Today some GDA stuff has turned up. The treasurer went to our bank to see if he could take out monies and he has been informed that a fax is required by me stating or giving authority of such. I have been trying to find a fax service online so that I don’t have to travel around Bogota to find a place to send me a fax which I also need to find an internet café to print the letter. I haven’t as of yet found any. I am however expecting a registration email from greenfax.com Yet again it will cost me money to register but its pay as you go and of course will come out of the GDA.
My gatita also has received her birth certificate which kindly her grandfather got sorted from her home town. Considering the place is over 14 hours away from Bogota (by coach), its quite impressive it got here the next day.
We have passed all hurdles and are good to go on the marriage on the 15th May once I receive the certificate of no impediment on the 12th May.
This evening we stayed in and watched the Billboard awards. A guy called Flex who some might know as Nigga picked up an impressive 6 awards with his first album after his impressive debut on youtube with “en este mundo”.
Liz if you are reading this I told you didn’t I, the guy could not sing but I did tell you the song was a cracker and it just stuck with you didn't I "nananay aynay ananinaninay nananay aynananay" jejejeje. Much to the despair of the others at the time in the office who told us to take that racket off eh Doctor Zapata jejeje. This Nigga dude now Flex has hit gold with his album and incorporates "nananay" intros on most of his songs. Anyways the guy picked up the top accolade "best album of the year" na de na (excuse the pun).
To end the night I prepared blue cheese medallion steaks for dinner (they were perfect). We also visited Carulla supermarket in the morning to buy a few things to prepare my mums salmon salad which is the best potato salad in the world. I can’t provide the recipe otherwise I would have to kill you. Just trust me its extremely good, has lots of seafood, of course salmon and also a touch of beet root which gives it a unique sweetness. Again just trust me its an exceptional salad.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Saturday, April 25, 2009
MOSQUITOOOOOOSSS - 22nd April 2009
What is it, 5 days now and the guerrilla mosquito bites are still going strong. I have recorded a short video so that you can see its no joke and remember I got bitten at least 5 days ago so imagine a few days back!!!!
http://www.gibraltardarts.com/mosquitos.zip
Just to pass the time and stop scratching we head out to the supermarket to get a few things. One thing that’s becoming a regular is the French baguette. Haven't I told you that most breads over here are not worth even looking at!!!! Bimbo style bread nothing like good Spanish or English Bread. Here it's all commercial kids style bread. In fact its so crap and riddled with sugars (and God knows what else) that at the apartment we have Bimbo sliced bread and in 20 days it still as fresh as the first day we bought it and it doesn't go off!!!!! jejeje. Simply crap so Baguettes when we can....
As a holiday gift for some of my Gib friends who support Football Club Barcelona I have been trying to find the club which I saw on the last day a year ago on my way to the airport. I think it would be nice to get a few key rings or similar with Futbal Club Barcelona Colombia/Bogota. Up to now no luck though... Will keep trying...
http://www.gibraltardarts.com/mosquitos.zip
Just to pass the time and stop scratching we head out to the supermarket to get a few things. One thing that’s becoming a regular is the French baguette. Haven't I told you that most breads over here are not worth even looking at!!!! Bimbo style bread nothing like good Spanish or English Bread. Here it's all commercial kids style bread. In fact its so crap and riddled with sugars (and God knows what else) that at the apartment we have Bimbo sliced bread and in 20 days it still as fresh as the first day we bought it and it doesn't go off!!!!! jejeje. Simply crap so Baguettes when we can....
As a holiday gift for some of my Gib friends who support Football Club Barcelona I have been trying to find the club which I saw on the last day a year ago on my way to the airport. I think it would be nice to get a few key rings or similar with Futbal Club Barcelona Colombia/Bogota. Up to now no luck though... Will keep trying...
Visit to the British Embassy - 21st April 2009
The day finally arrived to go to the Embassy to hand in the notice of marriage. We picked up a taxi as we didn’t know if the embassy was in walking distance. As it turned out it was.
I’ve noticed this morning that I have a bit of a sun tan jejeje received thanks to Bucaramanga! (told you it was hot over there!).
The embassy is on the 8th floor of a 9 floor building and is not advertised at all. In difference to the French embassy which we came across a few days ago which appeared like a concentration camp with electric barbed wire, security and a large flag /notice signs. In contrast the British Embassy is very reserved although we did go through several security checks but you feel very comfortable. In true British style we were met by two queues, one at the entrance and another on the 8th floor. Luckily to smooth things out we were attended by the same official I have been dealing with via emails. She was very nice and took care of everything in less than 15 minutes so all in all from leaving the apartment and getting the papers sorted it took less than an hour. She still didn’t quite get why I had to come to Colombia for the notice of marriage so I cleared but like I told her, we are here now and its because of the lack of implementation of the law within the Gibraltar legislation as it has never been a requirement and now it is.
Oh as a funny note I handed in my ID card as they take a picture and give you a sticker which serves as your visitors pass. The official asked me if I had some other form of identification as the ID number was too long and didn't fit in the sticker (the program used didn't accept so many numbers jejeje). I gave her my passport which has a smaller number. When I told her that we are only just 30,000 people who reside in Gibraltar she just chuckled and said so many numbers for so few residents jejeje. Thought it was worth a mention.
Thanks to the Government of Gibraltar the notice of marriage has cost be an unnecessary £70 and the certificate will cost me the same when I go to pick it up on the 12th May as agreed with the embassy official.
The embassy official called me this afternoon as she couldn’t answer my question on arranging for the visa once we are married so my gatita can come back to Gibraltar with me. She informed me that it’s Gibraltar who grants the visa and she gave me the numbers of the Principal Immigration Officers of the Gibraltar Police Station. Its very good she cleared this and I'll be calling the station to see how quickly we can deal with this and even if I can start the process before being married and what papers I need to take back, for example photocopies of marriage, my gatita's ID/Passport etc etc.
On our return which we walked back instead we headed in to "Manny’s" which is rapidly becoming our lunch time local as the food is quite good. We have been regularly doing hand washing but today we decided to use the laundry service provided by the apartment complex as its starting to pile up. It cost us 6000 pesos for 6 hours which is dead cheap (30 pence an hour). Basically it’s a room with a large washing machine and includes a balcony were the clothes can be hang out to dry. By the way I am not winning the war against the mosquito’s, I haven’t been bitten again (I think) but the ones I have on my legs itch like chicken pox. To celebrate how smoothly things have turned out today with the embassy and I am very happy they did as all main hurdles have been overcome, we decide to celebrate by having a Chinese. We checkout the yellow pages and the closest one turns out to be the Chinese restaurant we visited last year. The food is very nice there. We ordered special fried rice, king prawn chow Mein & sweet & sour pork balls (8 of them and they were like donkeys balls jejeje huge). We couldn’t finish everything so ordered doggy bags jejeje. In Colombia the speciality is Peking Duck but you need to pre-order it a a day before. When we checked the menu out it was listed as costing 170,000 pesos (very expensive) that’s like £50.00. I am glad we didn’t order it jejeje.
I’ve noticed this morning that I have a bit of a sun tan jejeje received thanks to Bucaramanga! (told you it was hot over there!).
The embassy is on the 8th floor of a 9 floor building and is not advertised at all. In difference to the French embassy which we came across a few days ago which appeared like a concentration camp with electric barbed wire, security and a large flag /notice signs. In contrast the British Embassy is very reserved although we did go through several security checks but you feel very comfortable. In true British style we were met by two queues, one at the entrance and another on the 8th floor. Luckily to smooth things out we were attended by the same official I have been dealing with via emails. She was very nice and took care of everything in less than 15 minutes so all in all from leaving the apartment and getting the papers sorted it took less than an hour. She still didn’t quite get why I had to come to Colombia for the notice of marriage so I cleared but like I told her, we are here now and its because of the lack of implementation of the law within the Gibraltar legislation as it has never been a requirement and now it is.
Oh as a funny note I handed in my ID card as they take a picture and give you a sticker which serves as your visitors pass. The official asked me if I had some other form of identification as the ID number was too long and didn't fit in the sticker (the program used didn't accept so many numbers jejeje). I gave her my passport which has a smaller number. When I told her that we are only just 30,000 people who reside in Gibraltar she just chuckled and said so many numbers for so few residents jejeje. Thought it was worth a mention.
Thanks to the Government of Gibraltar the notice of marriage has cost be an unnecessary £70 and the certificate will cost me the same when I go to pick it up on the 12th May as agreed with the embassy official.
The embassy official called me this afternoon as she couldn’t answer my question on arranging for the visa once we are married so my gatita can come back to Gibraltar with me. She informed me that it’s Gibraltar who grants the visa and she gave me the numbers of the Principal Immigration Officers of the Gibraltar Police Station. Its very good she cleared this and I'll be calling the station to see how quickly we can deal with this and even if I can start the process before being married and what papers I need to take back, for example photocopies of marriage, my gatita's ID/Passport etc etc.
On our return which we walked back instead we headed in to "Manny’s" which is rapidly becoming our lunch time local as the food is quite good. We have been regularly doing hand washing but today we decided to use the laundry service provided by the apartment complex as its starting to pile up. It cost us 6000 pesos for 6 hours which is dead cheap (30 pence an hour). Basically it’s a room with a large washing machine and includes a balcony were the clothes can be hang out to dry. By the way I am not winning the war against the mosquito’s, I haven’t been bitten again (I think) but the ones I have on my legs itch like chicken pox. To celebrate how smoothly things have turned out today with the embassy and I am very happy they did as all main hurdles have been overcome, we decide to celebrate by having a Chinese. We checkout the yellow pages and the closest one turns out to be the Chinese restaurant we visited last year. The food is very nice there. We ordered special fried rice, king prawn chow Mein & sweet & sour pork balls (8 of them and they were like donkeys balls jejeje huge). We couldn’t finish everything so ordered doggy bags jejeje. In Colombia the speciality is Peking Duck but you need to pre-order it a a day before. When we checked the menu out it was listed as costing 170,000 pesos (very expensive) that’s like £50.00. I am glad we didn’t order it jejeje.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
War against mosquitos - 20th April 2009
I can't believe that 20 days have gone by already, time sure flies when you're having fun jejeje.
