Bogota - Ecuador - $40

This is kind fun. I decided this morning over an omelete at some restaurant on the north side of Bogota that I should head to Ecuador. ¿Can anyone offer any insight as to why? GOD I love upside down punctuation.

I´m in the bus terminal in Bogota. It´s cheaper for me to take a 26 hour bus ride to Ecuador, hang out there for a week or two, and then head back than it would be for me to try to travel around Colombia. Colombia is just silly. Going to Ecuador, that´s just crazy. Loco gringo, Jota called me.

So, as it turns out, I´m heading to Ecuador. I got a real yellow fever vaccination yesterday, cancelled my return flight to Costa today, and am catching the longest bus ride of my life in just under and hour. Oh, and when I get to the border, I´ll take a cab into Ecuador, and then have to take another bus for five hours to get to Quito. But THEN, well, but then...

Jota happens to have a friend in Quito. So I am going to call her when I get there. Perhaps I can stay with her for a couple of nights, and then head deeper into the Andes or perhaps to some coastal town Ecuador. I won´t have money to do anything, so I should get pretty good at doing nothing for a week or two. But I´ll be doing nothing in Ecuador.

Eventually, I´ll reissue my ticket back to Costa to see Jake. Cause I miss him. Damn I love that dog. I am guessing now that I´ll come back some time in late August or the first of September. But honestly, it could be in 9 days. I don´t know if I know how to spend only $10 or $15 per day, especially when I´ll be paying $5 to $10 of that on lodging. It should be interesting to see.

As for now, I am going to get on a bus. Perhaps stare at some countryside, and see where the road takes me. Hopefully it´s Ecuador, cause that´s what my ticket says.

¡Woohoo!

Right Now - 14/8/09 10:25 AM

In a McDonalds.  In Bogota.  On Calle 116 and Carrera 19, or so.  Free wifi.  So I bought a water.  

I just walked back from Nina's house, where I had a nice little dinner and a beer as I chatted with Nina, her niece Yolanda, and Yolanda's daughter Jen.  All part of Ozzie's family.  It was nice to have some typical Colombian food, which I have been seriously lacking since I have been here.  It was nice to meet some new people, see Nina's place, and talk with Jen, who is about to start her second year of college.  It felt like family.  

I decided today not to accept the job here in Colombia.  In the end, screw all the signs or coincidences.  It doesn't feel right for me.  I think the reason is mostly that La Mesa could be a small town in America.  Sure, the culture and climate may change, as it does throughout the states, but it's really just a small town an hour away from a huge city.  I like all the small towns throughout the hills; I like the idea of meeting new people and being involved in new communities; I like the idea of working with Trevor and helping take something very small into something less small.  But in the end, I think my life here would be work.  I may get the opportunity to travel from time to time, perhaps to Ecuador or Peru, but I think my life while I worked would lack growth in any manner other than in a career.  Living and working in Colombia sounds freaking cool, but I don't think it's that much different from living and working in the Poconos, minus nice lakes and tourists.  

So, tomorrow I am going to go to the airport.  I got a falsified yellow fever document, but it wasn't filled out correctly, so I am going to have to change my flight.  I have two wonderful friends in Costa that I would love to travel around with for the next week, but I also love this opportunity to cruise around Colombia for a couple of weeks and see what's up here.  Mom, don't be surprised if I call asking for more than five bucks next time... 

Overall, I'm a little excited about where tomorrow will take me.  I keep thinking I should be getting nervous about not having a job lined up, but I'm just not.  I'm actually pretty emotionless these days.  I don't suppose that will last for too long.  It's quite calming right now, but honestly a bit boring.  I loved the sadness I felt with Pepper left, and I look forward to being a little nervous during my travels here in Colombia.  I'm still not sure how long I will delay my flight back to Costa.  Think 2 weeks is enough?  I guess I'm planning on cruising up to Medellin, then to the Caribbean coast, up to Cartagena, then down to some cool colonial town, then back to Bogota.  It will be in the range of 50 hours in a bus over the next however long, which is a lot.  Maybe I can find a bookstore.  

