and another 20 people were injured. I took the photo (left) the day after the blast when I was walking back to my apartment from my English class further north.

I was sitting in my apartment working when I heard the bomb (my apartment is a 7-8 minute walk to the bomb site, or about 6 blocks). It rained most of the day, accompanied by thunder and lightning, but the rain had stopped a couple of hours earlier. My initial reaction was "Thunder? No, not raining. Bomb? Maybe." Then about a half hour later blackberry messenger and SMS messages from friends asking if I heard the bomb and if I was all right. Ernesto returned to the apartment from Andino Mall, where he heard the blast, and asked if I knew about the bomb.

Unfortunately, I guess this is par for the course these days. I was in New York during both World Trade Center bombings, and spent 40+ hours at Ground Zero on 9/11, so I'm all too familiar with this crap now. Though this was the second significant bombing in Bogota in a month as the FARC (aka The Guerrilla) tries to let the world know they are still a force to be reckoned with despite their being largely tamed by the Colombian military in recent years under Uribe.

Here's more info if you'd like to see official news about the incident:

• CNN Story
• Bloomberg Story

But it looks like the authorities have made arrests related to this deadly event. And just yesterday another FARC attack, this time in Cali, killed several police officers. Oh well, TIC!

Ole!
Well, now I finally earned the right to shout "OLE!" This weekend I got to see my first bullfight. And it was also my first return to La Macarena, my first neighborhood in Bogota, in some time. As we walked up to the Plaza del Toros, I saw the window of the room I rented in Sept/Oct.

I planned on making it a dry Sunday, but I forgot two very important items: 1) Colombians don't need an excuse to drink, so bullfighting provided an opportunity for them to cook up all sorts of concoctions for their boda bags, and 2) it was Superbowl Sunday!

Now, I haven't drank from a Boda Bag since the days of the fraternity and sorority Horseback Riding date parties back at Michigan, but streaming alcohol into your mouth from them from as high as you can turns out to be the norm at a bullfight. It was amazing, everyone shared with everyone else. And of course, everyone had some different mix of alcohols, so the result was quite a mess. But in spite of my inebriation, I was able to snap a few solid photos from my camera phone, which I humbly share with you below.


The coolest match, if you can call it that, was the Portuguese-style matador who fought the bull on horseback. His name was Joao something, and he put on an amazing show. At least on two occasions, the bull chased after the horse he rode, yet the bull barely grazed the horse's ass as Joao taunted the bull.

I suppose the saddest part was that after the fights, the bulls all end up being killed and then their meat sold at a butcher, and I didn't get to go buy any meat for my bbq from that butcher! Instead, we had to rush north to watch the Superbowl.

Futbol?
We arrived at a friend of a friend's apartment, where they had a keg! I hadn't seen a keg since leaving the US of A. It was a sight for sore eyes, or watery glazed over eyes as was in my case from all the boda bag drinking at the bullfight. Anyway, I barely even knew who was playing in the Superbowl this year since I have seen maybe one or two football games, and still don't have a TV in my apartment (I will when I go to NYC and bring one back!).

The party was full of Americans from the embassy, mostly military guys, and it marked the first time I felt like I was in the US while in Bogota. However, the chef they hired, and the cuisine served definitely tipped me off to the fact that I was not in the US.

CrossFit Bogota on the move...
Things are going well with CrossFit Bogota. There are nearly 30 paying members now, and I launched the new website a few weeks ago at www.crossfitbogota.com.



In the process of putting together the website, I learned some basic CSS and XHTML coding concepts, and taught myself how to use Adobe Photoshop at a basic level to create some images for new T-Shirts as well as the favicon for the website pictured above right. Not bad for a newbie. There are some great photos on the website as well. And CrossFit's main site now has a link to us in their affiliate section. We hope to send some good photos shortly for them to post on the website to give us some visibility.

And I have just about finished the construction in the terrace. Budgetary restrictions have forced me to delay finishing the project until I return from NYC. I am trying not to convert USD to COP unless I have to, although, the current conversion rate of nearly 2450:1 is tempting me to make a lump sum conversion now to lock in that great exchange rate. But I think the COP will depreciate further in coming months so I'm in no rush to convert. Nor am I in a rush to rent a locale (retail space). While there is no doubt renting a locale would increase my membership base significantly, it would be a little foolhardy to rent now while rents are still at highs. As the economy cools here I plan to take advantage of the strong (in a relative sense) dollar and the weakened economy here to lock in a good lease for the locale.

Transmilleno
I recently heard people refer to the Transmilenio transit system as Transmilleno ("lleno" meaning "full" or "packed"). I thought that was rather funny, and accurate. The trainbuses always seem to be stuffed full of people, and Colombians tend not to show the NYC Subway ettiquette of moving onto the platform if they're in the doorway to let people get out. Colombians also seem to not care about letting people out, instead trying to jam themselves in while people are trying to get out. Very few people tend to move more than a slight lean even if you say "permisso por favor." I fear many of these folks wouldn't survive long in NYC.

