Colombia a Tourist Destination

Colombia is known for their two major exports, drugs and coffee, and their one major import, political prisoners through kidnappings. However, I have come to find Colombia much safer than what the media or movies might suggest. Yes, the FARC is still alive and active in Colombia but they tend to target specific high profile and political people for kidnappings. The average tourist is not at risk unless he directly enters into known FARC territory. In fact, I have found Colombia much safer to travel in than all the other Central and South American countries I have visited mostly because the people are so friendly and because of the high police presence.

The police are always visible. Medellin has seen an 80% decline in crime over the last 5 years due to the increase in police presence in the city. The police are incredibly helpful as well. At one point in Medellin, a police man personally escorted me for 15 min over bridges until he felt that I was in a place where I could easily make my way to the museum without making a wrong turn. Since I didn't feel that I had entered into a bad neighborhood,Ｉquestioned him about the safety of Medellin. He told me that some places are not safe and the locals agree. (I learned later that the street with the transvestite prostitutes really isn't a street I should visit again. I could probably have figured that out on my own.) The police set up stop points along the road to prevent hijackings as well and so taking night buses is once again safe. I have even run into the police at the local botanical garden doing their own sight seeing and they warmly greeted me and quizzed me. The police are often surprised to find an American woman traveling alone given the bad press Colombia has received in the states. But compared to other countries I have seen, and given current US relations with many countries, I think Colombia is one of the safest countries to visit these days in Latin America.

Colombia is becoming a tourist destination as my friend Dave told Colombian President Uribe at a luncheon in NYC last week. He used me as the example! It is true. Although, I do not encounter many Americans traveling here, there are plenty of Australians, Israelis and Europeans I have met along the way. And every tourist I have met has absolutely loved Colombia and Colombians. I do recommend visiting before tourism really strikes and steals some of the beauty and authenticity away as it always inevitably does with every country.

Play time

The Abergue Infantil Daycare center is superbly run. I have been so impressed with the teachers, staff, quality, and care that they provide for the kids and the parents only have to pay $6 a month for their child to attend. This may not seem like much, but for the parents of these kids, $6 can be a lot. Luckily, the daycare has other sources of funding to keep them running.

The teachers are all so enthusiastic and love these children so much. They love playing music during the days and often, we all get up and start dancing. The kids then join in and we jump around the hall. In fact, the teachers are actually great merengue dancers and often put on a show. They have tried to bring me into the dance mix, but I usually fail miserably. I have also been impressed with the creativity of the teachers and thorough education they provide, physical exercise the children receive; a PE teacher comes twice a week, and early basic sex education. The other day, Mariella played a game with the children where they had to outline each others bodies with chalk on the floor. Then the kids had to fill in the missing body parts. The kids couldn't figure out the difference between boys and girls until Mariella pointed to the exact location of the difference, and the children yelled out the difference. They even drew in the difference as seen in this photo.

I do encounter times when the children shock me. Samuel,a 17 month old boy, loves to kiss all the girls especially if they are crying. He will wipe away their tears and then kiss them on the check. Most, but not all the girls, like it. Tiffany in this picture even returns the favor. He has become a real Valentino. However, the other day, I watched in horror as he gave Melanie a kiss on the check and then promptly started biting off her check until she started bleeding. I quickly removed her from him. Valentino had turned into a vampire. I comforted Melanie and addressed her wounds while Orlinda, a teacher, explained to Samuel that what he did was wrong although, I'm unclear how much of that he understood. On another day, Orlinda told a boy that he could show his drawing to his dad. Upon hearing this, Anderson, a 5 year old boy, yelled out "I don't have a father" in Spanish saying it more as a statement than anything else. I wanted to cry. Last month, Anderson's father hung himself. I'm not sure if Anderson fully comprehends the situation.

For the most part, they are extremely well behaved children. They put their toys away, they push their chairs in, they remove small chokeable objects from the 2 year olds hands, they support one another down the stairs and almost all the 2 year olds are potty trained. However, they will not stop crying until justice is served. I am often searching out the root cause of their crying and then disciplining the offending child by placing him/her against the wall with the unhappy face. They never like that. Immediately after serving the sentence, the crying child stops crying. Disciplining more than one child at once is difficult. One morning, one of the teachers left me to watch over 30 of her kids while she attended to another matter. They were all playing with legos, but then at one point, Samuel started to eat the legos and the older kids started to throw the legos at each other. I had to break up fights, discipline kids, comfort crying children, remove chokeable items, and refind my inner peace all at the same time. Tough day indeed.