Today I am slightly anxious as we have to go to the British Embassy tomorrow to hand in the notice of marriage and do the oath / affidavit so I am just checking that all the paperwork is in order and that I don't forget anything.
The mosquito bites are driving me crazy. I have around 15 bites just on my legs and 11 of them are on my feet. These Colombian mosquito's are nasty let me tell you. It itches like mad.
This made me take evasive action and I have gone the full works. Cream for after bites, Raid plugs for the bedroom and I am even using my mosquito repellent cream as well. I have been suffering from itchy feet for the past 2 days. Wait a minute I need to put my legs under a cold shower as its becoming unbearable, bare with me jejeje.
I spoke to the GDA treasurer today via msn and we discussed a few darts issues, though as he mentioned it should be the last thing on my mind. Two signatories are required for taking out money from our bank account, The Treasurer’s and mine and there might not be enough funds before I return for the paying of the flights & accommodation for the Med Cup so the treasurer might have to work some magic on this one though I am sure he should have enough cash in hand. If not the players themselves will have to cover the cost and await my return so that money can be taken out.
Lastly I forwarded a few emails today with some people from Tenerife enquiring about the PDC comps (next years).
There is nothing I can do from here unfortunately and it was an oversight that we could have avoided before I left. As unfortunate as it is, I have personally put my own money before on many occasions just to keep things running smoothly and paying debts owed for equipment and prize monies. The monies I have always received back (eventually) the monies from the GDA but its not something I like to do and by my calculations the monies I have put in the past has rolled into the thousands of pounds. So I am trying to avoid this by having some cash in hand for these eventualities and that way no money comes out of my own pocket.
Today I am slightly anxious as we have to go to the British Embassy tomorrow to hand in the notice of marriage and do the oath / affidavit so I am just checking that all the paperwork is in order and that I don't forget anything.
The mosquito bites are driving me crazy. I have around 15 bites just on my legs and 11 of them are on my feet. These Colombian mosquito's are nasty let me tell you. It itches like mad.
This made me take evasive action and I have gone the full works. Cream for after bites, Raid plugs for the bedroom and I am even using my mosquito repellent cream as well. I have been suffering from itchy feet for the past 2 days. Wait a minute I need to put my legs under a cold shower as its becoming unbearable, bare with me jejeje.
I spoke to the GDA treasurer today via msn and we discussed a few darts issues, though as he mentioned it should be the last thing on my mind. Two signatories are required for taking out money from our bank account, The Treasurer’s and mine and there might not be enough funds before I return for the paying of the flights & accommodation for the Med Cup so the treasurer might have to work some magic on this one though I am sure he should have enough cash in hand. If not the players themselves will have to cover the cost and await my return so that money can be taken out.
Lastly I forwarded a few emails today with some people from Tenerife enquiring about the PDC comps (next years).
There is nothing I can do from here unfortunately and it was an oversight that we could have avoided before I left. As unfortunate as it is, I have personally put my own money before on many occasions just to keep things running smoothly and paying debts owed for equipment and prize monies. The monies I have always received back (eventually) the monies from the GDA but its not something I like to do and by my calculations the monies I have put in the past has rolled into the thousands of pounds. So I am trying to avoid this by having some cash in hand for these eventualities and that way no money comes out of my own pocket.
Dreading the coach - 19th April 2009
Even though I had a fantastic time yesterday at the birthday party, today I am dreading the coach return back to Bogota as I now know it is a 10 plus hour coach trip. I will not miss the heat or dampness though.
At least this time around I am armed with my fatigue pills and plenty of water & food.
We use the same coach company called Copetran and this time around it's the new model of bus. The seats are as comfortable.
Much to the dismay of my gatita I must have slept for about 5 hours. So she had no entertainment from me "su payasito personal" her personal clown jejejeje. At least for me the trip became much much shorter jejejeje.
The trip however seemed smoother all around as there were less turnings and we visited less cities/villages. We did have the usual break for lunch and the security checks by the police who took all the passengers ID cards (here they are called cedulas) and in my case my passport. They didn't check any bags this time around though.
As a bit of fun see the links below which are the photos taken which I mentioned in yesterdays blog. The original one is from my work colleagues as a joke and the updated one is the one my gatita took of me.
http://www.gibraltardarts.com/bucaramanga-original.jpg
http://www.gibraltardarts.com/bucaramanga-updated.jpg
See you all tomorrow its time for bed...
At least this time around I am armed with my fatigue pills and plenty of water & food.
We use the same coach company called Copetran and this time around it's the new model of bus. The seats are as comfortable.
Much to the dismay of my gatita I must have slept for about 5 hours. So she had no entertainment from me "su payasito personal" her personal clown jejejeje. At least for me the trip became much much shorter jejejeje.
The trip however seemed smoother all around as there were less turnings and we visited less cities/villages. We did have the usual break for lunch and the security checks by the police who took all the passengers ID cards (here they are called cedulas) and in my case my passport. They didn't check any bags this time around though.
As a bit of fun see the links below which are the photos taken which I mentioned in yesterdays blog. The original one is from my work colleagues as a joke and the updated one is the one my gatita took of me.
http://www.gibraltardarts.com/bucaramanga-original.jpg
http://www.gibraltardarts.com/bucaramanga-updated.jpg
See you all tomorrow its time for bed...
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Fifteenth birthday party (Quinceañera) - 18th April 2009
This morning I woke up with a few mosquito bites which is to be expected as it rained last night and the high temperatures has hatched a few mosquitos around the area.
After having yet another cold shower we head into town and have an empanada (much like a Cornish pie) for breakfast. It was huge! I prefer the smaller ones as the pastry is thinner and they are juicier.
We get on a bus as I’ve told my gatita I’ve never been on a bus in Colombia and wanted to live the experience. She explains why the bus driver is handing over some papers at one of the bus stops. It turns out that in the midst of all the chaos of bus driving, the drivers have to meet very strict timescales and arrive within a margin of time at different points of there daily route. If they don’t, the bus driver’s license is revoked for a few days and they get fined. This happens as the bus service is run privately but it’s the Government who tries to ensure a good service and hence the inspectors.
We buy an outfit for my gatita; A white elegant top for the party tonight and I buy fatigue pills as I honestly do not want to go through the same hell I did coming here by coach.
My gatita took an entertaining photo of me in the centre of Bucaramanga. One of my work colleagues got a photo of a place in the centre of Bucaramanga and sent it to me via email as a laugh. They of course edited the photo and included a picture of me having a beer. As a bit of fun we stopped at the exact same place and I tried to get the same angle and my gatita snapped the photo. I will send the photo by email to the office see if they get the same laughs I did. I am sure they will.
We eat at the Exito supermarket self service and then relax back at the hotel (I had another cold shower) then we watched TV and got ready for the party which is at 8pm (although in typical Latin style everyone is fashionably late). At least that’s what I am told by my gatita.
We go to her house in taxi and indeed are the 1st to arrive at 8:15pm. Slowly but surely her family (uncles, aunts & cousins start to arrive).
In Colombia you do not normally give kisses just handshakes and you usually greet anyone saying “mucho gusto” which is in short “pleasure to meet you”. Slowly but surely and after many mucho gusto’s jejeje I got to meet everyone related to the mothers side of my gatita.
Everyone danced all night! I was not brave enough to dance to any of the typical music including Salsa and fast Vallenato but it was quite impressive to watch jejejeje. In particular two uncles of my gatita they were like experts on the dance floor. Slowly the younger cousins and sisters took to the dance floor in the living room and basically displayed to me how Reggaeton and other typical Latin music is danced. I even had the pleasure of watching an entertaining dance off between two of the cousins. This was made even better when the older uncle stepped in between them and did some moves of his own which was very funny and kept everyone cheerful (as if Colombians need to be cheered on anyways jejejeje).
My gatita was embarrassed and didn’t want to dance with me as I have been for 3 weeks fooling around with some moves of my own (so imagine jejeje). But needs be as everyone wanted to see us on the dance floor, so it was inevitable and we danced to the slower Vallenatos embraced closely together of course.
As a surprise and as my gift to her sister we booked a group of mariachi’s to sing at her sisters wedding. I have attached a link here although its quite big some might find it entertaining. http://www.gibraltardarts.com/fifteenth.zip. There are more photos but I have included just some I relate to in this blog entry. It cost me 130,000 Pesos which is around £38.00 and they sang around 6 songs in total. The group was formed of 6 members so much cheapness. My dad has a group in Gibraltar “Los Jaleos” and quite frankly for £38.00 I don’t think they would even take out the guitars as its not worth it. Obviously over here 130,000 Pesos is good money even if shared between 6. I must add that we did get a good price as the manager is the uncle of my gatita.
The Maricahi's was a surprise too for my gatita's father and mother as we had arranged it with her aunty so it was a nice addition to everyone as only we knew about it.
Closer to 12pm and a few agua ardientes’ later (and beers). The food came out. I finally got to eat Lechona which is a stuffed pig with rice and different meats such as chicken served with a large piece of crackling.
Her aunties also didn’t want to let me leave without dancing with me so they instructed the DJ (her uncle) to play some slow ones. They used this opportunity to ask me as many questions as possible which I answered of course. It was quite funny to be put under interrogation in such a nice way of course jejeje.
At 2am we had to say goodnight even if the party was still going strong as we needed to wake up early to head back to Bogota as I have to go to the Embassy the following day. We said our goodbyes and headed back to the Apartment and yes butt naked another cold shower and the fan at full steam jejeje.
As a final note any party in Colombia goes on and on and continues until the last man standing decides to call it a night and the music is not lowered at any point even if the police are called in!!!! Different eh!!!!!