Relaxation.
My favorite new item for the apartment is my hamaca (hammock). Every morning when I return from my morning CrossFit and English classes, I enjoy a homemade fruit smoothie and warm bowl of oatmeal rocking back and forth in the sun while listening to some Bob Marley "live in concert" on the iPod sounddock. In fact, the other morning I took a photo from the hammock, which is hung out on the front balcony. The view is prettier than this photo suggests as I can clearly see the lush green mountain in the distance.

Now it's time to prepare for a flurry of guests over the coming few weeks, and an upcoming trip to NYC for a few days.

Starting to feel like home

As 2009 opens, Bogota is starting to feel more and more like my home. That has been helped partially by my finally getting around to starting to buy some things for the apartment to make it more livable. Slowly but surely it will be a fully functional dwelling. And with Bogota's weather continuing to cooperate (over two weeks without rain), where better to start with adding creature comforts than the apartment's excellent outdoor spaces?

Terraza
Over the New Year holiday weekend, I received the supplies needed to build the roof in our terrace. It took two days, but I singlehandedly pieced together this bad boy, which now offers us a little privacy from the office building directly behind our building. It also provides a covered area for me to host CrossFit Bogota workouts since it rains here so often. I just need to buy a few more corrugated plastic sheets to finsih off covering the roof, and we're in business!



Above, you can see the pre- and post- construction phase, as well as Ernesto and his girlfriend Henrendina, who visited for the week from Mexico, safely standing beneath the structure I erected. You can also see a photo taken via reflection of the office building behind our building.

Unfortunately, I am only covering one-third of the terrace, not two thirds like originally planned. The original plan was to build two free-standing roofs, but after studying the drainage pattern in the terrace after heavy rains I noticed that the terrace is now well graded. While there are two drains in the center of the terrace, the water tends to pool in the lower left corners against the building. Which means that a roof over the left one-third of the terrace would be useless since it would prevent the rain coming down in that area, but not prevent the water pooling into a puddle. Hence, only one roof is to be built, which I think is more than sufficient for our needs. Now it's time for us to start taking advantage of the massive 50 sq meter terrace!

The first item on the list wasn't something as functional as a table, chairs or a parasol. Nope. It was far more important to have a BBQ! For some reason, BBQs are quite expensive here with a standard Weber grill retailing for nearly $200. Needless to say, I found that price absurd so I went with a local brand called "Premium." The instructions were easy enough to follow, but they ended up making things more difficult as certain steps should have been done in reverse as they were impossible to do in order. For example, adding the lid required me to detach some items that were already detached, and even reverse the direction in which the screws were inserted otherwise the cover wouldn't close. So putting this thing together took a bit longer than anticipated, but all in all the BBQ is functional, and was well worth the $40 or so. I've got some marinated chicken breasts just dying to give the grill a go tonight!

What's next you ask? Well, the apartment is still somewhat bare. Ok, it is bare. We have a few "puffs" or beanbag chairs in the living/dining areas, but we are still lacking in the following items:

• Seating - we don't have chairs, stools or a sofa yet
• Entertainment - other than our PCs hijacking one of our neighbors' open wifi connection, and my On Stage iPod speakers, we lack other typical entertainment capabilities (no TV yet)
• Eating surfaces - while the kitchen does have a counter, there is no dining room table, or outdoor table for that matter. And since we don't have stools, we're always eating standing up over the counter.
• Fireplace - there is a functioning fireplace, but we have not purchased any items that would render the fireplace useful. For now it is simple a rectangular brick hole in the corner of the living room which has a ledge that is very useful for locking your feet for doing sit-ups.
  

However, I plan on buying a table and chair set for the terrace as well as a breakfast/cocktail table and chair set for the balcony. I also plan on buying and hanging a hammock for the balcony. Notice how everything is geared towards use of the outdoor spaces, not the interior. I feel that after years of living in apartments with no outdoor space, and now finally having outdoor space (and lots of it), I need to focus my furnishing efforts there first.

Embassy Visit
No, I didn't go to the embassy. But as mentioned earlier, Ernesto's girlfriend visited from Mexico over the Holidays. She was the first official guest of the functional Embassy. She also tried CrossFit, which she liked although it made her sore for a few days. She gained the nickname Uchuva, a type of little orange fruit, which we plan on turning into a cool word here in Colombia in 2009. Hasta luego Uchuva! We went for some mojitos at Cachau, a Cuban-style bar over in Zona T before heading to Maroma. Their mojitos are damn tasty, and the atmosphere is awesome. Live salsa bands perform to the delight of the crowd.

