Monthly Archives for July 2012

Chau for now

For the first time in my life, I am going to be travelling alone. Hmmmmm, yes I am 30 years old but have never done the gap year before…I have a very protective mum.

So where am I going? I’m going to the coffee country, Medellin and Santa Marta.

For two weeks.

I can’t wait.

I’ve heard that the coffee country is beautiful. I’ve got family in Medellin who I’m staying with and will be relaxing at my aunt’s apartment in Santa Marta, literally doing nothing, but sleeping, eating, swimming and tanning.

Thanks to odd dates and the arrival of cheap airline Viva Colombia, I managed to get very cheap tickets with Avianca.

I will be back in two weeks. I am excited and scared at the same time.

Wish me luck and I’ll catch up with you soon!

x

Independence Day

Friday was (another) bank holiday weekend in Colombia. Yes, there are a lot of bank holidays…17 in fact. There are Bank Holidays to celebrate Saint Joseph’s Day, Labour Day, Saint Peter and Saint Paul, the Assumption of Mary…etc. etc. The UK had 10 in 2012… This bodes well for when I start working.

Friday, it was Independence Day. This one I’m on board with. The man above is called Simon Bolivar and he liberated Colombia from the Spaniards… According to Wikipedia, he “was a Venezuelan military and political leader. Together with José de San Martín, he played a key role in Hispanic-Spanish America’s successful struggle for independence from the Spanish Empire, and is today considered one of the most influential politicians in American history.” and “Bolívar remains regarded in Hispanic-America as a hero, visionary, revolutionary, and liberator. During his lifetime, he led Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and Bolivia to independence, and helped lay the foundations for democratic ideology in much of Latin America.”

So a pretty awesome guy.

He is hailed in South America…There’s money named after him, ships, his statue is in most cities and towns in Colombia and Venezuela. In fact…every city or town has a main square known as Plaza Bolívar.

So, how did I celebrate the Independence Day? By going to a finca in Carmen de Apicala in ‘terra caliente’. AKA ‘hot country’. Yes, it’s cold in Bogota, but to get some heat, all you have to do is descend the mountain to get a warmer climate.

Beats taking a Ryan Air flight.

I was invited to a finca with a pool and 15 other new friends. Hard to resist. It is a custom that many other Colombians enjoy up and down the estratos.

Here are the photos.

Let me know what you got up to.

x

Girl with parrot pet

On the way back to Bogota, we stopped off for lunch at an arepa house

I had arepa with cheese and chorizo with picante sauce. It was DELICIOUS and only 4,000 COP

How they made the arepas with cheese…They reminded me of Mexican quesadillas and were just as tasty

A friend had arepa with pork crackling (front) and black sausage (back)

The other friend had Bandeja Paisa…A kind of Colombian version of the British breakfast fry-up

The Boy

I live in the Boy. No, not with the Boy, in the Boy.

Or in other words, I live in El Chico. ‘Chico’ means boy. Well, there are no boys in my life, so my love affair so far has only been with this chico. I love where I live. I thought I’d show you my neighbourhood.

My family have lived here for years. And blimey, has the boy changed. He is now all grown up and sophisticated. Like a child’s pop-up book; new offices, apartments, bars and restaurants appear before your eyes like magic.

Chico is separated into Chico Norte (North) and Chico Reservado. I live in the ‘Reservado’ part. But there’s little reservation going on as the Brits know it. Where old houses stood one day, are knocked down for swanky apartments the next. Everything is new here. And there are some very amazing, very exclusive apartments that would make a Londoner’s eye bleed at the price and Blair Waldolf kick off her Louboutins in comfort.

I don’t live in one of these buildings. My family’s building is 40 years old. By Bogota’s standard, that’s ancient. It’s the opposite of the UK. We love old buildings and prefer them to new builds. But where we’re rich with architectural heritage, Bogota is having a boom and making their own history now.

I love the new style of buildings. The red bricks blend into the mountains as the sun sets. It’s magical.

I take a LOT of walks as I while away the days without a job. So I took some photos. I thought I’d bring you along on one of wonders around the block.

Here you go:

Is it a museum? A spaceship? No, it’s a swanky apartment.

New York style loft apartments.

Aquatic entrance.

Another water entrance.

I see a lot of these plants (front right). Not sure what they are other than popular.

A driveway that could be mistaken for a hotel.

A penthouse sits on top. It looks big.

Yesterday, a house was here. Today, it’s a building site.

