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A life in Colombia
Browsing All Posts published on »August, 2010«
Money, money, money
Talk about speaking too soon. The day after I wrote my stroppy little blog about being unable to secure any work, two agencies offered me some classes. Starting this week. I should be teaching my first pupil, an auditor who heads a team of accountants, for an hour-and-a-half early on a Wednesday and for two […]
It’s the little things…
August 29, 2010
I suffer from terrible impatience. Once I’ve made a decision (not one of my talents) I assume everything I want is going to happen within the next five minutes. I decided I was going to live in Bogotá exactly a week ago and, as yet, I don’t have a job or a flat. I’ve had […]
Do you have a boyfriend?
August 26, 2010
My potential new boss walked into the room. “Wow, you are tall,” he said, as we shook hands. “Do you have a boyfriend?” Now, I’ve lived in Latin America long enough not to be surprised by this question. I probably answer it three times a week. Dammit, I was practically expecting it. “More or less,” […]
Colombians are tricky people
August 25, 2010
Diego is a loser. He manages to lose every item of clothing he owns. In the first few days I knew him, he lost two t-shirts and the same pair of flip flops, six times over. He has already given me two jackets and a t-shirt I liked, on the basis that he would “lose […]
The only risk is wanting to stay
August 23, 2010
Before I left England, I should have made myself a t-shirt. It would have read something like this: “Kent, but I lived in Liverpool. “27, yes, it took me a while to save. “It’s supposed to be six months, but I spent four months in Ecuador, so I’ll probably still be here at Christmas…” The […]
Striking gold in Bogotá
August 23, 2010
When I was at university, I read Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s Chronicle of a Death Foretold and thought it was brilliant. Since then, I’ve been meaning to read more of his work (particularly Love In A Time of Cholera and 100 Years of Solitude) but other novels somehow always got in the way. I have felt […]
The legend of Bogotá
August 19, 2010
I was in Santa Marta for a few days before I hiked to the Ciudad Perdida. There I met a skinny, 26-year-old Colombian lad called Diego. He was on a short holiday from his home in Bogotá, where he lives with his brother, Juan. Now, when Diego heard I was planning to skip the Colombian […]
Mosquitos… proof there is no God
August 19, 2010
My legs used to be my best physical feature. I am 6’1 and – my fondness for cake aside – I have the genes of two relatively skinny parents. As a result, I have long legs. They are reasonably shapely and, most importantly, they were always generally unmarked. I mourn this fact. My legs are […]
How to make cocaine
August 14, 2010
“Do you like cocaine?” he asked, politely. I shook my head. “No, I don’t like,” I replied, in my best broken Spanish. “I think stupid.” The cocaine farmer laughed. “Do you like cocaine?” I asked, curiously. He shook his head and gave me a beautiful smile, revealing two rows of startlingly white teeth. “No, I […]
August 31, 2010
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