After having yet another cold shower we head into town and have an empanada (much like a Cornish pie) for breakfast. It was huge! I prefer the smaller ones as the pastry is thinner and they are juicier.
We get on a bus as I’ve told my gatita I’ve never been on a bus in Colombia and wanted to live the experience. She explains why the bus driver is handing over some papers at one of the bus stops. It turns out that in the midst of all the chaos of bus driving, the drivers have to meet very strict timescales and arrive within a margin of time at different points of there daily route. If they don’t, the bus driver’s license is revoked for a few days and they get fined. This happens as the bus service is run privately but it’s the Government who tries to ensure a good service and hence the inspectors.
We buy an outfit for my gatita; A white elegant top for the party tonight and I buy fatigue pills as I honestly do not want to go through the same hell I did coming here by coach.
My gatita took an entertaining photo of me in the centre of Bucaramanga. One of my work colleagues got a photo of a place in the centre of Bucaramanga and sent it to me via email as a laugh. They of course edited the photo and included a picture of me having a beer. As a bit of fun we stopped at the exact same place and I tried to get the same angle and my gatita snapped the photo. I will send the photo by email to the office see if they get the same laughs I did. I am sure they will.
We eat at the Exito supermarket self service and then relax back at the hotel (I had another cold shower) then we watched TV and got ready for the party which is at 8pm (although in typical Latin style everyone is fashionably late). At least that’s what I am told by my gatita.
We go to her house in taxi and indeed are the 1st to arrive at 8:15pm. Slowly but surely her family (uncles, aunts & cousins start to arrive).
In Colombia you do not normally give kisses just handshakes and you usually greet anyone saying “mucho gusto” which is in short “pleasure to meet you”. Slowly but surely and after many mucho gusto’s jejeje I got to meet everyone related to the mothers side of my gatita.
Everyone danced all night! I was not brave enough to dance to any of the typical music including Salsa and fast Vallenato but it was quite impressive to watch jejejeje. In particular two uncles of my gatita they were like experts on the dance floor. Slowly the younger cousins and sisters took to the dance floor in the living room and basically displayed to me how Reggaeton and other typical Latin music is danced. I even had the pleasure of watching an entertaining dance off between two of the cousins. This was made even better when the older uncle stepped in between them and did some moves of his own which was very funny and kept everyone cheerful (as if Colombians need to be cheered on anyways jejejeje).
My gatita was embarrassed and didn’t want to dance with me as I have been for 3 weeks fooling around with some moves of my own (so imagine jejeje). But needs be as everyone wanted to see us on the dance floor, so it was inevitable and we danced to the slower Vallenatos embraced closely together of course.
As a surprise and as my gift to her sister we booked a group of mariachi’s to sing at her sisters wedding. I have attached a link here although its quite big some might find it entertaining. http://www.gibraltardarts.com/fifteenth.zip. There are more photos but I have included just some I relate to in this blog entry. It cost me 130,000 Pesos which is around £38.00 and they sang around 6 songs in total. The group was formed of 6 members so much cheapness. My dad has a group in Gibraltar “Los Jaleos” and quite frankly for £38.00 I don’t think they would even take out the guitars as its not worth it. Obviously over here 130,000 Pesos is good money even if shared between 6. I must add that we did get a good price as the manager is the uncle of my gatita.
The Maricahi's was a surprise too for my gatita's father and mother as we had arranged it with her aunty so it was a nice addition to everyone as only we knew about it.
Closer to 12pm and a few agua ardientes’ later (and beers). The food came out. I finally got to eat Lechona which is a stuffed pig with rice and different meats such as chicken served with a large piece of crackling.
Her aunties also didn’t want to let me leave without dancing with me so they instructed the DJ (her uncle) to play some slow ones. They used this opportunity to ask me as many questions as possible which I answered of course. It was quite funny to be put under interrogation in such a nice way of course jejeje.
At 2am we had to say goodnight even if the party was still going strong as we needed to wake up early to head back to Bogota as I have to go to the Embassy the following day. We said our goodbyes and headed back to the Apartment and yes butt naked another cold shower and the fan at full steam jejeje.
As a final note any party in Colombia goes on and on and continues until the last man standing decides to call it a night and the music is not lowered at any point even if the police are called in!!!! Different eh!!!!!
Shoe Capital of Colombia (Bucaramanga) - 17th April 2009
I slept all evening as God brought me into to this world. What heat!!! And its not even the coast my gatita keeps sniggering jejejeje were the heat is apprantly unbearable. "Thank God" I keep telling her and I also tell her she should have warned me about the climate change.
We had a light breakfast in town, a buñelo (madelana) similar to a muffin just slightly heavier. I had this with my first coffee in 2 days as the opportunity simply was not available with all the travelling.
As I am a smoker and as I don’t think I have mentioned it before Colombia has become non smoking. Not too sure on the law as my gatita is a non smoker herself but I know that most places (nearly all) do not allow smoking not even in the patio of restaurants. Not sure if the same applies to nightclubs as we have not ben in any yet. It however doesn’t bother me much but I’d thought it deserved a mention. This of course is nothing new in Europe but it seems to have been adopted much better over here here as no one appears to create a fuss about it. It could also be that not many people appear to smoke as well.
Anyways we decide to have a relaxing day in the centre of town before we head down that afternoon to my gatita’s house. We browse different places and my gatita shows me around and highlights some personal landmarks for example the 1st internet café she was at when we met online at games.yahoo.com and others were she bought me things etc etc.
Bucaramanga is the shoe capital of Colombia (70% of shoes are manufactured here) and most probably other South American countries as there are literally hundreds of shoe shops. There are also the equivalent clothes shops around. I keep telling my gatita that my sister would fall in love with the place and would definitely take back suitcases full of clothes and shoes which most do not exceed the price tag of £10.00 - £30.00 (highstreet quality) which is very cheap in comparison to high street stores in Gibraltar or London.
I have also noticed that the streets are full of merchants who station themselves just outside shops which is quite different to the capital Bogota. They offer food, clothes, sun glasses, watches, bags, shoes of course and all sorts of other stuff.
Afternoon arrived and we head down to my gatita’s house were I was expecting to meet the family but as things turned out after a phone call to her mum, most of the family are out so I will just meet the youngest sister.
On our way there and at walking distance to her house my gatita spots her father so we stop the taxi and I got out to greet her father. He was on his way to work but he politely accompanied us back to the house and we have a brief but welcoming 15 minute chat. I also met the younger sister and the older sister was outside with some friends.
After doing a few personal things on my gatita’s PC, I also installed a bluetooth device and a hands free headset on her PC which will make things easier when we depart albeit for a short while as we await the visa arrangements after the marriage but it will make it more comfortable for her this way instead of using a cabled headset which binds her to the PC when we speak over the Internet using Skype. The testing of the equipment woke up my mum in Gibraltar as I was dialing home jejejeje. It was 2am in the morning in Gibraltar oops!!!. My mum was awake as she is a night person and quickly called me on my mobile so I explained and apologised. Seeing she was awake however I called her again to get the configuration of the headset working and this made things a lot easier for me to get the thing sorted.
It was getting late so we decided to head back to the hotel and on our way back, my gatita caught sight of her mum at the hairdressers so we walked in for me to greet her. She had a towel on her head so I am sure at that moment she could have killed her daughter for having presented me to her for the first time not in a lady like state jejejeje but anyways I was glad that I got to meet the whole family as the prospects of this looked grim this morning.
That evening we went out and I had steak again. I am growing quite fond of steak here in Colombia as it's of a rather good quality.
Needless to say I slept naked again (and after a cold shower) as I have not yet acclimatised. Our hotel room and its single fan is not doing much to help. My gatita reserved this hotel and she booked the cheapest one in Bucaramanga but she is concerned I have been spending too much recently. She is right but I told her that for a few extra pesos we could have had a better hotel with more amenities such as an aircon for the dreaded heat. She of course is used to it so its only something that is bothering me. Anyways as a place to crash for a few days I suppose its OK.
We had a light breakfast in town, a buñelo (madelana) similar to a muffin just slightly heavier. I had this with my first coffee in 2 days as the opportunity simply was not available with all the travelling.
As I am a smoker and as I don’t think I have mentioned it before Colombia has become non smoking. Not too sure on the law as my gatita is a non smoker herself but I know that most places (nearly all) do not allow smoking not even in the patio of restaurants. Not sure if the same applies to nightclubs as we have not ben in any yet. It however doesn’t bother me much but I’d thought it deserved a mention. This of course is nothing new in Europe but it seems to have been adopted much better over here here as no one appears to create a fuss about it. It could also be that not many people appear to smoke as well.
Anyways we decide to have a relaxing day in the centre of town before we head down that afternoon to my gatita’s house. We browse different places and my gatita shows me around and highlights some personal landmarks for example the 1st internet café she was at when we met online at games.yahoo.com and others were she bought me things etc etc.
Bucaramanga is the shoe capital of Colombia (70% of shoes are manufactured here) and most probably other South American countries as there are literally hundreds of shoe shops. There are also the equivalent clothes shops around. I keep telling my gatita that my sister would fall in love with the place and would definitely take back suitcases full of clothes and shoes which most do not exceed the price tag of £10.00 - £30.00 (highstreet quality) which is very cheap in comparison to high street stores in Gibraltar or London.
I have also noticed that the streets are full of merchants who station themselves just outside shops which is quite different to the capital Bogota. They offer food, clothes, sun glasses, watches, bags, shoes of course and all sorts of other stuff.
Afternoon arrived and we head down to my gatita’s house were I was expecting to meet the family but as things turned out after a phone call to her mum, most of the family are out so I will just meet the youngest sister.
On our way there and at walking distance to her house my gatita spots her father so we stop the taxi and I got out to greet her father. He was on his way to work but he politely accompanied us back to the house and we have a brief but welcoming 15 minute chat. I also met the younger sister and the older sister was outside with some friends.