On Thursday, I joined some of the kids to their very first school trip to the local library. The children loved the opportunity to play in a new setting. We played with balls, bicycles, computers, books and their imagination. Although, I love every minute that I spend with the kids, I have reduced my hours at the daycare since I am now teaching English to children at an orphanage, which I will write about later. I am very behind on my blogging with much to catch up on.

Kids Galore

On Wed, I started my job and then quickly switched jobs. I met Teresita at the children's clinic unclear of what I would do. Apparently, Teresita also was unsure since my Spanish still had a ways to go before I could interact with adults. She volunteers every Wed and just directs the parents to the right window and that didn't sound very fun. She told me that I would not get much kid interaction and suggested that I volunteer with a daycare center down the road. We went to visit and I fell in love with the kids and figured that they would be forgiving of my Spanish and would be easy to understand.

The daycare holds about 55 2 to 6 yr olds. About 32 of the children live at the daycare from Mon to Fri because their parents either live too far, or work in other people's houses during the week or just don't have the money to take care of their own children during the week. The daycare is partially funded by the used clothing shop attached to it that is run by elderly volunteers as well as through grants since they are NGO affiliated.

So, how do I spend my days? I teach the children how to tie their shoes. I encourage them to share their toys. I kiss their booboos when they fall and wipe away their tears. I play make-believe with them and participate in their activities. I give them tissues and instruct them on how to blow their own noses. In return, they teach me the latest dance moves. They keep me full of smiles all day long. They show me the world through their young eyes. They even let me nap with them. I only wish that their parents could share in the joy that I have in watching them grow.learn and explore every day. Most of the time, I have at least 10 of them screaming for me to watch them play while another 5 of them sit on me or hold onto a part of me. They love the attention and need the affection.

Although, I thought that I would better understand their Spanish, I have found 4 year olds Spanish even harder to follow, especially, when it comes through the intermittent sobbing. Today, I had to ask Mariella, one of the teachers, to translate as to why Marie was crying. Usually the kids cry over another child taking their toy. Apparently, Marie thought I had left and was sad. She didn't want me to leave again. Hearing that broke my heart because I know that I will eventually have to leave and I don't want to hurt the children. They are all so precious. I have grown attached them as they have to me.

Today, I asked the children to sing some songs to me and 5yr old Daniella broke out into a popular rock song, and 2 backup singers joined her in full dance. She rocked on and we eventually all joined in. So, this is my new life and home and I am looking into also helping with a local orphanage if it works out in time. I love the weather and people of Medellin; they are just so hospitable and friendly.

In fact, a 68 yr old local man, Juan Guillermo joined me for dinner tonight. I went out alone to a hole in a wall since I haven't felt very social in the evenings after the last couple days with 55 kids. Juan migrated over to my table and bought me a beer and then displayed all of his obsessive compulsive tendencies by moving all my dishes around in just the right order and in making me eat just how he would eat the food. The salad had to have a certain dressing, as did the chicken and the beans had to be combined with the bread in just the right way, and I had to drink my beer when he thought I should, etc. etc. I appreciated the company, nonetheless, as well as his hospitable nature; he insisted on paying for my dinner in the end. Although, at the end of the dinner, I saw his 68 yr old lips coming directly towards my face and I swiftly moved in time to receive a kiss on the check. He then went his merry way in the other direction.

Coke: the drink and drug of choice

Whenever I enter a restaurant, I try to order a Pepsi, but only Coke is available. Like Coke, the drink, coke, the drug, is just as prevalent. Coca Cola once contained cocaine in it when the drink first came on the market and so the connection to Colombia makes sense. Access to the drug is easy to come by and one only need to ask a bartender to get the right contacts and phone numbers. I am told that 1 gram of coke costs about $4 here where as in London, a gram might cost about $80 and in the US, a little less than that. One doesn't have to be a Hollywood movie star to afford an addiction. Tourists at my hostel are regularly using coke and I feel a little weird being in this type of surrounding, but no matter what hostel I am in, I will encounter the same. Sometimes, I think some people travel to Colombia just for the drugs. I am saddened to know cocaine is capable of not only ruining lives, but also causing the deforestation of the lands and costing billions of American dollars and those creating the demand are partly to blame.

