This will be a short post because today, I spent on my own. I went back to Arbolera Shopping Mall and spent a lot of time window-shopping. Then later I went to la 14 close to my apartment to buy some food.
Maybe this is a good place to write about communications because it has been a disaster! I bought a SIM for my spare phone which is an old Sony Xperia and a SIM for my personal hot spot. But the hot spot either showed no signal or 2G!! The Sony phone wasn't much better. I left my Samsung S6 with its normal Spanish SIM.
In the end, I tried a different network, Claro. In the shop, we swapped SIMs but they ended up breaking the contacts inside the SIM socket by using adhesive tape. So I bought a new phone, Samsung J1 which is about 100 euros but it was a huge performance registering it. And then the reason for my problems became evident, the phones and networks are controlled by strict laws here. You can't simply buy a free phone and stick a SIM in it, the phone has to be registered. And to do that, I needed a Cedula which is the Colombian ID. And of course I don't have one. Finally, the girl in the shop used her own Cedula. The J1 is dual-SIM, so I put my Spanish SIM in there as well for anyone who wants to contact me from Spain.
I put the Claro SIM in my Samsung S6 and that works fine with WhatsApp which I use a lot. But now my personal hot spot won't come "live" when I return to Spain because, in my attempt to get it working, I did a hard reset and subsequently lost the PIN.
OK, that's enough about the technicalities, I will write more about my visit now.
The Blog of Steve Brown in Gran Canaria.
Monday, 19 December 2016
Thursday, 15 December 2016
Friday 9th. An Expensive Day!
Friday 9th cost me quite a lot of money but I was prepared for it! I had promised to buy Nini a phone because she was for ever borrowing her mother's phone and inserting her SIM. So I paid for a Samsung J7. Later we bought a cover for it because it is for ever in her hand and it wold be easy to drop it.
And the other thing that I promised was to buy toys for a children's community near to Luisa's finca. We had enormous fun in a toy shop together with her brother Brandon.
And I also bought toys for Sofia and Luisa's two children.
I wrote this out of order! First, we went to the toy shop, then to Alkosto. After buying the phone we (3) went for a meal before Brandon went off to work.
Nini had arranged to go to a party that afternoon and she invited me along. All young people, her age. When we arrived at 4pm, the music was very loud and I thought they were gong to have a disco but in fact it wasn't at all like that. It was about chatting and having fun and I was very glad to be there. I was introduced as Tio, which is Uncle in Spanish.
As you can see, it is a function room called Picardias. One thing that strikes me here is the absence of alcohol in public. By that I mean that there are very few bars. And coffee shops and fast food quiosks have no alcohol. The part was more or less "dry", most drinks were non-alcoholic.
And the other thing that I promised was to buy toys for a children's community near to Luisa's finca. We had enormous fun in a toy shop together with her brother Brandon.
And I also bought toys for Sofia and Luisa's two children.
I wrote this out of order! First, we went to the toy shop, then to Alkosto. After buying the phone we (3) went for a meal before Brandon went off to work.
Nini had arranged to go to a party that afternoon and she invited me along. All young people, her age. When we arrived at 4pm, the music was very loud and I thought they were gong to have a disco but in fact it wasn't at all like that. It was about chatting and having fun and I was very glad to be there. I was introduced as Tio, which is Uncle in Spanish.
As you can see, it is a function room called Picardias. One thing that strikes me here is the absence of alcohol in public. By that I mean that there are very few bars. And coffee shops and fast food quiosks have no alcohol. The part was more or less "dry", most drinks were non-alcoholic.
A day out with mamá
As I mentioned in an earlier post, Nini finished her nursing training in September and hopes to get a job in one of the hospitals here. But meanwhile, she works part-time helping organise childrens' parties but the pay is very poor. On Thursday 8th, she was off to work all day and the pay is 50mils. Divide by 3 and that gives you euros.
