Adjusting to my new lifestyle   Tuesday 13/09/2022

I’m happy to report that everything has been going very well! I’ve adjusted to the classes quicker than expected – by Thursday last week, the fourth day, I stopped feeling so tired afterwards. By now, I feel tired when I leave the class, but a ten minute walk is enough to refresh and feel fine. 

The course itself is really interesting. So many things about the culture and the language, and the Colombians tend to have a great sense of humour which shines through. If you’re forgetful, you say: I have the memory of a chicken…! Although standard Colombian Spanish is very clear, it also has a lot of words and phrases not used elsewhere – things that certainly wouldn’t be understood in Spain (although in some few cases they have become recognised outside of Colombia). There seems to be more variety in the Spanish language across the world than what there is English – but let’s face it, the Scots and the Americans certainly have plenty of words and sayings that are not used elsewhere. South Africans too. 

As a city, Bogotá is a nice place to be. It’s very lively – street vendors are always shouting out their wares. Some have gone high-tech and use recordings on a loop, played on a loudspeaker. So there tends to be a racket at street level, with cars hooting all the time too. Makes it all seem quite chaotic – but up in my apartment on the 18th floor I’m quite happily sheltered from it all. With the window open a little, I just have a low background hum of sirens, hooters and shouted encouragements to potential customers. 

I’m just one block above what is really the main street of the centre. It’s lined with shops and offices and is pedestrianised, with a cycle lane in the centre. There are street vendors all along it, some quite sophisticated with wagons and signs, some simply spreading their goods out on the ground, with an extra plastic sheet to deploy when it rains. It tends to rain for a while every day, although mostly it’s dry, and quite often sunny – and then it feels quite warm even if the temperature is only 16 or 17 degrees. 

Every afternoon I go for an hour or so’s walk, usually around La Candelaria, the historical district which starts a few hundred metres from the apartment. The architecture is lovely – and uplifting, thanks to the many colours that buildings are painted.

Today I stopped to take a photo of an old man with a donkey. When he realised that a young woman next to me and I were taking a photo, he was delighted! He shouted “ El es burrito – burrito mexicano!”. So, allegedly a Mexican donkey… well, therefore I met another foreigner on my walk – and he was a donkey.

One thing I must comment on: being 6 foot (1.83m) I feel like a giant here! The average height of a man is officially 5’7, but in practice I’d say 5’4 or 5’5 looks pretty average. Women are seldom over 5’2 , and it’s very common that they are under 5’ (1m52). If you took a random 99 men on the street and added me, it’s extremely likely that I’m the tallest. So, walking the streets, I tower over everybody. I’m sure they have their equivalent of “what’s the weather like up there?”. Although it’s probably ruder…