The cultivation of the coca leaves and the production of cocaine is causing massive environmental issues. Coca leaves only contain about 0.1 to 0.9% of cocaine and therefore many plants are necessary for production, which only results in deforestation of the land and removal of key and native wildlife thereby damaging fragile ecosystems. Coca farmers don't always bother to properly terrace the lands and ensure against the top soil from eroding and therefore, after heavy rains, the land is no longer useful for further coca production only leading to even further deforestation. Additionally, the production and purification of cocaine hydrochloride, the powder usually found on the streets requires the use of sufuric acid, ethyl ether, acetone, and kerosene; chemicals that are just poured into the soil after use or dumped into the river streams that feed the wildlife and people of the land.

Colombia controls about 80% of the world's supply of cocaine. The US attempts at controlling the flow of the drug into the US have been costly, but minimal. The US has ineffectively given billions of dollars to Plan Colombia that is suppose to eradicate coca growth as one of its objectives. However, the use of spraying chemicals all over the countryside to kill coca plants only helps to further pollute the environment and move the coca growers farther inland while they deforest even more land. According to the UN, coca output is down 2%, but planting of coca bushes is up 27%. Plan Colombia may be eradicating coca plants from hitting the market, but it has only increased the number of plants being planted, adding to the deforestation concerns. Moreover, a new strain of the coca leaf has emerged that is resistant to the chemical sprays. This strain not only produces more leaves, but also is suppose to be more potent. This is a byproduct of Plan Colombia and does not help its cause. The war on drugs continue...

Kitsch and Glamour

Most evenings, I have been checking out the various and interesting night life which ranges from totally kitsch and glamour to salsa to theme park adventure. I have never visited such random clubs. Sat. night, some folks from the hostel and I went to a club called Vinacure' that is something of a circus nightmare/experimental art exhibit. Live geese greeted us at the door and inside paper mache figurines filled the rooms. In between dancing songs, transvestites lip synched to songs while doing flips and the splits in their 4 in heels. At another bar, I watched a man dressed in a red Elvis costume sing on top of the bar. 70 and 80's tv show memorabilia decorated the walls along with anything tacky. At another bar, country western dressed women danced in the barn-like dance club. Really the only place I have enjoyed visiting has been just a regular dance bar without the themes and shenanigans. What happened to simplicity?

Most travelers can not afford to go to the clubs. The clubs usually charge a $5-20 entrance fee and then on top of that the drinks range from $10-20. Colombia is not cheap and I don't know how the young here afford to go out, but the clubs are always packed with locals.

In order to better blend in with the locals, I have started to shop for a push-up bra. While shopping, I noticed that even the mannequins are a little inflated. Every other store seems to sell lingerie and at least the clothes are cheaper here.

This city is really a single guy's paradise. The women are stunning, super fun, incredibly nice and friendly, great dancers and open to dating foreigners. In fact, the women tell me that there are more single women than men here. Below is a picture of Catherine who is dating a guy at my hostel and visual evidence to my above statements. I have to be careful to not develop the ugly duckling syndrome here.

Adopted and Employed

When I first moved to Minneapolis, I really didn't know anyone and luckily met Virginia who adopted me into her family. In Medellin, she has extended her Colombian family to me. Yesterday, I attended a house gathering of her entire family to celebrate life after their Uncle's funeral mass. I met just about everyone and sadly, my Spanish comprehension went in and out all night. Virginia's grandmother must not have thought I understood anything she said since I had to ask her to repeat things regularly. After a glass of wine, my Spanish improved. I visited them again the next day since Gonzalo invited me over for fried pork and beans on Sat. Apparently, every Sat for the last 40 years or so, the family meets for the traditional fried pork, beans and plantains as well as a chance to catch up with each other. I loved being around such a tight knit family and look forward to seeing them again.

As for my interview, I believe I have infiltrated the Colombian health care system and landed a volunteer job. I must not have fully understood the Director of the Clinic the other day. Apparently, I needed to go through a formal interview process with a local volunteer organization before I could volunteer with the clinic. I have passed through the hoops thanks in part to Virginia's grandmother's glowing recommendation, which I hope she doesn't retract after meeting me. Teresita, the volunteer coordinator for health clinics and hospitals, is also trying to get me a job with another kid's clinic up the road. I may have a very busy month and am excited to start work. I have no idea what my responsibilities will be, and I guess I will find out on Wed.

I am still touring around the city and to the outer areas. Doris, Jill, Sinead and I visited el Penol or the stone the other day about 2.5 hours West.

