Life in Barranquilla

[Montrealer]

So now that I've gotten settled in as someone living here instead of just visiting, there are some things that I've come to learn about life living in Barranquilla.

The good are numerous, but mostly based upon my personal experiences and pesonal life.  But the bad are numerous as well, and I'm going to be a bit of a grump and complain about those for a moment.

Plumbing - You can't put your toilet paper in the toilet becuase it will block it up.  You have to wad it up and put it in the trash can, then throw it out with the rest of the garbage.  And although we empty them throughout the day, it's still not pleasant.

Weather - I'll leave the tornado out, since that was a freak incident.  But it's hot, damn hot.  I knew this before, so it's no surprise, but now I'm on an excercise routine that involves one hour of jogging and power walking, which I'm forced to do at 5 AM to avoid the scorching sun.  My apartement is really fresh at night time with just the windows open and the fans on, but during the day, theres some part of my place I don't go to because they heat up.  I'd use the AC, but I don't like the quality of the air with the AC on.

Food - Fried, fried, fried.  Although I'm a big guy, believe it or not, I don't like fried food that much and everything here is cooked with a cup of oil it seems.  I do the cooking a few days a week just so I can have a change.  The wife is learning though my likes and dislikes when it comes to food.  She has stopped using salt which makes me happy.

Poop & scoop - Barranquilla doesn't have laws about picking up your dog poop, so 3 times a day the maids are walking the dogs out front and leaving steaming piles on the sidewalk.  However, it is always gone the following day.  I don't know who picks it up.

TV - Theres about 5 constant english channels, and a few other channels that have a good amount of shows in english with subs.  I'm used to my satelite, so maybe I shouldn't complain too much on this one.  I could get satelite here, but they all want a contract and since I don't know how long I'm here for I figured I would suffer.

Activities - Theres not much to do here in BAQ for locals with money.  Theres one bowling alley that me and my wife go to (she's getting quite good).  But unless you're in to the bar and club scene, which me and the wife aren't really, there isn't much else.  I've looked for mini-golf, go karts, and other things to do, but the pickings be slim to none.  If anybody knows anything, please advise.  I now know every inch of Buenavista mall and I never buy anything anymore because I buy it in the centro.

Grocery Stores - The grocery stores have such limited variety.  I either go to Vivero, Exito or Carrefour, and they only have like 5 short aisles of food.  I'm used to my grocery stores with a wide selection and 20 aisles of food.  Plus a huge selection of different cuts of meats, not just the cheapest like here.  I miss my filet mignon steaks.

Making things so complicated - Everything is such a big deal to do down here.  An example, I went to MoneyGram to send my ex-wife her child support, but because I didn't have a cedula, they didn't want to help me.  I showed them my passport, but the girl behind the counter didn't know what to do with it.  I ended up sending it in my wifes name with her cedula.  The ex wasn't too crazy about that.  Plus it took about 30 minutes, requiring photocopies and fingerprints, whereas in Canada, the whole thing takes less than 3 minutes and it's done.

There are some other things that annoy me, but on a much smaller scale.  And I know this post comes off as grumpy, but if you were to ask me if I regret moving here temporarily, I would say "HECK NO!".  Me and the wife are having a blast, and although we are finding out things about eachother that we didn't know beforehand, we are loving every moment of it and each day the love between us grows stronger and stronger.

Well, peace out for now.

[bundy_138]

Nice post!  Keep us posted. 

[papi]

they tell you the same thing  in parts of Asia ...regarding the toilet paper. El Papi was in non-compliance on that issue plumbing be damned. However, i did enjoy the "bum gun" in Thailand, which basically works like a douche por la atras...However, many places don´t have TP at all nor soap and towels for that matter..or if they do it is of the communal variety. You also see that in Latin America. They use water to clean themselves in much of Asia..no paper. I have seen  troughs with water to cleanup and a hole in the ground to go. Fortunately, while I had some close calls, the only squats i did was in the gym

[papi]

In Korea, they use TP in place of napkins. I even saw TP dispensers affixed to the wall of a restaurant dining room so patrons could conveniently grab a wad to wipe the kimchi off their bocas. This is in sharp contrast to Japan which has the most state-of-the-art facilities i have seen including sanitary gel dispensers to wipe down your toilet seat and turbo hand dryers which dry your hands in nano seconds

[Montrealer]

Remembering my trip to India about 18 months ago, I can understand where your coming from.  I had to use the 2 bucket technique which I still don't get.  I just tried not to poop while there except for in my hotel where I bought TP since it wasn't standard issue.  However, I had one time where using a public facility was unavoidable, and I think I could have used a tetnus shot afterwards.