So it was arranged for me to spend the day with her mum and we went to Sta Rosa which is a town up in the hills close to thermal springs which we are due to visit later. The journey is very strange because there is one road going up and another coming down. The 8th was a fiesta so everyone was out in the main square. The bus dropped us off at the bottom of the town and, as we left the bus, a European guy warned me, "keep your eyes open", very draconian. I replied that I was with "her", meaning mum of course. The warning was not necessary, it applies to many parts of the world, including Girona Market where I had a pair of Bose headphones stolen.
I think many people are very keen to hear about how dangerous Colombia is. And the answer is very simple, there are places you don't visit. And that applies not only to foreigners but to people who live here. But it is very obvious. All the normal areas are like any other city, shopping malls for example. And all the taxis are official and painted yellow and are very modern. They are meetered. And maybe I said, a typical 20 minute journey is about 10mils, 3 euros.
We returned late afternoon to Pereira. On the road into the city there are many new buidings, offices, a shopping mall, maybe. Much evidence of investment.
So it was arranged for me to spend the day with her mum and we went to Sta Rosa which is a town up in the hills close to thermal springs which we are due to visit later. The journey is very strange because there is one road going up and another coming down. The 8th was a fiesta so everyone was out in the main square. The bus dropped us off at the bottom of the town and, as we left the bus, a European guy warned me, "keep your eyes open", very draconian. I replied that I was with "her", meaning mum of course. The warning was not necessary, it applies to many parts of the world, including Girona Market where I had a pair of Bose headphones stolen.
I think many people are very keen to hear about how dangerous Colombia is. And the answer is very simple, there are places you don't visit. And that applies not only to foreigners but to people who live here. But it is very obvious. All the normal areas are like any other city, shopping malls for example. And all the taxis are official and painted yellow and are very modern. They are meetered. And maybe I said, a typical 20 minute journey is about 10mils, 3 euros.
We returned late afternoon to Pereira. On the road into the city there are many new buidings, offices, a shopping mall, maybe. Much evidence of investment.
First Days in Pereira
Pereira, the second city of Colombia is much larger than I imagined. Daft really, because I could see the size in Google Maps. Somwhere between Girona and Barcelona but closer to the size of Barcelona. It is surrounded by hills rather like Celrà where I live but the actual city is very undulating because the land on which it is built is also very hilly. The view changes rapidly, it is divertido. There are areas with poverty of course but much of the city has signs of investment of money. Lots of new buildings. So it is a very positive, optimistic feel that I get as I travelled around.
It has smart shopping malls with the likes of Bershka and Zara and that was our first stop after dumping my bags in the apartment.
Oh, a little about the apartment. I booked it in Booking.com back in August at the same time as buying my air ticket. I suppose I could have booked into a hotel for a few days and then looked for somewhere more permanent but in the end, it worked out really well. It is like a large open-plan studio, bedroom, lounge, bathroom with a kitchen area. The price is 2.500 mils, 2.5 milones, or 2500000 pesos. I think I have the right number of zeros. Everything is in "mils", meaning thousands of pesos because a peso is very small. One euro equals 3 mils. Taxis are very cheap, a typical 20 minute ride is about 10 mils. That is paid in paper notes and then there are coins of 100 or 200 pesos typically. Rather in the same way as I paid for taxis in Ukraine, I would get a huge wad of notes out of my wallet and count out the money, rather like some drug dealer on a street corner.
Milena comes in every day to clean the flat so it is rather like having a housekeeper.
Nini and I stopped off at Arborlera Shopping Mall to buy a SIM for my phone and personal wifi hotspot but communication has been a disaster, ending up with a broken phone. Maybe I will write a separate post about that. My lifeline is that the apartment has wifi and it is local to the apartment so I can consider it is a private network.
At first I was alarmed that the safe in the apartment doesn't work - the agency office (which is on the ground floor, I am on the 7th) doesn't have the physical key to open it so that I can't enter my own password. But there is a security guy at the entrance and only Milena has a key to my flat and I trust her totally. I now leave my passport in the apartment and carry around my authorised copy with the stamp of a Notario. But it is not universally accepted as an ID.
