Easy Money: Epilogue

This has been my most serious writing effort so far, and I learned quite lot while writing, but I still have so much more to learn, I don't know if or when I will write another story; it is a matter of finding an idea to write about which I feel is worthy of the effort.

Remember this is a blog , so start reading from the bottom.

Chapter 13: Back To Bogota

A couple of weeks later Tom was setting in a bus heading back to Bogotá. He had done the lost city trek, visited the Tayrona Park for a couple of days, attended one of the many marches of the Barranquilla carnival, and spend a couple of days in Taganga. Taganga was the best part of it, a small relaxed fisherman’s town, where everyday he could watch the sun set into the sea, while lying in a hammock at the hotel balcony; it was paradise. He was looking forward to seeing Emma; he kept in touch with her through email and phone calls, and he suggested that when he comes back, that the would hike up to the church up the hills. He was also looking forward to spending time with the kids again. What he was not looking forward to thought, was meeting Pablo again, he would have to think of a solution to that problem; either avoid Pablo or go look for him and sort out the dispute. He didn’t know what was the best course of action, he will have some more time to think about it in the bus before arriving to Bogotá; the bus trip takes around 18 hours. Then an interesting and slightly terrifying thought occurred to him; he was the person in the perfect position to use that stash of drugs in order to help the children in the orphanage. If it had been somebody associated with the orphanage, they would have never thought of selling those drugs, and if it was his friend Jim who found, he would have kept all the money to himself. He was the only person who was capable of converting those drugs into money that could help the kids; he was the person with connections to both world, that of the orphanage and that of the drugs. Through his Ian he got to know the orphanage and the kids, but Jim played an important rule as well, without him he would not have done. It was as if destiny or some higher force he did not understand wanted him to find those drugs; it chose him, because he was the right person at the right time to do the job; help those kids keep their home. Was I no more than a tool in the hand of fate, he wondered. But his he wasn’t completely convinced by these thoughts, he a had the choice to do what ever he wanted with that money and he chose to give most of it to the kids, he made the choice, not fate or destiny, or some higher force. Destiny though, may have arranged things to the point where that choice was there for him to take, I he chose to.

Chapter 12: Spending The Money

Back at the hostel Tom packed his bags, which took him less than twenty minutes; after traveling for a few months, he had become quite efficient at it. He decided he would leave first thing in the morning. He lay in his bed feeling tired, but definitely less depressed, the coke withdrawal phase seemed to have passed. Lying in bed he tried to sort out his thoughts. He got lucky; he managed to get the money he needed to continue his trip, and do all those cool things he wanted to do at the coast. Sometime life is just good to you; he felt a warm fuzzy feeling lifting his spirit. Then he thought about Pablo, I guess there is really no easy money, he might have gotten lucky finding the coke stash, but converting it to money was not without its difficulties and risks. If he had to do it all over again, knowing the risks, he would choose otherwise. Then he thought about the orphanage, obviously life is not good to everybody; those kids lost their parents and home. They did find a good new home in that orphanage, but it seems their bad luck in life has caught up with then again. Now some of them will lose there home again; they will have to move to another bed in a crowded house, sharing it with teenagers with issues, definitely not the most ideal environment for them. And then something occurred to him; this time, unlike before, he had the ability to help them; he had about 1500$ he made from selling the coke, that money could solve the orphanage financial problems for a few months at least, by then Ian should be able to get them the funding they desperately needed. But he needed that money; without it he would not be able to do the things he wanted to do, he would be stuck in Bogotá for the remaining month of his trip. On the other hand it’s not like it was money he worked hard for a few month to earn, he pretty much found it on the street. Why was life lucky to him, and not those kids? Life was unfair. He really wanted to visit the coast, do the lost city 6 day hike, that he heard some much about, to dive in Taganga, to visit the Tayrona national park, to attend the famous carnival in Barranquilla (and he will need a lot of money for that, as hotel prices sky rocket during the carnival). But he wanted to help those kids at the orphanage as well. Maybe he could make a compromise between the two things? 500$ will probably cover the lost city trip, and in total allow him to spend a couple of weeks on the coast, and he might even be able to able to attend one day of the carnival. He would have to give up the diving and be very careful with his spending. But that would leave him with 1000$ he could give to the orphanage. He won’t tell Ian though where the money really came from; he will need to come up with some good story. He was satisfied with that plan; anyway a few days ago he was resigned to staying in Bogotá for the remaining of his trip, now he could at least do some of the things he wanted to do at the coast, and will only have to spend a couple of weeks teaching English classes. He could finally relax his mind and fall a sleep.

