Monthly Archives for May 2012

Reader comments

Reader Rob says

1. I was just wondering what the weather’s like in Bogotá? I see that it’s low 70′s which is enough for me to think wearing t-shirts would be fine but I was reading that most people dress for warm weather. How cold does it really get?

2. Also, did you get any vaccinations (such as Typhoid or Yellow Fever) before ariving?

gringaColombiana says

1. The weather at the moment is pretty good as it’s not raining too much. People here wear light jackets or jumpers. If it’s sunny, then T shirts are fine. At night it gets colder as we’re high up in the mountains. I would definitely pack an umbrella and warmer clothing too…when it rains, it pours. My wellies have been a godsend.

Good news is that if you do get caught in the rain, there’s always a street vendor at your rescue selling cheap umbrellas.

2. I didn’t get any special vaccinations before coming here, but only because I was up to date on mine. I do recall having to get Yellow Fever for when I went to Tayrona National Park, but don’t think you need any specifically for the city.

I’m no expert though, so do check with your doctor, or online with sites like netdoctor. (You can click here for the link).

Better to be safe than sorry!

Hope this helps, and if you have any more info, please feel free to add your comment!

Besitos
gringaColombiana x

Reader comments

Reader Angela says

I love spending the afternoon with you, Luz Helena and Daniel in Tabio we had a lovely afternoon together!!!!.

I love your blog! I think it is just amazing how you came from the UK to Colombia and I hope you feel like at home here.

Angela

gringaColombiana says

Thanks Angela, I had a great time too and yes, I do feel at home here in Colombia!

I took lots of great photos…here they are:

Sunny Tabio

(Which one is the gringa?)

Besitos
x

I die in Dominó

Hanging out with a Colombian who’s a chief has massive advantages. Mainly that they know about food. I am obsessed by food. This is a good combination.

The other day, I was starving. After lots of sun and a few beers, I was gasping for an empanada. I am obsessed by empanadas and they are the perfect complement to beer, sun, walking. Heck, anything really.

But never before have I eaten empanadas like these. These were out of this world amazing. Usually I stay clear of flour empanadas, as corn are fair away my favourite. Well, ‘shoot me now’ because I am wrong and am so happy I could die.

So where was this piece of heaven? Dominó. It doesn’t look like much from the outside. But it’s a little 1970’s gem. The décor is orange and black with a dominoes theme running throughout. In fact, if it weren’t for the trendy lights, it most likely hasn’t changed in the slightest since it opened.

Inside heaven.

Inside the Dominó

But, it has the most amazing, and freshest ingredients I’ve tasted.

OK, so in case you didn’t know, empanadas are a national favourite dish. They are a bit like Cornish pasties or samosas, as they are pasties filled with filling, which varies usually between chicken and beef. Here, you can have chicken, beef, shrimp, cheese and mushroom. You then tip your empanada into aji which is an onion and coriander dip. DELICIOUS. I opted for the chicken and mushroom. For the first time, I actually saw the ingredients and recognised the mushrooms…This was washed down by a fresh mango juice. Oh my god, my mouth is watering.

Serving the aji.

Empanadas with salsa and juice. Bliss.

I also tried the cheese and mushroom ones. They too were delicious. As my chief friend said, it’s amazing that a tasty restaurant exists with just a deep fat fryer.

As we were paying up to leave, the ladies were unloading a crate of fresh coriander. Seriously. My eyes boggled.

If you would like to go, Dominó is located by Las Aguas in downtown Bogota on Carrera 4 18-55. Of course there’s no website as these didn’t exist in the 70’s, but neither did processed ingredients and believe me, I haven’t eaten a fresher empanada in my life. Definitely recommend.

La finca

I am writing to you from a haze of sleep, tinto, sunshine, Aguardiente, sancocho, chocolate, siesta, cheese, and fresh bread. You see, for the bank holiday weekend, I am in the farm with my aunt and uncle. We escaped the city to get some R&R, which is what many Bogotanos do as the city swallows you up in traffic, crowds, stress and pollution, with everyone living on top of one another in apartments with little or no outdoor space. So what do you do? You find a farm and escape to the countryside.

In fact I am writing to you now from a hammock. This is the life.

Hello from the hammock

Enjoying the hammock, with a tinto

So where am I? I am in the countryside in Fusa; a rather big, rather unattractive large town about two hours away (less if you’re fast, more if you’re slow) from Bogota. We drove here Saturday afternoon and almost half of the drive was just getting out of the city. We live in the North, and Fusa is in the South West of the city, which means we drive all the way through Bogota and out the other side in the South….along with everyone else doing the same standard bank holiday escape, so traffic is bad. But once you descend the mountain, the climate is immediately warmer. In fact, I reckon the temperate in Fusa is perfect. It’s that lovely summer’s day we are used to in Britain….the kind where you’re not roasting hot, but out in shorts and t-shirts strolling along the beach front. Except here I don’t hear seagulls begging for food, I hear crickets and parrots in symphony surround-sounding me.

