Bogota Base

It is Sunday and one full week of volunteering with Emerging Voices is now officially complete. After touring around the different projects available to volunteers here in Bogota I feel safe to say that there is one that fits my interests the best, feeding local homeless. On Friday two other volunteers and myself assisted a local soup kitchen in feeding over 160 homeless people. The work was fast, intense, and very fun. It felt a lot like my old job except the customers were actually a lot friendlier lol. People were extremely grateful and polite and it felt for the first time that I was making a tangible difference in other's lives.

Monday through Thursday was very eye opening and enlightening but none of the other projects seemed like a good fit despite the fact that everyone involved was great to work with. Feeding homeless was what I signed up for and it was satisfying being a part of a team of locals working to provide a meal for less the fortunate. I plan on continuing this assignment for the remainder of my stay in Bogota which lasts for two more weeks. The tentative plan is to make my way to Ecuador immediately after or possibly head north to Medillin for a few day to see a different part of the country.

Besides volunteering a few hours each day, life in Bogota is getting very comfortable. The city is easy to navigate, taxis are cheap, the beer isn't that good, and music is as important as money for rent. For the past two nights a group of volunteers and myself have been dabbling in Colombian nightlife. Friday we went to a really cool quant salsa dancing bar where tipsy locals played bongos and strangers acted like best friends. Yesterday there was a free jazz festival which led to beers at The Bogota Beer Company and more music at Andre's. On Friday there also was a major soccer game between Colombia and uraguay and a few of us went to a local bar to watch the match. Today a buddy and I are going to a big flee market to buy cheap souvenirs and tomorrow will be more Spanish lessons after volunteering. I miss everyone and feel very fortunate to be here!