Turista

Today was the first day that I did not have to get up at the crack of dawn, stuff some food down my throat, and head to the office of the main telecommunications provider here in Bogota, ETB, that is protected like the front gate of the Pentagon. More on that later(probably a different day), but suffice it so say that neither Nino Brown nor Frank Lucas put their employees through more just to get in and out of the office each day.

It was a rough night in which vast amounts of Santa Rita y Aguasardientes were indeed imbibed. Suffice it to say that there was no hope in me getting up before noon on Sunday. Mis companeros y yo had half talked about perhaps going to the office again, but since it was Sunday, we didn’t really put a firm commitment on it. Now, that’s a funny thing there…commitment. Let’s talk about being committed, for just a second if you don’t mind. When you say “I’m committed”, just how committed are you? Are you a little committed? Are you committed when it’s convenient? Well, let’s rap for a minute. I don’t know any good way to break it down because there are always so many shades of grey, but try this on for size. I skipped breakfast this morning and since it’s my favorite meal of the day, it’s been on my mind. Nothing says breakfast quite like bacon and eggs. With the help of this fabulous bacon and egg breakfast we’ll delve deeper into the concept of commitment. First of all, you’d have to agree that chicken in this scenario is pretty committed to the breakfast effort. Without said chicken, there’d be no eggs, and without the eggs you’d just be eating what is essentially a side dish in the bacon. So the chicken is pretty committed, putting in all that work to donate some eggs to the cause. But that pig…. Now the pig is DAMN committed!

Long story short, we went out like some chickens today. I logged on for a couple hours and tried to take care of a couple tasks that would allow me to be that much further ahead when we went to the office tomorrow. But when I called them and started a sentence about going to get some lunch, they told me to hurry up because Juanito was on his way to get us for a trip to Monserrate. I guess going to the office was out. It’s not like I put up much of an argument or anything. I was down like four flats to go see a tourist spot way atop the city. We saw an incredible church and rode on something called a Teleferico up this very steep mountainside and rode down on a Funicular. All I could think about was some scene from a James Bond movie where they were fighting in one of these cable cars in the sky and the cable broke and, well, you get the picture. Good ol’ 007 survived. Or maybe I’ve got that mixed up with some other movie. It sounds like something that Bond would get caught up in. After a surprisingly good lunch at some place up on the mountain called La Casa de Santa Clara, we rode back down the hill for another impromptu touring courtesy of Juanito.

He took us to the Plaza de Simon Bolivar, and on through el barrio Candelario where, speaking of movies, I’m almost certain that the Harrison Ford movie Clear and Present Danger must’ve been shot. It was a peculiar little neighborhood with dark cobblestone street that would have one name up the street and another name down. Confused? Well, consider pulling up to an intersection as you’re riding up 3rd street for instance. In any regular city in the world, 3rd street might intersect with, say, Oak Street. Oak Street would be Oak Street if you turned left or if you turned right. Not so in Candelaria as to your right it might be Calle de Maria y a la izquierda es Calle de Antonio. I must’ve snapped 40 or 50 pictures and actually got a little winded walking up and down those hills. It sure felt good not to be sweating work too much today. I know it’ll be waiting for me tomorrow, so there’s no use wasting any cycles on it today. I even picked up some regalos for some folks. Que turista fantastica!