Loosing your marbles


Ten days ago I Easyjetted to London and entered into the Latino world of the Colombian Consulate. It had taken 6 months to get to this stage and Ana Maria dealt with my application. Thin, early 40s and smartly dressed, at the start she was keen to know what I thought of Colombia. So I recounted the glories of the Caribbean and the culture of Bogota, and we were given our visas without a hitch.

It struck me again what nationals hope for in us foreigners. It is that we appreciate their country and value its citizens. Those from developing nations suffer from a second-class citizen mentality. And also a sense of being wronged by the material avarice of the first world. The Peruvian Incas were robbed of their gold by the Spaniards, the Spanish were then robbed by the English, who in turn were robbed by the Dutch who spent it on footballers, pot and porn.

While in London I visited what, to me, is the most impressive part of the metropolis, the Elgin Marbles. How these remnants of the most important site in ancient Greece were sold to the British Museum by a broke Scotsman, I didn't enquire.

Tonight it is our missionary farewell, we leave for Colombia on Wednesday 31st January.

love

David

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