Pretty, tree lined streets.

The red brick is beautiful against the mountainous background.

Houses

Yes! There are houses too…Very unique ones…

A 70′s house.

A mock-Tudor British house.

A French Chateau…

60′s house (right) with American style mansion in background (think it’s an Ambassador’s house).

And modern ‘houses’! Not sure if these are houses or apartments, but they look awesome (from afar, across a busy street).

Pounds to Pesos

I recoil in horror as I do the simple mental math. My standard cleanser which I adore in the UK, is in Colombia almost three times the price. That means it’s gone from Boots standard product, to Harrods luxury. I cough. I sputter. I moan to the shop assistants. I pick an alternative.

Yes, living in Bogota is not cheap. Especially imported goods (like my French cleanser). It’s actually astounding how anyone can and is willing to pay the extortionate prices for the same product as the states or UK but at inflated costs.

You may think that moving to Bogota from London means that I get to live like a Queen off my pound sterling savings as everything here is dirt cheap. It’s definitely cheaper outside the capital, but the capital has seen a massive economic boom in recent years. It’s not as cheap as you think. In fact if you go out to eat or drink nearby in Zona Rosa or Parque 93, you can expect to pay close to European prices.

The national paper El Tiempo reported on this recent boom. A recent report by Mercer (an HR consulting firm) has revealed that for a foreigner, Bogota is now ranked 53 (out of 214 cities) in the most expensive places to live list.

It has jumped 10 places in just one year.

That means that there are 161 cheaper cities in the world to live than Bogota (for foreigners).

For foreigners, it’s cheaper to live in Los Angeles, Miami, Madrid or Barcelona than Bogota.

For them to rent an apartment, it is now cheaper to rent one in Madrid, Berlin, Buenos Aires or Mexico City.

To buy a pair of jeans, it costs $109.77 in Colombia but 84.95 in Berlin.

Blimey.

And, unfortunately there is no H&M or Primark here. There is a Zara. But I almost choke to death when converting the price here in COP to pounds. For example, the EXACT same leather jacket in Summer 2012 sale, costs £99.99 in the UK, whereas it costs $499,000 COP (£180.71) in Colombia. That’s an extra £80. Insane! Especially as national wages for locals are much lower here than in the UK. What was previously a quite reasonable clothing addiction is now a high class luxury here in Bogota.

But in some weird way, I am actually quite proud of this. Why? Because it is a sign of a stronger country that is growing and getting more and more notoriety on the global scale. The pesos is strong. It is safe to walk the streets. Colombia is slowly shredding its only association to drugs, violence and the cartel. When you think of Colombia, you may have previously thought cocaine, coffee, and that it’s spelled with a ‘u’.

Now, on the street, there’s so much construction in my neighbourhood of Chico that where stood a house one day, is bulldozed for new offices or swanky apartments the next. I have never seen so much construction in my life. All the buildings are new. It’s like a new dawn. A new era.

Swanky new buildings like this art gallery populate the El Chico neighbourhood.

New apartment buildings.

A yes, my cleanser is suddenly overpriced and unreasonable to buy, but I’d rather that than live in fear and have my country ripped apart by violence.

I guess my cleanser is another thing to add to the growing ‘things I want my parents to bring over with them’ list.

The article is really interesting. Click here to read it in full.

Gracias

Lazy Sunday

There’s nothing I enjoy more than Usaquen on a Sunday. Especially a sunny Sunday. Today was such a day.

Every Sunday, the old colonial ‘village’ in the North of the city, opens up with the flea market. Think a Colombian version of Spitalfields market, where you can find lots of vendors selling arts and crafts…some traditional, some quite bizarre.

To make the most of the quiet city, me and my companion walked along the ciclovia on the septima (a main road, usually jammed with traffic and honking horns). This is quite possibly the best time to enjoy a usually bustling city. It’s similar to The City of London or Canary Wharf at the weekend i.e. emptied of the usual office workers and the stress they bring. Until 2pm, all classes of Bogotanos make the most of the liberty by cycling, running, skating or walking along the massive stretch of road.

After a delicious lunch in Amarti, we strolled the markets and finished with a cup of the best Colombian coffee in Juan Valdez. I definitely recommend spending the day here as it suits all budgets. A previous time, I simply ate empanadas sold in someone’s house for $2mil pesos each, and ate them in the sunshine whilst watching the people go by.

For me, a Sunday in Usaquen is simply perfection; food, sun, shopping, culture and beauty.