View of the house

View from the house

The finca isn’t really its English translation of ‘farm’, but more country cottage. But there are differences to the British country cottage we hunger after. Here people tend to build their own houses once they’ve bought a plot of land. My aunt and uncle bought the land thirty years ago when it had nothing on it and the access road was an unpaved, just about wide enough for two vehicles, little lane. The house is pre-fab and was constructed in a day. Then it took longer to pave the floors, build the walls etc. This is by far the more economical way of buying property. It also means you can build your ideal home. Perfect. And it has character too. Plenty of it. It would be hard to be in Colombia without character. Since they bought the land, and built the house, they also added and grew all the plants and trees, which thrive in the climate. There is an abundance of fruit and vegetables here…some are familiar, some are really rather strange…

The familiar

Bananas

Corn

Courgette

Mangoes (no photo)

Mandarin

The strange

Guava

Guanabana

Here you can find out more about Guavas and Guanabanas.

Another big difference between a British holiday home and the Colombian equivalent is that the finca is attended to by housekeepers who also live on the property. They live in separate accommodation adjacent to the main house and help maintain the land and house. This sounds fantastical compared to Britain, but here in Colombia the gap in wages and ‘stratas’ mean that lower class incomes can be covered by upper classes. They are given jobs, a home and also health insurance by their employers, and become the life and soul of the property.

Today, the farm is looked after by Marco. I’d say he’s in his 80’s, although by looking at his face it’s hard to tell. He is a widow and has lived in Fusa all his life. He is adorable. He is super sweet and is delighted when the family show up as it means he has company. He literally waits on my aunt hand and foot.

The lovely Marco

Marco stands on guard, ready to help

For lunch on Sunday, he cooked ‘sancocho’ on the open fire. Sancocho is a broth with vegetables and chicken, and is delicious. We ate it outside on the patio under the tree. Honestly, I am in heaven.

Marco cooking on the open fire

Aunt and Marco prepare the sancocho

Protecting the sancocho from the watchful (and hungry) cat

Et viola! Made with yuca, potatoes, sweet potato, chicken, corn and avocado

To keep the house safe from intrusion, having dogs on the farm is mandatory. They will snarl, bark and run up and down the front gate at any passer by guarding the property lines. But on the right side of the fence, and they are adorable and make the farm experience complete.

Overly friendly and excited

Begging to be let inside

I really don’t think this lifestyle is affordable in the UK unless you are really wealthy with a title like ‘Lord’ or ‘Lady’ and have stately homes. I guess this is why I’m writing the blog, to show how good life can be in Colombia past all the stereotypes in a developing world.

Thank you

…For getting in touch with me. I get a LOT of spam mail, with ‘people’ trying to sell me naughty things, so LOVE it when genuine readers get in touch with encouraging, helpful or similar stories.

There have been many, but over the weekend, I have selected two to highlight:

Reader Rob says
I happened to stumble upon your blog while searching for jobs in Bogota and I’m glad I did since now I know I’m not the only one really stressing about finding a job and I haven’t even arrived yet. I’m in a not so quite but similar situation as you, worked in education for 5 years here in the U.S. but woke up one day and realized I couldn’t handle the routine of working 8-5 in an office for the next 35 years of my life and among a lot of other stress at the time I just decided to start over and focus on my passion, social work. Anyway, sorry for the long post but if you’re interested in volunteering you could try http://www.volunteersouthamerica.net.

I’ll definitely be following your blog.

Reader Sandy says
I like your lively style of writing – perhaps that is where you next ‘j.o.b’ is going to be… I am a retired writer/photojournalist living in Barichara and I write about my adventures in Colombia as a sort of ex-pat. I’d be a complete ex-pat if I could have a permanent visa, but am settling now for an annual one. Stop on over, or even come to Barichara sometime… and keep on writing!

Thank you both for your kind comments. I love reading them and make sure I get back to everyone.

gringaColombiana
x

Off for the long weekend

This weekend, I’m going to the family finca. Finca means ‘farm’, so you may think I’ll be at somewhere like this:

But actually are more like country houses which are located in the, erm, country.

So, I’ll be in a little house in the country which will look something like this:

Bogotanos have fincas to escape the city (traffic, stress, lack of garden). I’m going with my aunt. It’ll be just the two of us. There’ll be no wifi.

Wish me luck, and feliz fin de semana.

El arte

Apart from my blog, my other obsession at the moment is my art. Yesterday, my aunt gave me an easel which was promptly assembled in the laundry area. I love it, it’s my own space…that I’m sharing with the pot plants, rocking chair, washer and dryer.

So, I thought I’d show you what I’d been up to for the last couple days in my little hideaway. I draw portraits. Mostly in pencil, and more recently in charcoal.

Here are some my most recent charcoal pieces:

Tia en la ley

Tio in charcoal

And here are some of my pencil drawings:

Portrait in pencil

Portrait in pencil

Portrait in pencil

Portrait in pencil

I love drawing faces….the emotion, the eyes, the posture, the soul lies in the face.

It would be lovely if you wanted one too. Get in touch if you do at gringacolombiana@hotmail.com.

