Back in Colombia

Here I am then, back in Cali!  This is the first time I've returned overseas to a place I've previously lived in, I was in Santiago, Chile, for my year abroad, but despite having probably the best year of my life overall, didn't really feel the urge to go and live there again, there's probably something in my head that is afraid of going back to somewhere with such fond memories and then not living up to expectation second time round.  Anyway, I wanted to return to a place I know, with friends, contacts and so on, and Cali fitted the bill, so I've now been "re-settling in" for the last two weeks with Stephen's family, an English guy who's lived here for 30 years or so and who works at the Santiago, where I was last year.

Landslide near Medellin, December

It's strange to be here again.  Memories come flooding back, both good and bad, and it's hard to think that lots has changed in the seven or so months I was away, not least the fact I've crossed a continent on a bike, which is a great talking point with any of the many Americans that I know here.  Cali's weather seems to be exactly the same as I remember it, hot, sunny and tropical most days, but it's worth mentioning that since I left last June, Colombia has suffered torrential rainfall up and down the country, due to the La Niña weather phenomenon, causing deadly landslides and flooding vast areas of land.

I managed to get one of my old jobs back in the school I worked at, but that's just one day a week.  My main job was at a university, but things don't look great there now.  Rumour has it they're under investigation by the government for corruption, staff pay and hours reduced and the suspension of recruiting new teachers all lead to me to believe it doesn't look good to work there again!  I've been handing my CV into language institutes, schools and other universities, so just have to keep at it and hope something comes up, which it should, and tout private classes in the meantime.


A problem in Colombia and all of South America it seems, is that people just tell you what you want to hear, which is incredibly frustrating at times.  I always think it's because they don't want to disappoint you, but they end up doing exactly that anyway, just in a bit more of a roundabout and longwinded way, which would explain lots of things here I suppose.  "Do you have any vacancies for teaching English?" I'll ask, to which the answer is something like, "We'll see next week."  A 'yes' or a 'no' would be much more useful and save you lots of time, but you can't change the system they have, just adapt and work within it, which means meeting people in person, rather than relying on emails and phone calls as we're used to at home.

Fresh Oranges

Of course, why the job hunting is frustrating, there are the upsides of being back here.  I've never picked oranges off a garden tree in January before for some freshly squeezed breakfast juice, and I went on a chiva last Friday - one of the moving nightclubs on an open bus, they drive everyone around the city, blaring all sorts of music out and drop you off at the nightclub pretty drunk, great fun.  The English community is fairly active too, even though I'd be surprised if there's more than a hundred or so of us here, but we're meeting up for a game of cricket and beers tomorrow.  I've never played cricket in January either.

San Antonio

Cali is as mad as ever.  I've been back to the areas I loved last time, like San Antonio, the historic, colonial part of the city, rich in culture with  foreigners and locals alike enjoying story tellers and performances in the park.  Some areas I hate though, but had to go to for various reasons, like the centre, grimy, busy, noisy, and definitely not a place to go after dark, as with most city centres in South America.  Walking around there the other day I remember thinking that I've never been to a place before where you have the wonderful aroma of freshly chopped pineapple from a fruit stand combined with the smell of fresh piss off the street.  Delightful.  And then there's salsa music being played every waking hour of the day, bus drivers racing each other and people riding bikes with machetes on the back of them.  What a fascinating place of contrasts Cali is.