Jons Journal 13
Well, I've transplanted myself once again, just as I was beginning to absorb some nutrients from Pereira's fertile soil. I already feel nostalgic for it. Manizales, or at least the part I'm staying in is so...booshwa, and I'm going to miss some people there very much. I arrived this afternoon and headed straight for a hostel I heard about on the poor but happy site called Mountain House. I had my first hot shower in more than a month and to quote God in Genesis, "It was good." I also cooked for the first time and made an austere pot of vegetable soup which also was good, although not quite as good as the shower. Have I mentioned that I've been taking cold showers twice daily, and that I never got used to it? Granted, I no longer feel a shock great enough to induce cardiac arrest when I get under the cold tendrils of death, I mean water, but darn it, the water still feels like cold tendrils of death. Manizalians apparently like the hot water thing as it seems fairly common here, while in Pereira no one seemed to have it and no one complained.
After getting settled in this swanky new joint, I took a walk down Avenida Santander, east, away from town, all the way up to and past a seemingly abandoned drive in and equally empty romantic looking resturant called mirador something. This road follows the top of a ridge, so views of the city and the surrounding mountains abound. The city spills down on either side of the ridge but eventually the surrounding slopes gave way to verdant pastures grazed by those scrawny Colombian cows and dotted by fortress like houses and more humble fincas, which is the word for farms here. I kept on walking and the night had almost fallen when I decided to turn back. I stuck out my thumb and got a ride from a rickety old vehicle. As soon as I got in the crochety old man put his arm around me and I thought for a moment - I just got in the wrong car. As it turned out he was just closing the door which, due to severe entropy, needed a more complex series of manipulations than a simple slam shut. Went to the local Carulla, which is the Gelsons of Colombia, came back here, took the shower, cooked the soup and am now on the computer at the hostel, which is another of its conveniences. The neighborhood Im in is the equivalent of Encino. I dont know if I like it or not. Im so accustomed to the rough and tumble feel of downtown Pereira.
An aside. According to a few people I've randomly spoken to, one significant difference between the US and Colombia is the porportion of people who own a farm. In the US its something like .00001 percent, but here it doesn't seem to matter who you ask, many people have a farm and if they dont, they all have an uncle or cousin with one that they might go to for the weekend. Its what they do, whether they like it or not, like a tradition. Maybe they roast food over an open fire, well, actually I dont really know what they do. I got invited to one a while ago and I idiotically didnt do it because I didnt realize that its normal to go the farm just like its normal to ask people you hardly know to go with you. I dont know the percentages but my guess is that 30 percent of Colombians have a piece of the earth in the form of finca farms.
My plan is somewhat nebulous as of now. I'll talk to the folks at centro colombo here. Last I heard, they might have a position open in June. Meanwhile, I was thinking I'd set up shop teaching privately and teach some classes sans work visa. Or just walk around and chill. Getting sick, working hard and taking cold showers have all resulted in massive withdrawals from the bank of laziness, and I feel I need to start making some deposits, as it were. I trust that the air here will not only be cooler but also less polluted as the city is perched on a ridge where I imagine the air gets mixed up alot with the wind and all. Buses still belch black smoke as a result of the corrupt smog inspection business down here but I imagine there are more ways to escape their wake than in Pereira where all paths seemed to be on the two main drags, septima and octova. In addition, I must get the lay of the land, look for good hiking trails close to or in the city, in general get my bearings.
I'm still not a hundred percent healthwise, but way, way better that before. I so look forward to even more healthiness from the clean, cool air, hot showers and vegetable soup that I think of Manizales as a kind of Kelloggs Wellsville, a sanitarium, where you wake up early, get exercise, eat right and have regular bowel movements. I can say that here can't I?
By Jon on Apr 16, 2005, 22:13 in Friendly Talkzone.
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dwmte says on Apr 17, 2005, 08:32: any you folks know....'pa bravo yo'? they're playin it right now. puts me right into the mountains at some estadero, waiting for mi trago y comida....
0 funny, 0 helpful. |
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platano says on Apr 17, 2005, 08:59: Pa' Bravo Yo DW,
0 funny, 0 helpful. |
plátanoMore posts by the same author:
Jons Journal 67
Back to Pereria teaching english 1
passing thru Pereira and Manizales 2
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