Usually, I love my life in Colombia,

as I hope comes across in this blog,

but every so often this country’s past

catches up with me and makes me sad.

Tonight, it was a report  on TV about the victims of Pablo Escobar:

politicians, journalists, judges, drivers, even his own henchmen,

and a fine police chief who got rid of his bodyguards,

so as not to leave any more widows…

I think I’ll call what I am feeling Colombianitis.

I turn on the TV one evening last week

and am shocked to see that Scotland are losing 5-1 to the US.

5-1! To the US! I groan.

You are anti-gringo, my flatmate accuses me.

I don’t think it’s that.

5-1 is a drubbing against anyone.

Poor show, Scotland.

Pressure is growing on a Colombian senator,

filmed refusing to give a breath test

to some young, polite policemen.

Don’t you know who I am? he cries.

Pirry, Colombia’s top investigative journalist,

has promised (or threatened?)

to present his show in the nude

if the senator resigns.

It was good to see the release of French journalist, Romeo Langlois,

held by the FARC for over a month

after being captured while he was covering

an operation by the Colombian army to destroy cocaine labs.

In the proof of life video released on Monday,

Langlois looked remarkably relaxed.

We hear the voice of a woman awkwardly interviewing him,

and he jokes: This is funny, it’s usually me doing the interviewing.

Some news on the man accused of having

staged his own kidnapping to get rid of political rivals.

A video has emerged of someone explaining the plans

of the regional assembly where the politicians were kidnapped,

and suggesting possible escape routes.

At one point a tiny part of the man’s face becomes visible.

It is this, and the similarity of the man’s voice to that of the politician’s

that led to his arrest.

He has vehemently protested his innocence

and the FBI has been called in to give the final word.

Someone has put an orange traffic cone

on the bonnet of a car.

It looks like a robot rhino.

I arrived in Colombia a year ago today.

In that time:

I’ve written about 270 blogposts.

I’ve taken 13 flights.

I’ve taken about 1500 photos

(some of which you can see here)

I haven’t been the victim of a crime,

or a traffic accident.

I still love my job.

I still get on with my flatmate.

It’s been a year of grace.

We don’t want peace, we want victory.

I read Psalm 40 on the plane

on my way back to Medellín from Bogotá,

with my visa safely in my passport.

I liked the beginning of verse 9:

I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation.

Now I know the risk of having my application turned down again

probably isn’t much compared to whatever David was delivered from,

but I will tell the glad news anyway!

I am now the proud owner of a shiny new TWO-YEAR visa.

What a relief! Now I need a holiday to recover from the stress.