I may not be able to blog much over the next while, but I'll connect when I can.  

As a good lawyer friend of mine in Boston used to say, "Onward and Upward."  

Not sure what that meant.   

Bogota Colombia

Meh.  

Big ass city.  Eight million.  Lots of people.  President's Palace.  Old buildings.  Crepes.  Busses.  Lots of busses.  

I can't get the pictures off of my camera, and the ones on my iPhone don't do much, but there are a few neat things I found here.  First, there's a single block of sidewalk where you see a bunch of people all crowded around, at first seeming to all be staring at their shoes, perhaps in some shy manner to avoid eye contact.  As it turns out, though, this is a rare stone exchange.  And it's super serious.  Thousands and thousands of dollars are held on little white folded pieces of paper as potential purchasers expect first by eye, then by mini-microscope to determine the street value of the precious stone.  Jota informed me that most are probably carrying guns, and that there is never any crime on this particular block.  Very odd thing, really. 

I learned not to say "hola" to guys here.  They look at you funny.  Hola is fine for girls, but Buenas is more appropriate for guys.  Interesting.  

It's freaking cold here when the sun isn't shining.  Girls all walk around in down jackets and fancy boots, and men wear suits or at least carry sweaters.  It's a good climate to dress well all of the time, so I clearly stand out being a bum from the beach.  

The McDonalds and KFCs are mansions here.  Two stories, even sometimes roof decks.  Crazy.  

I'm definitely not into big cities these days.  

Meh.  

La Florida Colombia

There are tons of cute little towns scattered throughout the mountains surrounding La Mesa, and probably throughout the country.  I especially liked this pueblo, La Florida, which is quite a bit higher than La Mesa, perhaps an hour drive across windy mountain roads.  La Florida is in an area of black soil and cooler climate than La Mesa, which makes it ideal for exporting flowers, as the name might suggest.  The pueblo is very small, and has no system of government of its own, but instead tags off of another nearby pueblo Anolaima, for its organization - not unlike Esterillos Oeste tagging off of Parrita.  

The kids there are still very intrigued by the presence of a gringo walking around their streets.  One boy, in particular, holding a kite (which are really big here - people sell them at your car window at traffic lights here in Bogota like they sell fruit in Costa), saw me and, after staring for a bit and smiling, went to grab a couple of friends to show me to them.  It was cute.  It reminded me of Bello just north of Medellin when I landed there while paragliding in the low clouds.  But that's neither here nor there.   

In any event, it's clear that this town was hopping when the railroad used to run through.  I guess the rails have been replaced by trucks which hightail it to the airport with the flowers the locals grow.  You can see the old, worn down hotels and rail station, though.  It actually gave a cool feeling as you could guess the excitement when the train would pull in and farmers from the countryside would ride carts full of color to sell to vendors ready to load on the railcars.  Or, in any event, it looks cool.  

La Mesa Colombia

We arrived in La Mesa, after running by to see a lawyer at around 11:30 PM on Tuesday night, a little after one in the morning.  After a beer and an introduction to Luisa, Jorge's pet monkey who lives in the backyard, we went to bed.  

I mostly just followed Jorge around yesterday, and got on the computer a bit while he was at work.  Jorge is Trevor's partner down here.  He was born in Colombia, although a bit northeast of here, but moved to California when he was very young to escape danger from leftist rebels in his birthplace.  He's has some interesting stories about coming back to visit - once his aunt was shot in the shoulder while trying to escape a FARC roadblock.  Young Jorge was in the back seat, and was thrown down on the ground, but got extremely lucky as the national guard appeared at exactly the right moment, weapons firing, and successfully chasing off Jorge's potential captors.  Jorge, now 28, has lived here in La Mesa for the better part of the last decade, and has worked with his family business of telecommunications here in Colombia, while his parents are still in LA running a successful residential construction company.  

