Recession: An American Experience
SUMMARY: I describe what seemed different to me about my first time living in America since the global recession / credit crisis.
The subprime mortgage meltdown started around 2007, the last year I lived in the States. At the time, newspapers and economists believed the risk was contained to only subprime or the domestic house market. Since then we’ve seen big banks fail, investments plummet, and trillions of public dollars injected into banks around the world. We’ve learned about collaterized debt obligations (CDO), credit-default swaps (CDS), and a slew of other culprits in what amounts to the steepest recession since the Great Depression.
I wasn’t around during the Great Depression; I only have the impression I got from American textbooks. My impression was that it was depression, a miserable time that spanned over ten years. Similar to that impression, my feel for the current economic stumble was limited to what I’d read in newspapers and among economists (In Peru, GDP growth still hasn’t dipped into the negative). This work holiday was the first time living in America during the biggest recession of my lifetime. Things were noticeably different, some in unexpected ways.
Scopolamine in Colombia
SUMMARY: Scopolamine is a powerful sedative commonly used in robberies, assaults, and rapes in Colombia. It’s like GHB but worse. In this post, I tell a few scopolamine stories and discuss the urban legend facets.
Scopolamine, also known as Burundanga, is a powerful sedative extracted from the Brugmansia plant, which is native to Colombia. Scopolamine is commonly used as a central nervous system depressant in patch form to treat nausea, seasickness, motion sickness, and less commonly in treatments of Parkinson’s symptoms and in anesthesia. Scopolamine is starting to attract attention for its potential in treating addiction, specifically nicotine.
Scopolamine comes with a slew of side effects ranging from dry mouth and impaired speech, amnesia, excitement and restlessness, to hallucinations and delirium. In years past it was used in conjunction with painkillers to induce Twilight Sleep, which relieves pain during childbirth while keeping the patient awake. Scopolamine was studied by the Nazis and a few intelligence agencies during the Cold War as a truth drug. In very rare cases, scopolamine is used as a recreational drug for its hallucinogenic side effects. The chemical extract is highly toxic, so non-medical use is dangerous. The prescribed uses call for as little as 330 micrograms. … Read more
Relocating to Bogotá, Colombia
SUMMARY: I’m moving to Bogotá, Colombia. I discuss my plans.
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. … Read more
Feeling Good: New Apartment
SUMMARY: I got a new apartment. “Feeling Good” by Nina Simone. Pictures.
Since deciding to move out of Beto’s, Nicolas and I found a new apartment. We signed that weekend and I just moved in today. The apartment is CLASSIC: four-bedrooms with three bathrooms. The building’s on a guarded street off Avenida Ejercito in Cayma. Cayma is the upscale part of Arequipa. … Read more
Anticipation of Expatriation
SUMMARY: I write about why I am leaving America, why I am choosing Peru, and what I hope to become.
Why do I want to leave home? My home is St. Louis, MO. It is a medium-sized, mostly suburban city in the heart of the midwest. I have moved away before (within the States) but always seem to come back. However, I didn’t really want to come back last time so much as my circumstances dictated that I come back. It is no secret to anyone that knows me well that my distaste for St. Louis borders on hatred and that it is a foregone conclusion that I would leave as soon as I finished my MBA.
My life here feels so boring that I seem to have gotten back into the habit of getting in trouble. I know this sounds really corny and clichè, but I feel as if I’ll be dead or in jail if I don’t get out of here…. Read more
