March 04, 2005
It feels like I have sand in my eyes...
... but I still can't fall asleep. It's 11:59 p.m. and my plane leaves in six hours, bound to a city I've never visited, a country I don't know. My suitcase is neatly packed, my gear is arranged in my backpack, my passport and wallet are stored in a pocket zipped shut by a Swiss Army lock - the safest one around, I'm told. That, I hope, should be enough to fend off theft.
We had a farewell dinner at the hotel restaurant - the eight fellows and the Washington Post's Rajiv Chandrasekaran, an honorary member of our group. We pooled our drink vouchers and managed to get a pair of free bottles of house Cabernet. The food was also free, a reward for putting up with the thump-thumping of hammers swung by construction workers in charge of the renovation at the Beacon Hotel. Like we had a choice.
I'll be in Bogota at 1:25 p.m. Irma Ramirez, the widow who offered to put me up during my stay, is supposed to be at Aeropuerto El Dorado waiting for me. The problem is, I have no idea how she looks like. If we can't find each other, I can always catch a cab to Calle 75 con Carrera 8, in the heart of hip El Nogal. Irma lives there, in a third-floor walk-up flat, two blocks from the cafe bombed by the FARC two years ago.
I'll be in Colombia for five weeks as part of my International Reporting Project fellowship and will try to write as much as possible, so check out my blog once in a while.
Buenas noches y hasta pronto.
Posted by Fernanda Santos at March 4, 2005 11:39 PM
Comments
You go girl!!! Can't wait to hear your stories.
Posted by: Cathryn at March 5, 2005 10:16 AM
Vou ficar muito atente pelas historias.
fica con Deus!
Marie
Posted by: Mariela at March 5, 2005 01:24 PM
Fernanda,
Bacana o blog. Vou acompanhar sua aventura colombiana. O Estadão não ainda não respondeu. Está com eles o assunto. Next week vou cobrá-los.
Boa sorte!
Posted by: José Enrique Barreiro at March 6, 2005 12:19 PM
Oi Fe!
Boa sorte amiga, que tudo corra bem para voce ai na Colombia. Estou com saudades... Vou ver se ligo para o Mike para dar uma forca.
Beijo,
DAni
Posted by: Anonymous at March 7, 2005 09:16 AM
Estou acompanhando atentamente a sua jornada Fe... Parece-me super interessante, right up you alley, e voce eh bem esperta para se safar de situacoes perigosas, mas pelo amor de Deus CUIDADO amiga, fico preocupada.
Um beijao,
Dani
Posted by: Dani at March 15, 2005 01:58 PM