Saludos
Jürgen

First of all I want to give you a short overview about the travels we had. We went to the Amazon, to the Caribbean sea and at the end to a city in Colombia which is called Cartagena. Of course we had a lot of flights and taxi trips to and from the airports. One of this taxi trip in the middle of the night will be unforgettable experience for us.
During the day all the taxi’s are driving within the rules, that means they take care of the speed limits as well as stop if the traffic sign is red. I can tell you in the night the rules are different… there are no rules.
We arrived quite late in the night (around 2:30 a.m.) at the airport of Bogota and of course everyone of us was looking forward to a hot shower and the bed. We took a taxi (one friend took the seat in the front and the other friend and I had a seat in the rear) to my apartment. When we started to head to my apartment the taxi driver drove quite fast through a construction area. Ok, I thought this is normal. After the construction area we entered the city, that means one traffic sign after another. We passed the crossing at least with 80 km/h. Not all of the traffic signs have been green at this time. One friend of mine was asking me if this is normal here.
After passing several red traffic sign we came to a green one (at this time it didn’t make any difference for us anymore). Unfortunately there was another taxi driver you had the same driving style (colorblind???) as our taxi driver, in short both of them didn’t take care on the traffic sign. We headed into the crossing with 80 km/h and the other passed his red traffic sign also quite fast. Frankly speaking we were too fast to stop or avoid a crash so our driver just pushed the horn. The other taxi slid with blocking wheels into the crossing. I don’t know how we passed each other without any crash but we did it. At this time everyone was awake and shocked.
After we arrived at home everyone just wanted to have a shower. Unfortunately I wasn’t in the apartment for 10 days so I couldn’t pay the bill for the gas. You know what comes next…. there was no hot water for the shower. After the shock with the taxi we cooled down (involuntarily) in the shower.
This is not the end of the shower story because we arrived at Friday night so there is no possibility to turn on the gas during the weekend…. Till today (Monday) I had the pleasure to get refreshed every morning by a cold shower.
Since today I come to value hot water for a shower…..

