EPTYou can find Blog Day 1 here: http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/480769-colombia-trip-blog-day-1-the-departure#5
Character List: + Show Spoiler +
Maya = Blond bombshell in the airplane
Stephanie = Innocent, childish kid who is chubby
Paola = Main Female Protagonist: The independent young mom
Alexa = Main Female Protagonist: The Year long friend
Mafe = Paola's Friend
Stephanie = Innocent, childish kid who is chubby
Paola = Main Female Protagonist: The independent young mom
Alexa = Main Female Protagonist: The Year long friend
Mafe = Paola's Friend
Day 2. Saturday
It's Day 2 of Bogota. I wake up around 10 and walk around the hotel. Having no sense of direction or language, I am very careful to walk in a straight path, or remember landmarks so I can find my way back easily. The streets are quiet because the hotel is not located in the main downtown district. I see small houses on the road everywhere. I am supposed to meet Paola, the other girl I talked to online before coming here + Show Spoiler +
pipeline-ing
Anyway, Paola messages me and tells me she will arrive at the hotel at around 3 pm. A little disappointed she is coming so late, I tell myself I should explore the city on my own. Little did I know at the time, that it was going to be a very bad idea.
I ask the hotel to call a cab + Show Spoiler +
In Colombia, its dangerous to pick up any random taxi's, because they could be fake, and could kidnap you
![[image loading]](http://www.globaldatingrevolution.com/images/2010/Colombia-Medellin-Taxi-small.jpg)
In the side mirrors, the "image is closer than it actually seems" is still in Korean language in some cars
After several minutes of telling him where I want to go "downtown" "que?" "shopping, si?" we head down. As a foreigner, you should be wary about taking Colombian taxi's. If they notice you're not a local, they will rip you off. Always ask how much the service is going to be, before you enter. I land in Central, which, at the time, did not know it was going to be a dangerous place. I
![[image loading]](http://www.contactos.com.co/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/bogota3.jpg)
Plaza Bolivar. A true landmark of Bogota
I walk around, snapping photos left and right. I didn't care about looking like a tourist, no one was going to endanger me: I felt like I could take on the world, as a 27 year old male who is very athletic. I even go to a shop, where I ask for a football jersey. I say the words everyone would understand "James. Rodriguez. Colombia." My goal was to find a cheap fake jersey that looked authentic. I knew these jerseys were fake, but I wanted one that looked good. Guy asks for 25,000 COP (roughly $12), I haggle it down to 23,000. With my prize in my hand, I start to head down the streets to find an eventual taxi. And it was at this moment, that it had happened.
Walking through the crowded streets, I felt uneasy. Suddenly, splash, a lady splashed some kind of water balloon on my neck. At that second, I raise my left hand to check what the liquid is. In THAT moment, a person behind me grabs my phone from the left pocket (where my hand was). This was a very crowded street. I feel the sensation of my phone leaving my pocket. I honestly believe I have very good body reflexes and awareness. Within the 2 to 3 seconds of the water splash, and the phone leaving my pocket, I instantly WAKE up adrenaline in my body and yell at myself YOU ARE GETTING PICK-POCKETED. I quickly find the culprit hurrying off in front of me: a short lady in her 40s, basically a "Colombian ajjumma." (Korean word). Furious with anger and panic, I instantly reach her through the crowd and ram her up against the car in the street, yelling "MY PHONE!!" People around me look bewildered. She quickly turns around and opens her purse to show me she doesn't have anything and yells at me. Unless she understand what "my phone" meant (which the locals took about 10 minutes to find out), she was clearly guilty of thievry (I am 100% sure she did it). But, the moment I rammed her up against the car, she quickly passed my phone to a 3rd person who paralleled across us and disappeared into the crowd. My phone was gone forever.
Even if I knew Spanish, it would've been impossible to call her out. No evidence, and this shit was too advanced. Because I knew 0 Spanish, I was totally fucked. I still remember people finally figuring out what was going on, while I was in super rage mode, ready to kill anyone across my path. Panic, confusion, anger, depression all swelled up into me at that moment. I can still remember a young dude in his 20s laughing with his friend and saying "WELCOME TO COLOMBIA" as he mocked at the situation. My head was spinning and I just wanted to leave. I could still feel the wallet in my right pocket, and I did not want anyone to have the chance to have that. Without my wallet, I would be fucked with no taxi, no card to withdraw money, stranded in a foreign country with no ID (Passport was in hotel, however). Quickly, and without a thought, I find the closest taxi, and head straight back to the hotel. As I tried to calm myself in the car ride, I thought to myself: not only are my contacts gone, but my pictures, music, sensitive information, and the potential girls I was going to meet for the rest of the trip. Super depressed, I make it back to the hotel.
The worst part of it all?+ Show Spoiler +
The feeling of helpless-ness. Even if I knew the pickpocket was coming, I would not be able to stop it because multiple people in crowds, you just can't stop. I don't like feeling helpless. Oh, and I end up forgetting my jersey in the cab b/c I was too stressed out. RIP prized possession.
