Arrived in Bogota

platano says on Aug 16, 2005, 18:37:

Look around you, Rubiazo.. notice something different... PEOPLE ARE FREAKING HAPPY! THEY KNOW HOW TO ENJOY LIFE.

Plátano, el bobo simplón
Oxigeno Verde ¡Libertad por Ingrid y los demás!

plátano

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Rubiazo says on Aug 16, 2005, 19:01:

Let me tell you A guy in the Puenterio saw me trying to fuck with phone cards to call my gf´s cell and OFFERED THE USE OF HIS CELL PHONE. I couldn't believe it.
That would NEVER happen anywhere in the US or Canada!!

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Dan says on Aug 16, 2005, 19:11:

Rubiazo Just remember, most people are friendly so long as you are too. It has been surprising to me when I visit Bogota and to see how nice/helpful people are. Some I've met have this idea of the "ugly american/gringo". But I surprise others when they see that I'm just a regular guy.

Enjoy your trip, and take care

God Bless America!

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Gomezman5 says on Aug 16, 2005, 20:21:

Hi Rubi Lucky you....I'm happy that your there. I'm always happy for anyone that
has the opportunity to go to Col. I feel a bit left out. But on the other hand...it also inspires me to get my rear in gear and make plans to finally go myself.

How long are you going to be there Rubi..??

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vladimiro says on Aug 16, 2005, 20:37:

shorts Just a side comment on wearing shorts. DAS in Medellin would not let me enter thier office in shorts; I had to go home and change. Every time I went back the security guards would joke, hey you are not wearing shorts are you?

"does anybody know about this scam" - unlike Medellin its common for taxi drivers in Bogota to overcharge. Instead of fighting I just give them what I think it should be and leave.

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YTO SAN says on Aug 16, 2005, 20:59:

What is it with Shorts?? Yeah, what is it with shorts in Medellin? When I was there last month there were a couple of days I wore shorts and let me tell you, a lot of people looked at me a like an ET or some, jajaja. even my friends there told me, don;t wear shorts today we are going shopping to the mall. I said what?? anyways I used jeans instead that day.

Can someone tell us what's wrong with wearing shorts in Medellin? when I was in Bogota I never had weird looks when wearing shorts.

Just Curious

=======YTO SAN

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quindioman says on Aug 16, 2005, 23:19:

not just in Medallo most governmental if not all governmental buildings, and even banks to a certain degree will not let you in if you are wearing shorts...these guys have something inherent against shorts

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tomtom33 says on Aug 17, 2005, 06:27:

Shorts It is felt that wearing shorts to any government office or fancier place shows some kind of disrespect.

I regularly wear shorts in MDE and never noticed any funny looks. But I did get hassled by a guard when I went into a government building.

Rubi - I hail from the upper midwest. People there will offer cell phones and go out of their way for you. Maybe that's why I feel so at home in Colombia.

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Rubiazo says on Aug 17, 2005, 07:49:

The thing is In many ´friendly´ parts of Canada and the States, people´s freindlieness is largely dependent on how you look, your color, etc. I´m a big freaky looking guy with long hair and in many parts of rural Michican or Ontario people either are afraid of me or just plain look down at me.
Also, I was married to a black girl for 7 years and we had lots of bad treatment all over for that, in upstate NY, in the South, and even in Toronto!

Nobody seems to mind the shorts in Bogota, I still wear em during the day because I like the cool breeze on my legs sometimes.

Gomezman, I´m here all the way till Sept 22!! I got the 60 day stamp from the immigration officer at MDE so I have NOTHING to do with those guys, at least on this trip :))

BTW I am really starting to appreciate how awesome the Transmilenio is. It gets crowded as hell sometimes but it´s a really efficient system. It has a hell of a job to do as well, as things are really spread out here!

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Mr. Hollywood says on Aug 17, 2005, 07:52:

taxis How in the world can a Bogota taxi driver overcharge you when there's a meter and a card with all the fares printed for everyone to see? The worst I've encountered is the occassional "rounding up" of a fare to the nearest thousand. Oh no! I just got scammed out of 30 cents!

Maybe if you speak no Spanish this is harder, but the system is totally transparent.

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Rubiazo says on Aug 17, 2005, 08:45:

This wasn´t an official taxi. Those were too small as I had my keyboard with me and it was too long to fit the way it was all wrapped up. This guy had The taxista actually had to go to the airport and get a printed piece of paper with the fare on it. But I know I payed too much. For 20k you should be able to get almost clear to Chia from the South. :p
I had to pay 2 fares- one was 7900 from the puenterio to the airport, one was 13600 from the airport to the apt.

The little groceries we bought were on average 1/3 to 1/4 of the price I would normally pay in the Bronx. My gf insists we way overpaid but we were tired to get back on the Trasmilenio after running around all day. We bought fresh fruits, pulp for juice, eggs, chorizos, and milk and a few other odds and ends. A bottle of shampoo I bought here was just about exactly the same price as it would have been in the US.

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vladimiro says on Aug 17, 2005, 09:02:

los conchudos de bogota In Medellin if the fair is 10mil the meter shows 10,000 you don't have to figure anything out with a card. Being new to Bogota I would just ask the driver how much I owed him and they would often overcharge significantly.

I remember that during semana santa or any of Colombia's many holiday's some taxi drivers telling me that there is an additional 8mil "semena santa charge". Or after dropping me off at a bar they would sometimes wait outside, and when I would come out prendido take me back to the hotel and try to charge me for the several hour wait...I found the white taxis at the high-end hotels which are supposed to be safer to be more much more dishonest than the regular yellow taxis on the street.

"I had to pay 2 fares- one was 7900 from the puenterio to the airport, one was 13600 from the airport to the apt."

The 8mil between puentario and the international airport is the correct rate. I thought I was getting overcharge for this too because I could walk there in 5min and it was cheaper in the past - but that's the new rate. So the 20K fair I think was correct in your case.

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webmanco says on Aug 17, 2005, 10:40:

Taxis in Bogotá "scam????"
Rubiazo welcomeback to Colombia, hope you could meet with some other posters on PBH on our next meet up.

About the taxi, I guess you were charged right, considering that you took a special cab, and the fact that you were given a ticket for the taxi at the airport which is done as well at the terminal de transportes and some supermarkets in order to avoid passengers to be overcharged.
Here is more information about taxis

Al finalizar la carrera, el pasajero cuenta con una tabla ubicada al respaldo de la silla del copiloto donde se relacionan las unidades y su respectivo valor en pesos. El servicio de taxi funciona las 24 horas.

Con las nuevas tarifas la carrera mínima pasa de $2.600 a $2.700, el recargo nocturno, dominical y festivo pasa de $1.200 a $1.300 y el recargo por servicios desde y hacia el Aeropuerto pasa de $2.600 a $2.700.



Bogotá August 19

...A yo, déjenme queto y no me jodan má! ...

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Neonovo says on Aug 17, 2005, 11:53:

I usually pay $25k from El Dorado to 160 & La Séptima (north) ...and the driver is usually my own brother in law (who drives a taxi, among other things). When another family member drives me to the house from the airport, I always give 'em a 20k bill, even if I have to push it into 'em...

Of course, if I was picke up in a Mercedes, or a SUV, I'm sure that gesture wouldn't be necessary.