Colombia, te quiero.

Ciclovia along the septima. A hub of activity for the Bogotanos.

Beautiful Usaquen square with the standard statue of Simon Bolivar.

The beautiful colonial buildings of Usaquen can be seen in background. Now are trendy (and delicious) restaurants.

Enjoying lunch at Amarti. Part of the restaurant is in a old colonial house, with a surprisingly large and airy end, with open air and a green wall. Kind of like eating in a museum. A place to see and be seen.

Enjoying coffee in Juan Valdez, Santa Barbara.

Locals open up their houses on a Sunday and sell homemade empanadas and arepas. The cheaper and equally delicious way to enjoy lunch. Arepa con huevo (arepa with egg) is seen here.

Vendors selling arts and crafts line the streets of Usaquen.

Farm Fresh

The other night, I was sitting on the third floor of WOK in the Zona Rosa, watching a film in their cinema room and meeting the part-owner of the company.

Yes…Food, film, wine, and inspiring company.

If you are follower of my Instagram photos, you will have realised that I LOVE WOK. It’s one of my favourite places to eat as I think the quality, range and price of the food are all outstanding and incomparable to anywhere in the UK….(Although, if push came to shove, I’d compare it to Wagamama…Well, for a start, they both sell Asian cuisine and use red stars in their logos). So meeting the owner was a dream come true.

They’ve just opened the third floor and expanded the restaurant to serve Japanese style cuisine on the top floor (with the lower two floors selling their usual wide menu). Whilst drinking Saki, my friend and I watched a documentary about the future of food. Yes, I was surrounded by foodies and glimpsed a peek into their restaurateur world, which I admire but could never do myself.

These folk are the pioneers of the Colombian restaurateur industry. They’re deeply involved in and proactively protect the quality, freshness and sustainable farming around Colombia, going to great lengths in their communications to tell you where the ingredients have come from in the country. For example, some of the fish they use come from the Pacific coast and is in the restaurant and on your plate in 24 hours.

After watching an unsettling documentary on GM farming, I am slightly concerned about what I eat now.

Hmmmmm…if you had known me a few years ago, you would never have thought I’d care about the environment. I was more concerned about having the perfect hair, newest handbag and latest fashion from Reiss. Now, I’m no hippie, but I’m learning to think twice about the environment and value of life.

This got me thinking. Colombia has loads of food at its fingertips. When I wrote my story on the farm in Fusa, a reader wrote in and advised me to go to the local market in the town. Turns out this is where my cousin buys his food for the household. So, one boiling hot Sunday, we piled into the car (all three generations) and disembarked in the crowded, bustling market town of Fusa.

My experiences with markets are this. I’ve been to Borough, I’ve worked near Portobello Market, I’ve seen local fruit vendors in Brixton, Wood Green and Chapel Market, Islington. But forget selling apple and pears, here you can find apples, pears, mango, papaya, fresh garlic, unrecognisable potatoes, and basically so many fruit and vegetables that I can only show you rather than reveal their names. To be honest, I was slightly bewildered and lost with the names of the food… I can recognise a lot but am no expert, so think it’s best if I just show you what I saw, so you can see for yourself:

There were fruit, vegetables, meat, herbs, plants and even pets if you wanted all your shopping needs under one, very large, aircraft type carrier roof.

The old with the new…Swanky new CCTV camera can just been seen above man’s head.

A rainbow of colour and varieties.

A root vegetable (insert name here).

Red potatoes.

A type of bean (in background). Spinach in foreground (I think).

I know this one! Yucca in the background, with corn in the foreground.

Very delicious and strong garlic.

For all your household needs…

Different shades of mango.

Herbs.

Apparently Fusa is a main market town whose economy was historically based on agricultural marketing. In the market, you can buy produce by the handful i.e. a handful of beans etc. or $2 mil pesos of bananas.

This makes the pounds to kilogram conversion easy then.

The bustling town of Fusa.

A typical Colombian tienda in Fusa selling meat and eggs.

Man making sugar cane drink. The juice of a sugar cane, mixed with honey and lemon.

The juice is strained three times before it can be drunk.

There is something quite satisfying about buying food straight from people who grow or sell directly from the farmers. It puts large supermarkets in the long forgotten memory. My chief friend said to me at the end of the documentary that every organic / non GM food purchase in a supermarket is a vote.

The following day, I bought my first organic pasta and tomato sauce.

Colombia has so many natural resources, I want to show you and enjoy them all.