Saludos de Bogota
Jürgen

Saludos de Bogota
Jürgen

I was looking forward to this weekend because I had to travel to Mexico but I didn’t expect that it would be the worst traveling Sunday I’ve ever had.
This Sunday I had to go to Mexico. My flight from Bogota to Mexico was scheduled at 1.20 pm. So I prepared lunch (early lunch ==> brunch) at 10:30 am. In the meantime I packed my bags. After lunch I made the final check (passport, money and flight tickets) and ordered a taxi to the airport. I left my apartment in Bogota at around 11:00 am. Normally you would need max. 20 min to the airport on Sunday. There was no traffic so we headed to the airport quite fast. Around 5 km (there is only one street to the airport) in front of the airport there was a big traffic jam. At this time I didn’t know that the problems just began at this stage. The street was under construction and closed for 20 min. You can imagine how big the traffic jam was. The short version…. I lost 50 min only in the traffic jam. So I arrived at the airport at 12:00 am.
If you want to leave Colombia (international flight) you have to pay for the airport taxis. The line of people was looooong in front of the tax payment booth. Ok, I thought I’m really smart and contacted a local police man from the airport. I knew (because I have seen it before) that this men wanted to earn extra money by helping people to the get stamp for the taxis earlier. So I paid him and he went away with my passport. After 15 min he came back, without the stamp and said that I have a problem with my passport and I have to go to the check in directly. Of course I didn’t get the money back. I had a flight with the Mexicana airline so I was looking for the check in for Mexicana. I asked different people, crossed the whole check-in hall several times, was sweating a lot (again!!!) but there was no Mexicana check-in. After asking some people, one told me that the Mexicana don’t have an own check-in, because they work together with Taca Airlines (but there was no info!!!).
In front of the Taca check-in were only some people because it was already quite late (1 hour before take off!). Of course I had to pay (till now I don’t know what I had to pay for) 62 USD. I checked in and got my boarding pass. I ran to the gate but before I had to pass some “check points”. First check point was the “fast luggage check”. I think the queue of people was more or less 30m to 40m. I couldn’t wait so I went to the first quarter of the line and asked a man (from Venezuela) if I can stand in front of him because I was already late. After I have passed this check point there was the passport control. Ok, I had to wait another 20 min. I gave the passport to the man from the border control, he looked at me, looked at the passport, looked at me again, shacked his head, said something like “problemas” and went away with my passport. After 10 min he came back together with his boss and he explained me that I had only a Visa for 30 days but I stayed in Colombia for more than 90 days till now. I was shocked! Really, I couldn’t speak. I have seen me already sitting on chair with handcuffs, a lamp shines into my face and some guys asking me question in Spanish and I wouldn’t understand anything. The Austrian embassy told me that I would have a Visa for 180 days so I didn’t take care till that moment.
The 2 guys from the border control asked me some questions and then they said that my name is now registered in the computer (remarked ==> perfect!!!) and if this happens again I will get arrested.
Ok, after some problems I passed check point 2…. border control. It was already 1:10 pm so 10 min before the planned take off. In Europe there will be no chance to catch the flight anymore.
The last “check point” I had to pass was the luggage control (no X-ray ==> scan by a authorized person). The queue of people was longer than the lines before. I walked in front of the line, told one woman (police) that I have a flight to Mexico and no time left. She said that I have to wait in the line (~ 20m long). I went to end of the line, waited another 10 min (it was already 1:20 pm, take off time) but I was standing behind one guy who had also ticket to Mexico City (same flight). After I have passed also this (last) check point I entered (I was one of the last 10 people) the plane and 5 min later they closed the door.
When I arrived in Mexico I had some problems with my luggage and they wanted to control it again. I had to wait another 20 min (the same happened to me also in New Zealand) after they didn’t found anything.
When I was sitting in the taxi (in Mexico) on the way to the hotel the radio was playing a song which is called “Rock me Amadeus” from a big entertainer of Austria (Falco). I had to smile because I was soooo happy that everything went fine at the end after so many problems …..
Since 4 years I’m traveling around the world but I have never had such a “problematic” day before…. And I hope I will never have such day again.

Saludos de Mexico
Jürgen

This time I will tell you a story about my business trip to Barranquilla…
Barranquilla is located next to the Caribbean sea so you can imagine that the weather is accordingly hot there. The city has approximately 1.380437 inhabitants (effective in 2005), no beaches and one big harbor. So this city offers the best place to work there because you sweat there all the time in your suit (I know it right now!).
Nevertheless let’s start with the story. I went with our partner to Barranquilla for one week to meet customers. Of course I wore my best and finest suit with a tie. I knew that it would be hot there but I didn’t reckon that it’s so hot. When we arrived at the airport I got the first „heat shock“. The tie became closer and closer and I started within millisecond to sweat. Together with the luggage and my laptop we were looking for a taxi. I prayed that this taxi will have a air conditioning because I wore a nice grey suit so if you start to sweat it looks so fine to have dark wet spots.
We were lucky and found a man (at this time I haven’t seen his taxi) who offered us his taxi service. At this time I thought that I have passed already the worst part and I will cool down in his taxi. So we went out of the taxi zone and I had to carry still my luggage. We went to a big parking place without any shadow. You can imagine how I felt in my suit. Ok, I thought this guy has parked his car quite close. After we have passed almost 10 “nice and new” taxis we stopped in front of a…. how should I explain, something between a Trabi (Trabant) and Lada. Till today I don’t know which brand it was. It was horrible. The car trunk has never been an original part of this car because it didn’t close completely. The color, I think it was called rainbow design because you could find every color on this car, especially rust-brown. Since 4 years I’m traveling but I have never seen any car which was so …..“different” to the others. Ok, we chose the driver so we had to go with this cab. When we entered the car it was like in a sauna. The only difference was that I wasn’t dressed right with my suit. It was so incredible hot there and I was looking for the air conditioning. When I took look around inside of the car it looked like that someone has fixed all the moving parts with chewing gums. I didn’t want to touch anything in this car. I can tell you that the whole world is talking right now about the influenza virus H1N1 but if you have survived this taxi (it’s a breeding place for many virus) you wouldn’t be worried anymore of H1N1.
So, no air conditioning only airstream of the moving car. The side mirror was also fixed with chewing gums and folded paper. During the ride the last part of the taxi was shaking a little bit. It was good because there was no danger to stick with my already wet sweated trouser on the seat.
I was so happy when we arrived at the office. I left the taxi and my suit was …. you can imagine. We went to the office and of course all the people were starring at me like I’m not from this planet. I took a seat next to the air conditioning system to became first cooled down and then dried.
Yes, it was nice. Today I brought my suit to dry cleaner’s. I hope that my next story isn’t about any experience with the dry cleaner’s…….