I am writing this a week after I arrived and I have yet to see a mosquito. Just as well, I guess because they carry more exotic diseases than in Spain. But I checked before I left and there is no effective protection apart from avoiding getting bitten. Nini confirmed later that there is no malaria in Pereira because I asked her if there was a risk when we went out in the country to the finca.
We had a coffee in a local coffee shop and then took a taxi back to the area close to my apartment Next to the bus station is a shopping mall called la 14. Named after the street, Calle 14. We went around the supermarket and bought some basic food for the flat. The kitchen was very basic so I was starting from scratch!
Nini had to go and pick up her daughter Sofia from the kindergarten and I went back to the apartment to take a break. It is strange, many years ago when I travelled regularly to Dubai, I suffered for several days with jet-lag. Even worse was travelling to New York, desperately trying not to go to bed at 6pm after the flight because doing so would have meant waking up bright and early at 4am!! And yet, here, I switched almost immediately and within a day, I was in Colombian time. That is very odd. Something has changed over the years since those previous journeys.
And it was just as well because next day, Nini came to pick me up bright and early to take me to her sister's home which is way out in the country, a finca. Luisa and her husband manage a large plantation and a dairy herd of 30 cattle. Maybe I didn't mention, Nini is 23 and has a daughter of 3 years, Sofia. Luisa has two children. Nini is separated from Sofia's father.
Here is Nini in the kitchen!
The journey was partly in a bus - there are millions of buses here - to Cuba which is a suburb of Pereira. Then the rest of the journey was in a jeep, packed full with people. Nini stood on a platform at the back and I had Sofia wedged between my knees. Some of the journey was by road but much of it was a track with pot-holes! And it lasted seemingly for ever. Everyone was in good spirits and I chatted to one or two of the passengers. I was something of a novelty as you can imagine!
We had a very nice day. I took lots of photos of Didier milking the cows. The milk in the coffee came from the cows as you can imagine!
This was the 7th December and, in the evening Colombians celebrate las Novenas in anticipation of the 8th which is Imaculada Concepción. All homes are already decked out in lights for Christmas but each household also puts candles outside the house. This is Nini outside her home. It is very small. She lives with her mum and daughter Sofia but previously had her own home near by but could not afford it. So she did what lots of young people have to do these days, move in with mum!
This is a view of the street where they live!
Oh, a little about the apartment. I booked it in Booking.com back in August at the same time as buying my air ticket. I suppose I could have booked into a hotel for a few days and then looked for somewhere more permanent but in the end, it worked out really well. It is like a large open-plan studio, bedroom, lounge, bathroom with a kitchen area. The price is 2.500 mils, 2.5 milones, or 2500000 pesos. I think I have the right number of zeros. Everything is in "mils", meaning thousands of pesos because a peso is very small. One euro equals 3 mils. Taxis are very cheap, a typical 20 minute ride is about 10 mils. That is paid in paper notes and then there are coins of 100 or 200 pesos typically. Rather in the same way as I paid for taxis in Ukraine, I would get a huge wad of notes out of my wallet and count out the money, rather like some drug dealer on a street corner.
Milena comes in every day to clean the flat so it is rather like having a housekeeper.
Nini and I stopped off at Arborlera Shopping Mall to buy a SIM for my phone and personal wifi hotspot but communication has been a disaster, ending up with a broken phone. Maybe I will write a separate post about that. My lifeline is that the apartment has wifi and it is local to the apartment so I can consider it is a private network.
At first I was alarmed that the safe in the apartment doesn't work - the agency office (which is on the ground floor, I am on the 7th) doesn't have the physical key to open it so that I can't enter my own password. But there is a security guy at the entrance and only Milena has a key to my flat and I trust her totally. I now leave my passport in the apartment and carry around my authorised copy with the stamp of a Notario. But it is not universally accepted as an ID.
I am writing this a week after I arrived and I have yet to see a mosquito. Just as well, I guess because they carry more exotic diseases than in Spain. But I checked before I left and there is no effective protection apart from avoiding getting bitten. Nini confirmed later that there is no malaria in Pereira because I asked her if there was a risk when we went out in the country to the finca.