After doing a few personal things on my gatita’s PC, I also installed a bluetooth device and a hands free headset on her PC which will make things easier when we depart albeit for a short while as we await the visa arrangements after the marriage but it will make it more comfortable for her this way instead of using a cabled headset which binds her to the PC when we speak over the Internet using Skype. The testing of the equipment woke up my mum in Gibraltar as I was dialing home jejejeje. It was 2am in the morning in Gibraltar oops!!!. My mum was awake as she is a night person and quickly called me on my mobile so I explained and apologised. Seeing she was awake however I called her again to get the configuration of the headset working and this made things a lot easier for me to get the thing sorted.
It was getting late so we decided to head back to the hotel and on our way back, my gatita caught sight of her mum at the hairdressers so we walked in for me to greet her. She had a towel on her head so I am sure at that moment she could have killed her daughter for having presented me to her for the first time not in a lady like state jejejeje but anyways I was glad that I got to meet the whole family as the prospects of this looked grim this morning.
That evening we went out and I had steak again. I am growing quite fond of steak here in Colombia as it's of a rather good quality.
Needless to say I slept naked again (and after a cold shower) as I have not yet acclimatised. Our hotel room and its single fan is not doing much to help. My gatita reserved this hotel and she booked the cheapest one in Bucaramanga but she is concerned I have been spending too much recently. She is right but I told her that for a few extra pesos we could have had a better hotel with more amenities such as an aircon for the dreaded heat. She of course is used to it so its only something that is bothering me. Anyways as a place to crash for a few days I suppose its OK.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Coach from hell – 16 April 2009
We woke up very early at 5:30am and got ready to go to the coach terminal. We had no other option of travel as the flights or private hire was just too expensive so we decided to go by coach up to Bucaramanga from Bogota to my gatita’s city for her sisters fifteenth birthday on the 18th. We try to book with the company Brazilia as it is apparently better but they are unavailable, the best firm aptly called Concorde is also unavailable so we book with Copetran instead. The tickets cost us around £15 each and considering it’s a 6 plus hour trip that’s quite cheap I thought.
Anyways we buy a few goodies and head for the coach, once inside its quickly apparent its not one of the newest buses but the seats are incredibly comfortable.
One interesting thing is that we received a ticket for the suitcase which I have never recalled getting one when on a coach in Spain. Which of course is a good thing as your suitcase is not handed over to a complete stranger during any stops or pickups along the way. Much the same as you get on a flight.
After watching a movie provided by the coach we suddenly make a stop and a soldier gets on the coach and calls out all the men out of the coach for a check. My gatita tells me this is quite normal so I don’t get worried and I step out with my hand luggage and get inspected. At first I had no clue what the soldier was on about as he kept using the word a “requisia” and I kept giving him my bag for inspection. I did catch on eventually so dropped the bag on the floor and I spread them jejejeje he checked me out and let me go back to the coach.
Back on track and after watching our second movie we had our official lunch stop.
After this was when things started to go wrong, some fella complained about the aircon and that it was too cold so they took it off. This was now close to 6 hours in and it was very apparent the trip was not 6 hours as they put on yet another movie so I thought well 7 ½ hours. Slightly longer, no probs. How wrong was I!!!
Fatigue set in and I felt really bad but started joking with my gatita that it was starting to look like the bus from hell including nuns, the annoying kid in front of us, the crazy old lady and mountains, mountains & more mountains like hilly billy’s. The only thing missing was the dodgy passenger and some goats or chickens in the coach jejeje.
For those interested in putting it into perspective think of Ronda in Spain and multiply it by 40 and that still is a short estimate of the number of turns we took left right left right left right. Colombia, because of its mountains has not been able to get any roads in a straight line in difference to the Romans.
Anyways we eventually got there after 10 hours (it was meant to be closer to six hours), what a nightmare, I am sure the coach drivers stopped at every single city along the way! As soon as we stepped out of the coach the climate change was apparent and the heat was much closer to a full blown summer day in Seville at 30 plus degrees (at least it seemed like that). Considering the last 15 days in Bogota with an average temperature of 10 to 17 degrees it was quite a shock.
Anyways we buy a few goodies and head for the coach, once inside its quickly apparent its not one of the newest buses but the seats are incredibly comfortable.
One interesting thing is that we received a ticket for the suitcase which I have never recalled getting one when on a coach in Spain. Which of course is a good thing as your suitcase is not handed over to a complete stranger during any stops or pickups along the way. Much the same as you get on a flight.
After watching a movie provided by the coach we suddenly make a stop and a soldier gets on the coach and calls out all the men out of the coach for a check. My gatita tells me this is quite normal so I don’t get worried and I step out with my hand luggage and get inspected. At first I had no clue what the soldier was on about as he kept using the word a “requisia” and I kept giving him my bag for inspection. I did catch on eventually so dropped the bag on the floor and I spread them jejejeje he checked me out and let me go back to the coach.
Back on track and after watching our second movie we had our official lunch stop.
After this was when things started to go wrong, some fella complained about the aircon and that it was too cold so they took it off. This was now close to 6 hours in and it was very apparent the trip was not 6 hours as they put on yet another movie so I thought well 7 ½ hours. Slightly longer, no probs. How wrong was I!!!
Fatigue set in and I felt really bad but started joking with my gatita that it was starting to look like the bus from hell including nuns, the annoying kid in front of us, the crazy old lady and mountains, mountains & more mountains like hilly billy’s. The only thing missing was the dodgy passenger and some goats or chickens in the coach jejeje.
For those interested in putting it into perspective think of Ronda in Spain and multiply it by 40 and that still is a short estimate of the number of turns we took left right left right left right. Colombia, because of its mountains has not been able to get any roads in a straight line in difference to the Romans.
Anyways we eventually got there after 10 hours (it was meant to be closer to six hours), what a nightmare, I am sure the coach drivers stopped at every single city along the way! As soon as we stepped out of the coach the climate change was apparent and the heat was much closer to a full blown summer day in Seville at 30 plus degrees (at least it seemed like that). Considering the last 15 days in Bogota with an average temperature of 10 to 17 degrees it was quite a shock.
The elusive ring - 15 April 2009
We try our luck again to see if we can find the correct engagement ring and as it turns out yet again it was closer to our apartment than we thought. I found the perfect diamond ring with a little knot (with 6 small diamonds) and a heart shaped larger diamond in the middle.
For those interested the link to a few pics and video is the following http://www.gibraltardarts.com/ring.zip
Our luck has turned around and I even found a sports shop with a few dartboards electronic & bristle. They even had a full cabinet with darts and accessories (Harrows). For anyone reading this post the address is Almacenes Deportes Maracaneiro, Bogota, Carrera 15 Calle 92. Quite a find let me tell you as not even google shows any results on darts in Colombia as it’s a very very very new thing over here.
I go online to find a hotel in Bucaramanga as we will be heading up to my gatita’s house tomorrow for her sisters fifteenth birthday on the 18th April and the whole family will be there to meet me too. We did try our luck in obtaining a cheap flight but its simply too expensive so we will have to go by coach. I even called the apartment chauffer but he turned out to me more interested in my money and wanted to over charge us, so for being greedy he missed out. Our original intention was to use the chauffer as that way it was meant to be cheaper and a shorter journey as the coach does make too many pit stops in each main city on the way.
We get all the packing sorted and call it a night as we need to be up at 5:30am.
As a final note another interesting fact is that it’s very rare that you get asked for deposits on anything. For the ring which needed resizing I told the attendant I’ll be back in 1 hour to pick it up and no probs. With all the hotels/apartments I have stayed in it’s the same you pay nothing until you depart. In only 1 case on both my visits to Colombia have I ever been asked to pay upfront and it’s usually been because management is not Colombian.
Both yesterday and today I have sent a few darts related emails concerning the legends show, Med Cup and the final draft BDO diary which I received from Olly Croft. These things I needed to do as I will be without internet access for the next four days.
Night Night…
For those interested the link to a few pics and video is the following http://www.gibraltardarts.com/ring.zip
Our luck has turned around and I even found a sports shop with a few dartboards electronic & bristle. They even had a full cabinet with darts and accessories (Harrows). For anyone reading this post the address is Almacenes Deportes Maracaneiro, Bogota, Carrera 15 Calle 92. Quite a find let me tell you as not even google shows any results on darts in Colombia as it’s a very very very new thing over here.
I go online to find a hotel in Bucaramanga as we will be heading up to my gatita’s house tomorrow for her sisters fifteenth birthday on the 18th April and the whole family will be there to meet me too. We did try our luck in obtaining a cheap flight but its simply too expensive so we will have to go by coach. I even called the apartment chauffer but he turned out to me more interested in my money and wanted to over charge us, so for being greedy he missed out. Our original intention was to use the chauffer as that way it was meant to be cheaper and a shorter journey as the coach does make too many pit stops in each main city on the way.
We get all the packing sorted and call it a night as we need to be up at 5:30am.
As a final note another interesting fact is that it’s very rare that you get asked for deposits on anything. For the ring which needed resizing I told the attendant I’ll be back in 1 hour to pick it up and no probs. With all the hotels/apartments I have stayed in it’s the same you pay nothing until you depart. In only 1 case on both my visits to Colombia have I ever been asked to pay upfront and it’s usually been because management is not Colombian.
Both yesterday and today I have sent a few darts related emails concerning the legends show, Med Cup and the final draft BDO diary which I received from Olly Croft. These things I needed to do as I will be without internet access for the next four days.
Night Night…
Everything went to plan - 14 April 2009
The honeymoon period is over for my gatita and I finally get my breakfast in bed, arepa con huevos pericos. Roughly translated its flour pancakes with scrambled eggs which are mixed with finely chopped tomatoes & red onions seasoned with black pepper & salt. A Colombian coffee to accompany the breakfast of course.
We decide after breakfast to visit all the notaries in the area and slowly but surely all say the same thing and that is that all dates are booked! Needless to say I was getting very worried we wouldn’t be able to finalise a date in the 3 day margin I have after the certificate of no impediment is issued by the British Embassy which allows me to marry in Colombia.
