First I apologize if the punctuation is a little poor on this entry. The keyboard for this internet cafe computer is a bit wonky. I had to walk almost five miles to find an internet cafe that is open today, being Sunday and a long weekend. Tomorrow is el dia de San Pedro or St. Peters Day in Colombia. I have also had to cancel church because the person who was going to give me a ride got in touch too late to confirm with me. She likely didnt realize that I do not have immediate internet access, so by the time I walk back to my pension, with the thin air and my tendency towards easy exhaustion here, I have had to cancel with her. Maybe next Sunday but right now I am feeling a little bit, shall we say, disenchanted, question mark.
Quite frankly, I am counting the days till I return home. Its been okay here but it is almost impossible to type a quiet email anywhere because Colombians dont seem to get that some people need a bit of quiet if they are going to write anything.
I had a very enlightening visit yesterday with the English Conversation Club, about Colombians in general and Bogotanos in particular. It turns out that Colombian parents generally are very poor at disciplining their kids, which to me helps explain why I seem to encounter so many children walking around or driving around here in adult bodies. They were never raised or taught to be respectful or considerate, in most cases. Add to this the frightful legacy that has been left this country by the brutality of the Spanish invaders, the rigid and dictatorial social and political hierarchies, the widespread corruption, the narcotraficante warfare and the guerrilla warfare with FARC and the ongoing gulf, ever increasing, between rich and poor in this country, and is it any wonder that people simply remain terminally immature and irresponsible in order to cope. The collective trauma in this country is noteworthy, to say the least. The Bogotanos I was talking to yesterday all express a sense of dispair and hopelessness about their country, which I think is tragic. I really hope that people here can somehow rise above their sense of helplessness and can really begin to organize and work together for the good and improvement of their society. I believe this is possible but it is going to take a lot of work for people here to rise above this state of demoralization and the paralyzing apathy that it causes..
They also told me why Bogotanos are such horrible drivers. Here you do not have to pass a drivers exam to get a license. Anyone who can get a car can drive it. Yes, its that bad here.
But my day hasnt been all bad. I had a great time in the snooty French cafe and Im making great progress with my new drawing. Sundays are also wonderfully quiet here in Bogota and I intend to enjoy it. I would also like to reinforce here that up close and personal, Colombians are wonderful people.
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