Life in Cartagena is definitely much less stressful than life in Bogota.
Your environment has so much to do with how you feel. Life in a big city has so much energy to it, yes, vibrance and life and movement, but the fast pace can wear on you after awhile. People power-walk everywhere, vendors loudly hawk their foods and goods on the streets, business men chatter away on their cell phones, students hurry to class, as the bright red Transmilenio busses, jam-packed to the point of smothering, rumble through the city around every turn.
The vibe of a beach town is so much more relaxing. People have a calmer energy. They walk a little slower and talk more to each other.
But a good deal of my stress level in Bogota was self-imposed. In reality I had just as much time as I have here, but in Bogota I was constantly pained by the feeling that I wasn't doing or seeing enough. In a huge city like that, there's so much to experience, and it was hard for me to sit still or just hang out in the apartment because I felt like I was missing out on all I could have been doing.
The number of people living with me at the apartment definitely had something to do with it as well. When you're living with 14 other people, you are surrounded by much more group culture/dynamics and drama. Not to mention germs. I was eternally sick there.
And it's so easy to spend money in a big city.
Here in Cartagena, life is much quieter and simpler. I live with only three other girls. Our apartment isn't directly in the city the way it was in Bogota, so I can't just walk out the door, get on the Transmilenio and immediately be somewhere. During the day, I go to my projects, nap, and go to the beach.
Yesterday I was doing something normal here, which was sitting on a beach and just watching the Caribbean waves. A speaker behind me was playing 'No Woman No Cry,' and I was struck suddenly by the realization that a few months ago, I was doing the same thing in Jamaica-- on a one-week vacation. And right now this is just kind of...my life.
:)
OCT. 26
Your environment has so much to do with how you feel. Life in a big city has so much energy to it, yes, vibrance and life and movement, but the fast pace can wear on you after awhile. People power-walk everywhere, vendors loudly hawk their foods and goods on the streets, business men chatter away on their cell phones, students hurry to class, as the bright red Transmilenio busses, jam-packed to the point of smothering, rumble through the city around every turn.
The vibe of a beach town is so much more relaxing. People have a calmer energy. They walk a little slower and talk more to each other.
But a good deal of my stress level in Bogota was self-imposed. In reality I had just as much time as I have here, but in Bogota I was constantly pained by the feeling that I wasn't doing or seeing enough. In a huge city like that, there's so much to experience, and it was hard for me to sit still or just hang out in the apartment because I felt like I was missing out on all I could have been doing.
The number of people living with me at the apartment definitely had something to do with it as well. When you're living with 14 other people, you are surrounded by much more group culture/dynamics and drama. Not to mention germs. I was eternally sick there.
And it's so easy to spend money in a big city.
Here in Cartagena, life is much quieter and simpler. I live with only three other girls. Our apartment isn't directly in the city the way it was in Bogota, so I can't just walk out the door, get on the Transmilenio and immediately be somewhere. During the day, I go to my projects, nap, and go to the beach.
Yesterday I was doing something normal here, which was sitting on a beach and just watching the Caribbean waves. A speaker behind me was playing 'No Woman No Cry,' and I was struck suddenly by the realization that a few months ago, I was doing the same thing in Jamaica-- on a one-week vacation. And right now this is just kind of...my life.
:)
OCT. 26
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