We reached the furthest Notary at walking distance (and that was several kilometres away), we head in and finally the legal representative reviews my papers and tells me she has good news and we can fix a date.
The wedding day will be the 15th May 2009, 4;30pm at Notary Public 11 Bogota Calle 85 No. 10-74.
After the good news we have a salpicon (fruit cocktail) it was the best one yet.
We head to the Unicentro which is yet another shopping centre to try and find the elusive ring but we are unable to find the right one. This is the place we regularly visited last year to do our food shopping and for a bite to eat.
One interesting thing I did see in the parking lot was the security guard who was supervising everything from a watch tower which I thought was a rather good idea to stop thieves and properly supervise the shopping centre car park. I might add that all bags are supervised on the way in and out of most big centres which does make one secure that thieves will avoid these places and they also check for any posssible weapons on the way in.
We decide after breakfast to visit all the notaries in the area and slowly but surely all say the same thing and that is that all dates are booked! Needless to say I was getting very worried we wouldn’t be able to finalise a date in the 3 day margin I have after the certificate of no impediment is issued by the British Embassy which allows me to marry in Colombia.
We reached the furthest Notary at walking distance (and that was several kilometres away), we head in and finally the legal representative reviews my papers and tells me she has good news and we can fix a date.
The wedding day will be the 15th May 2009, 4;30pm at Notary Public 11 Bogota Calle 85 No. 10-74.
After the good news we have a salpicon (fruit cocktail) it was the best one yet.
We head to the Unicentro which is yet another shopping centre to try and find the elusive ring but we are unable to find the right one. This is the place we regularly visited last year to do our food shopping and for a bite to eat.
One interesting thing I did see in the parking lot was the security guard who was supervising everything from a watch tower which I thought was a rather good idea to stop thieves and properly supervise the shopping centre car park. I might add that all bags are supervised on the way in and out of most big centres which does make one secure that thieves will avoid these places and they also check for any posssible weapons on the way in.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Marriage arrangement’s gone wrong - 13 April 2009
We decided that we needed to visit the Notary Public to finalise a wedding date and make sure my paperwork was in order. We went to the closest one just 50 metres away from the apartment. They validated all the paperwork except the actual translation which apparently required to be done by an official translator provided by the ministry of foreign affairs. They were not able to provide a wedding date neither. After we left a bit deflated and worried to be honest that other notaries would give us the same inconveniences, we headed off instead to buy an engagement ring for my gatita.
Ideally I should have gone to buy the ring by myself but as circumstances stand it seemed logical to head off with her to at least find a ring that we both liked (and I didn´t know her finger size neither). For obvious reasons too I did´t want to get conned as an ignorant foreigner. I now know her finger size is 8.
If we were deflated after the notary visit we felt like going home after our engagement ring adventure as we visited at least 8 jewellers and none had adequate rings some were just too expensive and the cheap ones were circon (zircon) and appeared to be total knock offs. We decided to call it off and went back to the apartment.
To cheer ourselves up, I decided to be adventurous and prepared the blue cheese sauce. As I have never done it I decided to use a small piece of the cheese as a sampler and it went really well so I prepared the whole sauce. Cut some chips and prepared the steaks.
I pulled it off and my gatita gave me a 10 out of 10. The steak was exceptional as I mentioned it would be in a previous blog entry, no fat at all, cut really well with normal kitchen knives and at the cost of £2.20 for ½ a kilo of meat it was a cheap and good meal. At least that cheered us up a little.
Ideally I should have gone to buy the ring by myself but as circumstances stand it seemed logical to head off with her to at least find a ring that we both liked (and I didn´t know her finger size neither). For obvious reasons too I did´t want to get conned as an ignorant foreigner. I now know her finger size is 8.
If we were deflated after the notary visit we felt like going home after our engagement ring adventure as we visited at least 8 jewellers and none had adequate rings some were just too expensive and the cheap ones were circon (zircon) and appeared to be total knock offs. We decided to call it off and went back to the apartment.
To cheer ourselves up, I decided to be adventurous and prepared the blue cheese sauce. As I have never done it I decided to use a small piece of the cheese as a sampler and it went really well so I prepared the whole sauce. Cut some chips and prepared the steaks.
I pulled it off and my gatita gave me a 10 out of 10. The steak was exceptional as I mentioned it would be in a previous blog entry, no fat at all, cut really well with normal kitchen knives and at the cost of £2.20 for ½ a kilo of meat it was a cheap and good meal. At least that cheered us up a little.
Rain in Bogota - 12 April 2009
Today we only went out for lunch to kokoriko which it´s name says it all, a chicken food chain eat out place here in Colombia possibly in across South America. Its name is quite original don’t you think.
I eat a burger which was served with an interesting sauce which made me think of my father as he enjoys all his meals with as many sources possible. The recipe for the sauce is pineapple sauce and French/Spanish style mustard (vinegary mustard) and some black pepper.
Try it out in a salad instead of vinegar, oil, salt pepper you’ll like it.
I eat a burger which was served with an interesting sauce which made me think of my father as he enjoys all his meals with as many sources possible. The recipe for the sauce is pineapple sauce and French/Spanish style mustard (vinegary mustard) and some black pepper.
Try it out in a salad instead of vinegar, oil, salt pepper you’ll like it.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Jackets - 11th April 2009
Nice and tasty McDonalds yet again as we were in a bit of a mad rush to find a good store to buy my gatita a few jackets which she needs.
We visit the 3 main shopping centres and found nothing to her liking! After hours of searching it turned out the perfect store was one road away from the apartment and we did indeed pick out a jacket for like £12.00 and the place just sells jackets (2 floors of jackets) from elegant, funky, punk, rock, casual, you name it they got it and the most expensive ones are £18.00.
I can tell you that if tiredness would have not set in at the time it did, I would have left that particular store with a thinner wallet jejeje. Anyways I am sure we will pay it a second visit as its very inconveniently in the way of everything and a few times now I have stepped up the pace just to make sure we pass it quickly jejeje. Only kidding!!!! GULP!!!!
I also send out 2 emails, one concerning the Dart's Legends Show which we are considering to host in Gibraltar. The show would include Duncan Norvelle (comedian), Bobby George, Eric Bristow, John Lowe, and a professional MC. This would be great exposure for darts in Gibraltar and would re-inforce the us a the leading sport in Gib, but it does involve some work, possibly the sale of raffle tickets and a lot of media coverage including on websites and media in the South of Spain (Costa Del Sol) were there are loads of expats who would be very happy to see this show come to Gib I am sure.
The second email I send concerns the Government summer sports programme which for years I have been trying to run so I keep reminding the committee it is very important for the progression of the sport which primarily is the youth, the future!!!!
We visit the 3 main shopping centres and found nothing to her liking! After hours of searching it turned out the perfect store was one road away from the apartment and we did indeed pick out a jacket for like £12.00 and the place just sells jackets (2 floors of jackets) from elegant, funky, punk, rock, casual, you name it they got it and the most expensive ones are £18.00.
I can tell you that if tiredness would have not set in at the time it did, I would have left that particular store with a thinner wallet jejeje. Anyways I am sure we will pay it a second visit as its very inconveniently in the way of everything and a few times now I have stepped up the pace just to make sure we pass it quickly jejeje. Only kidding!!!! GULP!!!!
I also send out 2 emails, one concerning the Dart's Legends Show which we are considering to host in Gibraltar. The show would include Duncan Norvelle (comedian), Bobby George, Eric Bristow, John Lowe, and a professional MC. This would be great exposure for darts in Gibraltar and would re-inforce the us a the leading sport in Gib, but it does involve some work, possibly the sale of raffle tickets and a lot of media coverage including on websites and media in the South of Spain (Costa Del Sol) were there are loads of expats who would be very happy to see this show come to Gib I am sure.
The second email I send concerns the Government summer sports programme which for years I have been trying to run so I keep reminding the committee it is very important for the progression of the sport which primarily is the youth, the future!!!!
Kitchen Highlight - 10th April 2009
The highlight of the day was messing around in the kitchen, I prepared a paella with all the usual seafood (including gambas pil pil), it came out very well and its something I went through with my gatita so that she knows how to prepare it when we finally are back in Gibraltar.
I did load up some latin music on the laptop such as vallenato, reageton, salsa and have been pretending to have 2 left feet (not that I am an expert jejeje) much to the amusement of my gatita and her growing concern I will embarrass both her and myself at her sister’s fifteenth birthday which is in a few days time.
Lets see what happens when I get offered one beer too many jejeje I have warned her and she does seem rather concerned jejeje.
The only GDA stuff done today was forward information to the committee concerning the Med Cup in Italy.
I did load up some latin music on the laptop such as vallenato, reageton, salsa and have been pretending to have 2 left feet (not that I am an expert jejeje) much to the amusement of my gatita and her growing concern I will embarrass both her and myself at her sister’s fifteenth birthday which is in a few days time.
Lets see what happens when I get offered one beer too many jejeje I have warned her and she does seem rather concerned jejeje.
The only GDA stuff done today was forward information to the committee concerning the Med Cup in Italy.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
The Cook - 9th April 2009
It has dawned on me that I am reliving my student days when the kitchen dominated most of my free time to relax and prepare some good old fashioned mummy style dishes.
Today I prepared a pasta in cheese sauce with broccoli and garlic with a sprig of parsley. It was delish and according to my gatita she keeps telling me why I didn't become a chef.
This top statement should not come as a surprise to anyone who knows me as they all know how much I adore and love food of all kinds jejeje.
In fact we headed specifically to the supermarket to get the all the ingredients. We also got a chocolate bar (dietetic) for my gatita's little sister (Lindt). I brought over a large number of chocolates including Milka, Cadbury & Lindt but I honestly forget about the younger sister who would have been quite disappointed watching all the family except her have there lions share of yummy chocolate which is still a luxury over here considering that for the price of these european chocolates (which are obtainable over here) you can buy kilo's of rice, meats & vegetables. So this is my treat to her family without going overboard.
