Or...

The funny thing about life is that it's full of options and the funny thing about plans is as soon as you make them something happens to screw them up.

What I'm getting at is: Why leave Bogota? It's a great city, the weather is a little cool, which I like for working, and I have some great friends here. With 4 days to go before I leave Bogota I'm starting to panic a little bit. I've been here for 5 great weeks and I think I'm a little attached to the place.

Argh!!!

La Candaleria

Dentro El Monasterio
Originally uploaded by Phil Chan.

After the week relaxing in Villa de Levya, I was ready for a few more days of the good life before heading back to Bogotá and decided to go to a monastery for a couple of nights called El Monastario de La Candaleria, which has a hotel attached to it where you can stay.

I took a bus from Villa de Leyva to a town called Raquirá, which is famous for its arts and crafts, then a dusty cab ride over the mountains to the monastery. The monastery is, you guessed it, a beautiful old building dating back to 1604 set in the mountains. It wasn’t quiet as exciting as I’d hoped - I imagined myself running, well thoughtfully walking, around in monk’s robes having deep conversations about the church, religion and beer brewing, but I found myself alone in the beautiful building eating spaghetti. At least until a bus load of school kids arrived, destroying my thoughtful silence. I retreated back to my room to listen to CDs, finding that one of the CDs I’d bought was a compilation of 80’s hit (the theme to Flash Dance was a happy find), Boys2Men songs (or is that BoysIIMen? Either way I actually listened to the lyrics and they are b-a-d bad!) and pumping Euro-trash techno (who would have thought you could write a techno track about mosquitoes).

I slept late enough to be the butt of the maid’s jokes thanks to wooden window shutters that didn’t let a peep of the 11am light though. The kids from the night before were gone by the time I woke up, but another group arrived from the school in nearby Santa Sofia and we visited the monastery’s museum and a nearby cave where a religious hermit lived. It was great fun hanging out with the kids and talking to the teachers, who were really cool. My desire to be a school teacher was gradually reawakening, but I put it to rest with a few more Boys2Men songs.

I wandered into the hills in the afternoon, taking a walk that followed the story of Christ’s march towards crucifixion and came across lots of native flowers which I went crazy taking photos of. For some reason I just can’t get the macro function of the Canon working properly, but the Panasonic’s macro works great. It focuses really easily and, while the photos aren’t as sharp as the Canon when it decides to work, they come out great. It makes me wonder what the higher end Panasonics are like. I realize I’m not much chop when it comes to photography, but I’ve come to really enjoy it. I find the composition of a shot really fun and hopefully I’ll have time to continue it when I get home, though the way things are already looking it’ll be tough to find any spare time.

That night I was completely alone in the hotel and passed the time listening to Colombian CDs, salsa and a little Boys2Men. The next day I headed back to Bogotá and Señora Dafne’s house, where I’m going to stay until next Wednesday when I have my final eye checkup. Mike, who I met in Medellin, was back in Colombia and we had a cheap, very tasty meal of meat, meat and more meat with a friend of his. They headed to Cali today, which is where I’m going next Wednesday night, so hopefully we can meet up down there too and have a night, or three, on the town. Cali is the heart of salsa in Colombia and, while I still have two left feet, it’ll be fun to go out dancing and embarrass myself.

My goal over the next few days is to find a laptop so I can work in Buenos Aires. I’ve pretty much made up my mind about the Asus W3J, but it may be hard to find here. If I can’t find anything I’ll wait and try my luck in Buenos Aires, which I think will be more expensive, but with the release of Core 2 Duo this month, maybe the prices will balance out.

Oh, I saw Superman Regresa (Returns) last night. Not too bad. There were some terribly cheesy parts, but it was nice to see the man in tights on the big screen again. It was a little weird recognizing all the places in Sydney where it was filmed, but a nice bonus being so far from home. The next few movies should be interesting, though it would be nice if they didn’t fall back on the “let’s kill him with kryptonite” routine in at least one of them. I think they’ve done that in every movie and it’s a little tired.

¡Luego!