Paz
Neonovo

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rona says on Aug 17, 2005, 12:09:

Rubi, help me settle a friendly bet . . . . . . one of my buddies insists that you can find an Irish bar anywhere in the world . . . do you know of any in BOG? I have yet to find one - and where can you get a Guinness in BOG? Can anyone reccomend a comparable Stout brewed in Colombia? - Thanks

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Rubiazo says on Aug 17, 2005, 14:50:

I´m gonna check I bet there is one here, i´ve never been anywhere over 100k people that doesnt have one. Even freaking Rio has a few.
Hmm

16:55] D-MIC in Europe 2: mmm..
[16:55] D-MIC in Europe 2: the irish pub..
[16:56] Rubiazo: my friend wants to know
[16:56] Rubiazo: they want to drink guinness
[16:56] D-MIC in Europe 2: its in " la zona T"

there ya go!! I bet its full of gringo-chasers!!

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webmanco says on Aug 17, 2005, 16:09:

Irish Pub
The authentic irish pub Carrera 12A No 83-48 571 691-8711


Bogotá Agosto 19

...A yo, déjenme queto y no me jodan má! ...

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Neonovo says on Aug 17, 2005, 16:10:

www.casabuenavista.org I was browsing through http://www.bogotaturismo.gov.co and found www.casabuenavista.org which looks like my kind of place.

CERVEZA NACIONAL
CLUB COLOMBIA..................$6.000
CERVEZA SIN ALCOHOL BUKLER.....$7.000
RED BULL.......................$9.000
CERVEZA ALEMANA (ver información)
ERDINGER NEGRA1/2 LITRO....$10.000
ERDINGER RUBIA 1/2 LITRO...$10.000
WARSTEINER PREMIUM VERUM...$7.000
LINDENER...................$7.000
LOWENBRAU..................$7.000

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Lauthra says on Aug 17, 2005, 16:22:

Irish pub I've been to the place webmanco mentioned, but it had nothing originally Irish, they didn't even have darts! It looked nothing like an Irish Pub, I was way disappointed. After being there I didn't even bothered checking out the 'English Pub'... If anyone knows of other Irish Pubs here (Bogota), please lemme know.

Welcome to Bogotá Rubiazo, we've been having some seriously manky weather lately, lets hope it clears up.
Nato

(='.'=)

Nato (='.'=)

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utopiacowboy says on Aug 17, 2005, 19:18:

I frequently wear shorts in Medellin and I've never had any problems. I just look like a big dumb-ass gringo so they don't expect anything more from me.

Disclaimer: any comment I make is inane and is not to be taken seriously, and is so patently ridiculous that no one should take it seriously, even as an insult.

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kernow62 says on Aug 17, 2005, 19:36:

Do you wear cowboy boots with them? I bet they are short shorts too. ;-)

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Rubiazo says on Aug 18, 2005, 08:53:

NO COMPLAINING about the weather After that horrible heat wave in NYC, I am just in paradise. I´m loving the chill in my feet right about now. And I´m very glad the clouds keep that awful sun from beating down on us!!!!! My ezcema has completely cleared up too!
I really wish they get to a point where they can completely ban dieseil here though. Every time one of those old'ass trucks passes its just NASTY. And of course, the soroche is hitting me hard. I´ve managed to pull half the muscles in my back and ALL the muscles in my abdomen. How, do you really have to ask ?? :)
My image of UC is forever shattered! I bet kernow is right on the money too :p
Tonight I will be going out clubbing for the first time. If anybody knows where there is some good live music after 11pm please let me know!! I´m gonna hit as many places as is humanly possible.

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Rubiazo says on Aug 18, 2005, 08:54:

One more thing I have lost an inch off of my waist in 3 days, despite eating everything in sight. I hope my pants still fit at the end of the trip!

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elmodefoque says on Aug 18, 2005, 09:06:

rubiazo, you lucky modefoque, why did you keep it a secret, who knew you were heading to colombia. do me a favor, tell them colombian sonamanbiches to give me a damn passport and cedula so i could return right now.

ASK NOT WHAT THE PUSSY CAN DO FOR YOU, BUT WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR THAT PUSSY!!!!!!!!!! CAT LOVER

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Rubiazo says on Aug 18, 2005, 09:23:

It was no secret You must have been reading thr forum in Wayuu or something hahahahahah.!
Elmo I seriously meant to corner you on the greenway that last week i was in NYC but my son and my ex-wife were BOTH in the hospital, in 2 separate hospitals actually, and I had NO time! I actually ended up with 7 hours to pack everything, which normally would be a lot, but this is also a business trip, so I brought all my music gear with me!! It´s still not set up properly- i´m crossing my fingers that i don´t need any parts because if i do they will probably get here by the time i have to leave :P

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utopiacowboy says on Aug 18, 2005, 11:47:

I wear little spandex shorts that ride up my crack so it looks like I'm giving myself a wedgie.

Disclaimer: any comment I make is inane and is not to be taken seriously, and is so patently ridiculous that no one should take it seriously, even as an insult.

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kernow62 says on Aug 18, 2005, 13:02:

Ja ja, I picture you like Daffyd Thomas.

http://www.plymouthpavilions.com/pressreleases/images/Little-Britain---Daffyd.gif

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Colombiche says on Aug 18, 2005, 14:54:

Rubiazo How is the soroche hitting you? Are you out of breath when you climb stairs or are you dizzy?

I'll be in Bogota on Sept 4, let me know if you are playing any gigs, I will go check you out!

No me den trago extranjero, que es caro y no sabe a bueno.... (Rafael Godoy)

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Rubiazo says on Aug 19, 2005, 07:23:

Soroche It´s still definitely there, but much less bad than when I first landed. I still feel stairs much more than normal.
I think I have something for Sept 3 at Orange, the bar I was hanging out at last nite. But I have to firm things up with the owner on Tuesday afternoon. Great little bar btw, it´s right by the Heroes Transmilenio station. It´s very much a rock bar, I would be singing all in English there.

Rubiazo and Monachita´s night out last night:
2 Transmilenio tickets out $2400
drinks at the bar $8000 (with tip)
taxi home $8000 damn night surcharge
hot dog and double hamburguesa $9500 (i´m such a big, note that this was the single biggest expense of the night.)
if we had something to snack on in the apt after getting home from the club we coulda kept it to under $20k.

On the down side, our building has shut down the water for 36 HOURS!! starting at 6am today. My gf got up and filled the cistern with water so we get cold sponge baths today and tomorrow :p Good thing Bogota is NOT in a warm climate!!!

Sunday afternoon we are going to Zipaquira to see some other musician friends and check out the salt cathedral.

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kernow62 says on Aug 19, 2005, 07:45:

I hope you are taking some photos Rubiazo to go along with your informative posts. Keep 'em coming.

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kernow62 says on Aug 19, 2005, 07:46:

Congrats Mario. I was looking at some of the apts in that area, quite nice. I think I would rent rather than buy, which goes against everything I practice in the UK or the US.

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Gomezman5 says on Aug 19, 2005, 07:58:

Kernow....and Rubi You our MUCH better off renting in Bogota right now. Prices in really nice secure buildings on the north side are unbelievably low.

Buy???? That just makes no sense, if you are not going to be there that long or that much. I did not know you were going there anyway.
What's happening in that regard

Rubi
Do you really like those Colombian Hot Dogs??? It takes quite a bit of getting used to with all those things they put on them. I happen to like it but if you tell the average American what Colombians put on a hot dog they would never believe you.

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Carito571 says on Aug 19, 2005, 08:30:

Talking about juices I'm addicted to the colombian juices too but I hate having to pay $2.50 here in Jersey for them :(

So enjoy them...and oh yeah put away those shorts..hehe

Let us know what else you bump into

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utopiacowboy says on Aug 19, 2005, 08:33:

I love the Colombian hot dogs. We always buy them from a street vendor near my wife's apartment.