The stone is literally a rock 200m high surrounded by an enormous man made lake. I'm not sure why or who developed the lake, but it does provide for a beautiful day trip. We meandered around the nearby city, Guatepe' as well.


Most of the time, I wander aimlessly around the streets of Medellin alone in order to obtain a better sense of the city, the people and the culture. I like being the only foreigner I see all day until I return back to the hostel. Today, I passed through what seemed to be a transvestite brothel area with plenty of women hanging outside of a worn down hotel. I guess they must receive business at all hours of the day including at 1pm when I walked by.
I especially enjoy passing by the various stalls of interesting fruits and watching people meander around themselves. Yesterday, I stopped in the Barefoot Park and received a personal foot tour. My guide and I took off our shoes and walked through the various settings. My feet enjoyed feeling various surfaces and in receiving such personal attention.

Job Hunting

On Monday, Doris and I toured through the various cafe's in Bogota. I also tried calling the volunteer groups with no luck again. So, we boarded an overnight bus to Medellin. Throughout the night, the bus made stops along the road for police checks, and I felt safer knowing that the police regularly monitor the roads. We arrived about 10 hours later.

Medellin is known as the city of eternal spring because the weather is always fantastic year round. Medellin and Cali are also known for having the most beautiful women in the country and some consider in the world. The mix of African, indigenous, and European descent lend to creating really gorgeous women and the numerous plastic surgeons only help to accentuate their beauty. Interestingly, Cosmetic Surgery tourism is increasing in this country.

Medellin is also known for having once been the drug and murder capital for the cocaine cartels with the drug lord Pablo Escobar having lived here until the government hunted him down for 499 days straight and killed him in 1993. Since then, Medellin is a peaceful and relatively safe city.

Medellin also has some of the friendliest people. Men and women of all ages invite me to sit at their table for lunch, they easily engage in conversation in lines, and they readily answer any question I might have. I really like the people of Colombia. I just wish I could get a job here

My friend Virginia's step dad, Gonzalo, is from Colombia and she put me in touch with his family. They recommended I check out a health clinic for kids. I met the director of the clinic, but unfortunately he did not have any job openings. He did spend 30 min talking with Ophelia, who is the head of the Medellin local volunteer organization, to help me find a job at another clinic. I didn't realize this, but Ophelia ended up calling Gonzalo's family as a reference. I haven't even met them and yet Gonzalo's mom, who is 81 yr old, gave me a glowing recommendation. I now have a job interview for tomorrow. I just hope I don't blow it with my imperfect Spanish. Additionally, Gonzalo invited me to attend his uncle's funeral mass tomorrow. I really hope I don't screw up my Spanish.

Although, I have been told that Colombians speak the clearest Spanish, I am having a difficult time understanding them. I don't know if it is because I have been away from Spanish for the last month or maybe I never knew the language to begin with. Whatever funk I am in, I hope to be ready for both the interview as well as the funeral tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I have enjoyed touring the city. Bortero is from Medellin and so many of his sculptures adorn the parks. I spent most of my first day touring around the poorer neighborhoods located on the hills while meeting the friendly locals.

In Colombia, Safe and Sound

Before coming to Colombia, I really debated whether to switch my ticket and head to Nicaragua. Nicaragua is much cheaper, easier to find volunteer opportunities as well as obtain Spanish classes. Colombia does not receive a lot of tourism and is not set up for volunteers. In fact, the government is a little weary of volunteers. At last, I could not change my frequent flyer ticket, how I am getting around from place to place for the year, and so I am now in Bogota.

When I first arrived in Bogota, I ran into Big Ben from Guatemala in a random encounter at my hostel. I guess he slowly made his way down to Colombia after Guatemala and is now off to Ecuador. I enjoyed finding a familiar face in a foreign country. We immediately hit the night life. The nightlife here is as good as I have heard; the Colombians like to party and there are plenty of dance clubs and bars for them to do so. I especially love the quaint cafes located throughout the city. My favorite is El Gato Gris that has loads of nooks and crannies with couches for chairs and Dali art throughout the old house. Doris, an Austrian, and I went to the rooftop and sat next to one of the fireplaces and just chilled. I much needed this time off since I have been on the go ever since Beijing. In fact, tonight, I took a very long nap and am too tired to go out therefore updating my blog. The night before, Sariya, a Brit, and I checked out the dance clubs in Zona Rosa. We danced the night away to techno while the second floor played spanish pop, of which we were not a fan, and the first floor played random music. The entire area of Zona Rosa is full of clubs and bars and every young Colombian seemed to be out in party mode. We left when most of the clubs closed at 3am although, many of my new friends stayed out til 7am at the after hours clubs. I just didn't have it in me.

