Recent Developments in My Life

So, it has been an exciting couple of weeks for the sleepy suburb of Cedritos.
Yesterday the Tour de Colombia cycling race flew past me, only 2 blocks from my apartment. It was all very exciting for the 2 minutes it took for all of the cyclists to pass. I don´t think I would be a very good full-time cycling spectator. Track cycling at the Olympics keeps my attention a bit more.
About 2 weeks ago, a new bar called "The English Pub" opened underneath my "Hard Body" gymnasium, one block from my apartment. I can now have a decent tap beer without having to catch a taxi. It is a little dangerous having such temptations nearby - and everyday from now it will be a challenge to actually walk in that gymnasium door, but surely it is for the greater good.
As I have mentioned, I have many friends leaving the country. Despite the obvious sadness, this provides an absolute bonanza of free or cheap stuff to improve your apartment. This transition is still taking place, but at a total cost of about $30 I will be receiving 2 sofas, 1 chair, an outdoor furniture setting, 15 large pot-plants, a coffee plunger, a quilt (duvet) and quilt-cover, a couple of cannisters and a few miscellaneous decorative bits. I am very happy!
My apartment already looks a million dollars nicer, and I´m still waiting on half the stuff. A particular thanks to Hester for the sofa. Although it is old and ripped, with a cover over it it looks just fine, and importantly it is comfortable! My previous "sofa" made you feel like you were sitting in a job interview when watching a bit of TV. The only downer on my apartment at the moment is that my living room roof keeps leaking water. 3rd time now in 6 months. They seem to have fixed it again, but it is a bit unsightly with paint hanging from the ceiling. Should be sorted soon.
So, the school year is about to finish. 4 more days of hanging about, then meet-the-parents day on Saturday. Saturday afternoon is the final farewell party, and then I fly to Brazil (or Brasil) for holidays that night. I have 24 or 25 days in Brazil, then I return to Bogota for a day or two before heading to Cartagena for the wedding of Neville and Jenny. I have another week or so of holidays after that but my plans will depend on how much money is left in the bank account! Anyway, plenty of fun to be had and I´m really looking forward to it! BRAZIL!!!!!

June Farewells

Here are a few of my friends who are leaving. Judi- drama queen, off to South Africa with Thandi the dog. Neville and Jenny, getting married in July then off to Brazil. Amy back to the UK, then maybe New Zealand. Hester, back to Holland briefly before 2 years in Afghanistan. Not pictured are Colleen, off to Cali in Colombia, and Emma, headed back to Australia in a couple of months.
At times it can be a difficult life being an expatriate. Every year you make great friends, then lose a bunch of them a year later. When you leave, you leave behind many more great friends, expats and locals. It has been great for me to be here for 2 years, as it has given me a chance to really get to know my friends well. The group of expats that I have worked and/or socialised with over the last couple of years are truly wonderful people, and I will miss them all greatly.
Good luck my friends - see you somewhere down the track I hope.

Villeta - May 2009

One of the great things about living and working in Colombia is the enormous amounts of long weekends (puentes). The end of the school year is the best time - we have 2 puentes in May and 3 consecutive puentes in June! It isn´t always that nice, but we have to enjoy it when we can!
So, for the second May puente I organised a trip away to a "finca" (literally a farm, but generally a country getaway house). This was the first of many farewell parties as we approach the end of school year. We had about a dozen of us go along, and one dog. Of these, 5 people and a dog will not be here in July which is rather sad. Thandi the dog is pictured. She flew to South Africa yesterday. She will be missed, though her barking at the pool-side will not!
The finca was spectacular. Huge pool, jacuzzi, football pitch, volleyball court, tejo cancha, 13 bedrooms, 3 living rooms, barbeque, 2 assistants for cooking and cleaning, big-screen tv, huge kitchen etc. etc. At one point I did a bit of a count of the different seats available around the finca and I think it came to something like 260! Not bad for 12 people.
We had a lovely weekend of swimming, eating, reading, drinking and of course plenty of talking. It was a wonderful time around wonderful friends. I even did some cooking of crepes with real maple syrup direct from Canada!
The downside of the trip was a trip to the hospital. We were playing volleyball when my friend Ben (pictured) collapsed in what looked just like a heart attack or stroke. It was extremely frightening for us all, but obviously more so for him. It turned out that he was severely dehydrated, and his body reacted by having a seizure in which his face turned blue and he stopped breathing briefly. It was awful, but after a few hours in hospital rehydrating he was able to return to the finca in good health, thankfully.
On a particularly unamusing note, this was my 2nd trip to Villeta or nearby. It was also the 2nd time I had ended up at the local hospital. In addition, it was the 2nd time I had ended up at the local hospital wearing nothing at all but my swimming shorts. This is probably wearing a bit thin with the hospital staff by now, as it is with me. The first time was when I cut my knee open and arrived at the hospital in a ute with my leg hanging out the window to keep it straight. This time I was the designated carrier for Ben, and due to the rush to get him to hospital I could not get a shirt on, let alone a pair of shoes.
So, 2 trips to Villeta. 2 trips to the hospital. Do I risk a 3rd visit????????