La Policia at Maroma
The other night at Maroma, just as we walked in a squad of police entered despite the bouncer's effort to try and act as a human barricade at the entrance. They entered for what was a "routine inspection" to ensure the bar was enforcing the new indoor smoking ban, which went into effect a few weeks ago. The manager told us that this was the first time the police have bothered them since opening back in September.

With the music stopped, the lights on and everyone still with drinks or bottles in hand, the police asked men to gather on right and women to gather on the left. They then proceeded to inspect womens' purses and frisk men allegedly to look for cigarettes. There was an overweight, hideously ugly woman dressed in civilian clothing who seemed to be the one in charge of the police squad. Erendira got a great photo of them in Maroma just over my shoulder (above). Some other girl tried to take photos with the police officers, but was denied.

As soon as the police were done with their inspection, the music started back up, the lights went down and the crowd cheered and de Rumba restarted.

Andres SunDay (Family) Funday?
It is hard to imagine Andres as a family restaurant, but that is what it is. And on Sunday I went to Andres for the first time during daylight hours to enjoy a family lunch with Marco, Paula, her brothers and parents, Ernesto and Herendina.

First off, I never noticed that as you pull into Andres there is a mountain staring down at you. I also never really was able to see all the tiendas, restaurantes, bars, etc. lining the road to Andres during the day, so it was interesting to see the city of Chia come alive. Not that it was dead at night, it was dark with lots of lights and cars, but you didn't really ever get a picture of what was there.

Then entering Andres was, um, different. The music was low, there were tables on the dancefloor and there was sunlight beaming into the restaurant. While most of the restaurant was still largely dark just because of the sheer amount of incredible details and decor, it was rather surreal to see sunlight in Andres. Seeing sunlight in Maroma on New Year's Eve is expected, their roof opens, but to see it at Andres was rather strange. The same staff that we usually have on Saturday nights was there, and welcomed us warmly "Feliz ano!"

We proceeded to gorge ourselves on an absurd amount of food, all of which was delicious. However, we veered clear of any alcoholic beverages, though, after all the food we ate I'm not sure there was any room for drinks anyway! In total, we had six steaks of different varieties, two orders of chorizo, about 18 empanaditas, 4 arepas de choco, we sampled every juice they had including Uchuva, which was excellent, and postres that for me included a chocolate malt, Mmmmm. Needless to say, I ended up with food coma, and just vegged out for the rest of the afternoon.

Next weekend at Andres promises to be off the charts as everyone starts returning from Holiday vacations, and from what I'm told, want to go to Andres to show off their tans. Of course, Monday is a holiday, there are over a dozen Monday's off in Colombia, so next weekend could be a real bender...

Goodbye 2008... Hello Sunshine in '09!

This year marked the first Holiday Season I spent away from my family. While I missed the food and sight of the Christmas Tree at my parents and grandmother's houses, Colombia offered up some fun and unique cultural experiences to make being away from home a little easier.

Lights...
Like I said previously, Bogota, and from I understand all of Colombia, proudly displays its love of the Christmas Season by absolutely bathing its parks, buildings and streets in Christmas lights. I still haven't gotten to see the other seasons in the city's other parks, but I did take a few more photos of Parque Virrey where summer is the theme. Also, the snow lights of Zona T are really cool, and I'm going to miss them when they take them down in the coming weeks. They look amazing...



Christmas Eve
The tradition here is to spend Christmas Eve with the family, and to shoot off fireworks at midnight to welcome Christmas. Hopefully Santa and his reindeer already know this because I'd imagine the skies would be quite dangerous for a fat man riding a sled pulled by eight reindeer. Their moonlit silhouette would make a tasty target for young kids who play too much XBox, and I'm sure their radar signature would be pretty significant too, and the bells can probably be heard from some distance. Well, I'm sure it would be smashing a giant pinata if he were ever shot down, raining presents all across the land.

Anyway, I digress. So after Christmas dinner with the family, many younger people venture out to the bars and clubs to party in what some people told me was "the biggest party night of the year." Now, I had to train some folks on Christmas Eve, so I missed out on the family dinner thing with friends. Instead, I got much needed rest, and slept from 7pm until about 12am, just after midnight to the sound of fireworks and Fanny Lu. I then headed out to meet some friends at Alma, which was one of the few spots open for Xmas Eve frolicking. At around 1/1:30am it was relatively quiet, but as the night wore on the place got more crowded. We left to visit a place called Cinema, which I'd never been to before. The place was jammed, the techno music was earbleedingly loud and the energy was jumping. This place is normally open until 8am or 9am, but because it was Christmas Eve they were staying open even later. I didn't care to find out how late, as it was obviously a more drug laden hangout than I was used to. But there were plenty of happy Catholics celebrating Christ's birth in epic fashion. I left at 8:15am or so with a girl I met and danced with for the better part of several hours.