In the morning he woke up and took a shower, there he came up with a good story about where the money came from; the shower was always where his mind was most creative, and where he always got his best ideas. He called Ian. “Hi Ian”, “Hi Tom, how are you?” “I am fine, and I got some good news for you. I called the father of a friend of mine; he is associated with some church. I knew he was active in raising money for charities, and yesterday I remembered him. I don’t know why I did not remember him earlier. Anyway I told him about the orphanage, and the financial trouble you had, and he was very sympathetic and eager to help. I told him you needed the money badly and quickly, and he said he could immediately send a 1000$ though western union. I should get it today, and I can bring it over to you”. There was a silent moment on the phone, then Ian voice came out again: “I can’t begin to describe to how great news is this to us, Maria is going to be so happy when she hears this. Frankly those troubles lately were getting to her and she was feeling quite down. Its just great news amigo” Ian said. “I will come later today to the orphanage, with the money, I have to go to the western union office to pick it up, and I’ll see you later”, Tom was filled with anticipation and excitement about his new plan.

Back at the hostel he met Emma in the patio. “Hey Emma, how are you today?” he asked her. “I am fine thank you. And you?” she replied. “I am feeling great actually. So are you going to take the job at the orphanage?” He asked her. “Yes, I decided I will work there, I love the place and the people who work their, and of course the kids are just great” Emma said, smiling. “They certainly are”, Tom replied. “What about you? What are you going to do?” Emma asked. “I am going to the coast for a couple of weeks, and then I will be back to Bogotá for a couple of weeks”. “That’s great it means we will see each other again”, Emma looked delighted to hear that. “I am leaving this afternoon; I need to go to the orphanage one more time before I leave” Tom said. “Can I join you”, Emma suggested. “Of course I’d love that”, Tom smiled. He liked Emma and now he sensed she liked him too. There is a bright side to things after al; he would have the chance to spend time with Emma, and the kids as well, and he liked both. But there was more to it; he was feeling really good about himself and about life. He did not realize before how good it felt to give, especially when that giving actually makes a real difference to somebody else’s life, it is a priceless feeling. How many opportunities like this does one get in his life? ; An opportunity to make a real difference to someone else’s life, and to think that he almost let it slip away.

Easy Money: Chapter 11, Time To Leave?

Tom and Jim stayed in the hostel for a few hours, not daring to leave out of fear of encountering Pablo again. Tom lay in the Hammock trying to calm down and recollecting the incidents of the last few days in his mind: The coke session, the messed up Sean, the confrontation with Carlos. He felt the alarm bells are ringing, and it is about time he started listening; there is an angry drug dealer looking for him, he used coke for the first time of his life, and he even became a drug dealer himself. He had to get out of this situation before things deteriorate further; it was too much for him, he went too far already down this slippery slope. He had the money he needed now, so there was no need for him to stay longer. “I think I am leaving Bogotá” he told Jim, who was drinking a bottle of Aguila beer. “I think it is a good idea mate, I think I’ll head out of here myself” Jim replied in a tired voice. Tom was debating to himself whether to leave now, or first thing in the morning, when a young women with a somewhat blond hair approached him. “Hi I am Emma”, she introduced herself. “Hi I am Tom”, Tom replied and shook her hand. “I could not help overhear you the other day talking about an orphanage, I am a public health worker, I just finished my studies. I am required do a few month of actual field work at the end of our study, and I was wondering if this orphanage needed volunteers”. Tom though for a moment then replied: “I can get in touch with my friend Ian, but I think they could use all the help they can get”. Tom thought for a moment, I would like to see Ian one last time before leaving Bogotá. “We could actually go there now if you want. I don’t mind being your guide for the afternoon; I was planning to go see my friend there anyway”. “Great, I am ready to go now, just give me a few minutes to pick a couple of things from my room”. “No problem I will wait for you here”.

Tom and Emma headed off to Chia, taking the same route Tom the time before; starting with the crowded Trans Millennium, followed by a bus to Chia. This time though he shared a taxi with Emma to get to the orphanage. The bus trip helped Tom calm down, and he was feeling a bit more relieved, now that he have decided to leave Bogotá; there would be no more Pablo. When he was done with his thoughts, he turned to Emma who was setting next to him, and started a chat with her about her studies and travels. She is so pretty with those green eyes and blondish hair and slim figure, Tom has been so preoccupied with his recent problems, that until that moment he did not give much attention to Emma’s beauty. She seemed to be quite intelligent as well, that’s the kind of woman I want, Tom thought to himself.

