Grinning Gringa

At some point this evening, I know I started grinning like an idiot. Because somewhere among the rather surreal combination of drinks and music it hit me - I am out, on the town, in Bogota, Colombia! This is my life! And it is good. Commence grinning.

24 Hours in Bogota

Nothing really exciting to report yet. I promised several people I would take tons of pictures, but so far not much has been picture-worthy. Probably because the past 24 hours have consisted of customs, taxi, apartment, breakfast at Cafe Brot, work, take-out lunch, work, longish walk to coworker's apartment, more work, then short walk around the corner to Italian place for dinner.

I'm not really sure what I was expecting, and I'm still not really sure how to describe the place. Riding in the taxi around 11 last night we passed graffiti and boarded up buildings alongside crowded bars and restaurants, moderately abandoned blocks followed by blocks with tons of pedestrians and people waiting for buses. Walking around is a bit odd - I feel totally safe, and tons of people are out on the streets. But there's razor wire everywhere and private security guys with giant guns. All the apartment buildings in our (rich) neighborhood also feature private security who unlock heavily padlocked doors to let you in, regardless of time of day.

I'm also bemused by which websites have Colombian counterparts - facebook appears to send me directly to the American version, whereas google and blogger (duh, because it's part of google) both initially pop up in Spanish.