Saludos de Bogota
Jürgen

It never ends with funny stories. Sometimes I think why this happens always to me….

First of all I have to tell you some general information about Bogotá before I start with my next story. Bogotá offers every Sunday from 7 a.m. till 2 p.m. (by closing some main streets) 120 km streets only for cyclists. Around 2 million people (25% of inhabitants of Bogotá) only in Bogotá use this opportunity to ride their bikes on this streets. The closed streets during this time are called “Cyclovia” (bike path).

Normally I have to say that the time (from 7 a.m. till 2 p.m.) on Sunday is not very comfortable if you were out for a drink (or two!) on Saturday. I think this was also the problem why it took almost 3 months that I will use the opportunity of the Cyclovia to ride my bike there. I took a look on the map for the Cyclovia and decided to make a nice ride for about 1 hour. I took me 10 min. to reach the Cyclovia from my apartment. I had to pass a cordon to get on the bike path. It was great because the main street was closed, no cars on the streets ….. a lot of people on the side, no cyclists on the street. There were a lot of music stations on the sidewalk, some tents with people who offered water….. and I was really impressed how well they organize the Cyclovia every Sunday. I can tell you that I really enjoyed it and I was sure to do this the next Sunday again. After some time I was wondering a little bit because there were more and more people on the sidewalks behind some cordons. I think at this time the whole situation was a little bit suspicious for me. Some cyclists with orange T-shirts and radio headsets came my way. They looked and say (screamed) something to me but I didn’t understand and just greet them. Then a man with the same orange T-shirt and radio headset jumped on the street and said something to me but I was so shocked and busy to avoid an accident with him that I didn’t take care what he said to me. I just thought how fool this guy was.
After 20 meters two other orange people jumped on the street and this was the end of my trip. They stopped me, said something really fast in Spanish and the only word I understood was Marathon. You can imagine how fast the gear wheels have worked in my head. Of course everything was clear for me, the music stations, the tents with the water station,…. that was not for me, for the cyclist. This was an official Marathon (once per year in Bogotá). Around 1 min after the took me of the street the first 3 leaders of the Marathon passed by. At the end there were around 10.000 marathon runners at this event so there were no chance for me and my woman mountain bike to win this battle.
I wanted to use the first time of my life the “Cyclovia” of Bogotá and at the same time there is the Marathon of Bogotá (only once per year). I’m always lucky with such extraordinary circumstances.

Saludos de Bogota

Jürgen

Till now you read stories which were funny, stupid (bike accident) and as well as a little bit dangerous (horse accident). The next story is a story about surviving.

