Primeras impresiones

Although coming to Colombia always was combined with very nice feelings (as it meant I was on holidays) this time was a bit different as I was landing in Bogota to live here for a few months and start a different chapter of my professional career, and I still was (still am) not quite sure what would (will) expect me. Therefore I was very happy to see the well known faces of my relatives Margarita, Leonor and Rafael (aunts and uncle) waiting at the “El Dorado” airport and I was also excited about the nice almost 20 degrees Celsius (as opposed to the minus 5 in Zürich and the snow (!) in Madrid) that were welcoming me. As always another “host” waiting in Bogota, was the heavy traffic, but more to that specific topic later. Anyways, after a “short” drive and a first taste of Bogota’s streets at peak-hour, I arrived at my relatives’ place, where a very delicious “Ajiaco” (that’s a regional meal from Bogota, a really tasteful soup with chicken, potatoes, avocado and other stuff!) was served. That and a couple of hours’ sleep got me ready for my first day in corporate Colombia…
Before I tell you what a typical day in Bogota looks like for me and what kind of stuff can happen to a “principiante”, I would like to tell you more about my whereabouts. I live in a neighborhood called “los Rosales”, located at the eastern boarder of Bogota and pretty much in the middle between the northern and southern ends of Colombia’s capital. I’m very grateful to my relatives Magola and Hernan, who let me stay with them in their apartment. It’s a very spacious but yet cozy flat and they are treating me like their son, what makes me feel at home all the way. We live together with our maid Luz, which means ‘light’, and that’s actually a very accurate name, because she cooks delightful. I feel really lucky as she also washes my clothes and cleans my room, which means I’m getting totally spoiled here and I don’t know if I’ll get used again to doing chores when I’m back in Switzerland (sorry Meli ;)). The Rosales-area is a rather quiet place and has everything I need close by (Shopping centre, banks, supermarket, etc.). As central as it is, it only takes me about half an hour, whether walking or driving, to my office, which is situated at the “Parque de la 93”



, one of the city centers, of which Bogota has a couple.
There I work in the offices of the “CCIT: Cámara Colombiana de Informática y Telecomunicaciones” (www.ccit.org.co). They are the Colombian chamber of commerce representing the ITC-industry, like Dell, HP, Nokia, etc. It is the ideal place for my work as I will need their know-how and network to advance with my report. The CCIT kindly provides me with a workplace and its employees with a lot of Bogota-tips and colloquial vocabulary.

My relatives live all in different parts of this huge city and so I guess I’ll learn all the spots step by step by visiting them. As I’ve been here only for a couple of days, I’ve only been to the places of my uncles and aunts who all live in the northern part of Bogota, the office, my home and a few select places (to do sports and to have a few drinks). More to everything in a later post, but believe me, get mobilized in Bogota is a challenge, at least at the beginning! Check this video to see the dimensions of the city I’m talking about:
If you want to know more about Bogota and its almost 8 Mio unique inhabitants, you best check it out here: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bogot%C3%A1 .
Well, so far so good, I could go on and on with the stuff I’ve seen, but first I have to organize my impressions a little and soon there will be more from “lique en Colombia”… take care y un abrazo, Gabriel