When they arrived to the orphanage they first walked over to the office, where they met Maria and Ian, who took them to do the standard tour of the place. When they arrived to the children’s house Tom stayed there, while the others continued their tour. The children were in the backyard having their afternoon snack; flavored Yogurt. As soon as they finished though, they were ready to play again, and soon Tom was spinning them in the air again, this time they showed him a different way to do it, holding one of their arms and one of their legs, instead of usual of way of holding two arms. But he could no more than a few of those before feeling dizzy, and he took a break by joining a couple of kids playing football. A while latter he was dragged to the swings, by a pleading kid. There his job was to do the swinging, and all the time they were asking him to push them higher and higher, expressing their enjoyment and excitement with laughs and shouts. These kids may have lost their family, but they certainly did not loose there desire to play. By now he knew a few of them by name: Rodrigo the one how dragged him to the swings, Mayra who laughs a lot, Cristina who is kind of shy, and needs some encouragement to come and play, and Diego who is a very good football player for a five years old. Later Emma and Ian joined him there, as soon as they finished the tour. Tom was relieved to see them, as they started playing with the kids as well, taking off some of the load from his shoulder; their where just too many kids with too much energy for one person to handle.

At some point he was exhausted and sat down on the side to rest, Ian joined him as well. “They’re great fun aren’t they?” Ian commented, “Yes they are, they have some much capacity for playing, it’s amazing. How is it going with the financial situation by the way?” Tom asked. “Not so well; I am going back next week to the US, and I am going to approach several charity organization for funding. But that might take a few months until some money comes out of it. Meanwhile we can’t pay the rent, and they will have to evacuate one of the houses and move the children to the other houses. We might have to put them either with the mentally disabled, or the teenage mothers, which is not the ideal situation; it is going to be very crowded. And of course they are also turning down any new children” Ian replied with a depressed tone. “That sucks mate, I really hope you will mange to get the funding soon”. I got some money now; I could at least make a small donation to the place before leaving, Tom thought. He told Ian he would like to make a donation, and they both went to the office to see Maria. There he made a donation of 20000 pesos, and received a signed thanks card for his donation.

“I guess this is it” Tom said Ian. “Good luck with your trip” Ian replied. “It is great work you’re doing here, really amazing”, Tom added, “Thanks” Ian blushed. Ian then walked back with them until the main street, where they picked up a taxi. Tom and Ian hugged one more time before he and Emma got into the Taxi. In the bus back to Bogotá he asked Emma what she thought about the place, “It’s great; it is quite well organized, and the children are fantastic” she commented in a cheerful tone. “So that means you will work here?” Tom asked her. “I don’t know yet, I want to give some thought first. I have another option to work in Medellin” she replied. “I hope you decide to work here. You will not regret it” Tom said.

