Bogota, Colombia, South America I started my Spanish class today, and it went pretty well. I am in a class with only one other guy, Ash from England. I really like our teacher, she is a 25 year old Colombian girl from Bogota named Magda. I asked to be put in the most basic course they have, because I have never taken a Spanish course and know nearly nothing. It turns out that I know quite a bit more than…
Bogota, Colombia, South America Today wasn’t exactly what I had expected, but it ended up being a nice day. I spent the morning going through some lessons on Rosetta Stone, trying to prepare for my first Spanish class tomorrow. At about 2pm I went for a walk up to a group of three really nice malls that are all together called Atlantis, Retiro, and Andino. I met Melissa’s mom there at 2:30pm and we were supposed to go to a…
Bogota, Colombia, South America Today has been my best day in Colombia so far! I had a good morning in Chapinero getting some things done. I had to go to the bank, the supermarket, and got my hair cut. It’s been a while since I got it cut, so I was happy to find a place where I was confident they wouldn’t butcher me. Plus, it only cost 15 pesos (£5), so I was happy about that. Melissa’s mom, Luz…
Bogota, Colombia, South America I went to the cinema today for the first time in four months. I noticed the other night when we went to Hard Rock Cafe that there was a cinema in that mall, so I walked up there and saw the new Transformers movie, Age of Extinction. It wasn’t good. As usual, there was a lot of action and the CGI was incredibly impressive, but the plot was lacking, a lot. It was still nice to…
Bogota, Colombia, South America I got up this morning and got a bus into the city center, to an area called Candelaria. I got the bus to the university, and then walked into the old town, to Bolivar Square. I found the tourist information center and joined the free walking tour that starts there every day at 10am. Our tour guide, “Chris”, who was Colombian, didn’t speak English very well at all. He was able to get his point across,…
Bogota, Colombia, South America Today was a chilled research day for me. I didn’t do much during the day except send out a couple of emails to Spanish schools in the area and try to figure out what I should see in Bogota. I met Melissa after she finished work again and we went out Hard Rock Cafe for dinner! This was my 42nd HRC in the world, and my first in South America. I was surprised at how cheap…
Bogota, Colombia, South America I didn’t get up to much today, except for checking out the area around my house hotel. It seems like a pretty good location in the Chapinero neighborhood in the city, with lots of restaurants and shops all around. I also did a lot of research on what to see while I’m here in Bogota, and also on a spanish school I can take courses at. It looks like all of the spanish schools start on…
Bogota, Colombia, South America I was a bit nervous about how today was going to go, but it could not have gone smoother. I got up this morning and packed my bags to leave my casa. Elina and her daughter had gone to the beach two days ago and were not coming back until this afternoon, so I didn’t get to say bye and thanks to her. I did get to say bye to her mother though, who was a…
Havana, Cuba, North America Today wasn’t a great day for me. I woke up after a pretty bad night’s sleep because I’ve had a dodgy stomach all night. It must have been something I ate, but I’m not exactly sure what it was. I spent all morning in bed, and was actually pretty happy that I hadn’t been able to book one of those tours after all. It would have been miserable having to get up at 6:30am and feeling…
Havana, Cuba, North America I got to go diving today! I got my taxi at 9am and went straight to the Hotel Copacabana which is only about 15 minutes away from where I’m staying. It’s another one of these nice big hotels, but this one is right on the water. I found the dive center and arranged with the dive instructor to go out right after breakfast. I had a great buffet breakfast at the hotel for 8 CUC. It…