Colmbia

[SydneyRover]

How's the holiday Bob, the food and the digs?

[BobG]

Hi Sydney

I'm  in Cartagena at the moment

[SydneyRover]

How's the fishing?

[SydneyRover]

Have googled some pictures, it looks an interesting place with a port and of course an old part of town.

[BobG]

I'm in Cartagena at the moment. I'm not a fan of the place tbh. It's  expensive even by European standards; it's dirty; it trades on some fabulous beaches but in reality they are an exploitative gold mine in an otherwise large industrial and shipping city.  If I hadn't booked an exceedingly expensive hotel - silly sod - I'd  be off back to Medellin. That is one fantastic, fantastic city. I could live there very happily. I thought I was going to get to watch Atletico Nacional play -  Pablo Escobar's team - but the date I was given turned out to be wrong. Escobar is a legend in the making by the way. Seriously. I went on an Escobar tour. That guy still has a lot of influence. By accident  I even saw his ruined country hideaway. It's on a lake an hour out of Medellin fairly  close to the amazing Peñon de Guatape. The next house along belongs to the current Colombian goalie. It's bloody fantastic. This is the place where Escobar first brought in the hippos. They've been moved along now but they had a fabulous place to live once.

I don't like the food much but there is a very efficient home delivery service called RAPI. Dominoes has done quite well out of me. Food hygiene is poor, particularly the street vendors, but water and sanitation are ok.

I really do like the country a lot. I'm coming back. But it ain't Europe. It ain't even western. It's a land of opportunity, of entrepreneurship, of frightening poverty, of immense beauty, of places to avoid if you value your life, of being a gringo sticking out like a sore thumb, of wonderful people too. I've written a lot about Colombia on my Whatsapp group. When I get home maybe I could edit it into something useable.

If anyone has particular questions, ask away.

Oh. And if you dont  have at least basic Spanish, don't even think of coming here.

BobG

[BobG]

I'm not a fisherman, but judging from the number of fish restaurants around, and blokes on the beaches hawking crabs and molluscs, the fishing must be pretty good.

BobG

[BobG]

Other random thoughts:

I've seen one Porsche in 9 weeks. In Medellin. As it was a GTRS2 it must have belonged to a drug dealer... Cars are functional.  Not egotistical. Very few Audi's. Some VW's, a lot of horrid Chevrolets, even more low end Renaults including a lot of Dacia Sendero's interestingly. Do Renault own Dacia? Plenty of cheap Kia's too.

85% of all the chickens in the world must be in Colombia. It's shattering how much chicken they eat

The fruit is awesome in variety, quantity and size. Things I've never seen in my life before. There are shops that only sell fruit.

Vegetables are noticeable by their rarity

There is a wonderful array of fresh fruit drinks under the collective noun 'hugo'. My favourite is lemon but there's loads

Outside Cartagena prices are damn good for Europeans. Even Bogota is cheap for you and me

Although, relatively speaking, doctors are cheap for westerners like us, for various reasons not related to my own health, I'm not impressed by the medical  fraternity. If you ever come here, have good health insurance. On the other hand, embarrassingly, I lost a false tooth in Bogota. I got 2 replacements, far better than the one I lost, for a third of the price of the missing one. That was as impressive as three hospital experiences were unimpressive.

If you want to become a multi millionaire there is huge opportunity on the High Street. Shopping is still pretty much at the corner shop stage. Someone with access to capital and a work ethic could do very, very well. He'd put a helluva lot of people out of work though.

Colombians are very good indeed at queuing. It's a good job. Why employ 1 in a shop when 3 can take four times as long? The idea that it is customers who pay the wages has not yet dawned. Customers are thought to possess infinite patience whilst standing  in queues for 40 minutes broiling  under a 33C sun. Even for bloody cashpoints...

The castle in Cartagena is big, of a very, very different design to ours and it is very impressive. I think I heard a guide say it was never stormed. And it's the biggest fortification ever built in the Americas during colonial times. I still don't think much of Cartagena though.

There is very impressive engineering and construction in the new Ruta de Cordillera de Colombia through the Andes between Ibagué and Armenia, and, outside Medellin where the Colombians have recently opened the longest tunnel in South America to make getting to Medellin airport a 35 minute journey rather than a 100 minute one. It's 8 km long. And it isn't a straight line either which I found intriguing. I still don't know why it wiggles so noticeably.

Colombia is full of mountains. The Andes. Ibagué,  Medellín, Bogotá, Armenia are all surrounded  by them. Bogotá itself is at something like 8,000 feet. Height plays a huge role in local climates. Cartagena is at sea level. That's why it's so chuffing hot.

BobG

[SydneyRover]

Thanks Bob, a lot of interesting thoughts there, shame about the food, it's such a big part of our holidays.