Easty Money: Chapter 10, Pablo Again

Next morning when Tom woke up, he headed for the kitchen, and served himself some Colombia coffee, which was becoming his daily ritual here. He took his coffee to the patio and sat there sipping it slowly; waking up. A few minutes later he saw Lisa and Adam coming into the hostel. “How is it going guys?” he asked them. “We had a good time two night ago, but you know we didn’t get enough sleep that night, so we took it easy last night”, Lisa answered. “But Sean is not doing so well, he took some more coke last night, and he is still going at it for two days now, with out sleep, he is not feeling well, and we took him to his room; he told us he took 8 grams of coke by himself last night” Adam said, both he and Lisa looked apprehensive. “I think what he needs is to sleep, but his is too high on coke to be able to sleep, we were just going to check on him again” Lisa added. “I’ll go with you” Tom said, and they all walked to Sean’s room. They found Sean sitting on his bed, looking fatigued, eyes red, shivering; he looked like a scared little boy, he was staring at the floor all the time, and did not make eye contact with them even when he spoke to them. “How are you doing?” Adam asked him, “Alright, I’ll be alright”, Sean replied in a non convincing voice, still shivering. “He does not look good, we should do something”, Lisa whispered to them. “You must know what to do”, she added, looking demandingly at Tom. Tom didn’t know what to do, how would he know? He is new to this entire drug affair. After a moment of confusion Tom replied: “My friend Jim will know what to do, I’ll give him a call, give me a minute”. He went out of the room, pulled out his mobile and called Jim. Jim told him and not to worry and that he’ll be there as quickly as he could. He arrived after 15 minutes. Jim took a look at Sean and said, “You just need to sleep it off mate, and you will be alright, how much coke did you take?”, “too much I guess”, Sean replied, still trembling and looking at the floor. Jim then took out some pills from his pocket, and handed Sean two of them; “These are sleeping pills, take them, they’re good for you”. Lisa handed Sean a bottle of water, and Sean took the pills, and lay down on his bed to sleep. “He just needs to sleep, the longer he sleeps the better. He’ll wake up alright” Jim told them. Tom and Jim then left the room and walked back to the Patio. Tom was still feeling worried, and Jim seemed to notice it, and he patted Tom on the back and said “Take it easy, he’ll be alright, I been through that a few times myself” he said. “Alright, I guess you do have more experience than me with this” Tom replied, calming down a bit. “But what would have happened if he had taken an even bigger doze, could he have overdosed? Maybe even died?” Tom asked. “I guess he could, it never happened to anybody I know though, it would have to be a really large doze. Stop worrying about it man”. Tom was still feeling uneasy, but never the less he forced a smile and said: “You are right I worry too much”. “Let’s go out for a bite then”, Jim suggested. “I could use something to eat now, I haven’t eaten much yesterday, I am starving now” Tom replied, and they left the hostel.

They had some breakfast at the same snack bar as the day before. This time Tom ordered Arepas (fried corn pastel) with eggs, ate it all and then ordered a couple of cheese empanadas as well. After their breakfast they headed back to the hostel. As they where approaching the hostel entrance, Tom saw somebody coming from the other direction heading towards them, it was Pablo again! At this pace they would meet him right in front of the hostel gate. Pablo looked agitated when they finally met him at the entrance to the hostel. “Hey Pablo, How is it going man?” Jim said in a friendly voice, “You tried to cheat me again; that is what is going on”, Pablo replied in an angry voice. Tom did not feel comfortable with the situation; he reached for the gate bell of the hostel and buzzed it, he wanted to have an exit option if something bad happened. He also looked at the security camera, so the attendant could recognize him. “What is the matter, I thought we settled our problem” Jim replied in apprehensive tone. “You gave me a fake bill man, a fake twenty”. At that moment they heard the buzzing sound of the gate lock being opened. The buzz caught Jim attention; he reacted quickly and pushed the door open. But Tom was feeling fed up with Pablo is starting to really get on his nerve; he had enough of this stupid Pablo. He faced Pablo and blasted at him “We paid you back from the same money you paid us with, if there is a fake bill then you had given it to us in the first place”. “Now you are accusing me of giving you fake bills”, Pablo replied, his fists clutching. “Yes I am” Tom replied. Jim had already moved passed the door threshold, and now grabbed Toms arm and pulled him in, “Let’s go now”, he said and then slammed the door behind them. Just before the door slammed Tom glimpsed Pablo reaching for something behind his shirt, but the door slammed before he could see what it was. From the other side of the door they could Pablo’s voice, “Open up. Come back here”. Then they heard loud banging sounds coming from behind them. But Pablo could not force the door open, and the attendant would not let him in either, despite his angry pleading. After a while the shouts and banging stopped, and they could see in the security display that Pablo was gone. “What were you doing their man? Everybody here has a piece, or at least a knife”, Jim said reproachfully to Tom. Indeed that wasn’t the smartest thing to do, Pablo was reaching for his weapon, Tom thought. “Thanks man, you saved my ass back there”, he told Jim. “It was good thinking on your part to buzz the bill immediately” Jim shared the praise.

Easy Money: Chapter 9, The Hang Over

Tom woke up around midday the next day, feeling he did not get enough sleep, but never the less quite awake, too awake to go to sleep again. In the other bed in the guest’s room, Dianna was sleeping. He flinched as he looked at her, was that the woman he kissed last night? They always look more attractive with less light and a few shots of Ron. Now though she did not seem attractive at all to him.

