First Foray Into The Big City

And wow, I must say that I am impressed.

 

The licenced taxis have lists of fairs on big plastic cards clearly displayed on the reverse of their driving chair, as well as a full large colour photo of the driver including his details. For those who don't fully get the significance it means that there is almost zero chance of getting ripped off as you can see what your have clocked up as you go and at all times can see what you are going to pay for, and who is driving you.

 

In the city centre, which would have been a fairly long walk  had I a map of the city in English, there was a fairly new and impressive shopping centre. All the usual shops you could think of, albeit the Spanish equivalent, and a few that I had never seen before were all laid out over a few floors spread out over a large area.

 

I wont say that it was a piece of cake, and even my limited Spanish helped considerably, but within an hour I was able to purchase most of the items on my shopping list. Clothes, smellies, travel bag, mini phrase book, all ticked off. I did stop in a mobile shop but could not see any chargers, and having left my own handset behind was sure that my Spanish was not up to trying and explain that I wanted a recharger for a phone I could barely remember the make of.

 

I also tried to look for a salon, to get a nice hair cut, but this would most likely be in the shops outside the main complex, which meant going out into the wide open and away from the armed security guards, taxi rank and risk being frisked on the way back into the complex again to get a taxi back to my hotel.

 

With all the negative press that Colombia received, I would say that in the shopping complex there were enough armed security guards to occupy Paris.. Ok, bad example, but you know what I mean. At no stage did I feel sized up by any local criminal element, and I felt considerably safer than walking home from work after staying late in London for a few drinks.

 

I even managed to negotiate my way into the cinema to show Shrek 3 with subtitles for the Spanish viewers, instead of the normal over dubbed version that was showing much more frequently. Not that Shrek 3 would have been my first choice of films, but I have to keep a little continuity going here, and I have always believed that if you get into a sort of pattern or routine then you can forget where you are and truly be miles away from anywhere and still have a peaceful heart and steady hand.

 

However, the fact that the cinema only had salty popcorn is one mark against it, but the fact that i was the first in which meant i could ignore the chosen allocated seat more than made up for it.

 

All in all, I felt ready for anything, and that is exactly what I got when I got back to my hotel, as the last thing i was expecting was for them to have realised that I am perhaps abusing the Internet facilities and request that at this stage I pay the balance of my bill, including the full 6 nights accommodation, lest I skip out with one day left owing a substantial Internet bill.

 

With money being almost no-object ( the prices here are still very cheap when compared to back home ), as this is perhaps the only way to keep sane and feel in contact with the outside world I did not object to this and am glad that I bought along a spare credit card, just in case something happens to the first one - like it getting blocked, which is exactly what happened when I was in Chester that one time!

 

Back in familiar surroundings, I am just going to post this and then rush back to my room to freshen up and try on my new purchases, hoping to all that is lucky in my life that their mediums are the same as the English ones. Wish me ... er ... scrub that, fingers crossed eh.