Disclaimer: any comment I make is inane and is not to be taken seriously, and is so patently ridiculous that no one should take it seriously, even as an insult.

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kernow62 says on Aug 19, 2005, 09:34:

There is a Colombian hot dog stand here in Orlando, I can't stand them, of course I don't like the Chicago ones with all the toppings. I like a good NY kosher hotdog, kraut, onions, and mustard or red onion sauce and mustard that's it!

Carito can't you buy the frozen pulp? La Fe brand or even some of the Goya are very good. When they are on sale I pay $1.19 and it makes a quart of juice. I know it isn't fresh but it is close. I can make the mango from pulp or fresh from my tree and it is hard to taste the difference.

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Rubiazo says on Aug 19, 2005, 20:20:

I´m used to the hot dog here You should see what they put on a hot dog in the Dominican Republic if you think the Colombian ones are over the top :P

Those frozen pulps are SOO cheap here. And so far everything we´ve bought my gf complains we are overpaying because I can´t yet be bothered to go to Palo Quema´o at 7 or 8am and fight off the other natives for the freshest stuff. I told her LUNES we will do it.

My mock budget will start on Monday as well. That will leave it at exactly a month and it gives me time to get everything set up here. I am not paying anything to stay here but I´m going to include half of all the bills here to make it realistic. I just bought a bunch of 8 watt bulbs at Home Center to put everywhere.
We may go to Tierra Caliente for 2-3 days near the end of the trip. If we do I will do a budget including the trip and one pro-rated for those days we are away, once again, to make it as real as possible. My goal is to keep personal expenses down to under 1 million in a month, including all transport, food etc.

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Rubiazo says on Aug 19, 2005, 20:22:

GIB I´m not currently looking at buying in Bogota right now. If I did it would be something i did REAL carefully the same way I did it in NY. My next purchase will probably be in Rio because the returns on it are likely to be WAY higher, and like you said, rents are reasonable here. My gf even thinks she coulda got a better deal on her place if she shopped around more. We´re in Colsubsidio BTW.

What days would be good days to go to Restrepo to catch the hip hop clubs? Is there any action early in the week or is it all Fri-Sat? If I really start the gigs coming here (I already have stuff on the table) I will have precious little time on the weekends.

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Rubiazo says on Aug 19, 2005, 20:26:

Looks like water is back I had to take a bucket-shower today with lukewarm water. Not like its the first time I had to do it, no big deal. It´s amazing how you can do it with less than 1 gallon of water even for a big guy like me, but if you take a normal shower you can easily use 20 gallons or more, plus you have to gas-heat the hot water. Here they have a little water heater with pilot light, and you light it 10 minutes before you want hot water. It really amazes me how efficiently people live here compared to the USA. We had an apagon here too 2 days ago, but it was only for maybe 10 minutes. I was taking a nap when it happened ;P

Why the hell they would have to take 36 damn hours to test water lines is beyond me. In my mind it should take 12 hours max! Lets hope 36 hours was a worst-case figure.

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Rubiazo says on Aug 19, 2005, 20:31:

Price comparing So far the things I have seen that are MORE expensive here than in the US are
Laptops
Cell phones
Digital Cameras
Other electronic items
Making calls on cell phones (you receive them for free but they really cornhole you good when you go to make a call. Thats why txt msgs are so popular here, the USER pays to receive em!!)

Everything else I have found at the same price I would pay in the US or less. In some cases much less, in many cases 1/4 to 1/3 of the price, in many other cases exactly what we would pay in the US. This may seem like a bad deal for the Colombianos but compare it to any other Latin American country except for maybe Mexico and you´d see they are doing pretty well in comparison. In Brazil they do a pretty good job of keeping prices down but on some items there is severe sticker shock. For example, I had to tape up a case with a surdo drum in it to ship back to NYC and had no duct tape. I bought a roll at 36 reais which is close to $15 USD!!! Here the duct tape at the Home Center is spot on what Home Depot charges in the US. So are the little velcro strips I bought. Ditto for the energy-efficient light bulbs.

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Rubiazo says on Aug 19, 2005, 20:41:

Some other items Purchased at the exito at calle 80 and cra 68.

Spanish olive oil 6100 for 250ml can
Sunflower oil 4600 for 500ml bottle
Spaghetti 640 pesos for a pack big enough to serve 2 people, (4 packs)
I don´t normally eat pasta but since I´m Italian I sure know how to cook it so my gf insisted I do it up for her.
deodorants: hers 4240 his 4600
200ml of AWESOME local honey 4820
.925kg of ´chata´ steak (think half of a porterhouse without the bone) 13968 pesos
One big pair of chanclas 10900

The meat wasnt cheap, I just did some calculations, it came out to about $2.97 a lb, but in many US supermarkets it would go for 4x that. I will report on the quality of the meat tomorrow.
On that subject, El Rey de Pollo ROCKS MY WORLD for the most delicious roasted chicken I have ever had. They are also expensive by Bogota standards but well worth it!

Oh yes, there are dudes in station wagons who park at the entrance to our conjunto and sell stuff out the back. One guy has eggs. We bought 48 JUMBO eggs for 5500 pesos. Another guy has cheeses, sausages, guava paste, arepas, etc. I bought 10 genoas for 5000. Four of em just went down lovely with 4 scrambled eggs and a whole bunch of hot sauce!!!

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vladimiro says on Aug 19, 2005, 22:38:

steak Its amazing how cheap fillet minon is in Colombia. Called Solomito Redondo you can buy a big slab of it enough to feed a small party for $15. I think same sized fillet minon in US would cost over $100.

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Rubiazo says on Aug 20, 2005, 06:23:

i find that in South America they dont consider the filet mignon a good cut at all. Thats part of the reason it´s so cheap, it´s not in demand.
In Brazil they always serve it wrapped in bacon as they consider it flavorless on its own.
Water has been on and stayed on since last night. I guess they´re done messing with it. We still have 2 big buckets and a cistern full of water as a reseve just in case though! :P

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Desideria (Moderator) says on Aug 20, 2005, 07:53:

tenderloin is the correct term for the cut that is called "lomo redondo" or "solomillo" in Spanish, the tenderest part is the end that's called "lomo viche" at least in some parts of Colombia. Filet mignon is the name for the steak or sliced tenderloin and the Brazilians are absolutely right: it's the least savory part of the cut (the tail end of tenderloin). That's why filet mignon recipes often call for bacon wrap and sauce incorporating pan juices. That's how the proper Filet Mignon is prepared, even in Colombia, after the classical recipe.

(just a culinary observation...)

Cheers,
Desi

"When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning, or in rain?"(First Witch in Macbeth)

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kernow62 says on Aug 20, 2005, 08:52:

What is a rib eye steak called in Colombia?

Rubiazo have you tried carne a la llanera yet? I love it with some papas on the side rolled in salt. Damn I am making myself hungry.

Keep the posts coming Rubiazo, I like the food prices and taste tests. The honey I bought as well as the bee pollen was a real bargain compared to the states, I am bringing bee pollen back on my next trip for sure.

While you are there if you get a chance check out the price of mountainbikes and road bikes. I saw loads of bikes with the GT name that looked like poor copies. Of course the new GTs aren't as good as they once were either.

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vladimiro says on Aug 20, 2005, 09:07:

tenerloin Interesting. Desi you really should share more of your Colombian culinary knowledge with us:)

At a friends house in Colombia I had Solomilo redondo soaked in brandy and salt then wrapped in cloth and dropped directly into a wood fire. It was delicious.