My attempt at finding another volunteer opportunity has been limited. I tried calling a few places, but without success and then the weekend hit and so I haven't tried calling again. The hostel has told me volunteering is difficult as well. However, I did meet a woman who gives food to the homeless and I plan to work with her when I return to Bogota on my way home. For now, unless I make a more concerted effort in Bogota to find work, I plan to head to Medellin about a 9 hour bus ride to the Northwest where I hope to have better luck.

Overall, I have found Colombians extremely friendly, and even the taxi drivers entertain me. They are more than willing to help me find my way around the city and the police readily answer my questions. I would never have guessed that there are multiple leftist groups causing havoc and a drug cartel in this country if I didn't read about it regularly back home and if I didn't see multiple policemen with dogs standing around on street corners. The police tell me that the dogs are not for drug sniffing, but for extra security and they keep the dogs muzzled until needed. Still, at night, I do not feel safe here and homeless and drunk men often follow me around looking for money. I keep to taxis at night and stick to groups.

Earlier, I ran into a group of guys heading to the salt mines an hour and half north of the city and so I joined them. Millions of years ago, the ocean once covered Colombia, and due to earth movements, a bit of the ocean became surrounded by the earth. The water dried to form salt plains, and more earth movement caused the salt plains to fold underground. The indigenous discovered this salt about 1000 years ago and used the salt to barter for goods. Only about 200 years ago, the Colombians started mining for the salt to support 80% of Colombia's salt needs. Inside the mine, the Colombian miners built a salt cathedral for worship and good luck. I toured around admiring the great statues of crosses carved out of the salt. My guide explained that due to the ability of the salt to absorb shock, the mine can withstand over a 14 pt richter scale earthquake. Pretty impressive.

Soccer is the favorite national sport and when I heard that Colombia was about to play Uruguay Saturday night, I had to buy tickets. I rallied 5 others to join me and we set out to buy tickets from a scalper. After much haggling, and only $5 over base, we all obtained tickets in time. The Colombian spirit for soccer is incredible! They even have cuss-filled songs in Spanish that they sing in unison against the opposing team. The guy next to me translated the songs and the guy in front shared his food with me. I loved being surrounded by such high national pride, where everyone sings the national anthem at the start, although at times, I wondered if the crowd would get too rowdy and might run me over. Sadly, Uruguay scored early, and Colombia could never make a comeback. Enjoyable, nonetheless.

Plenty of museums shape the city center and gorgeous lush mountains surround the city. I had the pleasure of viewing the city from the top of Cerro de Monserrate, a mountain peak, as well as touring some museums. Inside the Bortero museum, a friendly guide gave me a personal tour of the entire Bortero collection. Bortero is the most famous Colombian painter, and is known for his paintings of “fat” people. However, my guide explained that he doesn't paint “fat” people, but rather experiments with volume and time and likes to include social commentary in his paintings. I gained a much greater appreciation of his art after her explanation. He considers people objects and all the objects in his paintings are over enlarged. However, their proportions are out of whack to increase the effect of their volume. For example, in this particular painting, the arms are not large enough to support the bodies of the people and their eyes are much smaller than normal. In terms of social commentary, the serpent in the photo and the half eaten apple on the ground represent Adam and Eve as well as sin. He is stating that there is a sinner in the photo, but who is the sinner. The serpent and apple are in line with the wife. However, when looking at the husband, I noticed two rings, one on each hand. This is to say that he has two wives, but he slyly points to the girl in the photo who looks nothing like the father. The boy does though. The husband is trying to tell me that the girl is not his. He may have two wives, but his wife is not faithful either. Bortero is highlighting the social scene in Colombia in the 40's and 50's, where infidelity commonly filled the air. The falling apples in the painting also provide a sense of time. He has captured a moment in time and this is not still life. All in all, lots of activities have filled my last 3 days in Bogota.

Burning Man

What is Burning Man? Many people who have never been have misconceived ideas of what Burning Man is all about. Some think it is just about sex, drugs and alcohol in a hippy world, but that is just sheer ignorance and I get a little tired of hearing people define Burning Man without ever having been to it. Burning Man is whatever you make it out to be and whatever experience you want it to be for you. I have never done drugs let alone ever smoked a cigarette and my first year at Burning Man last year remains the best travel experience of my life. For that reason, I had to return this year.

