Elder and Hermanita Weatherford: Early November in Bogota

Impressions after One Month

(November 12, 2019) I think that Bogota is the dream place to live. It rains here 3 or 4 times a week, and I always think of Laura. The rain here is beautiful, and it only lasts for one or two hours. When it is not raining, the sun is shining strongly, with that equator-type of sunshine. BUT the temperature never gets above 70 because we are at 8600 feet in elevation. It is always gorgeous here. I'm serious! We open the windows every day to breathe the beautiful air, and even though 8 million people live in Bogota, it is not polluted (we thought).

We love the people here, of course. They are outspoken and passionate, and we really enjoy their love for life! They are exciting, just the way you might expect. Sometimes, the people are very opinionated. They believe that if someone comes to their country, then that person (me) should speak the language. I do not think they understand that learning a language takes time. So I try my best, and I struggle. Then, after I have struggled with Spanish for 10 minutes, someone will say something to me in English, and I think, "Ha ha! You were testing me and also making sure I understood the superiority of Spanish in Colombia." Yes, I do. I am learning, too. And of course, I'm so grateful for the chance to learn Spanish. It's such a beautiful language.

The culture is ahead of ours in many respects, such as products that come in biodegradable refill containers, and so the nation has less waste. The milk has a shelf life of 1 year. There are fresh fruit stores everywhere, and people buy fruit straight from the farm. It is wonderful! In other ways, the culture is behind ours. The people do not really exercise. It is very rare for me to see a jogger, although I have seen a couple of gyms. The women take elevators because they believe that the stairs hurt their knees. And most Colombians have a diet heavy in bread and meat. You don't see many vegetables here, except for the huge avocados, which are my favorites. So it's a real mix of similarities and differences.

Larry and I pay $500 a month for our apartment with internet, cable, and free access to a laundromat. That's a pretty good deal (except that local missionaries pay $80). An apartment in the nicer neighborhoods in Bogota sells for $500,000 USD for a one-bedroom. The really nice apartment buildings are built into the sides of the mountains. They are amazing, because they are 20 or 30 stories high and made of bricks -on the side of a mountain surrounded by trees - beautiful However, the poor people also live in shacks on the sides of the mountains, so the mountains have the most diversity. Houses are rare, and they are attached to each other at the sides, like townhouses. They all have security systems and razor wire on the walls. The crime here is pretty high. The drug lords here actually confiscate homes that they like in the smaller cities and threaten to kill the residents if they resist. It's the big news in Colombia because the police can't stop it. I can never begin to express how lucky we are to live in the US.

The bad news about our apartment is that the stove is a mess. I burn everything; it takes 20 minutes to warm up. There is only one outlet that works in the kitchen. And "we" wash dishes by hand but do not have shelf space for them to dry. The laundromat is a zoo. I usually have to stay down there to watch our clothes because people just come in and do whatever they want with other people's stuff. There is less ownership here. :) In fact, yesterday, we had this little old lady from Venezuela who was taking other people's stuff in the temple, so all the women were watching her (per the Matron's orders). The workers kept coming to me and pointing to their eyeball and then to the lady (ladron) and asking me to watch her. :) I think she had a little dementia.

The people here love malls ("centros commerciales"). Rob remembers that from Medellin, too. And Larry and I love them, too. When we have time off, we go to a mall to eat. About half the stores in malls are restaurants, and we enjoy eating in them. We also shop because the Walmart-type stores are in the malls. It makes life easy because we try not to walk outside too much (dangerous) and so we get an Uber to the mall and spend a few hours away from our home and work. We have been able to buy shampoo and soap, bread and eggs, and even Papa Johns pizza at the mall. When we are homesick, we buy a Papa Johns pizza with Coke Zero and then we feel better. :)

Ha ha! And those are our impressions of Bogota after a month of living here. We really do love it and we are having an adventure. Ha ha!