Bogotà

Time's up, I'm coming home! It will probably surprise no one that I wanted and tried to extend my stay here, it doesn't look like I'll be on a BA trip for awhile longer than expected so it was a possible reality, but for a variety of reasons it just didn't work out. But just like every other time that I've been on my way home, regardless of if I'd been traveling years or just a few months, when your time is due and you resign yourself to going home you remember what a great place home is, your friends and your life there, and you always look forward to it.

I'm seeing Bogota this time with different eyes. With the eyes of someone who's seen enough of the country to be able to put so many things in perspective that were just not possible before. The architecture, the food, the faces of the people, all seem to have a region from which they come, if I can't place it then it must be uniquely Bogota. The weather is, for one. Its actually not much different right now than a bad winter in Seattle... rainy and cold, with the exception that the sun does come out, and when it does it gets quite hot.

I'm staying at a hostal called the Platypus and it has quite a reputation in Colombia and even South America as the place to be when in Bogota. It was just a fluke that I ended up here in the first place and I'm back mostly because I left some things behind here while I was traveling, because besides all the deserved hype for the owner of the place, Herman, who is a stellar guy and is incredibly helpful, the place is really a dump. I read in someone's guidebook along the way that its considered one of the best hostals in SA -- the hell it is. I've been to half a dozen better here in Colombia alone. Worst of all, for me, is that the kitchen and hang out areas have that rotting, damp wood smells of the fishing boats out of Hawaii, and this is enough to turn my stomach. And I'm not a stickler for cleanliness, I prefer character over it any day, but I don't think the Platypus is chèvere enough to overcome its filth. This is one of the reasons that I hate the guidebooks (Lonely Planet especially), because they can make or break a hostal or restuarant, often times undeservedly so, and this is one case. Just feel like ranting after trying to whoop up a fruit jugo in their worthless kitchen.

I've got more pics to post and stories to finish; this site isn't done yet even though the travels nearly are. I was just thinking how nice it is to have this blogsite as a sort of monument to my travels to compliment my journals and photos which are most important to me.

Tomorrow is my last full day here in Colombia and I've got some things to do: I am meeting up with the family of my long time bike racing buddy, Pablo, and I've got a few last minute things to buy that I haven't had time for yet: music, cookbooks, football j, and a couple blocks of panella.

Ciao for now!