Jorge's a good guy.  He's very driven, but has a softer side too.  He labels himself as an atheist and an alchemist, although I haven't pressed very hard to see what he really means by this.  He really wants to make this company a success, after major setbacks involving the theft of copper wires left the company in a somewhat desperate situation.  

Enter Trevor.  A good friend from back in Oklahoma who seems to dabble.  Everywhere.  Nobody's really sure what Trevor does.  I'm not sure he knows.  But somehow he ended up becoming a partner in a small telecommunications company in La Mesa Colombia, and is searching for someone help him to expand his client base.  After flying to Costa to chat with me, he agreed to fly me to Colombia to check it out.  

The town is cool.  I wouldn't call it beautiful, but that's only to my eye.  It's a small town, but larger than what I am used to.  Perhaps 30,000 people.  It's got a strong city center, surrounding the "new" catholic church built perhaps a couple hundred years ago, abutting the "old" catholic church, built even earlier.  In every pueblo down here, there's a small park in front of the catholic church, which serves as a meeting grounds in the evenings, filled with benches similar to the ones all over Costa.  

The town center is on a "drunk grid" system, as I have called it.  The streets aren't quite perpendicular or even particularly straight, but it resembles a grid system in a not so right-angle type of way.  It's mostly brick and clay cinderblock construction, with either lamina or those spanish style clay tile roofs.  The church may be the only really pretty building here, although there are some absolutely beautiful houses in one of the hundreds of communal additions surrounding the city.  

It lies in the short mountains, but quite lower than Bogota, so it's hot during the day.  Pretty hot actually.  At night, it can get chilly, perhaps even enough for a blanket.  The first night I was here I was happy to have the blanket.  The second night I would have preferred without a sheet.  If it weren't for that damn mosquito.  

The town is used as Trevor and Jorge's base of operations, and then they have repeaters and slave towers to cover the whole town and towns nearby.  Some of the nearby towns are sweet little mountain towns, where the kids are still really interested to see a gringo.  Those are definitely my kind of places.  

I'll be heading into Bogota tonight, as Jorge has to be there in the morning.  Not sure where the next 48 hours will take me.  Especially unsure where the next two months will take me.  But I'll have to start making decisions, likely starting tomorrow.  

Right Now - 13/8/09 10:25 AM

I'm sitting in Jorge's office in La Mesa, Colombia - about an hour drive west of Bogota.  I'm well rested after getting a long night sleep last night, but feeling a little uneasy.  Maybe it's because of a vicious mosquito attack last night (it was two against one).  I think right now I am wrestling between improving my future and enjoying today.  And in more than one way.  

The job I am scoping here, for example, would be a hell of an experience.  I would be doing business in Colombia, which is something relatively unique for an Oklahoman.  I would continue to improve my Spanish.  I would be doing something "grown up" in an industry I know very little about.  It would be a great resume boost.  

But on the other hand, although La Mesa is beautiful, and I actually really enjoy this type of town, there isn't a whole lot here that interests me.  No surfing, no tourists from around the world - basically a life similar to one might have in a small town Oklahoma, only without being able to drink the water, people that speak in a different language ----

11:47 AM - Just had lunch with Jorge.  But I'll get back to what I was saying before.  Basically, I think I'd grow as a person here, but I would grow as a spirit better somewhere else.  That's a silly way of putting it, I know, but it's the way it feels.  Now I know my mom would ask why can't I do both?  Or she would say that it's not about the place, it's about me, and I can be myself and grow as a spirit anywhere I am.  And theoretically, she's right.  But I'm still not there yet.  I think it's still easier for me to... Wow.  First, wow, this is a train of thought blog.  Second, wow, I think I know what's best for me again.  

