Odds and Ends

Some learnings from my trip so far:

Sao Paulo has 2 Million Japanese living in it. There are two Japanese language television stations.

Brazilians can usually understand what a Spanish speaker is saying, but it doesn't work as well the other way around.

You have to pay a tax to leave Brazil and Columbia. And they only take cash, so be sure and not spend everything or you can't get home!

Columbia and the area around Bogota in particular, grow many flowers. Flying into the airport takes you over hundreds of greenhouses.

The flight from Sao Paulo to Bogota takes you over many large rivers, several of which feed into the Amazon. They are constantly changing and a view out the window makes it obvious, as you see the numerous little lakes formed by bends that got cut off from the main river.

Brazil runs mostly on 220v, but usually have a plug or two that is clearly marked as 110v. Columbia runs on 110v.

Bogota has a large enough German population to support a German television station.

Many international hotels require you to put your key card into a slot inside the door of your room to activate the electricity. It saves money as you cannot leave the lights on when you leave the room!

For rough estimates, 2000 pesos is a dollar. They have 100 peso coins, a nickel and 200 peso coins are about a dime. I haven't seen a 500 peso coin yet. It seems a bit strange to carry a 50,000 peso bill. (I have gotten a 500 peso coin now!)

The music that is played in most places is from the 80´s era. The hotel, the restaurants and most of the shops play tunes from that decade.

The variety of fruits in Columbia is amazing! I´ve learned that there are two types of mangos. I´ve had a lot of fruits were you eat the entire insides, seeds and all. But I never did get a hold of a cashew fruit or even cashew juice.

Negotiations are alive in well in Columbia! Hector is a master and I was savvy enough to know how to play along. I got a jacket, exactly what I wanted, color and size, for almost 30% off what the tag was, and that was already about 10% less then in the shops I had seen them in prior to that.