It was a weekend and I wanted to see some really beautiful nature islands in the Caribbean sea. Therefore you have to take a “speed boat” (capacity for ~ 40 people) to go to this islands. It takes about 45 min to reach them. I can tell you it was really beautiful. In the middle of the sea exists a group of 27 island where you can find the real nature, blue sea and a lot of jellyfishes. Perfect, I couldn’t go into the blue sea because of the jellyfishes. Nevertheless all of us stayed on the island and enjoyed the sun as well as the nature (of course with a beer).
We stayed there approximately 4 hours. At around 3 p.m. the weather changed very fast so it looked like that we get really bad weather. We started to leave the island and the sea was very rough. I got only a place at the end of the boat and I didn’t know that this place was one of the worst. Based on the rough sea I was 30 min full of sea water. My eyes burned (because of the salt water) and I felt a little bite cold. Our boat conductor was really experienced and shipped us fast and save through the sea. I was happy when I could see the dry land at the horizon. The captain took a different way back and till now I don’t know why. The sea was still very rough as suddenly the captain slowed down the boat. One passenger was screaming: Un perro, un perro (A dog, A dog)!!! Of course I didn’t believe (also with my little Spanish) that there will be a dog in the sea so far away from the dry land. So I thought the people meant that there is a seal. I was looking for the seal and you wouldn’t believe what 40 people saw in the water ==>  it was a dog who was fighting in the rough sea for his life. The captain turned back the boat and tried to reach the dog to rescue him. It was very difficult because the boat was quite big and the sea very rough. At the end of the boat someone from the crew tried to grab the dog. The guy almost grabbed him when the dog came very close (I think the dog was already in the propeller) to the propeller of the ship.
The dog was lucky because the crew member grabbed the animal (was unhurt). The dog was really exhausted and was lying totally tired on the boat. I’m sure that he couldn’t even see where he was (near or far away of the safe dry land) but he fought for his life and didn’t give up.
There are so many fortuities in your life because what happened if (stupid question!!!) we would go another route back we would never find the dog. But this was destiny for the dog and in his situation. He was very far away from the safe dry land without any change to get rescued but he didn’t stop to fight for his life.
You will never know what will happen in your life but I have learned one thing:
Never give up even the situation looks hopeless! The life is full of surprises.

Saludos de Bogota
Jürgen

]]> http://telehaase.wordpress.com/2009/07/22/fighting-for-your-life-without-any-chance-to-survive/feed/ 1 telehaase rescue dog http://telehaase.wordpress.com/2009/07/06/under-400kg-of-living-meat/ http://telehaase.wordpress.com/2009/07/06/under-400kg-of-living-meat/#comments Mon, 06 Jul 2009 23:20:35 +0000 telehaase http://telehaase.wordpress.com/?p=71 ]]>

Hola Amigos,

Right now I’m since 2 months in Bogota, Colombia and I really enjoy it. My Spanish is still to less but it works well for the daily problems.

Today I will tell you a story where I was really lucky at the end that nothing happened to me….

It’s very typical for Colombia to leave Bogota during the weekends to spend the time outside in the nature. Therefore some people are in a lucky position to have a “Finca” (kind of vacation home). I’m also lucky because I have a friend here who (actually his parents) have such Finca. So we went (7 people at all) to this Finca from Saturday till Monday (holiday). It was located more ore less 40 km away from Bogota. The place there was really nice, pure nature and surrounded by mountains. Before we left Bogota we bought enough food for the weekend. We were lucky because one guy was a cook. We arrived quite late on Saturday so our cook started directly (of course with our support) to prepare the dinner. After the really delicious dinner we started to have party (till 5 a.m.). You can imagine how we felt on the after. I forgot to explain that there live a family (farmers) next to the Finca. They have to take care that everything is fine there so they cleaned everything (washed the dishes, cleaned the whole lot from the party). At Sunday everyone of us had a hangover.

In the afternoon there was planned to make a horseback ride. There was only one problem è I have never ridden a horse before so I had no idea how to do it. At this time I already accepted to stay the whole afternoon alone in the Finca. No chance! One friend of mine gave me a short (max. 30 sec) introduction how to “control” a horse and that was it. I can tell you I was really nervous. I said that I would need the most quiet horse. So I got a horse which was only used to transport the milk. I loved this horse! It was easy to handle and very slow.