[BobG]

I'm surviving Syd. And the bonus is Ive lost over an inch off my waist. Happy with that!

Lol. Another thought: I'm seriously investigating buying a fabulous house in a town called Armenia in the 'coffee district' of Colombia. It's an awesome house. By our standards cheap as chips. And Colombian coffee is worth paying something for too. I don't drink the stuff at home - strictly a tea man. But here? It's revalatory.

BobG

[SydneyRover]

You'll be one of the very few that return from holls weighing less, haha

[BobG]

 Although the food, to me, is almost uniformly unpleasant, soups excepted, I actually feel really well  And my consumption of insulin has fallen off a cliff. That suggests my English diet is unhealthily carbohydrate heavy. As I've not felt hungry at all I've learned something of immense value.

Went to a Chinese restaurant two nights ago. Very different to ours. Colombians don't do spicy. Not even pepper. After a bit of searching I've bought my own packet to carry with me. Curries don't exist. Chips are rare and you have to ask for them. Restaurant service is generically awful.

On the other hand there are zillions of cafes and the service is very nearly always fantastic. A wierd contrast that.

BobG

[andy didcott]

I was out there quite a few years ago now with the navy, don’t remember a great deal about the place apart from all the emerald shops, was tempted but would probably have been ripped off so didn’t bother.

[BobG]

Cartagena is, by a long way, the most expensive place I've been in Colombia. I think that may well be because of exposure to foreigners with money. So I suspect you were wise Andy

BobG

[Filo]

The Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins has died in Columbia in the middle of there World Tour yesterday

[andy didcott]

Also remember some local bloke bringing three gorgeous Columbian women on board covered from head to toe in emeralds, he wanted our money but didn’t get any, the only thing the lads wanted to do was go ashore and get pissed. In the end he took a few of us on a pub crawl around the not so safe port area, don’t know what happened to the emerald lasses but top run ashore as we used to say.

[BobG]

Some of the girls are absolutely stunning.  Really gorgeous. Dressing a few up in emeralds could be really something...

[BobG]

By the way, it's 'Colombia'. Understandably Colombians do get a tad upset when extrañeros can't spell the name of their country.

BobG

[andy didcott]

Oops,  I thought my spelling was pretty good.

[normal rules]

Hi Sydney

I'm  in Cartagena at the moment

Small world. We were there a few days ago.

[BobG]

[BobG]

Really NR ? That is quite something! I wasn't expecting anyone except sailors to have ever been within 2 000 miles. Are you navy?

BobG

[Bentley Bullet]

Bob, does it really matter what colour he is?


 

[BobG]

Is that hubris speaking again?

BobG

[Bentley Bullet]

Is that hubris speaking again?

BobG

I hope not Bob, I've heard such an arrogant condition can result in losing ones sense of humour in its more advanced stages.

[belton rover]

Cartegena just reminds me of ‘Romancing the Stone’.

[belton rover]

Bob, does it really matter what colour he is?


 

Don’t worry, Bentley. I thought it was funny.

[drfchound]

Bob, does it really matter what colour he is?


 

Don’t worry, Bentley. I thought it was funny.

So did I.

[Bentley Bullet]

Cheers guys, I'm used to hecklers!

[BobG]

Ah. You've been consulting Wiktionary BB. A chap who only yesterday was saying he was chuffed to bits when I remarked on his hubris is now trying to demonstrate he does, really, know what it means. Lol.

Hubris BB You sure got hubris. Every post...

As for Belton's support, well, I'm sure a bloke with your vast erudition will agree support from the village simpleton ain't worth having.

Regards

BobG

[belton rover]

Ah. You've been consulting Wiktionary BB. A chap who only yesterday was saying he was chuffed to bits when I remarked on his hubris is now trying to demonstrate he does, really, know what it means. Lol.

Hubris BB You sure got hubris. Every post...

As for Belton's support, well, I'm sure a bloke with your vast erudition will agree support from the village simpleton ain't worth having.

Regards

BobG

Wahay!

Big Word Bob isn’t letting us down is he? Big word Bob, whose punctuation and grammar is poor at best. ‘Hubris’ is his latest word - over used and ill used - in an attempt to impress people.

Now he calls me a village simpleton. Not a very impressive insult from someone with such an array of language skills - despite not really knowing how to use the words correctly - but who’d know on a third division football forum, eh Bob?

I want to call you a Kitson, but every time I type Kitson, it changes to Kitson. Just remember whenever I write Kitson to describe you, I actually mean Kitson.

I can only hope that you lose your passport and any means of communication in Colombia (that’s Colombia, everyone, not Columbia) and set yourself up with one of those village fruit stalls you mentioned - or even better - a vegetable stall.

Just think of all the village simpletons you could educate with your big words.

C u n t.