Relocating to Bogotá, Colombia
It’s official. I booked my flight Sunday. I move to Bogotá April 3, after exactly one year in Peru.
I’m starting a web development business. I’ve learned a lot about the internet from creating and maintaining this blog and from living with two computer guys. Of everything I’ve learned, there’s one point that stands out. Web practices in Latin America are SHIT. It’s not just Arequipa. It’s not just Peru. It’s the entire Spanish web: one big backwards piece of shit. Latin American websites use practices gringos stopped doing years ago – in some cases dating back to the nineties. The region will need help getting caught up for at least ten years. I’m going to help. I don’t know how to create the web solutions per se, but I can sell them. Creating them should be the easy part.
And I still have hoop dreams of generating money through writing, namely this blog. You, my dear readers, suggest that I may actually be creating interesting content here. I have a plan to enchance the interesting-ness. There is a thriving punk scene in Bogotá. I saw it with my own eyes. Hundreds of Colombian punks with green mohawks and spiked collars. You would have thought you were in NYC in the 80s if everybody weren’t brown and speaking Spanish. I find this subculture very interesting. How could punk be alive and well here in Latin America? I hope to engage with these people – get to know them ala Hunter Thompson and the Hell’s Angels – and write about them on this blog.
Those are my plans to make money. I’ll be an independent broker for the Peruvian company while launching a web development business catering to Latin American companies which have embarrassingly primitive websites. And I’ll nurture my writing hobby. In the short run, (ahem, cough cough) I’ll teach English to stay liquid (choke choke). Hopefully I won’t be doing that for long. On the bright side, I’ll be teaching professionals to whom I can sell websites. I can also meet female students after class for more focused attention.
My brother Ryan’s coming down to help me move all my things since I only get two suitcases on the plane. He’ll double that capacity by bringing two empty suitcases for my things and he’ll wear my clothes for his entire vacation. He arrives March 25 for a few days in Arequipa, including my going-away party. Then we do a few days in Lima before moving on to Bogotá. Damien’s coming too. He wants to stay in Bogotá for a month before going back to the Caribbean or China or who knows where. And I’ll stay in Colombia.
Why Bogotá? See this post.
comments
5 Responses to “Relocating to Bogotá, Colombia”
Leave a Reply
This makes me a little sad for some reason. I enjoyed hearing your take on living in Peru.
But after re-reading your Bogota post, I look forward to reading about your adventures in Colombia.
Good luck!
You’re right about web development down here. There are tons of kids with degrees in IT, but like so many things here their education didn’t teach them to apply what they know. Most of them end up working in some little copy place.
I have not looked for work in months, I have more than I can handle.
Good luck on your new business venture.
The first time I visited Bogota I thought it was big. Then after moving to Lima and connecting to another flight in Bogota, I realize how small it is in size as I look over the city on take off. Lima makes almost any Latin American city look like a suburb.
The one thing that I do like about Bogota is that it has become very modernized in the past several years and there is no shortage of Colombians that speak English.
However, you will have to get accustomed to the pollution. Arequipa has fresh air whereas the entire city of Bogota smells like a giant gas station.
Here’s a little primer on teaching ESL:
http://lifeinperu.com/2009/02/28/last-day-of-class/
wow… good luck man… a new town new stories, and more places for us to hit up when i come back over!!