So we started with our horseback ride in to the nature. It was great! There was only one small problem (I didn’t know at this time that this small problem will be at the end a big problem for me) because it was raining all the time and the ground was very slippery. We went to a very beautiful place with a small lake directly located in the nature. I really enjoyed this ride. After we have spent a certain time at this place we started to ride back. The way back was even worse than the way we took before. My horse felt a little bit nervous and you can guess how nervous I was! There was one moment were I didn’t take care and then it happened……. the right rear food of the horse slipped away first and shortly afterwards the right front food as well. You can imagine what happened next. The horse felt down on the right side… and yes, I was still on the horse with so much fear in my big eyes. So the horse felt … directly on my right leg. 400kg (more or less) of living meat were lying on my right leg. This part of the horseback ride I didn’t really enjoy. The horse stood up and I was lying in the mud. First I checked if my leg is still one part of my body…. it was still there only full of mud. Actually my whole right side was full of mud. I stood up as well and checked if everything was alright. Nothing happened to me and  to my horse. The confidence which I built up to my horse was completely disappeared after this incident. I didn’t trust my horse and my horse didn’t trust me anymore. The good thing was that we couldn’t talk to each other at this moment because we would discuss whose fault was it.

The next day we made another horseback ride. At this ride we (my horse and I) haven’t had any problems with each other. Totally I spent almost 5 hours on the horse at this weekend.
I couldn’t sit or walk normally 2 days after (caused from 5 hours in the saddle)…..

Summarized I really enjoyed this weekend because it’s was very special for me. Who can say that 400kg of “living meat” where lying on his right leg?

Saludos de Bogota
Jürgen

First of all I’m sorry for the delay of this Blog. I’m now since 6 weeks (more or less) in Bogota and of course many things happened to me.

So, where shall I start to begin my stories about experiences….
Let’s start with the story of my bicycle…. incident. I was riding my bike (still the woman mountain bike) on the bicycle lanes of Bogota. There is part where the bicycle lane ends and you have to go with your bike for approximately 500m on the normal street (with cars). I went really fast because I wanted to leave this dangerous part as fast as possible. In the same moment when I tried to leave the normal street back to bicycle lane, a bus hooted at me. I was frightened so I looked back and didn’t take care for a moment. This moment should change the next 30 seconds of my life. I was heading straightaway to a traffic sign. It was too late to do any correction so I crashed with my (actually my rented bike) into the traffic sign. I can tell you, it was a long time ago that I felt so embarrassed like in that moment. I was really lucky because I got only hurt on my right knee (it was bleeding like when I had my first bicycle accident with 4 years). Unfortunately my bicycle has a basket in front and the traffic sign was now the main part (it was in the center of the basket) of it. So the traffic sign and the basket were at this time one “part”. I tried to separate them and “repaired” the basket as good as possible. Two days later I painted the basket black so almost all marks from the accident disappeared. The one thing I have learned about that experience: Keep your eyes always in the direction where you are heading!
The next story happened in my apartment. My apartment has two toilets, one for visitors (I have never used this till now) and one for the owner together with the shower. The toilet for visitors had some problems in the past because sometimes the water didn’t stop. I didn’t take care of that small problem because it happened only sometimes. One day I came back from the office and wanted to clean the dished after I had dinner. I poured the rest of the dinner in to the toilet (for visitors) together with some used kitchen paper. Afterwards I flushed everything down the loo. I left the toilet and continued cleaning the kitchen as well as the dishes. After some time I heard some noises like a small creek was gurgling. I thought that this sound came from another apartment so I continued washing the dishes. The sound was still there after a certain time so I was thinking on water, toilet,…… oh my god. I was running to the visitors toilet and unfortunately the toilet itself was already flooded. At this time I have to say many thanks to my dad and my brother because both of them are plumbers and I have learned a little bit from them (they wouldn’t believe it). I opened the cover of the toilet flushing box and lifted up the float (swimmer). The water stopped and I was standing in the flooded toilet (not contaminated) with the float in my hand. I thought: What shall I do right now? There was no possibility to turn off the water separately. I decided to bend the float switch so I could fix it. That meant I had to change the float but this was the smallest problem. After the water stopped I started to clean up the toilet. Since that time I appreciate the job of a housewife more than ever (and it shouldn’t mean that I haven’t appreciated this in the past).

So, you see I had a some small “experiences” in the meantime. Not all of them (not even one right now) I really enjoyed but I’m (guess so) more experienced right now. 

Promise the next Blog will not take so long………….… Saludos Jürgen!

At the end of day I didn’t have a seat on my couch with a beer because I lost too much money to drink or buy a beer.

      Saludos de Bogota     
Jürgen