I'm reading the Celestine Prophecy for the first time these days, and the "First Insight" of the "Manuscript" that predicts the spiritualization of human beings at the end of the 21st century is awareness of coincidences - the feeling that something else might be guiding us in a certain direction.  I find it similar to the signs that the boy in The Alchemist kept looking for.  In both novels, the characters drop rationalization and intellectualization for this mystical guidance.  And in a way, it's exactly what I have done when going with my gut feeling.  It's taking away the conscious mind, and, in a way, having faith in something we don't understand.  I tend to think of signs and coincidences as they are portrayed in these novels not as some alternate force in the universe, but as a language spoken by our spirits that is recognized by our intellects.  But perhaps they are both.  Perhaps our spirits and this alternate energy are one and the same.  Maybe it doesn't matter.  

And so soon I will be faced with a decision - move to Colombia or stay in Costa - or move to Oklahoma or travel to Nepal - or God knows what.  Oddly, all of the signs and some coincidences seem to point to Colombia.  I've always had some strange fascination with this country.  I know a good amount of Spanish.  Pepper's boyfriend's grandmother lives here.  My passport says I was freaking born here!  Yellow fever may make me stay a few extra days.  But it doesn't feel right, does it?  Or am I just expecting something different right now?  Am I expecting the signs to point towards a less human experience right now?  And so perhaps the off feeling is really just my intellect not believing the signs.  Maybe the signs are telling me just to stick around for a few weeks.  

Great, so now I'm really in an intellectual rut.  And I believe it's all just my intellect trying to steer myself in a certain direction.  I don't trust myself or the world.  And that's pretty sad.  I don't trust myself at all these days.  

All told, though, I'm pretty happy.  I have awesome options.  I'm in a small office in Colombia, experiencing stuff I never had before.  I feel a lot of love these days, both internal and external.  Overall, a pretty good life.  And I guess this struggle is the struggle I am meant to go through right now.  And I'm interested to see how it will turn out.  I'm interested to see what decision I'll make.  I bet it will be the only one I can.  

The Yellow Fever Blessing

I bet there might be a lot of people with Yellow Fever that might get quite mad at the title of this blog, and perhaps I'm being insensitive, but yellow fever has actually, seemingly, blessed me.  Here's how...

I'm on my way to Colombia.  I decide to delay a three day trip down to check out a job prospect in order to spend time with Pepper on her last week in Costa Rica.  I decide to fly out on the same day she flies out, so we can hang out as much as she can stand.  

Pepper is going to move to Australia to meet up with her boyfriend, Oz.  Ozzie's mother, Lee, lives in Atenas, between Esterillos Oeste and the airport in Alejuela.  Pepper wants to spend a night at Lee's before heading out, and Pepper, Pat, and I went to Lee's last night for some wonderful food and incredible company.  Late last night, Lee mentioned Yellow Fever. 

As it turns out, Costa Rica will not let me back in if I have not received a Yellow Fever vaccine.  And I will have had to receive it ten days prior to returning to Costa.  Oops!  That sucks.

Or DOES it?  Instead of only three days in Colombia, I get to spend ten!  And Lee's mom lives in Bogota, and would love it if I stopped by!  And why the hell stop there?  There's a lot of Colombia out there, they tell me.  And Ecuador is right next door with a really cool place I can't spell.  And Peru; haven't I always wanted to go to Peru?  Well, no.  But still!  Brazil, the Guays, Argentina, Chile, and some countries up on the Northeast Coast that I either a) won't visit; or b) have never heard of really.  

Well, Pepper, Pat, Lee and Lee's boyfriend all did a damn fine job of convincing me that this is a blessing.  It's a sign.  It's an OPPORTUNITY.  And it's too good to pass up.  

Oddly, I guess I had this opportunity without yellow fever.  It just too the virus to make me realize it.  And so, with very little money (a bit more thanks to a very generous gift from Pat and Sheila helping out with my exit taxes), clothes meant for staying in a luxury house for three days, and a damn fine attitude, I'm heading to Colombia.  And I don't know how long I will  stay.  Perhaps two weeks?  Perhaps three?  In any event, it will be an adventure.  But then again, isn't it all?