Day 2 in Bogotá

Y que día ocupado! Arranqué a las 6:15 nuevamente. Desayuné temprano y a las 8:00 ya estaba en la oficina. Nos reunimos por una hora para fijar el plan de acción para la semana y luego nos fuimos para el Hospital Santa Fe, donde estuvimos todo el día hasta mas de las 7:00 de la tarde. Había algunos problemas con el servidor instalado allí, y por suerte pude ayudar a que los solucionaran. Algunas cosas las sabía yo, y las que no, pude encontrar el documento adecuado o saber a quién llamar.
Almorzamos a eso de la 1:30 PM en un restaurant cercano que se llama 'La Bombonera'. Como su nombre lo indica, está todo pintado de azul y oro (los colores de Boca Juniors) y sirven comida típicamente argentina, como bifes de chorizo o chinchulines. Yo, prudente, comí una pechuga de pollo a la parrilla.

Volví al hotel pasadas las 8:00, fui al sauna y 'volqué' en la cama. Ya me estoy yendo a dormir, pues mañana pienso levantarme a las 5:45 para ir al gimnasio. No me reconozco.

Apuntes de hoy:

* Los colombianos de Bogotá se tratan de 'usted', no importa cuán amigos sean. A veces se dirigen a sus novias de 'tú', pero eso es todo. Los de Barranquilla o Medellín, en cambio, tratan de 'tú'. Yo me empecé a sentir incómodo por tutearlos y para el final del día ya trataba a todo el mundo de 'usted'.
* El tráfico en Bogotá es de lo peor que yo he visto en persona. La gente realmente maneja de manera alocada, con cero respeto por las normas viales. Da miedo.
* El estado de las calles es, sin ninguna duda, deplorable. Hay pozos que parecen cráteres. Duele cuando uno los agarra con el auto.
* El clima parece el de la península Bruce, en Ontario. Si no te gusta, espera quince minutos y será completamente distinto. Pasamos de lluvia a sol, de frío a calor, en cuestión de minutos.
* Hay mucha -MUCHA- seguridad en todos lados. Había perros olfateando nuestro auto antes de entrar al estacionamiento de Agfa, y un señor pasando un espejo debajo del auto al entrar al hospital. Además, vi policías y militares por todos lados.

Me voy a dormir. Buenas noches! (hoy no saqué fotos)


And what a busy day today! I started at 6:15 again. Had breakfast early and I was at the office by 8:00. We had a brief 1-hour meeting to define the action plan for this week, and then we went to Santa Fe Hospital, where we stayed all day, until past 7:00 PM. There were some issues with the server installed there, and luckily, I was able to help them fix them. Some things I knew, and for others I could either find the right document or ask the right person in Waterloo.
We had lunch around 1:30 PM at a nearby restaurant called 'La Bombonera'. As its name suggests, it's all painted of blue and gold (Boca Juniors' colours) and they serve typically Argentine food, like 'chorizo steaks' or 'chinchulines'. I was very prudent and had a grilled chicken breast.

I came back to the hotel at around 8:00 PM; I went to the sauna and then 'crashed' in my bed. I'm about to go to bed now, as I'm planning to get up at 5:45 tomorrow so I can go to the gym. I don't recognize myself.

Some notes from today:

* Bogotá people treat each other using 'usted' (a formal 'you') instead of 'tú' (the more informal). Sometimes they use the 'tú' to talk to their girlfriends, for example, but that's pretty much it. People from Barranquilla or Medellín do use the 'tú', though. I started to feel uncomfortable, and by the end of the day I was treating everybody with 'usted' as well
* Traffic in Bogotá is the worse I've ever seen. People drive like crazy, with zero respect for traffic laws. It's scary.
* The streets are in a terrible shape. Some potholes look like craters. It actually hurts when you hit them with the card.
* Weather reminds me of Bruce peninsula in Ontario. If you don't like it, wait 15 minutes and it will be completely different. We went from rain to sunshine, from cold to hot, in a matter of minutes.
* There's a lot -A LOT- of security everywhere. There were dogs sniffing our car as we were getting to the parking lot at Agfa, and there was a guy looking underneath the car with a mirror before we went in at the hospital. On top of that, I could see policemen and military people everywhere.

I'm going to bed now. Buenas noches! (I didn't take any pictures today)

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