Sunday, September 17, 2006

Colombia - Working for the Weekend, Friday Edition

Friday Night
This is going to be an interesting gig. My compadre is single. As a single guy, he is always on the lookout, as anyone else in his place would be, for women of like mind. This is contrasted by me -- who 1) was never really good at it anyway and 2) haven't suited up for the wingman role in about 10+ years.

If Nicole is reading this -- I don't even notice that other women exist. (cough)

Based on recommendations from the office, hotel and anyone on the street that could "Habla Anglais" -- we head to the "T-Zone" for dinner/drinks/music/whatever. (Bogata uses zones for areas of similar use, i.e., the G-Zone is for Gourmet as in the best restaurants).

We wander down the streets (two streets that have a T intersection) to see what is what. Surprisingly, I do not blend him -- but wait, there is hope. We see a "Pub" which is British, so naturally there should be other leprachaun-looking folks to help me not stand out. (Not so). On recommendations from nutritionists everywhere, we go with the cheese fries for dinner. We stay here for a few hours for the scenery.

Next we head out to wander a little further. We see the requisite Hard Rock Cafe and so we go in primarily to use the bathroom, but to get the requisite souvenirs as well. We sit at the bar and the bartender speaks English very well so we decide to stay until two beyond inebriated local gents decide that they should strike up a conversation with us. 30 minutes and at least 8 introductions later (they kept forgetting that they had already told us their names) the bartender rescued us by 1) getting us to an outdoor table and 2) getting security to kick them out. His response was that he did not want us to have a bad experience in Colombia. We sit outside enjoying the weather when the next local decides to chat with us. We are still a little freaked out by the first guys, but we stay and talk for a while. They were really fun and interesting.

Everyone so far essentially has the same discussion with us... We really should practice to make this more interesting.

Topic 1 - Hello, introductions and why are you in Bogota
Topic 2 - What do you think of Bogota
Topic 3 - The women of Bogota are beautiful, no? (but you should go to Medellin)
Topic 4 - What do Americans think of Colombia?

Oddly -- by the end of the weekend we had that same exact conversation with every single person we talked with... Woman or man it didn't matter.

My opinions are pretty simple... Bogota is beautifully green with amazing mountains. The food is great, the people are great and I really enjoy the architecture. The women are beautiful, yet I am not looking. Americans believe what they see in movies - but I will go back and tell everyone what a great time I had.

We eventually leave and go to get a cab. Now the way this should work is that you do not accept a cab off the street. You also never should get in a cab with more than one person. I don't ask questions -- I just accept the rule.

So, we go to one of the army guys on the street and ask for help getting a cab. He waves down the next one, checks the credentials and we go on our way.

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