We had a coffee in a local coffee shop and then took a taxi back to the area close to my apartment Next to the bus station is a shopping mall called la 14. Named after the street, Calle 14. We went around the supermarket and bought some basic food for the flat. The kitchen was very basic so I was starting from scratch!
Nini had to go and pick up her daughter Sofia from the kindergarten and I went back to the apartment to take a break. It is strange, many years ago when I travelled regularly to Dubai, I suffered for several days with jet-lag. Even worse was travelling to New York, desperately trying not to go to bed at 6pm after the flight because doing so would have meant waking up bright and early at 4am!! And yet, here, I switched almost immediately and within a day, I was in Colombian time. That is very odd. Something has changed over the years since those previous journeys.
And it was just as well because next day, Nini came to pick me up bright and early to take me to her sister's home which is way out in the country, a finca. Luisa and her husband manage a large plantation and a dairy herd of 30 cattle. Maybe I didn't mention, Nini is 23 and has a daughter of 3 years, Sofia. Luisa has two children. Nini is separated from Sofia's father.
The journey was partly in a bus - there are millions of buses here - to Cuba which is a suburb of Pereira. Then the rest of the journey was in a jeep, packed full with people. Nini stood on a platform at the back and I had Sofia wedged between my knees. Some of the journey was by road but much of it was a track with pot-holes! And it lasted seemingly for ever. Everyone was in good spirits and I chatted to one or two of the passengers. I was something of a novelty as you can imagine!
This is a view of the street where they live!
Tuesday, 13 December 2016
in Bogotá.... just for a short while!
Tues 6th
Surprise, surprise, the hotel forgot my
wakeup call but, no matter my mental clock woke me at around 6am and the bus to
the airport was booked for 7.30 for a flight at 9am. And in any case I had set
the alarm in my phone. I was now 6 hours behind Girona but I really didn’t feel
too bad, maybe later when 6pm was equivalent to midnight in Spain. Breakfast
was in a huge area behind reception. I was struck by the strange light outside,
maybe it was because I had travelled for 11 hours and was 6 hours out of sync.
I’ve experienced this before, suddenly planted in a strange city.
The domestic terminal at Bogotá Airport is very well-organised with a huge
security area with many scanners. Contrast that with Bristol Airport in the UK
which is an absolute nightmare with far too little space. Ironic that the
duty-free area next door is enormous. Money talks. Sorry, I mustn't whinge about the UK, it is a pet hobby of mine!
Anyway, back to Bogotá and I found an
executive lounge close to the departure gate so I spend a short while there.
Since I was still travelling under my executive class ticket, I had a seat in
the front of the plane and felt rather self-conscious as the rest of the
passengers walked past my enormous seat on their way to the back of the plane.
It left the stand more or less on time but it was about 45 minutes before we
reached the take-off point due to a long queue of aircraft all with the same
idea.
As I mentioned before, I met Nini online and we've chatted camera to camera in Skype but, of course, we had never met in person. Would she appear differently? I knew the answer before I actually saw her. It is very common for someone to appear larger than life on camera. When I came out of the airport in Pereira less than an hour later, there she was..... and appearing smaller than on camera, positively petite.
In my next post, I'll write about my first day in Pereira because, after we picked up the keys for my apartment and dumped my suitcase, we spent the rest of the day out in the city. So I didn't have time to feel tired!
I'll have plenty of free time tomorrow, Wednesday 14th, so I'll write a lot more then. And add some photos! Today, I'm out again with my newly-aquired family so there will be no opportunity to write anything today. When I say, "newly aquired", I mean they have aquired me!!They have made me part of their family.
In my next post, I'll write about my first day in Pereira because, after we picked up the keys for my apartment and dumped my suitcase, we spent the rest of the day out in the city. So I didn't have time to feel tired!