In fact I suggested to my gatita that we could share the chocolates with her extended family as a treat during her younger sisters fifteenth birthday and she very quickly disregarded my comment and told me that the chocolate was for her family only: dad, mum and my two sisters jejeje fair enough eh!
Today I prepared a pasta in cheese sauce with broccoli and garlic with a sprig of parsley. It was delish and according to my gatita she keeps telling me why I didn't become a chef.
This top statement should not come as a surprise to anyone who knows me as they all know how much I adore and love food of all kinds jejeje.
In fact we headed specifically to the supermarket to get the all the ingredients. We also got a chocolate bar (dietetic) for my gatita's little sister (Lindt). I brought over a large number of chocolates including Milka, Cadbury & Lindt but I honestly forget about the younger sister who would have been quite disappointed watching all the family except her have there lions share of yummy chocolate which is still a luxury over here considering that for the price of these european chocolates (which are obtainable over here) you can buy kilo's of rice, meats & vegetables. So this is my treat to her family without going overboard.
In fact I suggested to my gatita that we could share the chocolates with her extended family as a treat during her younger sisters fifteenth birthday and she very quickly disregarded my comment and told me that the chocolate was for her family only: dad, mum and my two sisters jejeje fair enough eh!
No smoking please - 8th April 2009
For the past 8 days and with the amount of shops we have passed and indeed entered not until today I have managed to find an ash tray which I need for my smoking habit at the apartment as I have been using a plate all this time and the damn plate puts the cigarette out.
We pass a Turkish shop and see some pipes on the outside so we head into the shop and long and behold an ashtray my ashtray jejeje. When I go to the counter to pay, the attendant says 45. I thought “that’s cheap” so I ask again and this time she says 45,000 pesos which roughly equates to £12.60. My jaw dropped and my facial expression showed it. Not much I could do though but pay for it! As I need it for my bad habit. The attendand did realise that I was reluctant to buy the ashtray because of the price so he offered us two turkish eyes to stick on our mobiles to protects you from being jinxed by bad people. Not much need for it as the damn expensive ashtray has 4 of them stuck on each side jejeje but a nice jesture nonetheless so we oblige.
After this we went to the cinema and watched Dragon Ball Evolution, the cinema was world class even the toilets were very modern and extremely well maintained.
The movie was good and had a few parts which were very funny in true Dragon Ball style. After the movie we had a quick dinner at McDonalds (yes they are everywhere).
Oh another difference between McDonalds and the ones I've seen in Europe is that the sauces are all free, you get self service tubs and an infinite amount of little containers which you can fill up with ketchup, mayo, bbq, mustard, jalapeño’s and gherkins.
After McDonalds we visit a shop called Pepe Ganga to buy a hair comb for my gatita and I found a kettle which I have been looking for to boil water for coffee. You will be surprised to know that in the land of coffee (and other stuff I know) there are NO KETTLES, no where, not even online. I suppose they are not tea drinkers and hence there would be a need for a kettle. We use kettles to boil water for tea & coffee but they use percolators and not kettles.
To my shock I did find one in this shop and guess what, what a rip-off, it was 286,500 Pesos which is £80.70. So needless to say after my ashtray expenses I didn’t buy the kettle and will continue to use a pan to heat the water. We do have a percolator at the apartment and once in a while I make myself a scrumptious red label 100% Colombian coffee.
Anyways just to end today’s blog and as I am writing this my gatita has just finished washing some dirty dishes and on the top cupboard guess what she pulls out, have a guess, come on guess..... An F*ING ASHTRAY, lets just leave it at that shall we.
We pass a Turkish shop and see some pipes on the outside so we head into the shop and long and behold an ashtray my ashtray jejeje. When I go to the counter to pay, the attendant says 45. I thought “that’s cheap” so I ask again and this time she says 45,000 pesos which roughly equates to £12.60. My jaw dropped and my facial expression showed it. Not much I could do though but pay for it! As I need it for my bad habit. The attendand did realise that I was reluctant to buy the ashtray because of the price so he offered us two turkish eyes to stick on our mobiles to protects you from being jinxed by bad people. Not much need for it as the damn expensive ashtray has 4 of them stuck on each side jejeje but a nice jesture nonetheless so we oblige.
After this we went to the cinema and watched Dragon Ball Evolution, the cinema was world class even the toilets were very modern and extremely well maintained.
The movie was good and had a few parts which were very funny in true Dragon Ball style. After the movie we had a quick dinner at McDonalds (yes they are everywhere).
Oh another difference between McDonalds and the ones I've seen in Europe is that the sauces are all free, you get self service tubs and an infinite amount of little containers which you can fill up with ketchup, mayo, bbq, mustard, jalapeño’s and gherkins.
After McDonalds we visit a shop called Pepe Ganga to buy a hair comb for my gatita and I found a kettle which I have been looking for to boil water for coffee. You will be surprised to know that in the land of coffee (and other stuff I know) there are NO KETTLES, no where, not even online. I suppose they are not tea drinkers and hence there would be a need for a kettle. We use kettles to boil water for tea & coffee but they use percolators and not kettles.
To my shock I did find one in this shop and guess what, what a rip-off, it was 286,500 Pesos which is £80.70. So needless to say after my ashtray expenses I didn’t buy the kettle and will continue to use a pan to heat the water. We do have a percolator at the apartment and once in a while I make myself a scrumptious red label 100% Colombian coffee.
Anyways just to end today’s blog and as I am writing this my gatita has just finished washing some dirty dishes and on the top cupboard guess what she pulls out, have a guess, come on guess..... An F*ING ASHTRAY, lets just leave it at that shall we.
Road to new places - 7th April 2009
Today we took a wrong turning during our daily walkabouts and found a rather classy road and a large complex with cinema's and a food court.
Guess were we are coming tomorrow jejejeje.
Lots of window shopping as per the norm, though I am always telling my gatita that if there is something she likes to let me know, someday I am sure this will bite me in the ass jejeje but for now at least she is not the spending type. Like I said lets see when the I get bitten jejejeje.
Guess were we are coming tomorrow jejejeje.
Lots of window shopping as per the norm, though I am always telling my gatita that if there is something she likes to let me know, someday I am sure this will bite me in the ass jejeje but for now at least she is not the spending type. Like I said lets see when the I get bitten jejejeje.
Bogota Central - 6th April 2009
Today we decide to re-visit the centre of Bogota at the Plaza de Bolivar.
We do a lot of window shopping and also some shoe shopping for my gatita of course. Before we know it, lunch time had arrived. Out of pure luck we stumble onto a cheap dish of the day style place, its quite large and I notice they have fish soup which is something I always look forward to (when you find one at a reasonable price). We ignore the dish of the day and decide to go ala carte including the fish soup. It was yummy let me tell you. Nice and creamy full of squid, clams, fish, shrimp etc etc.
I remember the soup I used to have in a Colombian restaurant in London Bridge, London at a Colombian restaurant called Sin Fronteras (No Frontiers). The Peruvian office messenger called Rosendo used to take us there every Friday and I always ordered this soup as it was very very tasty (served with a side dish of chopped chillis in some wonderfully refreshing sauce). Since then and on both my visits to Colombia I have tried to find the same. We have found similar and very good in there own right but nothing like the one in London Bridge.
In all these walkabouts I've noticed that Bogota is undergoing a lot of construction work there are building sites everywhere. I don't think this is the right move as the infrastructure is not quite in place with loads of taxi's, private cars and busses, all sorts of busses provided by different firms. The only good one is called the Tranmilenio which is a Government run bus service and that does have its own road.
Here's another interesting fact, did you know that you can hail a bus!!!!! try doing that in London see how far you get jejeje. Over here you stick your hand out just as you hail a cab and the bus stops for you and believe you me in the mix of traffic there is some expert driving going on jejeje.
Coming back to the construction sites its very clear how professional they work, I watched them last year from my apartment window and in less than 17 days they had erected 2 floors (by hand - no machinery). The only machinery was a little lift type bucket puller which basically pulled or lowered materials but mainly it is used to lift fresh cement. The interesting thing is how quickly the bucket is shot up with the controller ready to stop it as it whizzes up floor upon floor jejeje.
The other thing I noticed is that they paint on the walls of the construction site. What they paint are all the adverts from the sponsors of the project/building. saves on posters and the likelihood of the adverts’ being ripped or damaged due to the rain. Pretty cool eh! I took a photo with my mobile.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Cosy day in - 5th April 2009
Today being Sunday and as the Colombian sun doesn't want to make an appearance we decide to stay in all day and just be cosy in bed watching movies.
We have a good selection of channels, some are crap of course but others are well worth watching such as Fox Sports, Fox Movies, Warner Brothers, BBC, Universal, MGM, ESPN, Hallmark. Anyways you get the point, there are good channels to find sports, movies and comedies and be entertained all day.
On a different note and to elaborate on a previous post which was our shopping on the 3rd April we did at the Exito, the cost came to £58.57 and considering the large shopping list, it was cheap. In total we bought over 47 items including a set of knives, chopping board, grater, 4 food containers, condiments, steaks 500grams @ £2.20 (cheap eh!) and general food, take my word for it that it was cheap. Shopping at Morrisons supermarket in Gibraltar would have set me back over £90 to £110.
Will let you know the quality of the steak as I have intentions of eating in a blue cheese sauce.
We have a good selection of channels, some are crap of course but others are well worth watching such as Fox Sports, Fox Movies, Warner Brothers, BBC, Universal, MGM, ESPN, Hallmark. Anyways you get the point, there are good channels to find sports, movies and comedies and be entertained all day.
