I made the decision to return to Colombia party because I wanted to the focus on my business. Although I had been involved in it for a more than year I had not enlisted any real energy or money and the business had been moderately successful. I was offered employment opportunities whilst in the UK but I tentatively turned them down because my instinct was telling me that the chance to both be my own boss and do something I am passionate about is precious. The reason I started this blog was because I wanted to tell people about Colombia. Nearly two years later I'm doing it in a much more physical sense. I became involved with Tours of Colombia and Tours of Bogota because from the first time came here I knew that tourism was taking off in a big way, all of the indicators were telling me that Colombia is a country on the move. Check out this interesting blog written by a fellow Brit http://www.colombia-politics.com/ it gives an insight into why my business has been flourishing and why we have taken on the role of providing 'the best tours for Bogota and beyond'...
Having already been back for a couple of months and very busy with work, my thoughts around the holidays turned to home. I missed my family and all of the festivities. I also miss some English institutions such as the BBC. I'm lucky enough to have cable TV here, but the only English language programmes I get here are old American sitcoms with canned laughter - I get to choose between 'Scrubs' which consists entirely of race jokes and 'Two and a half men' which is all sex gags. The other big thing I miss from home is food, I tried unsuccessfully to cook a roast turkey at Christmas, the problem here is that Colombians don't tend to cook with an oven so the only one I could lay my hands on was way too small and didn't work very well. Let me explain that many people's only experience of Latin American food is Mexican, Colombian food on the other hand is very different (especially Christmas food) Although England is not famous for it's culinary delights I have to say that Colombian food in my opinion is generally not great. I enjoy the wholesome soups but I avoid arepas which often have the look and taste of cardboard discs.... In fact I've just had the idea to make a post on 'the good, the bad and the ugly of Colombian cuisine' - So stay tuned!
Whilst I realize the imminent risk this turning into another gringo rant, I just wanted recap to my previous post where I complained about customer service in Colombia. Today I was in a supermarket shopping for a specific cold remedy, I asked three different workers inside the store for help and each of them gave me a straight 'No'. I eventually found the item by myself. Having said that I stopped by a Bodacillo factory recently and the owners invited me inside to see how they make the guava jam, they offered me free samples and we ended up playing football outside with the kids. (check out the video) Whilst Colombians generally tend to be warm and friendly like the family I met, I can't help but get a little antsy when larger companies don't invest in training their staff . Since I am starting out in business here, this to me is the obvious first step in creating good customer relations. To put it bluntly, I guess many of the people who work in supermarket jobs may not be very well educated. I know this comment is likely to rattle a few cages, but if I explain that on many occasions when I have told people I'm English I've received the response 'I know, but which part of the United States are you from?' perhaps it shows that the general standard of education among working class people is low. Even many university graduates wind up on poor salaries (primary school teachers earn on average around $500 a month) and the labour market is highly competitive. I get the feeling a lot of people back home think I'm here on permanent holiday in the sun, but the fact is, the novelty of living somewhere 'exotic' quickly wears off, reality sets in and you soon become involved in the day to day stuff. Unless you're a lottery winner you need to work to earn a living, so to put it into context here’s my pathetic sob story... (cue violins) I grew up in a single parent family in working-class England, we didn’t have it easy. As the eldest I started working at fourteen, I financed my own way through university and independently realised my dream of travelling. I had a supportive family, enough to eat, and access to half decent state schooling. We struggled but we weren't poor. During my recent visit back home I came face to face with the stark reality of people who are struggling and resorting to drastic measures to make ends meet. Although in my view their problems don't come anywhere close to the poverty and social issues faced by millions of Colombians, I want to say that even if you haven't experienced poverty it doesn't mean you haven't experienced hardship. Before quitting the UK I was involved in social work and I witnessed first hand some of the social and economic problems this 'developed' country is currently facing. My home was in Tottenham North London and when I was there last month I was offered a job helping families who were affected by the recent riots.
I conclude that absolutely no place in the world is perfect, but it was definitely good for me to have left Colombia for a while and to have been able to view it from another perspective. So on grey November morning at London Heathrow airport as I was getting ready to board a long flight with two small kids, I suddenly felt calm. Then I realised why – I was going home.
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