Laptop Advice

Everyday I get a little closer to giving up on the holiday and renting an apartment out here until the end of the year. I was looking at prices for furnished apartments in Buenos Aires today and they're actually not that bad for something nice in a nice area.

One effect of all this crazy thinking is that I'm getting closer and closer to buying a laptop. If I go through with this I'll probably do it when I get back to Bogotá. The dilemma I have now, is what type of laptop to get. I don't want to spend "too much", but there's no point getting one if it's not up to the job. I'll mainly be using it as a development station, running Windows XP with MS Dev Studio 2005, Eclipse, Photoshop and the other usual stuff. I'll probably run a little music stuff as well, but not too much (sorry Patrick).

There's a few options at the moment. I'm basically favouring a Intel Core Duo system with a Radeon X1600. At the moment the Asus W3J is looking pretty good, thought it only has a 14" screen. There's also a HP system that's pretty interesting and the Apple MacBook has me drooling, pity the graphics card is down clocked. I'm just not sure if it's worth the extra cost when I won't be using OSX. There's an interesting Acer as well... oh when will this end?

Does anyone have any recommendations?

Oh... I just got deja vu reading a review of the Asus... I must be on the right path.

Ouch!

It turns out I did get stung by the scorpion... at least that's what I'm guessing considering the terrible itching and redness I have in one of my left knuckles. I can see the spot where something got me and it weren't no mosquito that's for sure. Hopefully the itching and redness will go down tonight.

Ouchy!

Well... Crap... This Sucks!

I found out today a good friend from Seattle called Ephraim Alexander passed away in his sleep this week. I'm not sure of the cause, but it seems that he was diabetic and that may have been a factor.

My condolences go out to his family and friends in Seattle and around the World. He'll definitely be missed.

Strange Bed Fellows

You know how sometimes you get drunk and wake up with someone you didn't expect... yeah me neither. However, last night I had a couple of glasses of crappy red wine and woke to find a scorpion in my bed. It was only a little one, pretty squashed though still wriggling, so I imagine I rolled over during the night and slept on it. Luckily it didn't bite me... or at least I didn't notice.

My mind instantly went back to the good old days in Taganga when Verena was bitten in her sleep. Yeah, they were good days.

Still Kickin',
Phil.

Más De Villa De Veyva

La Roca
Originally uploaded by Phil Chan.

Villa De Veyva continues to be a great place to hang out. I've been enjoying being a tourist for the first time in ages (maybe the first time), wandering around the cobbled streets, taking lots of fotos of people's houses, buying gifts for people and generally relaxing.

The food festival has created a great atmosphere in the town. During the day food stalls jammed with delicious meals and snacks cover the town's plaza and at night the restaurants fill with people and music. The plaza was host to some great local musicians last night and I grabbed some cool movies of them playing tradional music.

I've had a good chance to think while I've been here and have, obviously since I'm a nerd, gotten stuck into the next version of Elevation. This time focusing on multiplayer mechanics and how to dynamically generate the graphics for the buildings rather than using prebaked images. I'm still entertaining the thought of locking myself up somewhere and working for the rest of the year, so if I still don't feel like traveling after the Galapagos Islands, I'm going to pick up a laptop and hide in the Argentinian countryside somewhere until Brendan comes out in October.

I've also continued my Colombian integration. It started with people asking if I was Colombian rather than automatically assuming I was an extranjero (forgeiner) then, for the last month people have been calling me Felipe rather than Phil (actually Phil sounds a little odd now, but I'm sure I'll get used to it again... someday). Somewhere along the road I ended up with a band in the colours of the Colombian flag wrapped around my wrist and today I bought a woven bag to carry my stuff aroud in rather than using a backpack. The final step will be to start wearing a pair of loose fitting white cotton pants and matching shirt, which I'm actually eyeing out. Depsite all that, and what many people back home seem to be saying or encouraging me to do, I will eventually leave this wonderful country and return home... I have to pick some stuff up before I move here anyway :)