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Rubiazo says on Aug 20, 2005, 10:01:

I was looking for ribeye I didnt see anything like it.
A lot of the cuts of meat are boneless, which is crap to me. From now on I´m avoiding the Exito and going to a real neighborhood carniceria for all my carne needs.
I´m going to prepare these steaks today in Quebecois-Italian style in honor of Sylvie. :ppp I´m going to pan fry them but first i´m going to brush them with olive oil, crushed garlic and whatever herbs i can get the freshest here.

A good friend of mine has an apiary in the South Bronx, believe it or not and his honey is really fantastic. The honey here is at least as good but VERY different tasting. Honey is very much like wine, you can buy two packets of it and they can taste very different. The bees actually sort their honey by flower in the hives. Each rack you take out has a distinct flavor.

I GUARANTEE I will hit the bicycle district sometime next week, as well as the music stores at 70 and 7. As you probably know I am an avid cyclist and if I end up being semi-permanent here the bicycle is definitely in the cards for me as primary transportation.

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Tinto (Moderator) says on Aug 20, 2005, 11:03:

Wear a helmet! And clean underwear.

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Rubiazo says on Aug 21, 2005, 19:43:

Next installment My Saturday:
I ended up waking up at 9:00am for some goddamn reason. My gf cooked a delicious breakfast, eggs, sausage, crepes, and juice.
Let me comment on juice.. we´ve been making juice like crazy in the apt. We´ve had so far
lulo- just delicious with lots of milk and honey
tomato de arbol- real good but needs LOTS of sugar
tamarindo- better with water than milk, but delicious. Fresh tamarinds are really a gift from the gods!
mora- moras are more bitter than raspberries. But they also made amazing juice. With milk it ended up too think so we added a little water.

It seems like a lot of the local flora and fauna is very bitter. It makes for great juicing though. Colombians are very much into juicing every fruit they get their hands on much like their neighbors the Brazilians, BUT the big difference is that Brazilians like combining different things in juice, they go crazy over these complex recipes. Everybody here in the apt went ´GUACALES´ when I suggested combining two or more kinds of fruit together. I´m trying to use honey rather than sugar when I can get away with it, for various reasons. That is also something that they dont do here at all as a rule of thumb.

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Rubiazo says on Aug 21, 2005, 19:49:

Moving along I spent most of the morning wrestling with my gear trying to make it work properly. I finally figured out later that my laptop needs to be level or near level to not crash all the time. I´m probably going to sell it before I leave because its a good laptop but another more robust brand would be better for music applications. I live in fear of it getting bumped at a gig and having to reboot while on stage performing.

I took my gf´s kid to the Unicentro del Occidente here in the complex. We rented a little electric car on the way, 2k pesos 10 min. He drove around, hit a couple old ladies, and we were off.
Bought some towels at a housewares store and bought some proper juice containers with built in agitators to keep the juice nicely mixed. The containers and some plastic glasses were a bit cheaper than US prices- the towels were at US prices. We didnt have any towels really big enough for my fat ass in the apt.

I finally got a chance to cook those steaks for dinner Sat night. We only had thyme and oregano in the house so I took some fresh thyme with some fresh garlic and olive oil and made an emulsion in the blender. I rubbed the meat down and pan seared it for a couple minutes on each side. Total success. Once again, I wish I had bone-in steaks for this but the meat was delicious. I also learned how to cook papas criollas, you boil them hard THEN pan fry them. The smaller they are the better they taste! Lulo juice accompanied the meal.

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Rubiazo says on Aug 22, 2005, 05:41:

R&M´s nite out part DEUX Part deux.
Saturday night we hit the Zona Rosa. Our goal was to hear good live tropical music and we were maybe 80% successful.
We hit the long-standing Quiebra Cantos first at 11:45pm. I was shocked at first to see so few people but it filled up by 1:15 or so.
They had a conjunto playing with conga, bongos, keys, bass, singer, and three trumpets. They were decent but had a few rough edges they needed working on. They were a little unsure about some arrangements and the horns frequently thought they were playing jazz and went behind.
In between shows, I talked to the singer, who was far and away the best part of the band. He was telling me that music from the Pacific coast is taking off right now in Colombia. I don´t know if he´s from that part but he looked like he could be. I have his number so I´ll call him today or tomorrow.
The band asked if I´d like to sit in for a piano solo, so I did. The audience went absolutely bonkers. One guy actually even asked for my autograph. I told him i was nobody he said 'eso no importa'!!
Around 3am we hit another joint a couple blocks down. A quartet was playing with 3 Cubans and one Colombian. I wound up talking to the keyboard player who was the only Colombian in the band. He told me he had been in NYC previously and then Miami and left once the music scene died in those cities. I guess he´s a couple years ahead of me!
The Cuban band was REALLY REALLY REALLY excellent. They were some really seasoned older guys and they were just laying it down. I´m actually finding out that Cubans do immigrate here in some numbers.
Our total for the night was just over $80k. We spent $30k at Quiebra Cantos and $40 at the other place. Taxi home was $10800. We took the Transmilenio there.
One caveat about the Transmilenio. It is fast and great but it is a very complicated system, at least as complicated as that of NYC. There are a whole bunch of different express and local routes. You really need to know exactly where you´re going. For example, I have to take the 1.5 feeder at portal de la 80 to get home. It goes through this whole complex, but the first 4 stops are for getting off and the last 4 stops are only for people getting on. They dont want people using the feeder to get around in the neighborhood... its supposed to be for getting to the trunk line only. So I missed my stop and then ended up having to go all the way back to portal de la 80 and around again!

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Gomezman5 says on Aug 22, 2005, 07:27:

Rubi...got anymore of those steaks? It's 9:25, I just got to my office, I was thinking about a bagel and cream cheese, (no arepa y chocolate here) and then you start talking about steaks with your marinade. I'll take your word for it.

Anyway, it seems like you are having a great time. I wish I could be there and share some of the fun. Colombia and all that I love about her keeps calling me home. (Here that Sr. Carter?)

It would be nice to come here you perform. I think that is great that the band invited you to sit in. Enjoy these experiences Rubi, you will really cherish these memories down the road. Trust me.

By the way, there really are a lot of Cubans that somehow or another immigrate to Colombia. But How do they get there. It is one thing to take a raft 90 miles to Miami. It is quite another to have to travel to Colombia. Does Castro allow them to travel there without a hassle??

Anyway, your updates are always interesting....keepem' a comin'

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Rubiazo says on Aug 22, 2005, 10:32:

The Cubans do it legally, i think. There is some legal process one can do it by. Apparently there are a lot of Cuban musicians in Colombia due to the huge Colombian taste for Cuban music. Apparently they also denied a visa to the band Anthrax, so I guess son and guaracha are in, heavy rock is out :P

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Rubiazo says on Aug 22, 2005, 10:35:

Dancing salsa in Bogota My gf is an AVID salsa dancer. When I met her, I could only dance merengue and bachata, and poorly at that. Since my last time here in January, I have been practising isolation exercises every day to get loose. Now I have good rhythm and good flexibility but I dont know anything complicated. That will be the next step.
At Quiebra Cantos they REALLY know how do dance. Colombians know all the traditional salsa steps and turns but they also have some steps that look almost samba-like. Somebody had said on another thread that Colombians have problems dancing salsa, well not at all IMO. I´ve seen some salsa here on the same level I´ve seen it in NYC, when I used to hang out at the Latin Quarter on Broadway and 96th before the police locked the doors.

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poco says on Aug 22, 2005, 10:44:

Make a LIST When you get back in U.S. of the items you think are WORTH taking to Colombia (not presents). A BIG TOWEL (small? beach sized) is difficult to find and I've taken two of these LUXURY items.