On a different note and to elaborate on a previous post which was our shopping on the 3rd April we did at the Exito, the cost came to £58.57 and considering the large shopping list, it was cheap. In total we bought over 47 items including a set of knives, chopping board, grater, 4 food containers, condiments, steaks 500grams @ £2.20 (cheap eh!) and general food, take my word for it that it was cheap. Shopping at Morrisons supermarket in Gibraltar would have set me back over £90 to £110.
Will let you know the quality of the steak as I have intentions of eating in a blue cheese sauce.
Knowing our way around - 4 April 2009
Now that we have been lost a few times in our walkabout adventures, we finally know 80% were all the roads lead to in the space of a few miles each. So we decide to go to the Park 93 and relax there for a while. Last time it took us over 25 minutes to find it and its a 5 minute walk jejejeje.
Before we head over to the park, we go to the exchange bureau as the Colombian pesos we have are running low. To exchange monies over here is not as easy as in Europe were no one questions were the money comes from. Here, you have to provide your ID card, your profession, address, contact numbers, give reason from were you got the money and even provide a fingerprint before you can get your hands on any Colombian Pesos. The attendants always look very suspicious making you feel rather worried and inspects every single note you give him. I remember the same thing happened last year.
At the end of the day they are doing there job and quite frankly they are doing it correctly over here in Colombia to stop money laundering or people exchanging money which they have stolen from foreigners.
Anyways interesting fact out of the way I change dollars but notice that the Euro rate is much better and it's good that I also brought Euros, so I'll be changing those instead next time around.
Before we head over to the park, we go to the exchange bureau as the Colombian pesos we have are running low. To exchange monies over here is not as easy as in Europe were no one questions were the money comes from. Here, you have to provide your ID card, your profession, address, contact numbers, give reason from were you got the money and even provide a fingerprint before you can get your hands on any Colombian Pesos. The attendants always look very suspicious making you feel rather worried and inspects every single note you give him. I remember the same thing happened last year.
At the end of the day they are doing there job and quite frankly they are doing it correctly over here in Colombia to stop money laundering or people exchanging money which they have stolen from foreigners.
Anyways interesting fact out of the way I change dollars but notice that the Euro rate is much better and it's good that I also brought Euros, so I'll be changing those instead next time around.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Another Exito - 3rd April 2009
Seeing that yesterday we visited the wrong Exito I go online to find there are 4 of them in Bogota alone.
We head out early to the North Exito. Once we arrive we quickly realise its still not the one we visited last year.
We want to visit the same Exito we did last year as it has a relatively big shopping mall too and a cinema (which I am told by my gatita we must go to as last year we didn't go to the cinema so we must oblige of course).
Anyways our visit to this supermarket was fruitful as we found ingredients I need for the Caracoles (garden snails) for Easter which we commonly eat in Easter (in the South of Spain). My gatita is not looking forward to this but I assure her that it's worth it. The recipe requires a lot of ingredients which I have now found.
I did search extensively online for the Caracoles but they simply can't be bought in Colombia so the alternative are clams instead which I bought two packs of. I must add I did bring a jar of spices for Caracoles from Gibraltar jejejeje which I bought at ransoms.
On our way back in Taxi we did spot (to my demise) one of the largest shopping centres in South America, Santa Fe Shopping mall. To my demise as I am sure that my gatita as any hot blooded female will more than willingly want to go to, so I might as well hand her my wallet when we go there (watch this space jejeje).
We do ask the Taxi this time around to drop us off at the Park 93 simply as its only two blocks away from the apartment because yesterday the Taxi driver found it difficult to take us to our doorstep much to my amusement was watching the taxi meter go up and up (although its very cheap). We travelled a fare few miles, around 30 minutes and it only cost me 9500 Pesos which is roughly £2.70. However, considering that the taxi meter is marked with a minimum fare of 25 and 5 out of 10 taxis have tampered with there taximeters it's only right that one must find ways of making it work for you. I simply hate being conned no matter how cheap it is. Not that they conned me but lets just say it is better to minimise the chances of a rouge taxi driver trying to take advantage.
We head out early to the North Exito. Once we arrive we quickly realise its still not the one we visited last year.
We want to visit the same Exito we did last year as it has a relatively big shopping mall too and a cinema (which I am told by my gatita we must go to as last year we didn't go to the cinema so we must oblige of course).
Anyways our visit to this supermarket was fruitful as we found ingredients I need for the Caracoles (garden snails) for Easter which we commonly eat in Easter (in the South of Spain). My gatita is not looking forward to this but I assure her that it's worth it. The recipe requires a lot of ingredients which I have now found.
I did search extensively online for the Caracoles but they simply can't be bought in Colombia so the alternative are clams instead which I bought two packs of. I must add I did bring a jar of spices for Caracoles from Gibraltar jejejeje which I bought at ransoms.
On our way back in Taxi we did spot (to my demise) one of the largest shopping centres in South America, Santa Fe Shopping mall. To my demise as I am sure that my gatita as any hot blooded female will more than willingly want to go to, so I might as well hand her my wallet when we go there (watch this space jejeje).
We do ask the Taxi this time around to drop us off at the Park 93 simply as its only two blocks away from the apartment because yesterday the Taxi driver found it difficult to take us to our doorstep much to my amusement was watching the taxi meter go up and up (although its very cheap). We travelled a fare few miles, around 30 minutes and it only cost me 9500 Pesos which is roughly £2.70. However, considering that the taxi meter is marked with a minimum fare of 25 and 5 out of 10 taxis have tampered with there taximeters it's only right that one must find ways of making it work for you. I simply hate being conned no matter how cheap it is. Not that they conned me but lets just say it is better to minimise the chances of a rouge taxi driver trying to take advantage.
Getting to know Bogota - 2nd April 2009
As it's our first day here in the North of Bogota we head out early for a walk and get to know which streets are the ones which we can buy things from and we also venture to find the famous Parque 93 (Park 93).
Coming close to lunchtime we have clearly taken all the wrong roads jejeje but we venture on and decide to have lunch at TGI Fridays.
After lunch we hop into a taxi and ask the driver to take us to the Exito Supermarket which is one of the largest chains in Colombia.
When we get there we realise it's not the one we went a year ago but at least the supermarket is as large. After buying enough stuff to start stocking up the fridge we head back home.
One thing I found very interesting was that they allowed me to spread the cost of the credit card in 3 payments which quite frankly is a really cool thing don't you think.
Once home I send a few GDA emails to the committee for them to deal with things. These being the Government summer sports programme which is intended to provide taster sessions and an intruduction to prospective new players men/ladies or youth. For years I have been asking different members of the committee to have a go but no one wants to do it. I find it very disappointing as it's an important event we should be tackling every year as it both promotes and increases our youth participation. I keep saying we should have delegated roles within the committee and I'll make a note of this for next year and assign it to a committee member to take it on.
The other email I forward to the committee is the BDO schedule which shows that (not surprisingly) the Winmau has been moved to September. I am not quite sure what justifies moving an event which has been hosted in December for quite a number of years now as all the participating countries work out there own calendar of events around December and a shift in over 3 months will simply cause problems. Then again the same question can be asked on why year in year out it is hosted in Bridlington and not in the centre of London closer to all International airports!!!!! In the good old days (at least for me) it was held in Fulham Broadway - London.
Coming close to lunchtime we have clearly taken all the wrong roads jejeje but we venture on and decide to have lunch at TGI Fridays.
After lunch we hop into a taxi and ask the driver to take us to the Exito Supermarket which is one of the largest chains in Colombia.
When we get there we realise it's not the one we went a year ago but at least the supermarket is as large. After buying enough stuff to start stocking up the fridge we head back home.
One thing I found very interesting was that they allowed me to spread the cost of the credit card in 3 payments which quite frankly is a really cool thing don't you think.
Once home I send a few GDA emails to the committee for them to deal with things. These being the Government summer sports programme which is intended to provide taster sessions and an intruduction to prospective new players men/ladies or youth. For years I have been asking different members of the committee to have a go but no one wants to do it. I find it very disappointing as it's an important event we should be tackling every year as it both promotes and increases our youth participation. I keep saying we should have delegated roles within the committee and I'll make a note of this for next year and assign it to a committee member to take it on.
The other email I forward to the committee is the BDO schedule which shows that (not surprisingly) the Winmau has been moved to September. I am not quite sure what justifies moving an event which has been hosted in December for quite a number of years now as all the participating countries work out there own calendar of events around December and a shift in over 3 months will simply cause problems. Then again the same question can be asked on why year in year out it is hosted in Bridlington and not in the centre of London closer to all International airports!!!!! In the good old days (at least for me) it was held in Fulham Broadway - London.
Friday, April 10, 2009
On my way to Colombia - 1st April 2009
Well after months of waiting my departure date to Colombia finally arrived.
My parents kindly as usual take me to Malaga so that I can catch my flight to Madrid and then Colombia.
Its good I packed 3 magazines, Focus, Darts World (of course) and PC Advisor. I say its good as the damn audio's were broken and I missed the inflight movies grrrrrrr. I was not a happy bunny and I will do my very best to complain to Iberia on this as its not the first time its happened to me and its very annoying. The flight was over 10 hours 1/2 hours and missing out on 3 hours of entertainment as you watch other passengers enjoying and laughing whilst thet watch the movies only made me angrier with envy.
After a few checks at immigration and the usual why are you here questions and how much money are you bringing in I got through and officially arrived in Colombia. At one point I thought they had lost my luggage as it took forever to come out of the luggage hold but it eventually did.
The driver picked me up outside the airport to take me to the apartment were I was met by my gatita and we didn't waste any time of course (kissing & hugging) what were you guys thinking eh!!! jejeje. I put things away and we headed into town as I had arrived quite early and was dying for a good Colombian coffee and my gatita was quite hungry as she had waited for me from 1pm onwards and I arrived at 6pm.
My parents kindly as usual take me to Malaga so that I can catch my flight to Madrid and then Colombia.