I've also been making good strides with a copy of Cambio, a Colombian political magazine, that I picked up and am very happy about. Who would have thought a magazine would be easier than a 1000 page novel written in the style of magical realism... ok, everyone, but I'm still happy to be able to read so much. So crazy stuff happened out here last week with El Presidente making some changes to ambassadors to various countries without consulting anyone, including the people that were being shuffled around, which I can finally understand and is completely crazy. It seems like pretty much all the politicians out here are corrupt... which is completely different and shocking compared to Australia

Oh, today is my little-big sister Megan's 35th birthday, so Happy Birthday Meg!!! And yes, I did get you a present :)

Bad Timing

It turns out I have timing my visit to Villa de Leyva at the worst possible time, as the annual food festival is on this weekend, woe is me. So, rather than heading to the surrounding towns I'm going to stay here and sample the fine cuisine.

Speaking of cuisine, I had another lesson on the importance of a larger Spanish vocabulary yesterday when I ordered the "Plate of the Day" for lunch. The soup was comprised of a stange piece of animal I haven't encountered before. It was similar to blood sausage, a favourite out here, but the skin was attached to the insides a little too tightly for it to be a sausage. It wasn't kidney or liver, so I'm at a loss as to what it was. I tried my best to finish it off, but my body started to protest. I had a "Oh no, not again" moment when the main came out and it was my old friend Lungs. I figured I give them another go, but only made it through one. It was rice, planta and salad for me after that.

It only cost AUD$2.50 though and I made up for it with a nice dinner in a fancy restuarant, which was great, and the passionfruit dessert really hit the spot.

Quick Update... Not From Bogotá

I've finally made it out of Bogotá, though I'll be back there in a week or so for my final eye exam before I head south for Ecuador via Cali and a couple of other stops in Colombia.

Today I arrived in a little colonial town called Villa de Leyva, which is absolutely beautiful. I'll post some pics later, but it's great here. It's a little weird being out in the world again after a month in Bogotá with friends and their families, but it feels pretty good. I'm hoping the travel fatigue I've been feeling with dissipate now that I've got my backpack on again and am looking forward to exploring the area.

¡Luego!

Funza

La Ingelsia en Funza
Originally uploaded by Phil Chan.

The day after visiting la Catedral de Sal, Aura and I went to see her sister after a dentist’s appointment, ended up visiting her grandma and had a great night hanging out with her uncles and some other folk from the neighbourhood. There was, of course, plenty of beer and dancing and I received a few rounds of applause for successfully navigating the dance floor without breaking any bones. You know, it’s really not fair how naturally everyone here dances, whether it’s salsa, meringue or local flavours of folk music.

We crashed at Aura’s grandma’s place with her sister and niece and then went with them to their home in Funza, a little town that became a suburb of Bogotá as it grew to take consume the surrounding towns, for a couple of relaxing days watching far too many DVDs and eating great food.

Yeah, life in Bogotá is pretty tough but I think I could get used to it.

La Catedral De Sal

Felipe y Angel
Originally uploaded by Phil Chan.

I’d heard about La Catedral De Sal (Salt Cathedral) from a few people. A cathedral carved out of salt mine in a town called Zipaquirá an hour north of Bogotá. I imaged it like old temples you see in the Middle East, carved into the face of an ancient mountain, but what I found was very different.

I headed up there with Aura, enjoying the scenic trip which went through some of the towns I was planning on visiting when I leave Bogotá. It’s really amazing how close things are that look hours apart on the map. A quick taxi ride took us into the mountains that the town is built around and the queue of tourists waiting the get into the cathedral. We quickly spied a tour group of foreigners, and I amazed Aura by picking their German-ness from 10 metres away.

La Catedral De Sal is a series enormous chambers set in the old section of a salt mine that is still operated today. It’s close to pitch black in many parts, though strategically placed lighting helps you get around and creates a great atmosphere. The passageway to the actual cathedral catalogs the last moments of Christ on his way to his crucifiction (SP?) and there are a lot of places to pray in front of impressive crosses carved from salt or granite. The main chambers of the cathedral are enormous and completely awe inspiring. There are three main chambers, each 15 to 20 metres high with huge columns and various statues spotted around.