"When you men get home and face an anti-war protester, look him in the eyes and shake his hand. Then, wink at his girlfriend, because she knows she's dating a pussy." Quote - General Tommy Franks

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Rubiazo says on Aug 22, 2005, 10:55:

What i BROUGHT A camcorder for my gf.
A Bugs Bunny animated phone.
A laptop that I´ll probably sell just before I leave.
My Treo 650 which might end up for sale too.
Unless you are slim, don't count on too many clothes fitting you here either. I wear a 4xl tshirt and 3xl shorts or pants, good luck finding any of that here, at least AFAIK.
So in short, any electronics or any big clothes. Oh and sneakers, especially good Nikes or NB. I was planning on buying a couple extra pairs of Nikes to sell here but didn´t have time unfortunately.

What i´m TAKING BACK from Colombia
Honey
Hot sauce (I ALWAYS take back hot sauce no matter where I go.)
Tailor made suits and shirts (we´re going Wed to buy fabric and get me measured, I hope they have a long measuring tape !!! )
Liquor (rum and aguardiente and brandy)

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Rubiazo says on Aug 22, 2005, 11:14:

Our Sunday in Zipaquirá My gf got up before me Sunday morning, winning the 'i got up first after a night of drinking' contest. When I woke up fresh crepes and tetero were waiting. Tetero is panela with milk instead of water. It´s deliicous!

By 12:15 we stopped farting around and headed for the Transmilenio, her, her son, and I. We took the feeder to the 80 line to the North line finally getting at the Portal del Norte. There we took a flota to Zipaquirá, about 45 minutes or so from the portal. Total transit time was approx. 1h40 each way.

Arriving in Zipaquirá we were greeted by Juan Carlos who is a dear friend of a dear friend and a professional musician as well. We went to a restaurante campestre called ´La Chocita´ way out in the boonies. The food was unbelievable. Among us 3, Juan Carlos, and his wife and daughter, we had bowls of ajiaco, empanadas, 2 different cuts of beef, perfectly grilled chicken breast in mushrooms, and my dish was trout in shrimp sauce. Absolutely awesome. None of us ate again that day, from 2:30pm! I wasn´t even that hungry for breakfast today!

We chatted for a couple hours about music and more music etc. And then they left us at the entrance of the Salt Cathedral. Really a must see if you ever get anywhere near there. We left Zipaquirá shortly after 7pm. The whole town had rolled up its sidewalks, the only things open were a few restaurants and the transit terminal. I had to pay 500 pesos to pee in the bathroom which had no fucking soap :/

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Rubiazo says on Aug 22, 2005, 11:27:

The market in Palo Quemado They have a big huge market area in this neighborhood. It´s supposedly not exactly the best area of the city but we had no problems.
We got there around 9:30 this morning, still early enough to get really good fruit and fish.

Here is the breakdown of the purchases.

Fish and seafood: 20800, 1 lb medium shrimp, 2.2 lbs bagre
Chicken: 2300, 1 lb thighs, cooking in sauce as we speak
DELICIOUS turkey ham 2.5lbs and double-cream cheese 1.5lbs: 14800
So on average these items cost about 30% of what I would have paid in the USA.

We also bought 20000 worth of fruit, 1000 of habichuelas, and a big 5lb bag of papas criollas for another 2000. Total cash outlay was 60600. The fruit on average was 10% of the price it would be in the USA,with the exceptions being the papayas and the nectarines, which probably came a long way from here. We also bought 500 worth of fresh dill and some other herb. I was looking for basil for my tomato sauce but chose this because it was similar, although a little more bitter than sweet. They let you taste-test everything in the market before you buy. Those herbs probably would have been worth about $7 in the US, although it is hard to even compare as a lot of these things you would never find anywhere in the US.

So in total, we came back with maybe about 70lbs of groceries that would have cost close to $200 for less than $30.
I really want to know how one would go through $500k on food in a month in Bogota. You would have to be eating out ALL THE TIME to do that! Or maybe some of those places in the North are way marked up.

My one complaint is that almost all the fish and meat is BONELESS. I held out on the salmon for that reason. Salmon fillets are a waste to me because all the flavor is in the skin and the bones, well, most of it anyway.
We plan to go every week to this market to get all our basics.
Oh, and transportation to and from was $1k per person each way on the colectivo.

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Desideria (Moderator) says on Aug 22, 2005, 11:45:

so, the two of you hauled about 70 lb of meat and produce home in a colectivo? Must've been a sight:)

I used to shop for meat and fresh produce at a food arket called Galería Alameda in Cali. We drove there in our car, parked and shopped and took the stuff home in two huge baskets...people who don't have cars usually take a taxi back. Your story brings all kind of fond memories back to my mind.

Cheers,
Desi

"When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning, or in rain?"(First Witch in Macbeth)

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Rubiazo says on Aug 22, 2005, 12:17:

If I end up spending any time long-term down here, I would put a big box on the rack on back of my bicycle and go there that way, even saving the 2000 pesos on transit. Good exercise!!
The colectivo stopped right on the corner where we finished up. And it let us off about 100 meters from our building. Really no problem.

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Lucia Rojas says on Aug 22, 2005, 15:08:

Check out the Gaiteros Hi rubiazo! It`s good to have you in Bogota. Its been raining a lot no?
Check out the Gaiteros de SAn jacinto, they usually play every weekend... you will probably like them.... If you need anything just ask. Im back in Bogota too.

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kernow62 says on Aug 22, 2005, 15:48:

So Rubiazo did you drink your Tetero from a baby bottle. Isn't panela and milk what some mothers give their baby instead of formula?

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Lucia Rojas says on Aug 22, 2005, 16:09:

Also Mojarra Electrica You seem to be having a wonderful time... If you liked music from the Pacific.. you should probably check out MOJARRA ELECTRICA a bogotano band, with members from Guapi, Cali, Cartagena... its a great party. Check out the web sites for:
Kankanos laboratorio musical and they will have all the information
Buenavista Salon de Baile, has a good web site also and good live music...salsa, cuban, latin jazz (colombian). Also Casa de Citas in La Candelaria has good live music. It's on cra. 3 with 14 or 15....
How long will you be here? i'll keep you posted on concerts....
Sidestepper is also a good band... but I don't know if they have any concerts coming up.

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Rubiazo says on Aug 22, 2005, 19:16:

I´m here till Sept 22 So one more glorious month.
I only noticed one day of ´harta lluvia´and even that didnt last very long. Mostly its just been cloudy with a couple drops falling here and there. Suits me fine as i really have to watch out for that ecuatorial sun when it does come out. I sunburn at the drop of a hat.
Kernow, I would have preferred natural breast milk but her son is already 6 years old so she doesnt express very well anymore. We both had to settle for tetero!
Lucia, do you know of anywhere good to go tomorrow night for live music? I plan to basically be out all day and all night. I´m going to music stores in the day, then back to Orange to see if I can get some gigs there, and then to Unilago and after that I want to continue hitting places that offer live music to see if I can get in there.

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webmanco says on Aug 22, 2005, 20:15:

San Pelayo Rubiazo, I don´t know if you already went to San Pelayo a fleet Market "Pulgero" near Plaza Usaquen, behind Hacienda Santa Barbara it would be nice to read your feedback when visiting San Pelayo. There are actually two "Pulgeros" there one on a parquing lot and another going a little up, they open on weekends, here is a picture taken a couple of weeks ago.


San Pelayo


September

...A yo, déjenme queto y no me jodan má! ...

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kernow62 says on Aug 23, 2005, 04:23:

webmanco that is one thing I missed doing last time I visited, I am going to hit the pulgero next visit for sure!

