Day one in Colombia April 2007

This year's trip to Colombia started with disillusionment and disappointment!

It all started with my waiting for my 7am flight at the airport in Saint Louis. While I was waiting for my connection to Atlanta I spent some time scanning the news on the overhead screens displaying CNN. And what was the leading story? Four Greeks were arrested in Crete for the biting off of an ear after the defeat of Greece to Turkey in soccer. I can only hope they don't watch CNN in Bogota.

While in Atlanta, waiting for my connection to Bogota, I spent some of the 5 hour layover by looking at an exhibit from the High Art Museum. They had a collection of international folk art displays and my eye caught one of them and brought a smile to my face. Good old Karagiozi, the Greek shadow puppet character that I remember watching on TV as a kid was on display! It brought to mind all the laughs I had at his expense as he humorously struggled against the Turkish yoke. Looking at the display from a little closer and reading the legend filled me with confusion and disheartenment... the character was Karagoz of Turkey (picture attached bellow), I guess we have been borrowing the fellow! I hope they don't ask me any questions about Karagiozi while I am in Bogota.

This is where the disillusionment and disappointment of the trip ended.

Speaking of a small world, the guy sitting next to me in the plane to Bogota was a Colombian who had been an exchange student when in high school at Marshal, Missouri. Not only that, he had spent the best days of his life (his words, not mine) in Greece on vacation as a young college graduate in the summer of 1994 (he even knew that his name, Phillipe, is Greek for "friend of horses").

By the way, both Sandra and I were flying on different airlines and connecting at different cities both of us leaving STL and arriving at BOG at the same times, this awkward arrangement is the product of our using frequent flyer miles for this trip.

I was last in Bogota two years ago, not much has changed. My arrival had apparently been anticipated as I noticed that the security forces were deployed (picture attached) and there was no shortage of M-16s. We were squirreled away to Carlo´s and Olga`s apartment where a surprise party of family members was waiting for us, as was a huge fruit basket display! Apparently they remember how impressed I was with the variety of Colombian fruits (picture attached).

Today I have a day off as a tourist because Sandra has to take care of her US Visa requirements. For all of those of us out there with US or EU passports, we need to do a better job appreciating how lucky we are to have won the genetic lottery (and having the passports we have). Consider that Sandra has to spend the whole day today to get a one year visa for the US. A mountain of paperwork, supporting documents, pictures, money, and time are required. Just getting her appointment at the US Embassy is an ordeal. From the US she had to use her credit card to call a number that would charge her 1$ a minute and which would give instructions and a time and day at which she could visit the embassy in Bogota. After the appointment is made she has to go in person to a bank in Colombia and deposit $100 for the application for a visa. After these things are secured she can go with her valid Colombian passport (that has more than 3 months to expiration and more than three pages for stamps left to it), with her pictures, with her bank statements, with her I-20 and letter from her employer in the US, etc) and wait for her appointment (with no guarantee that she will get it). Did I mention that all 500 to 1000 people that apply for a US visa during any given day at the US Embassy in Bogota are all given the same appointment time of 8:30am?

I guess I don´t have that much to report today; but I guess some times uneventful days are better than event full ones!

Christos en Bogota

PS I have noticed that due to the high altitude of Bogota I am having to drink a lot more to stay hydrated and sometimes in breathing I don´t feel like I am getting a lung full of air.