Burning Man is where 50,000 persons show up for the week before Labor Day in the middle of the Nevada desert to create the greatest community of art, radical self expression and party. There are no societal rules of how one should behave in this community and all judgments are left at the door. Everyone is so friendly and welcoming and I always meet the most interesting people.
There is no money exchange except for ice and coffee and everyone is expected to contribute to the community. A friend told me that he read of how Burning Man, Craig'sList and Wikipedia are leaderless communities. Burning Man is able to be self sustaining without a head leader to direct everyone. This is so true. The community creates itself and people contribute their art, time, personality, etc to it. www.burningman.com

This year, I didn't have a set camp or ride to Burning Man. Camp Evol, with whom I camped last year, all disbanded and went their merry ways to other camps. Thankfully, I found a woman, Emily, on Craigslist who could drive me to Burning Man. After a 7 hour drive, we arrived at Black Rock City, Nevada ready for another out of this world experience. I ended up camping with her at the Red Nose District camp, a camp full of circus performers located conveniently right near Center Camp. Red Nose had the most amazing infrastructure; we had our own hot pressurized showers; a real luxury in the desert, as well as dedicated porta potties for the camp. Engineers and construction folks developed all the infrastructure for the camp. Part of my camp dues went to renting and building the Big Top tent where the circus performers performed their nightly shows. I borrowed a tent and camped in their circle.

Part of the experience at Burning Man is about roughing it in the middle of the desert. The temperature can turn upwards of over 100 degrees with harsh dust storms that require people to wear dust masks and googles regularly.Often, the dust storms are so great that no one is able to leave the confines of their tent or RV for several hours. The harshness of the environment lends itself towards the overall cathartic experience of Burning Man.vEveryone is required to bring enough food and water for the time that they are there and to leave no trace. Everything that is brought in must be brought out. Only porta potties are conveniently located throughout the city.


The first night, we explored the city at night with our bikes. Since the city is miles wide, bikes are necessary to get around. And at night, the entire city lights up and it reminds me of Disneyland on crack. Even people wear neon lights to decorate themselves as art objects and so that they are not run over by art cars. Art cars, well decorated and thematic cars, buses, ships that can fit a ton of people drive around the city blasting music while people dance on them. I rode over to many crazy and interesting art exhibits located all over the playa, the name of the dirt and desert floor. Describing Burning Man and the night scene is just so difficult and I don't have good photos to really illustrate it either. Trust me when I say that I have never seen anything so spectacular in my life.

Each year, a theme ties the community together.
This year, the theme was the American Dream and the art all exhibited some form of this theme and often the art is interactive. One of my favorite art exhibits included a McEnlightenment drive through. I drove my bike through and ordered a Value Meal of Enlightment, one of their most popular dishes. A man inside the booth asked me to face the Man, a wooden structure of a man that gets burned the last Saturday night as part of a ritual, and call out my deepest fears and wishes. He then presented me with a brown bag. Inside, I found a reflective mirror so that I ended up staring at myself. My enlightenment is within myself. I thanked him for the generosity and off I went.

Later, I met a super sweet couple from North Carolina who drove for 5 days to Burning Man. They brought with them a huge inflatable ketchup bottle structure and inside they cooked french fries for the hungry burners, people attending, every night from 7pm to 5am.
What makes people do this? It is part of the community spirit of Burning Man. Most of my friends stayed at the DeMentha camp that daily serves mojitos and throws some fun parties during the day. So, what did I contribute? I volunteered as a Greeter this year and spent 5 hours straight in the hot sun greeting people as they entered into the city. For Burning Man virgins, those who are coming for the first time, I made them create sand angels and gong a bell to signal their entry into the new world. Everyone does their part to create a stimulating and interesting experience.

Yes, it is true. Many people run around the playa naked to the point that I get a little tired of seeing old naked men, but it is all part of the experience to enjoy being around people freely expressing themselves in new ways. There are phone booths to talk to God and Hug Delis. Anything goes at Burning Man and I love the creativity of it all. I come for the art and to be around the radical self expressionism. Burning Man is a magical place like Disneyland. You just need an open mind to truly appreciate it.