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Lucia Rojas says on Aug 23, 2005, 10:39:

Festival Internacional de Teatro callejer The festival internacional de teatro callejero starts en Aug.25 theres gonna be great stuff happeneing in the strets......
Check out the places that i told you...
Candelaria:
Casa de Citas Cra.3 with calle 14 or 15... always has live music good!!
Tienda in front of Escobar Rosas at Cra.4 with Jimenez ( people hang out and sponatneous singing happens. Its a good corner for rumba.
I don`t know if you´re only interested in certain types of music, but if you want to play.. it might happen at
Crabs Cra 14 between 73 and 75
Check out Buenavista salon de baile at cra 5 on the south side of parque Nacional
Salome at cra13 and 82 has live music too...salsa
Its good to buy the newspapers and a revista called plan B
Check out the museo del banco de la Republica. My favorite place in Bogota in front of the Luis Angel Arango library at la candelaria!!! Its free and has a great collection of art and a good coffee shop!
tomorrow is a big rumba day in Bogota. Enjoy!!

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Lauthra says on Aug 23, 2005, 14:10:

Hey! My family is visiting from Cali and we went to Zipaquirá on Sunday too. If you like nice scenery I recommend Guatavita, it's a town near Bogota with a lake, the view is spectacular.
Muelle Mackenzie (sp) has live music on Fridays and Saturdays, if I remember correctly, Carrera 7 No. 59-56 248-7453.
Nato

(='.'=)

Nato (='.'=)

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Rubiazo says on Aug 23, 2005, 21:39:

Crabs tomorrow they have their blues jam night so a friend of mine is going with me. We are both going to try and land gigs there. Before Crabs we are going to go to Bulín and also see about some gigs. Bulín fascinates me because they have all sorts of music there.

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Rubiazo says on Aug 23, 2005, 21:53:

Pawn shops and Music Row Today I went to Av Caracas where they have all the pawn shops from 63rd st down. I saw mostly old junk but a surprising amount of newer nicer stuff. Lots of good cameras and TVs. Real old laptops, calculators etc. A few shitty musical instruments and amps. And the real surprise was, tons of dentist´s and doctor´s implements. I suppose reselling them in that way is legal down here.

I was actually looking for an amp for playing live shows so I went up to carrera 7 and back uptown checking out all of the music stores. Many of them had nothing near what I wanted and were really poorly stocked. One place was very guitar-oriented. Some places had quite a bit of new up to date stuff. You see a lot of brands you dont see in Canada or the USA, such as Kustom, Laney, and ProEl.

Prices weren´t as horrible as I thought they would be, but this is still one of the few areas where things can get more expensive than they are in the US. A digital piano worth maybe $700 in the US was going for $950 or so. I was able to find a decent sounding monitor for $700k pesos, which is about in line with what I´d pay in the US. Tomorrow a club owner friend of mine is going to see if he can hook me up with a used one for cheaper, maybe $400-500k. The good par tof the market here is that you can still find used stuff at a bargain. Ebay really ruined that in the US (but its great if you´re selling!)

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Rubiazo says on Aug 23, 2005, 22:00:

Unilago I really dont have much to say about Unilago that hanst been said in previous posts. It was a lot nicer and cleaner and less crazy than I expected but it is difficult as hell to find your way around there. I had to go to a specific store because of a hookup from a friend and it took a good 20 minutes to find. I got a 500w power supply for 35k which is an excellent deal anywhere.

Half a block down cra 15 from Unilago is Lago Centro. There you can find all the used stuff. One shop had nothing but used motherboards. I went to the 2nd floor and sold a spare laptop DVD drive I had brought that didnt fit properly in my laptop. They wanted to give 70k for it but i talked them up to 80k, which is still a good deal for them. I just paid $52 off of pricewatch for it not a month ago. It was a refurb, not new. But its the nicest DVD drive in their window now!

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Rubiazo says on Aug 23, 2005, 22:19:

Some other expenses Since Sunday night
Postres for my gf and me 2800
dristan for my novia who has the gripa 4000 (5 packs)
beef snack today 1000
shoe shine on Caracas 1300 + 400 tip (great job)
ribs snack today 3000
hit juice 350ml 1200
taxi from Chapinero to Heroes in lots of traffic 4900
whole chicken from Rey del Pollo 10000

I´m not gonna put the amplifier or the tailor made suits in my budget because the amplifer is far from being a living expense and the suits are for to take back to NY.

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Rubiazo says on Aug 23, 2005, 22:48:

One other cool thing I´ve been trying to get an updated map of the Transmilenio trunk lines for a few days now: they are always out. Today the tickey lady at the Portal de la 80 TOOK HER OWN COPY OUT OF HER PURSE and HANDED IT TO ME. My jaw dropped to the floor. I´ve had people be nice to me all over but never a ticket lady in a token booth!!!

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RolaParaTodaLaVida says on Aug 24, 2005, 19:37:

carlos vives is in north carolina right now!!!! my aunt just called me and is in concert!!!
viva colombia

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RolaParaTodaLaVida says on Aug 24, 2005, 19:45:

keep eye out for guys in white suits one thing that i thought was funny was the guys selling coffee. they are wearing white suits like the "ghost busters" they carry coffee canasters in their backs. and they walk around selling coffee. pretty cool.

also around 12 or 1 the national band marches in the main street of the city ... its very patriotic

colombians are very proud and yes you see many smiles!

i miss it and I too would love to be there

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adrimm says on Aug 24, 2005, 20:02:

Guatavita & Question for Rubz Hey I've been there! I thought it was ok. I think we went on a sunday so there really wasn't much see other than the town and the lake. I remember that huge plaza, some legends about gold at the bottom of the lake, and riding a *really* stubborn horse.
:)

Question for Rubz:
Did you get to the embassy? How did it go and what did they say about that tourist Visa?

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Lucia Rojas says on Aug 24, 2005, 21:08:

Hope you had fun I hope you had fun at Crabs. I couldn't make it this wednesday...but it is a cool place...I live very close to it .El Bulin too, really classic... has existed forever in the music scene in Bogota. I will have a party saturday.....if you and your girlfriend want to come.

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Rubiazo says on Aug 25, 2005, 14:55:

Adrimm+ Lucia We havent gone to the embassy yet. I´m waiting for a response to my thread. Actually I´m hoping it doesnt get moved again. Wtf is up with that anyways?

Lucia we´ll check our schedules to see. Saturdays can be a bit difficult for both of us. I am going to the Candelaria tonite though to check the street festival and whatever else is around there.

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Rubiazo says on Aug 25, 2005, 15:02:

Crabs I did make it to Crabs last nite even though my friend was sick.
The good- they actually have beer on tap (Costeña). They loved my singing when I got up and I got the promoters info in order to talk about some business later. The place was packed after midnight on a Wed.

The bad- the house band SUCKED and the guys i got up with sucked as well. Especially bad was the quality of the drumming.

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Rubiazo says on Aug 25, 2005, 15:24:

Tailor made suits I am getting a suit tailor made here. Yesterday we went and bought the fabric in Ricaurte. We had had no luck finding a good modista (the one my gf went to since teenage years had disappeared 4 months ago and left no forwarding info). BUT looking for the fabric we ran into somebody who we really liked. We bought the fabric together for 40k. It was a lot because I want the lines to fall vertically on the suit and the fabric is sold horizontally sp we had to buy double the quantity. A normal suit woulda been 20k.
The tailor came over today to show me pictures of different cuts and styles took very detailed measurements and we talked at length about every last detail of the suit. It´s gonna be one hell of a suit. Her price was 135k. I payed 70k down and will pay the other 65k when I pick it up. This woulda cost at least $500 in the US anywhere. 175k today is just over $75 USD!!!

