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jons journal 11

A week of not working went surprisingly fast, with lots of sleeping and an occasional outing. I took a walk from La Mirador Camelias, over the hill, to Parque Industrial; a couple of walking tours of Pereira and an excursion to La Pastura, a national park 2 hours from the city. Although the later was a beautiful walk along a deep, forested mountain gorge, it wasnt worth the torturous drive in a bus, called a chivas, that was really more like a boat. Constructed half of ill connected sheet metal and half of multi colored arched wooden beams, lugged by a motor that seemed barely able to carry the mass of humanity that lined the bench seats like sardines and seemed about to spill off the roof where an uncounted number held on for their lives, it rattled and bumped its way over what only could be described as a country lane, honking the ocean liner horn that somehow got installed earlier. My butt was not made for this experience. The commraderie was nice, all of us suffering so. When the bus lurched dangerously to one side as it dipped into one of the numerous, large, potholes that dotted the way, several people would spontaneously scream and beg God to spare our lives. I cant help but think there was an element of seriousness even though the effect was to make everyone laugh. Nervous laughter I think that only came after the bus ceased its fatal descent toward the precipice below. The biggest screams were when an obviously not so experienced driver took the wheel as the previous driver offered helpful pointers, in some kind of real life bus driver training.

Most of the people came with camping gear or were staying in a nearby park run hotel. I came with nothing more than a sweater and I definitely was not jealous of the mryaid ways people had of carrying heavy and bulky items so that they could have the camping experience. I walked about four hours and that was enough even though there was no climax of any sort to the walk. I was suffering from lackoftouristinfoitis and also a certain jadedness from having walked so many miles on the appalachian trail. Yes it was beautiful but after walking so many miles on tree canopied rocky trails in humid weather, you begin to get a deja vu feeling everytime you do it again.

Spoke with a criminal judge who was waiting for the chivas at the bottom of the trail. Although he said that he heard strictly criminal, not political, cases, I coaxed him to talk about some corruption issues. Two problems preventing a judge from giving a just verdict are the possiblity of getting assasinated and the temptation of large bribes. He mentioned two judges who were killed in Pablo Escobars Medellin quite a while ago and the story of the Cali boss, Rodriguiz, who was caught in Spain and extradited by both Colombia and the USA. Spain handed him over to Colombia where he was tried by a bribed Judge on some petty misdemeanorish crime. He now lives in Miami. Probably the Spanish were bribed too. On a similar vein, I ran into a teacher on the street a few days before and he got to talking his pretty cynical attitude about the press, government etc in Colombia. He description of the scene was a corrupt, medieval gangster society where the old established landowners, read coca growers, were the real power behind the throne, the way dukes, banons and counts etc were in europe some time ago and that anyone who did not toe the line and was immensely successful and popular would probably get killed. Hence no change.

This week I have been the victim not of political tyranny but social flakiness, mine as much as the people around. My social calendar would have filled out quite nicely this last week otherwise. Lots of broken promises, lost numbers, and misunderstandings all around. I look forward to the clarity of work next week. Still, being a gringo in Colombia is great. Youre a kind of mini celebrity or a freak, Im not too sure which, but in any case one gets alot of attention. I did manage to spend an evening with a family. That was a nice night. My students sister said I was funny and i dont know whether this was my first successful attempt at humor in the Spanish language or me getting laughed at for my ineptitude. I still cannot get a spanish joke. The Australian seemed to have the opposite problem as me. He would laugh at the jokes and generally understand what was being said but he hardly said a word and I dont think he really could, whereas I was yada, yada, yada. The combination of abilities was nice, but so also was all the attention I was getting. I had a conversation the other week with a New Zealander and two strictly spanish speakers and that coversation was no fun, even though the New Zealander spoke pretty good spanish so he could translate if necessary.

I still havent decided whether to stay in Pereira after this months stint teaching. Even though the weather took a turn for the cooler, its still too sultry for me. Pereira is also a new city, with new wealth and a corresponding dearth of culture. If Colombia was Los Angeles, Pereira would be the San Fernando Valley. No museums for instance, and few universities. Other than that its great. Very friendly people, very walkable, low key atmosphere, great job(for me anyway), relatively healthy economy, some seriously low rental rates. If I were to elect to move on to greener pastures, I dont have much of a plan. Anyone know of a cold climate Latin American city with a healthy dose of culture?

Jon, over and out.

By Jon on Mar 26, 2005, 20:37 in Friendly Talkzone.

utopiacowboy says on Mar 27, 2005, 08:08:

Great post, dude! Very interesting and amusing!

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.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

stevens says on Mar 27, 2005, 09:15:

I enjoyed your post a lot, Jon. Thank you very much. I have just one word for you - Medellin. Museums, scenery, plenty to do day and night (well, at night on Thur. Friday and Saturday), along with very friendly people.

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ColombiaBoard says on Mar 27, 2005, 09:31:

Go to Bogota Medellin is sometimes cooler than Pereira and has much more cultural life, but the only city that complies with your requirements is Bogota, cold climate all year long and tons of culture.

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