Bogota journal: This And That

It's been a routine weekend so far.  Yesterday I went for a walk in one of the adjoining wealthy suburbs. Each subdivision has security at the entrance and the houses are all uniformly ugly, row aupon row of brown brick shit houses.  One would imagine that to be wealthy in Bogota one would want to choose something a little more attractive but who knows, they could be palaces inside.  One of the guards wanted to know what I was doing there and I replied that I'm visiting from Canada and going for a walk.  He seemed okay with this.  It also helped that I left my switchblade and balaclava at home.

The English conversation club yesterday had a good turnout and I did what I could to help facilitate.  Concern was mentioned that I didn't talk very much and I explained that that was the point.  I already speak English well as my mother tongue.  I don't need the practice.  It's just as well because most of the participants seem to have fairly conservative values so I have to bite my tongue a lot.  Oh well, I'm just here for another two weeks so I'm sure I'll do okay.

At the Anglican cthedral they are trying to encourage me to go to the English service in the late afternoon but that kind of undermines the point of my being here, which is to work on my Spanish. I might check it out on my last Sunday here but no promises.

Today was a bad altitude day and my sea level lungs could barely hold out as I trudged the six and a half miles to the church service this morning. I'm feeling better this afternoon. Bogota is very quiet on Sundays.  Almost everything is closed and there is little traffic on the roads.  I stopped for coffee at a nearby cafe and again some people stopped to admire my work.  One fellow who has been in Bogota from Europe for the past year stopped to chat for a while.  He confirmed more or less my observations about a sense of collective PTSD in this city and described it as a jungle which is an apt metaphor I'd say.  There is a very darwinist mentality in this city.  As fascinating as my time here is I can't say I'll miss Bogota when I'm gone.  Doesn't mean I'm not coming back. Doesn't mean I am.

On the way home I saw my first hummingbird here at a bush full of yellow flowers.
Isn´t he a beauty?  I might draw him while I'm here.