Colombia

I sit in Bogota, Colombia.  I will be here for 2 weeks to try and drum up some business deals.

The more I travel, the more I realize that I know nothing about the world.  Living in the US for most of my life has left me ignorant.  Our dear country does indeed fed us highly spun mis-information.

Now I sit in Bogota, in the dreaded, dastardly evil drug producing, FARC kidnapping country of Colombia.  Well, that's what we were told.  Now it is a 1st World city of 8 million people.

So far Colombia has been a double edged sword.

First the bad.

Our first morning here, after receiving a security briefing, my friend and I got conned and scammed out of $1200.  It was so slick that it didn't even occur to either of us that we were in trouble.

As we left the hotel, walking down the sidewalk, an old, old, kindly man asked for directions.  We couldn't help him but we did start to talk.  That was our first mistake.

As we were talking, a detective in a 3 piece suit, approached us, showed us his "credentials" and asked us to follow him to the neighborhood police station to register our business intentions and log in our money.  All things that we were told we have to do anyway.

As we walked toward the "police station", another police officer joined us and said the line at the station was long so he would help us by taking our money and registering it for us.

You guessed it.  They were gone with our money.

The money hadn't left my hand more than a nano second before I figured it out...too late...by, by money.

Shit, did I feel stupid!

The problem is that we, as trusting Americans, can't actually hear instructions like, "don't talk to ANYONE!"  It is impolite to avoid talking to a kindly old man, for God's sake.

Lesson learned.

Everything else, and I mean everything else, has been fantastic!

The people are wonderful.  Polite, happy, helpful and delightful!

We spent 3 long, arduous days out in the wild country, touring mineral sites.  Traveling on dirt tracks to goat tracks, meeting people in the remotest places.  Staying in hotels that cost $2 a night, eating meals for $1.

We were in a party of 8 with 2 vehicles.  It looked like the United Nations with an Indian (Sub continent India) geologist, a mining engineer from who knows where, us and Colombians.

The mountains were as beautiful as the Himalayas.  Steep, lush, farmed or grazed all the way to the top and rugged.

This is a populated country, even in the hinter lands.  About 50 million people.

The major towns like Bogota, Medellin and Cartagena are 1st World.  And as expensive as the US.  Yet out in the country it is not quite 3rd World and dirt cheap.

It is drier with less humidity than Panama, something that is pleasant.  Slightly cool at 8500 feet in Bogota.  We all wear light jackets unless the sun is out.

I have another week and a half here.  Can't wait!

Today is a holiday so I have time to, well, write a blog.