He decided to head back to his hostel. There he found Sean in the living room. Sean looked fatigued, with tired red eyes. “How is it going mate?” he asked him. “I am still going since last night” Sean answered. “You look tired man; maybe you should get some rest”. Tom suggested. “Yes, maybe that is a good idea. It was good stuff you gave me. Can you get me some more? 10 more grams”. “Sure” Tom replied. “How are your friends doing by the way?” Tom asked him, “They decided to get some rest, they’re sleeping now”. “Ok, I will get you the stuff later, just get some rest”. “I will, I just don’t feel I can sleep now”, maybe in a couple of hours. “Do you have the money for the 10 grams?” Tom asked him. Sean went to his room, and came back with 150000 pesos, and handed it to Tom.

Tom went to kitchen and served himself a cup of Colombian coffee, if he was not going to sleep, he might as well wake up. He hanged out in the patio for a while. His mobile then rang, it was Jim. “Where are you mate?” Jim asked in a tired voice, “Just back at the hostel” Tom replied, “Do you want to get something to eat?” Jim asked, “Sure, can you meet me here at the hostel, and bring 10 grams with you, Sean wants to buy some more” Tom added, “Alright no problem, see you soon” Jim said and hanged up.

20 minutes later Jim showed up at the hostel, with the 10 grams of coke. They gave it to Sean and then headed out to get something to eat. They decided to go for the snack bar a few blocks down the street. But before reached they reached their destination, at one street corner, they heard whistle followed by a horsy voice coming from a side street, startling them: “Hey Jim”, it said. They stopped and looked to where the voice came from. A man was coming towards them, a tough looking bloke, probably in his forties, with tattooed muscular arms, a bald head, a big belly, and a scar on this left cheek. “Hi Pablo”, Jim replied as the man approached them. When he was in front of them, he looked at Jim, “you F$%#%* gringo, you try to cheat me, well you made a big mistake missing with Pablo, who do you think your dealing with?”, he said in an aggressive horsy tone. Jim looked like he was completely caught by surprise, but then recovered and said, “Hey Pablo, what’s the matter amigo? What’s the problem?” That seemed to make Pablo even more pissed, “What’s the matter? You try to cheat me, then you just act like you don’t know, I should just teach you a lesson right now. So you would learn not mess with me again” Pablo replied in a threatening tone. “Hey man take it easy for a minute, just tell me what’s wrong” Jim replied looking unnerved now. Tom felt the adrenaline rush in his body. Pablo seemed to reconsider for a moment, “One of the bags you gave me is fake stuff, it was no coke, you gave me 10 grams of fake stuff” he said maintaining an intimidating expression on his face, but giving Jim a chance to answer. “Look man, I had no idea that bag was fake, I just got it from someone and I sold it to you, I would never sell you that stuff if I knew it was fake, I am not that stupid”, he paused, then said “I still have some more of that stuff back there, why don’t I just give another bag instead of the bad one, just give me a minute. You know what I will give you 20 grams instead”. Pablo did not seem to be impressed, “are you going to give some more fake stuff? I don’t trust you anymore”. Tom felt the urge to intervene, “How about if we pay you back for that bad bag? We’ll give you 50 thousand”, Tom said. Pablo looked at Jim still not impressed. “80 thousand, we’ll give you 80”, Tom quickly corrected him self. Pablo seemed to calm down a bit, and to be considering the offer, “Alright give me the money”. Tom put his hand into his pocket, and pulled out a couple of twenties, and gestured to Jim to do the same. Jim took out a couple of twenties as well, and Tom took it and handed the 80 to Pablo, “Here is your money mate, we’re alright now?” he said. Pablo gave them a look of contempt, “Don’t ever try to screw me up again, because next time I won’t be so kind”, looking at Jim and passing his hand in front of his throat, imitating the movement of a knife slashing a throat. Then he turned around and walked away. The both stood there for a few seconds exchanging looks of relief, breathing out, wiping that cold sweat on their forehead. Then they continued their way to the snack bar. They Tom ordered some empanadas, but he hardly touched his food, he felt he had no appetite at all. “I don’t feel like eating anything” he told Jim. “That usually happens when you’re on coke, sometimes I don’t eat for a few days when I am on coke, after that I eat like a cow for a couple of days”, Jim replied. They had a quite evening that day, they were not in the mood to do much, and they had to catch up on sleep anyway. Tom slept more than 12 hours that night.

