Third day in Bogota and now figuring out how it works. Jump off kerbs, defy taxis and buses to run you down and use liberal doses of Buenos Dias, Buenos Tardes and Como estas. After that resort to "no hablo Espanol" or smiling stupidly! The buses are so funny, little minibuses, completely bashed up and people just stick their hand out and the bus shoots across 3 lanes and screeches to a halt to pick them up.

Last night I was at the BBC - no, nothing to do with TV, the Bogota Beer Company. The beer was yummy, bit like Speckled Hen and locally brewed. I had a very nice dinner although I don't really know what it was, I just picked something off the menu to try without understanding the description!

Am walking between the hotel and the embassy, about 15 minutes. I made the mistake on the first couple of days of wearing work shoes. That's now gone out of the window and they are firmly ensconced in a cupboard here at the embassy. The pavements are awful, all loose stones and holes. Even the manhole covers are broken and, apparently, you shouldn't stand on them as many of them are completely loose and there are many accidents where people fall through! This picture shows the corner of a manhole just broken...and this is a good one!!

Apparently, Bogota is really, really safe these days, just petty crime so really the same as any large city. I was told that the city is reluctant to downgrade itself because then there would be hundred of security guards, bodyguards and private drivers out of work! The big difference I've noticed is that no-one wears an iPod and everyone has really cheap mobiles and handbags. There are many armed police, military police and private guards everywhere, some accompanied by their sleeping dogs. They are, of course, all very visibly armed. Outside the embassy they have very chic, slinky long rifle things. You know how you get those red signs which are a circle with a line through, like no dogs for example. Here you have no loaded guns signs!

Talking of dogs, this is dog city. Many people have dogs and all the time you see professional dog walkers towing about 6 or 8 dogs. Yesterday there were about 6 dogs tied up outside an apartment, presumably while the walker went to pick up another one. One dog decided it fancied another and the normal resulted with the shagee (a small beagle puppy) being very unhappy with the goings on. The others all got involved in the barny until someone appeared from a shop with a hosepipe and sprayed water all over them!!!

Tomorrow is Friday and we only have to work half a day. We have booked a flight to the Caribbean coast for the weekend-tough huh. I'm travelling to Cartagena which is a World Heritage Site on the top North West corner of Colombia. The flight was really expensive but it seemed a shame to come all this way and not see something more of the country. I'm going with my colleague and hope it will be fun. Should be very very hot, maybe 30 degrees so can't wait.

I have been working, spent most of the day running a training course, good fun to nice people including one who swore that oranges were solid and only tangerines had segments! I also noted that the huge Union Flag in the Conference Room was upside down...ah, Her Majesty's Government at it's best!!