And what better way to celebrate a Christmas Day guayavo (hangover) than with wings, and where else than Hooters?! Hooters was pretty much the only place open that day, and I must say the wings were fantastic for a change. One of the waitresses noticed my dilapidated state, then shared her analysis with the others, and they put the awning down to protect me from baking in the sun and kept the water flowing.

Fresh air.
A few friends invited me to visit a private golf/sports club called Guayamaral, which was located outside Bogota in the north near Chia (think Andres). This place was absolutely incredible. The views of the surrounding mountains, and the vivid green color of everything was beautiful. The fresh air was just what the doctor ordered.

The place is a wonderland. Two golf courses, a massive clubhouse with pool, dozens of tennis courts and much more. Membership is quite pricey, even by U.S. standards, but it is something to see. Like other clubs of its type, there are no signs marking the entrance or its location on the autopista, simply a flag of the club's logo that passersby would not know the meaning of. What was really funny was that next door is a cattle farm, and I guess it was mating season. While we tried to play a game of doubles tennis, we were seranaded by an orgy of cows mooing their lungs out. Some moos converted into high pitched screams of ecstasy that we couldn't play through because we all broke out laughing hysterically.

While walking around the golf course we came across a dead tree covered with orange flowers and deep green vine growing up its carcass. It was stunning, and unfortunately this photo doesn't do it justice at all.

El Niño
If you look closely at those photos from Guayamaral, you'll notice something odd for Bogota. A sunny day. But something has happened in Bogota that doesn't make any sense. Something I can only attribute to El Niño, the body of warm water in the Pacific ocean that causes US weather shifts every 5-7 years. It hasn't rained in a week! It has been sunny, and warm. My friend Marco told me that a few years ago Bogota was sunny and rain free from Dec through Feb, a statement to which Ernesto and I laughed mockingly. "Yeah, right!" Bogota without rain? Impossible! No, it's not only possible, it's a fact. I've had to suspend my 2:45pm alarm that was to make sure I get indoors by the daily 3pm rainshowers. Who woulda thought?!

Feliz Ano!
Due to a few reasons, I didn't get to head out to the coast to rendezvous with dozens of friends ringing in the New Year in Cartegena. Instead, I stayed in Bogota with a few friends. The night started similar to Christmas I suppose, dinner with family and friends and then marinated in alcohol through midnight. We enjoyed a beautiful night on my friend Marco's rooftop terrace, and proceeded to consume ridiculous amounts of a wide variety of alcohol - Midori, Malibu, Baileys, Vodka, Champagne, Whiskey, etc.

There are a few peculiar customs here in Colombia that I found interesting and amusing. There are some long held superstitions about things to bring good luck and fortune in the new year, and I got to partake in a few first hand.

Burning Man. Families make or buy dolls, sometimes life sized, that they stuff with fireworks or other household flammable agents like rubbing alocohol, and burn at midnight. Why? Well, you write down all the negative things from the previous year that you want to do away with, stuff them into this dolls pockets, orafaces, etc., and then light the sucker up. Here's the before and after photos of our doll.

Lentejas (Lentils). Everyone gets a handful of these dry lentils and dumps them into their wallets, or pockets in the event you have a money clip like myself. They are meant to bring you fortune in the coming year, and they represent money. Unfortunately, they're not an official currency as I tried to pay for a bottle at Maroma and was told Lentejas weren't accepted. Good thing Amex was!

Maleta (suitcase). Another custom is to run around the house/block with a suitcase if you want to travel in the coming year. I didn't partake in this exercise since I'm traveling no matter what at least a few times already, but several folks went running around the house with a suitcase. I asked if it should be packed, and was told only if you expect to go somewhere right now!

Uvas (grapes). You also stuff your face with 12 grapes, representing the 12 strokes of the clock at midnight. It's a little tough to do with the seeds, so one of my friends actually deseeded his grapes beforehand. I didn't, and ended up chewing them up or trying to spit them out. I forget what this signifies, but it tastes great with champagne!

We also wrote down a bunch of things we hope for in the coming year, and then burned them in a yellow candle to make them come to fruition. There's a few other customs which we didn't indulge in that night. Whether any of these acts amount to anything, only time will tell. But 2008 is over, Bush is out of office and the USD looks stronger against the COP!

Sit Anywhere.
One thing I've noticed is the tendency of people to sit on the floor in Transmilenio buses when there are no seats available. I understand the desire to be comfortable if you're taking a long ride from north to south or vice versa, but sitting on the floor? I don't think I've ever seen anyone riding a subway or bus in New York while sitting on the floor, not even homeless people are on the floor in the actual subway cars. Sitting on the floor takes up room, which makes the Transmilenio buses even more crowded than they need to be. There's plenty of handrails and straps to hang onto, and the floors are dirty. Stand up!