I'll have plenty of free time tomorrow, Wednesday 14th, so I'll write a lot more then. And add some photos! Today, I'm out again with my newly-aquired family so there will be no opportunity to write anything today. When I say, "newly aquired", I mean they have aquired me!!They have made me part of their family.
Sunday, 11 December 2016
The travel days
Everything from now on was written in Colombia.
The day before I left, Sunday 4th December, in the evening was quite eventful because a woman friend tried to prevent me from going - she was in my flat and rather difficult to get rid of. It was all a little bit crazy and I ended up going to bed at about 4am. That was quite neat because that equates to 10pm in Colombia so I was already in sync with Colombian time before I even left! It didn't feel very clever at the time.
So after about 3 hours sleep, I got up at 7am - by now Monday morning of course - and finished packing, I left home at 9.30 to catch a bus to Girona Station. I forgot quite a few things in the rush to leave the house, including the Apple Mac Mini which I planned to take. As it happened, there was nowhere to put it in the apartment, so it didn't make much difference in the end. I'm writing this blog on my Acer laptop with one of my old clunky Electrone keyboards which I have used for many years, from the time when I was writing software in the UK. I couldn't possibly use this keyboard in public because it is so noisy but I love it. I am not a fan of Apple keyboards with a very short key travel.
But I was on my way. The previous night I almost cancelled the flight but I think it would not have been possible at such a short notice. I cannot believe I even considered it; I have been planning this trip since August.
I caught the 10.40am AVE high speed train to Barcelona Sants and I had a coffee before catching the train to the airport. I had left plenty of time, so I could relax along the way. I kept on thinking back to the madness of the previous night.
Back in August, I bought a business class ticket on Avianca to Bogotá and onward to Pereira the next morning with a return on 10th January. That is quite a long time! So, I could check in to the VIP lounge at the airport and I had a pleasant hour relaxing there before taking a gentle walk to the gate. The plane was already parked outside, an Airbus A330. Now I started to feel excited, I was really on my way. Sometimes I am just like a kid!
Business Class these days is fantastic! When I used to travel to Dubai on business, the seats were simply larger and of course the service was much better than Economy Class. Now, each person has their own little cubicle with a seat that can be made flat for a bed. I had a window seat. The layout was one seat by the window, then the aisle, two seats in the centre, another aisle and a single seat by the window. The service was excellent but it should be with a fare of 2800 euros. There is nothing much to say about the flight. I was feeling very rough after my late night but I managed to get some sleep in the later stages of the flight at the point after 8 hours where it starts to get really boring! The total flight time was about 11 hours.
We arrived in Bogotá at 9pm but it took me about an hour to get through immigration and customs. My bags were checked through to Pereira so I only had my cabin bag with me. While I was in the queue for immigration I connected with Skype and made contact with Nini. "Hey estoy en Colombia!"
I was met at Meeters and Greeters by a representative of the hotel which I had pre-booked and, within 15 minutes, I was in my room. I was soon asleep.
It is 7pm in the evening so I will post this now and continue the story in the next post. It will describe my flight to Pereira and meeting Nini for the first time.
I think that I will simply publish posts as the opportunity arises rather than try to make each post represent one day. And of course, I will include photos.
The day before I left, Sunday 4th December, in the evening was quite eventful because a woman friend tried to prevent me from going - she was in my flat and rather difficult to get rid of. It was all a little bit crazy and I ended up going to bed at about 4am. That was quite neat because that equates to 10pm in Colombia so I was already in sync with Colombian time before I even left! It didn't feel very clever at the time.
So after about 3 hours sleep, I got up at 7am - by now Monday morning of course - and finished packing, I left home at 9.30 to catch a bus to Girona Station. I forgot quite a few things in the rush to leave the house, including the Apple Mac Mini which I planned to take. As it happened, there was nowhere to put it in the apartment, so it didn't make much difference in the end. I'm writing this blog on my Acer laptop with one of my old clunky Electrone keyboards which I have used for many years, from the time when I was writing software in the UK. I couldn't possibly use this keyboard in public because it is so noisy but I love it. I am not a fan of Apple keyboards with a very short key travel.