The moment I get there, I instantly know it's Paola checking into the same hotel. She told me earlier that day she would check-in the same hotel. I finally meet her and say hi. She seems like a nice girl, but I'm too stressed out to be super friendly. I tell her to knock on my door when she's ready to go out, "I don't have a phone" but she didn't hear that part. She agrees and I go to my room. I calm my nerves and tell myself, it was just a phone, get the fuck over it. I go to the bathroom to clean myself up when I see a older hispanic woman in my room in via reflection. I freak out and turn around, but no one is there. Post-traumatic stress, I tell myself. I quickly go to my iPad (thank god I brought another form of electronic) and instantly remove access to my facebook, gmail on my phone, change my password, etc.
I meet Paola a bit later, and I ask her if we can go somewhere to get money exchanged. She agrees and takes me to a local department mall (cleaner, safer). I tell her what happened and she feels really sorry for me. I tell her it's okay it was just a phone, and she shows me her left arm, where she has a huge cut scar, and she tells me someone cut her to try to steal something from her years ago. I am reminded Colombia is a dangerous ass place. Basically, if you look Asian (like me) or White, prepare to be a target of being mugged or pickpocketed. Paola tells me that Central (place I went to) is a dangerous place. I'm never going to that fucking place again, I tell myself. This time, I put money in my sockets, in my shoes. I carry a spare ID in my pocket (old one that I can afford to throw away). Nothing in my pockets. Try to steal something from me now, you fuckers. I should invent a mini-bear trap and put it in my pockets, I think to myself.
We head around the mall, where I'm still super stressed out but I start calming down. Even at this classy mall, I weave around crowds. I can't do crowds in Colombia anymore, even with nothing in my pockets. We exchange the money, and meet Mafe, Paola's close friend. She works in the mall. She sees me, she giggles and tells Paola I'm handsome. Apparently Mafe is really into K-pop and studies the language like many of the girls here (Good for Korean dudes, but Chinese dudes get no love here, similar to how it was in Japan. Sorry to you Chinese guys). Anyway we grab some food, and we prepare to go out for the nightlife later. Mafe wants to join us, so Paola pays off Mafe's co-worker to not tell the boss, and us three happily head back to the hotel where we get ready to go out. Unfortunately, Paola forgets her ID papers, so when we go out, we are forced to head back to hotel, print "lost my papers certificate" and take the taxi back out again.
Its around 10 pm, we are in downtown nightlife of Bogota, where I see young people gather in the streets. And my god, I landed in heaven. I have NOT seen so many hotties in one place. I heard rumors Colombian women are beautiful but jesus, it's a glorious sight. I orgasmed in Tokyo, where the Japanese women were the cream of the crop of all Asian women, but here, it was on another level. Japanese women (or Asian women) don't have great bodies. Combine the prettiness of Japanese women with the banging bodies of models. Yeah, I'm not joking. Colombian women are gifts from God. I fucking get excited and ready to party. They suggest this club (in my head, I think, "Club already?" jeez) and we try to enter. They get in and as they search me, they take the CLIFF bar out of my pocket. They tell me I can't bring food inside. It's a fucking CLIFF bar, give me a break. No means no, however. I surrender and comply, grieving for 10 seconds of my precious CLIFF bar that was stuck in my school bag for weeks.
We enter the club upstairs, and Paola pays for the drinks (she seems to want to pay for everything ). We order a big bottle of Aguardiente, which is like beefed up Soju/Whiskey. We drink that shit like it's beer (bad idea). But we guard the drinks closely with us, because in Colombia, people drug your drinks the moment you take your eyes off of it. In the club, they play a lot of reggaeton (which is like the Hispanic version of hip-hop, but it sounds like wanna-be youngster hip hop to me). I start to miss Dr Dre, DMX, 50 cent, and all the real hip hop. Then they suddenly start playing American mainstream hip hop. Never have I ever imagined I would dance to Nicki Manji (sad I know) but it was the feeling of homesickness. Getting pickpocketed on the 2nd day will do that to you. Guys swoop in and dance with Mafe. They don't even say anything and just start dancing, which I found hilarious (either Mafe is easy or the culture is just like that). I'm not a great dancer, but I let out my stress and really enjoy the time there. Me and Paola dance, grind, etc. We make out in the club while the Colombian dudes sitting down stare at her ass, and stare at me (because I stand out).
As the night goes on, we order a 2nd bottle of Aguardiente (bad idea x2) and the girls start getting drunk. I do my best to protect them but at this point, they are sitting down and feeling sick. I'm a little wasted myself to do much, but they start throwing up side-by-side. The guys around us are like uh oh, while I'm a little dazed, wondering wtf is going on, I just got pickpocketed and now I'm trying to nurse 2 Colombian girls in a random club on my 2nd day. One of the guys offers to call a taxi, which I gladly accept. I take them back to our hotel, where I end up sharing the bed with the two of them in Paola's room. I didn't have sex with them, frankly, because (1) I was too sick myself, I vomited once, and (2) Mafe was not hot, and I wasn't about to have my first threesome with her.
Day 2 over.
You can find Day 1 blog here: http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/480769-colombia-trip-blog-day-1-the-departure#5
Feedbacks appreciated.
man I hate to read that you got the phone stolen, bogota is a bitch now days especially since it has been under left wing goverment control for the last 12 years and security has gone to shit... but glad nothing happened to you! if you decide to come visit to villavicencio let me know , its pretty much a party city with nice weather and cheap prepagos if thats what you are after lol!