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Rubiazo says on Aug 25, 2005, 15:31:

Rubio´s half-ass theorem If you want to get a ballpark on how fucked Colombians are compared to Unitedstatesians, do the following.
Pretend that every 1000cop is $1USD because across the board thats the economic difference of how things are cheaper here, + or -. So imagine if in the US the minimum wage were $380 per month, and the average wage were still well under $1000. IMO that gives a good idea of the economic difference between the two places.
The other thing people suffer from here is that their money doesnt go very far out of the country, of course. My friend in Spain is probably just as economically fucked as many Colombians but he comes here and his money goes 3x as far. A GOOD job in madrid only pays 1000 euro a month after deductions, and he is in Menorca only getting 670!

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Rubiazo says on Aug 25, 2005, 16:33:

More misc costs Toilet Paper 1190
Misc groceries at overpriced market 14400
Shredded carrots for salad 1000
Updated my Skype account today 10 euros = 28355cop
Taxi home last nite 8000
Colectivo 2000
Water 2000
lunch 14600
internet cafe 3400 (with printing etc)
snack 1000
beer at crabs 6000 (1/2 liter and tip)

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Rubiazo says on Aug 26, 2005, 10:23:

La Candelaria last night. We got to the Candelaria at around 9:45 last night and it was already almost completely shut down. What a disappointment. From what I had heard its supposed to be this bohemian neighborhood with tons of nightlife. Not our experience at all. Out of all the places we visited, not one had a decent crowd, and not one had anything live. One place had cuentaria starting at 8 but by the time we got there everybody had already left.
The one good part of the evening was drinking a cup of vino caliente at El Taller. The owner told me I´m welcome to audition Mondays after 6 and that the main theme of the place is classic rock. Apparently anything loud or with live drums is out in that place because of what??? NOISE COMPLAINTS, i mean give me a freaking break. There are wild dogs roaming the streets in that neighborhood, everything is run down to shit, homeless people and addicts everywhere and they are complaining about LOUD MUSIC? Wtf is up with that?? I could deal with all of that except the wild dogs, they kinda freaked me out. I really don´t understand why people dis 1 de mayo on this site but act like the Candelaria is this hip place.
Price breakdown:
two beers at el Almacen Viejo 3400
two vinos calientes at El Taller 7000
taxi all the way across Bogota 12000

My Transmilenio card is almost done. The new card will be on expenses.

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Rubiazo says on Aug 26, 2005, 10:37:

Phones and cell phones in Bogota This is definitely one of the things tha suck about Colombia in general compared to North America. There is so such thing as a phone call where SOMEBODY isnt paying a per-minute charge. The cheapest is calling a land line from another land line, which is 150 pesos a minute. Calling a cell from a land line is 950 pesos a minute, stupidly expensive. My cell provider is Comcel and with them I can call other Comcel phones for 598 a minute, for other providers it varies a lot. Bellsouth I call for 1801 a minute or so. You can get a ´plan elegido´ and pick 10 numbers you frequently call and get them at 380 a minute, but I think you have to pay monthly for the privledge. :(
Long distance booths are all over the city, some offering rates as low as 200 a minute to call celulars, and flat rates for local calls. I fully understand now why they are so popular despite the fact that everyone has a cell phone. The have the phone but are shit scared to use it!
To send a txt msg from my phone is 300 pesos. To receive one is free as long as somebody else already paid for it i.e. they sent it from their phone. If somebody sends it from the internet for free, I have to pay 300 to download the msg.
16% VAT applies to ALL of the above.
In comparison, with Cingular, I pay just over $80 a month and get 1100 minutes, unlimited nights and weekends, and can call other Cingular customers for free! I have free long distance to the US and PR, and can call many other countries for 18 cents a minute. I can actually call my gf from NYC cheaper than i can call her on her cell in the next room with fucking Comcel, and if she didn´t have Comcel too it would be 3x what it is already!!!
I am using skype a lot for calling out but I have lots of problems with echo. I cant use it for receiving calls as they only offer US Canadian and European numbers. To call internationally from Colombia is generally at least 2000 pesos a minute, in many cases 4000 or 5000!

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Rubiazo says on Aug 28, 2005, 10:29:

Long time no post To clear up some misinformation earlier my gf has a washer but NO dryer. We are currently trying to hook up her new washer because the spin cycle on the washer here is fucked. Clothes take like 2-3 days to dry. We constantly have drying clothes hanging up all over the place. :p

Some other minor complaints about life here:
I cant find any meat and hardly any fish with bones in. Bones add flavor to meat, wtf are these people thinking? Why ruin perfectly good meat like that?
I cant for the life of me find yellow lemons (only limes) and I cant find any sea salt or kosher salt.

On a positive note, I am probably eating a little more than half of what I eat in NY and feeling more full in general. I can see muscles in my stomach that have been hidden all these years! :p

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Rubiazo says on Aug 28, 2005, 10:40:

Buying an amp I bought a 150 watt Laney powered monitor here for $750k. It woulda been 700 but I wanted to use my cc. Delivery next day to the apt here was gratis though, very cool. Saved me a taxi fare. I actually wish I could get something in the US for that price with those specs. The unit really sounds great, has a 15" speaker and a 1" horn. I did better than buying in the US- I thought I was gonna take a bit of a bath on the prices and I was wrong. I don´t know if any music stores in the US carry Laney or not but I´m gonna look because I´d love one for NYC too and this damn thing is way too heavy to go on the plane- it´s gonna stay down here with my gf or with a friend. Laney is a UK brand BTW, it seems to be popular here in SA. I saw a lot of it in Brazil too.
The music stores along the 7a in general were cheaper than the electronics district at calle 19 con cra 9, which was a bit surprising. There are many things that are still more expensive than in the US but what I bought was an exception. I found that Scenario and Casa de Musica Colonial were the best bets for music stores. Many other stores really were poorly stocked. Ortizo is a huge store but they were trying to jerk me around. They were pushing some shit that had a higher profit margin that was really not what I was looking for. And the guy was arguing with the customer (me), worse off he was dead ass WRONG. He was trying to tell me having more power than the speakers can handle is more dangerous than having less, which is a common misconception that leads to many speakers being blown!

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Rubiazo says on Aug 28, 2005, 10:46:

Cooking for my gf I´m on a cooking kick these days. Yesterday for dinner I made some chicken legs in pan juice with herbs and some of that pasta with my red sauce. I had it simmering for 8 hours and it came out perfect, except for I burnt the pot a little :( The tomatoes I got at Paloquemao really were top notch for sauce. My friend tells me basil (or basilico in Italian) is called albahaca in Spanish. I´m gonna look for that for next time.
This morning I cooked oatmeal gringo style for my gf. She made it for me the other day and its basically a hot drink! I was asking her to put raisins in it and she thought I was nuts, now I know why!
Today´s almuerzo is going to be oven baked salmon with lime (cant find lemons) salt and lots of fresh dill on top! I had the salmon cut into salmon steaks by the friendly guys at the Exito. They had no idea what I wanted but they cut it exactly to my specs :)

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Rubiazo says on Aug 28, 2005, 10:54:

Pepe Sierra Friday Night my gf and I met at Brasa Brasil on calle 118 Friday night. I wanted to introduce her to Brazilian rodizio style food and at the same time find out if i could get some work playing Brazilian music here. They actually have a live band at the place Wed thru Sun and they were very good. They had different people get up for different sets and covered a wide variety of Brazilian music. The leader of the band is actually a Rolo but he looking like freaking Roberto Carlos!! The guitar player and one of the dancers were the only Brazilians. Those Colombians did an excellent job of playing Brazilian music properly. They knew exactly where they were coming from. One girl on the surdos was a little weak, but she was a great singer. The level of singing in Bogota in general is very high. I got the contact # for the band and am about to call them today to set up an appointment to discuss the possibility of working together on some projects. I was talking to the guy for about 10 minutes in Portuguese not even knowing is Spanish was any good, then I find out he´s a Bogotano!!!