But I was on my way. The previous night I almost cancelled the flight but I think it would not have been possible at such a short notice. I cannot believe I even considered it; I have been planning this trip since August.
I caught the 10.40am AVE high speed train to Barcelona Sants and I had a coffee before catching the train to the airport. I had left plenty of time, so I could relax along the way. I kept on thinking back to the madness of the previous night.
Back in August, I bought a business class ticket on Avianca to Bogotá and onward to Pereira the next morning with a return on 10th January. That is quite a long time! So, I could check in to the VIP lounge at the airport and I had a pleasant hour relaxing there before taking a gentle walk to the gate. The plane was already parked outside, an Airbus A330. Now I started to feel excited, I was really on my way. Sometimes I am just like a kid!
Business Class these days is fantastic! When I used to travel to Dubai on business, the seats were simply larger and of course the service was much better than Economy Class. Now, each person has their own little cubicle with a seat that can be made flat for a bed. I had a window seat. The layout was one seat by the window, then the aisle, two seats in the centre, another aisle and a single seat by the window. The service was excellent but it should be with a fare of 2800 euros. There is nothing much to say about the flight. I was feeling very rough after my late night but I managed to get some sleep in the later stages of the flight at the point after 8 hours where it starts to get really boring! The total flight time was about 11 hours.
We arrived in Bogotá at 9pm but it took me about an hour to get through immigration and customs. My bags were checked through to Pereira so I only had my cabin bag with me. While I was in the queue for immigration I connected with Skype and made contact with Nini. "Hey estoy en Colombia!"
I was met at Meeters and Greeters by a representative of the hotel which I had pre-booked and, within 15 minutes, I was in my room. I was soon asleep.
It is 7pm in the evening so I will post this now and continue the story in the next post. It will describe my flight to Pereira and meeting Nini for the first time.
I think that I will simply publish posts as the opportunity arises rather than try to make each post represent one day. And of course, I will include photos.
Thursday, 1 December 2016
To Colombia
In a few days, on 5th December, I am going to Colombia. This is a huge adventure for me and I will write about it here. I will post reports..... and photos of course!
I am visiting a young friend, Nini, in Pereira. The city is about 300km west of Bogotá. I paid for her to finish her course at nursing college. Otherwise I think she would not have been able to do that. We met online so I have never met her in person. And this will be my first time in South America.
I am not staying with her, I have rented an apartment. But I have been invited to spend Christmas with her family which will be wonderful!
I send her money. The balance in my bank gains virtually nothing in interest so it is far better to do something positive with it. I do the same with my two other friends, one in the Philippines and one in Ukraine. It is like having a little family of three. I was married a long time ago but I have no children. The age difference is such that I am somewhere between father and grandfather. If I had real children, they would be middle-aged by now - what an awful thought!
So I live a kind of fantasy with my little family of three. I am 73 but I feel much younger, in fact I don't even want to put a number on it. It has no meaning. I went to see Nomel in Manila last year in November and I visit Ukraine quite frequently. But now I am going to meet Nini. And I will write about it here!
I am visiting a young friend, Nini, in Pereira. The city is about 300km west of Bogotá. I paid for her to finish her course at nursing college. Otherwise I think she would not have been able to do that. We met online so I have never met her in person. And this will be my first time in South America.
I am not staying with her, I have rented an apartment. But I have been invited to spend Christmas with her family which will be wonderful!
I send her money. The balance in my bank gains virtually nothing in interest so it is far better to do something positive with it. I do the same with my two other friends, one in the Philippines and one in Ukraine. It is like having a little family of three. I was married a long time ago but I have no children. The age difference is such that I am somewhere between father and grandfather. If I had real children, they would be middle-aged by now - what an awful thought!
So I live a kind of fantasy with my little family of three. I am 73 but I feel much younger, in fact I don't even want to put a number on it. It has no meaning. I went to see Nomel in Manila last year in November and I visit Ukraine quite frequently. But now I am going to meet Nini. And I will write about it here!
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