On Saturday night, the Man is burned and all fire breaks loose. On Sunday night, the temple of remembrance of loved ones lost is also burned in a peaceful ceremonial burn unlike the night before. I had to leave before either burn, but, I am glad to have made it back to reality in time to see my friend Don marry Elaine in a very sweet ceremony in Saratoga with the best food I have ever eaten.

Final Thoughts on the Olympics

When IOC president Jacques Rogge declared the Olympics truly exceptional, I had to agree. China went above and beyond the call of duty to pull off this Olympics. They had a point to prove to the world and they proved it. They have a rich and diverse cultural history, outstanding athletes and an Olympic training ground like no other, phenomenal logistic capabilities, friendly and outgoing people and incredible architecture. I doubt any city or country will be able to compete with China on the quality of the Olympics as they have set a new standard of how to put them on. Of course, this is only possible because the government has the power to do whatever it wants without regard to the people it affects.

The highlights for me included the overwhelming number of volunteers who made themselves readily available for any question or tourist at literally any time of the day. They even personally escorted me and other lost tourists on buses to the exact location of the venues. Often, I felt that the volunteers spent much of their time bored waiting for someone to help, but when someone did approach them, they always smiled and tried their best to give as much information as possible. Despite their long hours standing around, they kept up their spirits. At the end of events, they stood in lines waving to everyone and cheering people off. I think every university student on summer holiday contributed to make this Olympics special and personable.

Surprisingly, the architecture in Beijing really impressed me. I found the curved lines of the Bird's Nest unbelievable. The Chinese like lights as well and every building lit up. I will be interested to see what China does with all the various stadiums built just for the Olympics. More than likely, they will be training grounds for future Chinese Olympians. But to create the Olympic Green, the Chinese government displaced thousands of residents to elsewhere in the country. In fact, China created a wonderful facade of sorts just for the Olympics. The government removed all the migrant workers and boarded up all the slum areas around town. Any area that didn't look pretty enough received a makeover or the government just boarded it up with beautifully painted walls. Cleaning crews showed up every morning to remove trash from the streets and people washed the billboards regularly. When, Thomas asked me what I thought of Beijing, I told him that I found the city to be quite clean. He found that comment funny because he has witnessed the transformation over the last few months to make Beijing the city we see today.

Logistically, the subways and buses ran smoothly and despite or because of the intense security measures, no major catastrophes occurred. With the phenomenal transportation, I could make my way to every venue free of charge with my ticket. Although, occasionally, I had to hop in a cab to get to the venue quicker although, I still showed up late.

Overall, I loved watching the sporting events. For most of the sporting events, the Chinese athletes took so many golds that I now hum the tunes to their national anthem. Who knew the Chinese knew how to box? I watched them take gold a few times in the finals.
There are very few sports in which they did not take gold and I did enjoy watching athletes from other countries win. In particular, I enjoyed witnessing Jamaican Bolt break another world record in the 4x100 relay and begin and end with pointing his hand towards the sky. The track and field events are fun to watch because so many events occur at once and this is perfect for my ADD tendencies. I also took great delight in watching the Australian pole vaulter tie the Olympic record. I'm glad I had the opportunity to watch track and field in the Bird's Nest since I didn't have the opportunity to watch the Opening Ceremonies live.

Nonetheless, the beauty and artistry of the Opening Ceremonies left me emotional and in awe. China took mass humanity as art to a completely new level. However, I did not appreciate learning the sacrifices the artists made to put on those opening ceremonies. The volunteers had to wear adult diapers just so that they could train for 6 hours straight in military compounds in the heat. They never left the compound and trained for hours on end without breaks. Many people sustained injuries when they fell off platforms in the rain. But in China, the show must go on. I'm sure every performer remained proud of their contribution to the Opening Ceremonies despite the painful long hours. To their credit, the world learned a little more about China and all the beauty of the people.

Really, the best part of the Olympics has been partying with the Olympians and in sharing in their victory celebration. So many unknowns became famous overnight and enjoyed the spotlight.
Everyone wanted to be around a Gold medal winner and they made the parties that much more fun. I never imagined that I would party with Olympians when I came to Beijing. They won't join my Facebook network necessarily, but I enjoyed celebrating with them in their Olympic win.

My birthday present to myself this year is hard to top for next year. I do hope to attend the 2012 Olympics in London, however, I know it won't be as fanciful as Beijing and I doubt I will be able to afford any tickets. But, the Olympics are worth the effort, and I am sure I will try to attend again.