Villa de Leyva - May 2009

As I said in my last post, I like Villa de Leyva. When I went back for the 2nd time in a couple of months I got motivated to do a couple of activities, as well as the usual drinking and taking photos. So, first we did a hike up a small mountain nearby to get a view of the town - exhausting stuff at a reasonable altitude. Second was a spin at the local go-karts. Although the track is tiny, and you only get about 5 minutes on the track, it was an absolute blast for only a couple of dollars. Even before we started there was excitement when we got given condom-like head protectors to put on. Evidently these are to put under your helmet to make sure you don´t catch nasties from the hair of your predecessor. When my enormous head wouldn´t fit in the first helmet I tried they said we didn´t need to wear helmets if we didn´t want to, so we drove around protected only by our condoms! It is amazing how much fun you can have in 5 minutes of condom-protected racing. Spins, crashes into mates, crashes through tyre barriers into small lagoons and more spins. It was the most fun I´d had in 5 minutes for a long, long time! Highly recommended if you get to Villa de Leyva anytime soon.

Villa de Leyva - March 2009

Villa de Leyva is one of my favourite places in Colombia. This town has a huge cobble-stoned central plaza, with a church on the top-side of the square, and mountains as a back-drop. It is a wonderfully relaxed place, and has a reasonable balance of tourism, local hippies and more regular locals! It is a great pleasure to sit on the steps at the top of the plaza drinking a cold beer that cost you 50 cents, and chatting with people from anywhere and everywhere. There are also huge amounts of activities to do nearby but generally I end up chilling out with a few beers and taking photos occasionally. Here are a few of my favourite photos from this long weekend away with friends.

Toilet Seats

Many of you will think this is silly. Possibly even sillier than my usual posts. However, this is important.
Toilets are usually designed to have a toilet seat, and then a lid on top of the toilet seat. This seems to be standard practice in most developed societies.
The idea is that when you lift the lid, you can sit down and do what needs to be done. If you are a man and don´t feel the need to sit down, you can lift the seat and do what needs to be done. Pretty simple.
So, in my apartment I have two toilets. When I arrived each had a seat and a lid. For each of the two toilets, when one lifted the lid, it would fall back down immediately, as the shelf behind the toilet was too far forward. This meant that every time I sat down on the toilet I would have a lid leaning against my back. Not ideal. I removed the lids.
Of the two lid-less toilets, the toilet seat stays up for one. On the other, the seat rests upwards at almost exactly 90 degrees, and can stay there for anywhere between a few seconds and a few hours. However, the balancing act is easily disturbed, and this generally happens if a stream of urine passes within a foot or two of the toilet seat, causing it to fall through the stream of urine and cause a bit of an unnecessary mess. I have been forced to use velcro strips on the seat and the cistern to hold the seat in position.
I have encountered many other toilets in Colombia with similar problems, although I do not know of any others harnessing the powers of velcro for the greater good. How did we get to this point? Is it a lack of communication between plumbers and cabinet makers? Have radical feminists infiltrated the Colombian Plumbing Trade Unions? Are we all being filmed on "Candid Camera" each time we use one of these toilets? Regardless of the causes, Colombians (and expats alike) must fight back and reclaim the sacred zone of the toilet to ensure we can all relax suitably when required. Fight the cistern!!!! (sorry)

Small Dogs

Have a good look at this picture. Of the two creatures featuring in the photo, one is beautiful and has most parts in good proportion to the other parts, while the second is quite ridiculously proportioned and looks like a genetically engineered accident.
So, the first is my friend Diana who I work with at my school. She is a typical Colombian beauty and I hope she won´t mind her photo being used here. Most Colombian girls don´t mind their photos being plastered anywhere. Vanity is not a rarity in my vicinity.
The second is a fully grown dog that we met while at a finca in Villeta. This dog was, as it would appear, quite harmless. We were at times concerned that Judi´s black labrador might swallow it whole, and at other times that one of the heavier humans (including myself obviously) might tread on the poor little fellow and extinguish it with immediate effect.
I have never really understood the reason for small dogs existing. Are they just modern accessories for women to stuff into a handbag? Are they simply objects of amusement and incentives for exercise for larger canines? Do they exist just to make domestic cats feel like even more powerful members of society? Are they meant to be served as a tapas dish in dog-eating societies?
I don´t really know why I´m carrying on about this, but I think it could be due to the fact a small, curly white-haired canine has moved in on the ground floor of my apartment building. Why do these tiny, ugly critters think that they need to yap at anything and everything that passes by their window. This animal must have seen me about 200 or 300 times by now and still does not get the idea that I am not a threat. Having said that, I have heard that 2 pretty girls live with their mother in that apartment but I am yet to see them - maybe I am a threat after all. Regardless, we all know that if the dog escapes and challenges me it will never have the fortitude to actually bite me. All yap and no more.
To conclude, I would firmly back any politician who has a policy of setting a minimum size for dogs to be kept as pets in urban environments, whether by weight, height or length.