Walking into the first chamber, I was filled with an overwhelming feeling that was hard to describe. Far from religious, it was more that we really can do amazing things when we want to… it just seems a pity that we don’t do more good than we do. Oh well…

After spending a couple of hours wandering around, taking far too many pictures, we checked out the town of Zipaquirá and had some lunch. The plaza in Zipaquirá was really beautiful, with a cool church and a number of nice colonial style buildings. After another hour or so strolling around the town we headed back to Bogotá where I hung out with Señora Dafne’s family some more, which was really nice.

Umm... Yeah, Well...

Sometimes things just don't turn out like you expect. Despite my best intentions to leave Bogotá on Monday, I'm still here. I'm having a really great time hanging out here and to be honest, I'm a little tired of traveling. My plan at the moment is to leave this coming Monday, but I wouldn't be surprised if I'm still here in a month. There are a few little towns that I want to check out, but most of those can be day trips and I might be able to go to the La Zona Cafertera for just a few days.

Last week I visited the Caterdral de Sal (Salt Catherdral), which was absolutely amazing. It's a massive multi-room cathedral built in a salt mine in a mountain. I don't know if the photos Aura and I took do it justice, but I'll post them in a couple of days. It was a good chance to take my new toy, a Panasonic FX-01 digital camera, out for a run. The pictures are nice, though not as good as the I2, and feels great taking snaps in town with a little camera. It really does open up a lot more opportunities to take pics.

While I'm here, I'm going to start working on a new version of Elevation, this time in C++ and a framework from PopCap. I had a very strange experience buying some software on the street here, which felt kind of like a drug deal. I picked what I wanted off a little printed list, then had to wait a few minutes while various people walked past my "dealer", not so subtley slipping her CDs. The whole experience was very amusing and I came away very happy with what I could get. The whole travel fatigue thing has found me checking out laptops in the shops here. I'm not going to buy one, and I am keen (kinda) to travel through Ecuador, Boliviar and Peru, but it would also be nice to spend the next five months living here and in Buenos Aires working on games... oh well, I guess I shouldn't be that much of a nerd on my holiday.

¡Luego!

Quick Bogotá Update

I'm still here in Bogotá, though I'm planning to leave on Monday, heading north to see more of the country, visiting little towns and some other big cities. I have to be back in Bogotá in a month for the final checkup for my new eyes, and am not sure how I'll spend the month. I may fit the rest of Colombia in and head down to Quito in Ecuador, then fly back for the appointment, spend the entire month looking around Colombia or spend a week or two in a villa somewhere working on a few different ideas I've been toying with.

Everything is going great with my eyes and after checking out the exchange rate again, found that it only cost AUD$650, USD$500 for the operation which is an added bonus.

I'm staying with Señora Dafne at the moment, the grandma of a friend from Maracaibo, Venezuela and having a great time. She's really cool, and I feel really at home staying with her. I had dinner with her sons and some of the grandkids the other night which was really nice. Hopefully I'll get a chance to meet some of the older grandkids this weekend, who all sound cool.

I'm off to buy some toys today, a CD player to replace my beloved iPod and a little camera that I can more easily take around towns and out at night. My main camera is awesome, but a bit too obvious for some places.

Pues, hasta luego!

I've Finally Uploaded More Photos

Sunset 2
Originally uploaded by Phil Chan.

I finally sat down and spent a few hours in an internet cafe getting photos online.

There are fotos from Cartagena, Medellin and Bogotá.

Click, click, click, click

I'm pretty bummed that Australia, Argentina and Brasil are out of the Mundial, but them's the breaks.

My eyes continue to get better and I'm spending a lot of time freaked out at the fact that I can see but am not wearing glasses. I keep getting the feeling that I'm wearing contacts, which is really weird as well.

My plan for the next week is to check out some of the touristy sites in and around Bogotá then head north to checkout the Coffee Zone and see what else Colombia has to offer before returning to Bogotá for my final eye checkup in a month. Colombia really is the jewel of South America so far and I definitely recommend it to anyone traveling or thinking of traveling in SA.