After that we stopped by another spot right next door on 118th and made an appoitment for an audition on Wednesday. Wednesday is going to be audition day. Some fat lady was in there playing ballads and flamenco and just TEARING IT UP, really working the crowd. She was awesome.

One word about Brasa Brazil, the food is not great. Rodizios are supposed to have extensive and awesome salad bars but this one looked like the one at Wendys. The wait staff were really good but they also need to bring in a Brazilian cook to show them how to properly spit roast the meat. Many cuts came out dry as a bone. Even the fried yuca was limp and bland. Damn, Colombians do fried yuca just like the Brazilians, why was this a problem?
I´m not surprised at all that my worst meal so far in Colombia was also my most expensive by far.

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Rubiazo says on Aug 28, 2005, 11:06:

Restrepo Sat Night I had to go to Restrepo myself last night. My gf had too much work to do here in the apt. She told me ´why do you always pick the worst neighborhoods to go to when I cant go with you?´

But to tell the truth. I felt a LOT safer in Restrepo than I did in Candelaria. Candelaria was dead and bare and our only company on the streets was addicts, homeless people, and wild dogs. Restrepo on a Saturday is just jam packed with people. So i guess I picked a good day to go- maybe Candelaria is more packed on the weekends too, but I doubt that it gets THAT packed.

Restrepo is one of the two big entertainment districts in the South, the other being by the Plaza de las Americas, where I stayed when I was here in January. To tell the truth, I am much with the people on this forum who prefer the South to the North for diversion, because of the following-

-Everybody is walking instead of driving, so you see everybody
-it is a HELL of a lot cheaper. The one place I dropped money the TABLE minimum was only 15k, for 1/4 of rum, with mix, peanuts, limes, and oranges. And there was live music!
-If you are looking to get laid its a LOT easier at these places. Although many of the girls are actually working (but the same can be said about the North too)
-Everything is a LOT closer together, and they actually turn the music up to a level where you can dance. If I want to have a conversation with somebody, I go to a cafe or a restaurant, NOT a nightclub!!
-There is tons of food available the moment you stagger out of the clubs with the munchies.

I saw the mariachi band at one place who´se name escapes me. They were spot on excellent. I really dont like that kind of music much but I totally enjoyed the band. After that I went into a smaller rock bar that had a live 4 piece band. They were mediocre. The singing was great but the drummer sucked. They seem to really lack for great drummers here, or maybe I just havent seen them yet! I talked to the manager and put another appointment for an audition for Wed, then got in a taxi home ALL the way across god´s green earth.

Some places close at 3am some stay open well into Sunday morning.

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Rubiazo says on Aug 28, 2005, 11:14:

the REAL cost of living in BOG we have had lots of back and forth on this forum about how much it costs to live in Bogotá. I am beginning to understand why GIB and others have come up with such high figures. They are mainly talking about how much it costs to live in the North, in Estrato 6, or maybe in Estrato 5.
I would be interested to know how much GIB is spending now that he is in Estrato 4.
By the end of my trip, I will have a grand total of expenses here. Remember, I am going out nightly, and I eat like three pigs! Also I am buying food etc for the 3 of us and paying my gf´s transport whenever she accompanies me. However, I am not including non-living expenses like the amplifier, or things I saved up for to bring back to NYC, like the tailor made clothes. I want it to be a monthy living budget.
My goal is to try and cover the most part of my expenses with money I make here. I am also trying to keep the expenses around the 1 million mark. I think so far I am up to 250k give or take, but I have tons of phone time left, tons of trips left on my Transmilenio card, and tons of food in the fridge.

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Rubiazo says on Aug 28, 2005, 11:22:

Some more expenses shop at exito 50600
transmilenio card 36000 (30 trips, I hate those lines)
transfer of data from SD to DVD at unilago 6000
snacks, 3000 and 2100
table service in Restrepo 15000
taxi home from Restrepo 16000

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Rubiazo says on Aug 28, 2005, 11:34:

MORE expenses from friday-
snack 4000
screwdriver (tool not drink) 5600
adaptor for PDA phone 1000
colectivo up to Chapinero 1200
dinner 94000 (for evrything else there´s your Mastercard)
more colectivos home late at night 4000

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Rubiazo says on Aug 28, 2005, 11:35:

Tinto I just saw your post, you should hear the lyrics I have to ´Misty´
=)))))

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Rubiazo says on Aug 30, 2005, 08:27:

2nd day at Paloquemao I went yesterday again to stock up on more stuff. This time my gf couldnt accompany me so I had to take the colectivo by myself. I am very proud of how I managed to get around all day on colectivos yesterday by myself. It´s definitely an art!

One piece of advice to shoppers there- some of the best fruit is to be found right out on the street on the north side of the market, and NOT inside. Make sure you browse there before buying up all the fruit inside. Also, sometimes you can get a bargain by going right next door. But remember, the cheapest fruit may be because its not as good quality!

I made the following purchases:
Mariscos 12000
Chorizos 6500
chuletas 25600 (I had to get them to custom cut them- they were all way too thin)
cebollas 2000
yerbas 800 (LOTS of basil, called albahaca in Spanish)
fruta 10000

TOTAL 56900. We are fully stocked and wouldnt have to move for a week if we didnt want to.

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Rubiazo says on Aug 30, 2005, 08:57:

More misc expenses .5 lb pernil de cerdo from back of a truck 5000 ( expensive but GOOOODDD)
more cellular minutes 20000
dinner with my friend last nite 20200
taxi to dinner with my friend cuz i was running late 2700
colectivos 1000 1000 1200

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Rubiazo says on Aug 30, 2005, 09:00:

Getting my laptop fixed I had a tech who was a friend of a friend of a friend look at my laptop over the weekend. He had it fixed. The problem was that the heat sink came loose and the CPU was getting too hot so the system kept shutting down. He did a really nice job and was obviously very honest but he charged me 85k for the trouble, which I think is a little steep by Bogota standards. That same repair would have cost me $40-50 at a neighborhood computer shop in the Bronx, which is only slightly more.

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Lucia Rojas says on Aug 30, 2005, 21:52:

Rubiazo so what are you up to thuis weekeend?
You must have hit the wrong spot of candelaria because its packed on party nights..meaning..thusday, friday and saturday...I guess you didn´t find Casa de Citas the bar where they have good live music... on tercera between 12 and 13...?
Also check the corner of escobar rosas on cuarta betwwen jimenez and and 14..... I can´t believe you didn´t see anyhting. you must have been in the wrong place...

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Rubiazo says on Aug 30, 2005, 22:27:

Tomorrow I audition all over the place in the afternoon and evening. I may even have more gigs for this weekend. I actually hope so as I could use a little dough right about now.

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Lucia Rojas says on Aug 30, 2005, 22:30:

crabs will you be playing at crabs again?

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Lucia Rojas says on Aug 31, 2005, 22:00:

Rubiazo Check out Casabuenavista.org hter willbe a good concert friday night!!
Cra 6 no. 35-37 tel. 2454427 cover is 5.000 pesos... its a really cool place... the live music is very good and very colombian

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