Its good I packed 3 magazines, Focus, Darts World (of course) and PC Advisor. I say its good as the damn audio's were broken and I missed the inflight movies grrrrrrr. I was not a happy bunny and I will do my very best to complain to Iberia on this as its not the first time its happened to me and its very annoying. The flight was over 10 hours 1/2 hours and missing out on 3 hours of entertainment as you watch other passengers enjoying and laughing whilst thet watch the movies only made me angrier with envy.
After a few checks at immigration and the usual why are you here questions and how much money are you bringing in I got through and officially arrived in Colombia. At one point I thought they had lost my luggage as it took forever to come out of the luggage hold but it eventually did.
The driver picked me up outside the airport to take me to the apartment were I was met by my gatita and we didn't waste any time of course (kissing & hugging) what were you guys thinking eh!!! jejeje. I put things away and we headed into town as I had arrived quite early and was dying for a good Colombian coffee and my gatita was quite hungry as she had waited for me from 1pm onwards and I arrived at 6pm.
1 Day to go - 31st March 2009
Well packing is the order of the day as I am flying to Colombia tomorrow.
Even after all this time that I have flown to numerous countries one always feels that he is going to forget something. Through the years though I have gotten a lot better and I don't tend to worry so much, its more an annoyance if I forget something.
My tactic is to pack things early (throw them in a corner until the time I throw it in the suitcase) that way you are less likely to forget something especially when you are very busy and its all last minute.
I finish off a few GDA emails which were: notice to members about the stealing of the surrounds, email for the summer sports & leisure programme which I am hoping the youth will attend, email to the committee concerning the Med Cup and lastly a reply to the French contingency who participated at the Gib Open concerning ranking points which I am assuming they mean WDF points.
Even after all this time that I have flown to numerous countries one always feels that he is going to forget something. Through the years though I have gotten a lot better and I don't tend to worry so much, its more an annoyance if I forget something.
My tactic is to pack things early (throw them in a corner until the time I throw it in the suitcase) that way you are less likely to forget something especially when you are very busy and its all last minute.
I finish off a few GDA emails which were: notice to members about the stealing of the surrounds, email for the summer sports & leisure programme which I am hoping the youth will attend, email to the committee concerning the Med Cup and lastly a reply to the French contingency who participated at the Gib Open concerning ranking points which I am assuming they mean WDF points.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
No Surprise - 16th - 30th March 2009
Its with no surprise that two weeks have gone by and there have been no blog entries. I did try but after so many issues going on whether darts or personal I will simply just summarize the two weeks (and to be honest what I remember) and you can judge for yourself. Don't take pity though this is my normal routine its just that this time its gone slightly overboard.
With the Gib Open looming last week of course pending issues arose at the last minute with a few committee members not being able to attend I was forced to lend my hand at the last minute to get final details in order like printing various things, purchasing trophy plates and engraving, whiteboards, sponsor monies in cash (thanks Guy you're a star). Even though I had given firm instructions to the committee that I was simply unavailable to help during the week, in true typical llanito style things where not planned properly. Its quite annoying but there you go.
There were also issues with the players for the Gib Open Monies/Entries/Draw, Med Cup, media articles, general GDA administration and hundreds of emails sent. Basically anything you can think of I have done this week; family, friends, work, darts, its been an incredibly busy time.
In the Gib Open I lost 3-1 not a shock as its very difficult to concentrate when your organising. I even asked personal friends to come along as we where understaffed that day. Luckily a few committee members handled the Ladies/Youth side and Darren and I handled the Men's side. In hindsight it was the smoothest Gibraltar Open we have done undermanned and all.
Thanks must go to the MC's, Louise Simmonds, Allan Carrington and the chalkers who all volunteered like champions. If it weren't for you guys it would be an impossibility. Thanks to our sponsors Kronenbourg 1664, Music Corner and the Gibraltar Government. Must add a note that the Youth players behaved exceptionally well and should be applauded for that.
My good friend John Ferrell from the UK took won the Gib Open. For a few years I have always said that John is a cracking player despite the usual comments every year with people putting him down "I can beat him". Well yes so can I, but most the time I bet on him jejeje!!!! Only Henry Zapata got close in the Gib Open with a chance to win (missed doubles), unlucky but it was John's day. In the semi's and final he played really well scoring 4 x 180's and in the semis achieving close to a 35 average.
It is time you get some feedback on my personal life (which is also why there has been no blog entries in two weeks). One of things was not being able to attend the BDO Torremolinos to defend my 2 times in a row pairs title as I had no work leave (days booked for marriage).
The only grace was that a lot of people contacted me saying that my presence was missed which I thought was endearing and simply nice.
I have been in contact with my lawyer and all the legal Government offices to get my marriage in order, dealing with work issues, teaching a colleague, to take over my role during my absence which is the backups of the Government of Gibraltar and nearly its departments.
The backups procedures and strategy was all covered and my colleague was now ready to take it on until the last minute when we did a configuration change so that he had absolutely nothing to worry about during my absence. This event happened last Monday when we lost the link to over 6.5 Terra Bytes of backed up information. Must add MS Windows IS CRAPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!! Now if some of you are used to GigaBytes I'll put it into perspective that's 6500 GigaBytes!!!! equal to storing close to 2 million average MP3 songs!!!!!!!!!!! Needless to say recovering that information has been an absolute nightmare. I have worked for the past week Monday to Sunday 9am to 12pm, monitoring and moving information across. All sorts of things have happened like not being able to purchase extra storage space, losing 1 hour of download because of recent daylight savings time, the PC's not having enough memory even though they should have had 2 gigs each, the IBM servers only having USB1.1 instead of USB2.0 (and USB2.0 is 40 times faster) leaving us to resort to doing the transfer over the network at 100 Megabits a second. All complete nightmare believe me. Oh and its 00:28 hours and we still have not copied all the information across.
Its been so long since my last post when I started with three A4 sheets of things to do before my departure to Colombia (which is 2 days from now), but every time I crossed something on the list 2 further things cropped up and in two weeks I have only been able to reduce 3 sheets of a4 to 2 sheets of A4.
With one day left before I leave and only having lunchtime in which to get it done, tomorrow I'll simply get through the most important ones.
Its with no surprise that the blog has been dead for the past two weeks and apologies for that but it has not been by lack of wanting but it was an extra burden I could do without so I frankly did. Get the house in order as they say.
Viva Colombia!!!!!!!!
With the Gib Open looming last week of course pending issues arose at the last minute with a few committee members not being able to attend I was forced to lend my hand at the last minute to get final details in order like printing various things, purchasing trophy plates and engraving, whiteboards, sponsor monies in cash (thanks Guy you're a star). Even though I had given firm instructions to the committee that I was simply unavailable to help during the week, in true typical llanito style things where not planned properly. Its quite annoying but there you go.
There were also issues with the players for the Gib Open Monies/Entries/Draw, Med Cup, media articles, general GDA administration and hundreds of emails sent. Basically anything you can think of I have done this week; family, friends, work, darts, its been an incredibly busy time.
In the Gib Open I lost 3-1 not a shock as its very difficult to concentrate when your organising. I even asked personal friends to come along as we where understaffed that day. Luckily a few committee members handled the Ladies/Youth side and Darren and I handled the Men's side. In hindsight it was the smoothest Gibraltar Open we have done undermanned and all.
Thanks must go to the MC's, Louise Simmonds, Allan Carrington and the chalkers who all volunteered like champions. If it weren't for you guys it would be an impossibility. Thanks to our sponsors Kronenbourg 1664, Music Corner and the Gibraltar Government. Must add a note that the Youth players behaved exceptionally well and should be applauded for that.
My good friend John Ferrell from the UK took won the Gib Open. For a few years I have always said that John is a cracking player despite the usual comments every year with people putting him down "I can beat him". Well yes so can I, but most the time I bet on him jejeje!!!! Only Henry Zapata got close in the Gib Open with a chance to win (missed doubles), unlucky but it was John's day. In the semi's and final he played really well scoring 4 x 180's and in the semis achieving close to a 35 average.
It is time you get some feedback on my personal life (which is also why there has been no blog entries in two weeks). One of things was not being able to attend the BDO Torremolinos to defend my 2 times in a row pairs title as I had no work leave (days booked for marriage).
The only grace was that a lot of people contacted me saying that my presence was missed which I thought was endearing and simply nice.
I have been in contact with my lawyer and all the legal Government offices to get my marriage in order, dealing with work issues, teaching a colleague, to take over my role during my absence which is the backups of the Government of Gibraltar and nearly its departments.
The backups procedures and strategy was all covered and my colleague was now ready to take it on until the last minute when we did a configuration change so that he had absolutely nothing to worry about during my absence. This event happened last Monday when we lost the link to over 6.5 Terra Bytes of backed up information. Must add MS Windows IS CRAPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!! Now if some of you are used to GigaBytes I'll put it into perspective that's 6500 GigaBytes!!!! equal to storing close to 2 million average MP3 songs!!!!!!!!!!! Needless to say recovering that information has been an absolute nightmare. I have worked for the past week Monday to Sunday 9am to 12pm, monitoring and moving information across. All sorts of things have happened like not being able to purchase extra storage space, losing 1 hour of download because of recent daylight savings time, the PC's not having enough memory even though they should have had 2 gigs each, the IBM servers only having USB1.1 instead of USB2.0 (and USB2.0 is 40 times faster) leaving us to resort to doing the transfer over the network at 100 Megabits a second. All complete nightmare believe me. Oh and its 00:28 hours and we still have not copied all the information across.
Its been so long since my last post when I started with three A4 sheets of things to do before my departure to Colombia (which is 2 days from now), but every time I crossed something on the list 2 further things cropped up and in two weeks I have only been able to reduce 3 sheets of a4 to 2 sheets of A4.
With one day left before I leave and only having lunchtime in which to get it done, tomorrow I'll simply get through the most important ones.
Its with no surprise that the blog has been dead for the past two weeks and apologies for that but it has not been by lack of wanting but it was an extra burden I could do without so I frankly did. Get the house in order as they say.
Viva Colombia!!!!!!!!
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