Happy Friday!

gringaColombiana freaks out.

I’m going to share something very personal with you. Today I freaked out. I panicked because I am living in Colombia and have no job and this is my first time doing both. Yes, it’s only natural. But for those of you who have lovingly got in touch with me and are going / going to go through a similar experience, I wanted to tell you why I felt like this and how I overcame it…in one day.

I freaked out because I’ve been having an amazing four weeks in Colombia. (Yes, I have been here for four weeks – ONE WHOLE MONTH already. Wow, doesn’t time fly?) I have met some amazing friends, spent lots of time with my lovely family, started art class, been commissioned to do some art, started Spanish class, eaten some amazing food and am generally having the time of the my life. BUT, a little niggling feeling creeps in that I’m unemployed and this freaks me out. I panicked, I gasped for air, I questioned what the hell I was doing, I worried that I would never work again, and more so that I would never want to work again. I do not like this. I used to be a workaholic. Now I love life too much to even contemplate the reality of work. A friend introduced me to the concept of the four hour workweek or something like a mini-retirement. I haven’t read the book, but here’s the link if you want to have a look.

He says welcome to my mini-retirement.

So ‘mini-retirements’ are great. But in order to be ‘mini’ it implies that there’s an end. Today I decided to have a plan and to put a steak in the ground for the ‘end’. This has been the best thing ever. So, to give you an insight into my very personal life, here is my life plan:

My life plan.

My life plan sits at the end of bed and is my guide. My plan is for my life over the next six months. I have basically given myself a ‘life holiday’ until the end of June. Here, I am giving myself the freedom to do what the hell I want, go wherever I please, learn things, do things, see things… For the next six weeks, I can basically enjoy life guilt-free. Then in July I am going to start looking for a job (so I might be contacting you then)…

I love this plan. It makes me very happy. And I know that come July onwards, I will be ready to embrace a job.

A life plan was something I was taught from a careers advisor after my accident and subsequent ‘mid-life crisis’. It worked really, really well as I got to Colombia as I dreamed. The only missing part was what to do when in Colombia. Now I have the freedom to have fun, safe in the knowledge that I have a solid timeframe to work with.

I am sharing this with you, because as always I want to be honest with you. It seems like I’ve had an amazing, glossy time in Colombia, and I have. But at some points, I question my journey and this is what I’ll share with you too.

So expect lots of great, fun adventure for the next six weeks. I can’t wait and you’re coming along for the ride too.

Life must go on

Today a bomb exploded near my house, killing five and injuring 25. It was against the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the US and Colombia, which comes into effect today.

I’m not going to dwell too much on this, as I don’t feel it right to bring more negativity to the situation. It was a stark reminder though that Colombia is a rising star at the moment, but there is still a simmering internal tension, which bubbles to the surface by surprise.

For this reason, I want to shout good, positive things about Colombia so please read and enjoy my latest blog on La Xarcuteria.

Besitos
gringaColombiana

PS. If you want to read more on the story, you can do so here.

La Xarcuteria.

Meet Mike. I did. He was lovely. He sells sausages. A lot of them. (OK, if you’ve read my post about Frankfrt airport, you may think that I am obsessed with sausages….I am not. I think).

Mike is from California and about three months ago he opened up La Xarcuteria (charcuterie – branch of cooking devoted to prepared meat products, primarily pork).

It might sound strange, maybe even slightly gross, but believe me, it’s amazing. It’s part of a new wave of restaurants from other cultures making Bogota more cosmopolitan. You see, Mike’s half Colombian and moved to Colombia to live when his Colombian father retired here. His shop oozes the Californian laid-back chilled vibe on the hectic, crammed busy streets of Carrera 15 (pronounced ‘quinze’). This is a street previously known for its low-end cheap eats, and I’m not sure I want to tell you the story Mike told me about what he found in the shop when he took it over from a deep fried chicken restaurant….Whatever it was, it took him three lorry loads to clear away *insert imagination here*.

Needless to say, the restaurant is now completely gutted out and revamped, and is something you’d expect to find in Soho (London or New York). The benches are raw wood and cool, the walls have that exposed brick look and he casually has three types of wine he’s happy to sell you. Everything is kind of, you know, just cool. And believe me, when you open the glass door, it’s surprising when once again the Carrera quinze smacks you in the face with its old world ways.

I find this story a really interesting one, not only because he’s one of many ‘returning Colombians’ I’ve stumbled across, but he’s also done really well so far without mega bucks marketing and has been written up has the ‘best’ hamburger in town. (Yes he does venture away from pork…). This is shocking for me because El Corrall holds my heart as the best, and believe me, meat here in Colombia is amazing and second to none compared to the UK. It’s just a shame my companion is a vegetarian.

Menu side 1

Menu side 2

You can see more here on his Facebook page.

If you’re in the area, do pop in. He’s also just opened for Sunday brunch. He’s promised me he’ll start selling French press coffee too.

So that’s my Sunday sausage and coffee hangover fuel sorted then; Colombian style.