Evicted!
11 September 2005 (Sunday) – Bogotá, Colombia
Lina had suggested yesterday that we head to Zipaquira, a town about 1 hour away, where there is a Catedral de Sal (Salt Cathedral). Sounds interesting! I had been to the salt mines in Wieliczka, Poland, which also has a huge cathedral inside, and I had been thoroughly fascinated by it. She had suggested that we leave by 10am, because on Sundays, the people from Bogotá like to travel to the outskirts for lunch in the countryside restaurants. To go any later, we would be caught up in the terrible traffic.
However, Julian had some difficulty waking up, as he had returned home from dancing and drinking, like 5am this morning, I was told. We finally left at around 11am. True enough, we were caught up in a terrible traffic jam and only arrived in Zipaquira at 12:30pm.
To my surprise, there were guides in English for the tour. That’s great, we would wait for him or her. It was certainly better than squeezing with 20 to 30 people with the Spanish-speaking guides. When Julian ran off to buy some drinks, Lina told me some bad news.
It turned out, Julian had brought a girl home this morning to spend the night (or morning)! The girl left at around 8am and Lina’s brother saw her. He was furious! Gosh, this was very bad indeed! I mean, Lina’s family was doing us a great great favour and showing us amazing hospitablity by offering us free accommodations here. And yet, Julian abused the trust of the hosts by bringing a stranger home secretly! The Catholic families here are conservative people. Even they feel uncomfortable about bringing someone home secretly, much less, a guest in the house doing it! So, today, he brings home a girl. Tomorrow, what? Two girls? Or even worse, thieves?? On the way here, Lina’s brother had called Lina up to tell her that both of us must leave by today.
OK, it was not my fault but if I were in his shoes, I would do the same. I guess I had to think about where to go by tonight. My only other contact here in Bogotá was Herman. I gave him a call and asked if it was possible that I stay at his place. He said he had to check with his family first and would call me back later.
Lina felt worse about telling Julian to leave as he was the wrongdoer. When he returned with the drinks, she did not say anything. Well, the guide was here, so we entered the salt mine.
Apparently, there was another salt mine with a cathedral that was used for a while before it was declared structurely unsafe. Hence, there was a project to use the mine here near Zipaquira and there was a contest for the best architect with the best idea.
This architect made representations of the 9 stages of Jesus’ walk through the streets of Jerusalem towards his crucifixion. There are crucifixes made from blocks of salt at each of the stages with interesting representations of the chambers, the floor, the steps, the height of the crosses, and other salt mounds. At the end of the tour is the main chamber of the cathedral itself with sitting areas and an immense crucifix. Sometimes, weddings and concerts are held here.
The guide, Stella, then mentioned about the cathedral in Wieliczka Salt Mine which she had read about. I told her I had been to that one. “Which is better, this or that?”, she asked. Oooo… difficult to answer, I had to be tactful yet truthful. They are different, but the Wieliczka salt mines was more impressive. She looked away, a little ‘hurt’. Later, she showed us an auditorium with state-of-the-art technology for video shows, sound systems, etc… I was impressed, I admit, rather taken by surprise. “Does Wieliczka have this type of auditorium?” “No,” I laughed. “So, I win!” She is so sweet!
On the way back to the entrance, Lina told Julian about the ‘eviction’ order. Lina felt bad about asking us to leave. Although she was not happy with Julian’s action, she still felt bad. Her brother told her not to have anything to do with Hospitality Club anymore. But she really enjoyed having guests over. Sigh… You just need one person to abuse the trust and the whole hosting experience is ruined. Well, Julian felt very sorry about the whole thing as well. We drove back to Bogotá in near silence.
By evening, Herman still had not called me back. I was feeling doubtful. I decided to give him a call, because if he could not accommodate me, I had to check with the hostels soon. Well, he told me I could stay over but he was out at the moment and would return home late. He would give Lina his address and inform his family to expect me. OK. However, I actually felt a little unsure. I mean, I know Herman (OK, just for a day), but not his family. To arrive at his house and sit there with his family members, all strangers, waiting for him to come home… it seemed like a lot of trouble for the family and I was not sure what they would think.
Anyway, Julian took a taxi to a hostel while I took another one to Herman’s house. I had a 50,000 peso note and the driver had no change. So we went to a petrol station to break the note. Well, he literally BROKE my note. I handed it over to him, and within 2 seconds, the driver turned back and said the note was a counterfeit, look, it is torn into two pieces. What??? When I handed the note to him, it was OK, NOT torn at all. He explained, yeah, but he had to check the note, so he scraped a little and the note tore right off into two! Shit!!! I withdrew all my notes from the automatic machines from the banks, I did not change any notes from the streets. How could it be a counterfeit? The note looked alright to me with those fancy hologram designs and magnetic strip or whatever. Gosh, if this was a real counterfeit, than this was US$25 lost!! I had to use another 50,000 peso to exchange with the petrol station.
When I arrived at Herman’s house, wow, I was absolutely taken aback by the genuinely warm hospitability exuded from Herman’s mother, brother and his little grandmother. The señoras both hugged me strongly and tightly. They fed me right away with dinner. Herman’s smiley mother and very nice brother sat with me for nearly one and a half or two hours, just talking and asking questions. Even his granny dropped by for a few comments. Everyone was just amazing to me! They were absolutely ADORABLE!!! And I had been worried that I would feel awkward with a roomful of strangers??? Gosh, never ever in Colombia, I think!
And by the way, they all examined the 50,000 peso note and felt that it was genuine. We taped it back together.
Tags: 06) Colombia Connection, Bogota
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