Gonzalo

Gonzalo is my driver.  He's reminds me a bit of a wild man, kinda like the Tasmanian devil.  Short, darts around, and is almost always wearing a sly grin.  He speaks both French and Spanish, which was great while Wes was here.  Wes speaks French, but no Spanish.  So while enroute, the three of us would communicate rather well, albeit speaking a different language to each other.  It's kind of fun, really.

Upon my arrival here, I mentioned that I liked beer and since then, Gonzalo will ask me every night if I'm drinking a beer, and which one (with a big smile, as if he's saying "ya man, it's party time").  He took us grocery shopping the other day and I told him that I wanted to try out what Colombia has to offer.  He gave me a breakdown of each beer they made, although I didn't quite catch everything.  Just before that, we walked by a fridge with a bunch of drinks, each grabbed a Paisa and cracked it open, to make our shopping experience that much more enjoyable.  Bebimos ahora, pagamos despues!! (Drink now, pay later he happily exclaimed)

I also wanted to buy milk, but was looking for a carton of it.  Gonzalo sees a man eating something and talking on the phone and starts drilling him with questions about milk.  It seems like every time I ask for something, he drops everything to go find an answer, no matter who/what is in his path.  I buy something, but I'm not sure if it's lactose free, or lactose plus, pasteurized or not.  It isn't stored in the rest of the dairy section, is not refrigerated, but the label tells me to refrigerate once opened.  Either way, it suits my morning coffee fine.

While enroute to dropping Wes off at the airport, we enjoyed the scenery and took pictures from the car.  Gonzalo figured that we could get a nicer pic by stopping the car, uphill, in traffic.  He eventually pulled over to the side, though.

I should also mention that I searched for directions from my hotel to the studio on Google Maps, and while it recognizes both locations, it tells me that it doesn't know how to supply directions.  They could easily just write "draw a straight line and do whatever it takes to get there."  We've cut across three lanes to make a right turn from the left side of the road numerous times, like it's no big deal.  There are more motorcycles than cars, and an awful lot of cars.  The motorcycles drive in between cars and trucks, snaking their way through traffic, almost getting smoked in the process.  I asked a PSi staff worker, Santiago, if there are a lot of accidents here.  "Oh yes, a lot of accidents.  Especially with the motorcycles."  I don't know how it compares to Toronto, since we have a lot of bad drivers, too, but it looks more frequent here.  They shut down express routes Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sunday mornings for cyclists, which is a great idea to promote less vehicular use, but a terrible idea for traffic.  My guess is a lot more accidents occur on those days.  With Gonzalo's shifty eyes, however, I feel pretty safe.