Blogs

I have this incredible urge to post a blog saying just "hello world". Its a disorder that i seem to have developed in first year university from exposure to too many lecturers who are still incredibly excited by the first words (um.."hello world") that were ever programmed into a computer.

(dont quote me on that im too lazy too look it up)

I still get nightmares from the ordeal. My first wife left me because she couldnt cope.

Yes well its done, i´ve written them and laid my demons to rest. Apologies to all of you who don´t have any f****n idea what im talking about - its a good thing. trust me.

****

Anyway, back to my main topic, which is blogs.

I think the original idea of a blog is that you´re meant to write on it kind of often. I havent. but i will.

I´ve just returned from this place called Paiper, a couple of hours drive from Bogota (colombia). It was cool. We went there a couple of weeks ago too.

Its a couple of hotels built around some natural springs. excellent. The hotels themselves are funded by some sort of governmenty-corporate thing. Whatever the arrangement is, its resulted in the place being f***n cheap.

I mean, a 3-course lunch today cost me... um.... $5. Soup. steak & fries. dessert. Serious proper food. Seriously, if you´re contemplating being poor, (in australian dollar terms of course) come to colombia. eat like a king.

One other vaguely interesting result of the governmenty-corporate arrangement, is that it lends the whole place a real communist vibe.

(DISCLAIMER: I know nothing about Communism, except that people march a lot, look the same & that its kind of not like Capitalism. encarta)

What do i mean by communist? Dunno. The place is even cheap by colombian standards - it seems to be an "everyman" type of venue. And everyman and his family really does seems to come here.

And on the topic of everyman, its time to begin our first lesson in spanish. The word of today is:

ÑERO (nee-yeah-ro) a. yobbo

I think it´s slang so those following my travels with the proper dedication (like all of u should be!) it wont be in your spanish dictionaries.

This hotel has lots of ñeros. I´d try and describe them but they´re all so different.... yet so the same, the whole world over. sigh

Communism. yes. so we have a hotel full of ñero´s and us cool people (we are very cool of course)... and what does everybody (i mean everybody) do at night?.. we go to the theatre where we sing Colombian national songs. Which are fantastic if they´re sung well and the musicians can actually play.

But when the musician is an untalented father with an ego problem who has his son strum chords while he plays all the tricky bits (poorly), who imagines he´s a virtuoso because he has a crappy keyboard with all those cheesy pre-programmed backbeats; Samba, Rhumba, da chi, da da chi, da da da da, and can play a melody over the top.. its just not cricket

However nobody there seemed to notice it wasnt cricket, because they were all too busy singing extra loud, in unison, with matching uniforms, and dreaming of the long march...

(Angry? - see my above disclaimer)

This is going nowhere fast. I think its time i went

Thanks for the comments, dedicated followers of my trip. Makes me feel quasi-famous.

Apologies for the swearing & my overuse of brackets.