Easy Money: Chapter 8, The Good Time

Tom and Jim went to the Japanese restaurant, where Tom ordered a 30 peace Sushi combination, while Jim had a steak. Later they headed back to Jims Apartment, to have a few more drinks. Back at the apartment they met Carolina, Jim’s new girlfriend, and she had two lady friends with her. Jim went and bought some Ron and Coke from the licker store across the street, and they sat down having Ron and Coke and chatting. Tom was enjoying this; Carolina’s friends could not speak any English, only Spanish, and Jim had a problem following the conversation. This was one situation were he had an advantage over Jim; Jim who with his blond hair and blue eyes, generally got the most attention from the chicks. This is a situation were Tom had an advantage. But in any case there was no competition between them at the moment; Jim already had a girlfriend, so he was not trying to hit on any of the other girls, and Tom had the scene for himself. Tom was happy to play the role of the translator, translating some of the conversation to Jim; it felt good to be better than Jim in something; they had both spend equally the same amount of time in South America, yet he managed to bring his Spanish to a decent level, while Jim was still struggling with basic stuff.

At one point Jim went to the bedroom and came back with a 10 gram bag of coke, and then arranged five lines of it on the cover of a book, using his credit card. He then rolled a 5000 pesos note, and used it to sniff a line. Then he passed the bill to Carolina, who did the next line, and then passed it over to her friends. After all had their sniff, a single line remained on the book. Carolina’s friend, Dianna, passed the bill to Tom. “I don’t do coke” Tom said, holding his hands up in a ‘no’ gesture. “Come on mate, if you are not going to try this stuff here, then where will you try it? Everywhere else in the world it is too expensive, this is the place to try it”. Tom though was still reluctant. “How about half line, you can just try half a line, and if you don’t like it then don’t take anymore”. Tom remained defiant and turned down this offer as well. “Alright, it’s your choice man” Jim then took the roll, and sniffed the last line. Jim kept arranging coke lines, and they took turns sniffing the stuff, they did one round each half an hour. Jim watched, and started thinking; These guys sometime do 2-3 grams in one session, and that does not seem to be dangerous to their health, one sniff can’t really be that harmful, and if he doesn’t try it, he will never know what it feels like, and he was curious about how it felt like, very curious. “I’ll try half a line” Tom suddenly said in resolute tone. “Alright mate, that’s the spirit” Jim grinned, and used the credit card to split one of the lines on the book, and then he handed Tom the rolled bill. “How do I do this?” Tom asked. “First exhale some air out, but do it away from the coke, so you would not blow it away. Then block one nostril using your fingers, and use the rolled bill to inhale from the other nostril”. Tom did it exactly like he was told; still he had trouble sniffing the whole half line, and had to inhale a few times to get it all in. It did not take long for him to feel the effect; in a few seconds he felt a great sensation, like he just woken up into a new wonderful world. In fact he was surprised by how good it felt, he was wary of this stuff before taking it, but now that he took it, his fears were gone. He noticed that he became less inhibited and more confident, and joined the conversation with more gusto. After a couple of minutes though he had an awful taste in his throat though, like the taste of washing detergent. “Does it always tastes like this?” he asked Jim, “Yes that’s the taste of the coke? Just wash it down with some water”. He was aware of what he was doing; he remembered that he made a pledge to himself that it would only be half a line, that he would not take any more, but he felt was feeling really good, despite the nuisance of the after taste, in fact he could not remember when the last time he felt that good. He knew then that he was not going to relinquish that new sensation, and that he was going to keep sniffing those lines along with everybody else. From that moment on he joined them in every round, sniffing his line, prolonging that feel good state of mind. They had a round about every half an hour; which as about the time when the effect of the previous dose would start to ware off.

He must have had at least ten sniffs by now and a few shots of Ron as well. Everybody seemed to be high and drunk at the same time, including Dianna who was now setting very close to him, so close he could feel her body against his. She was being very flirty with him, and he was feeling very attracted to her; he did not mind here full figure anymore, which usually is turn off for him. She had big tits, and he would bet his money they were silicon enlarged, but he did not mind, he enjoyed staring at them, at every opportunity he had. He was also feeling very thirsty, and there was no more water in the bottle they had, so he went to the kitchen to get some more water. He filled a glass of water from the tap and drank it, but when he turned around he saw Dianna in front of him, looking very tipsy. She got closer to him, gently grabbing his right arm. “I feel so good” she said, standing very close to him he could smell here perfume. “I feel great too” he replied. Then it seemed she was kind of loosing her balance leaning towards him, he grabbed her by the waste to help her stay on her feet. She managed to stabilize her self by holding on to him, but then she did not let go of him, instead, she stayed tightly close to him, then leaned more and kissed him. He kissed her back, meanwhile feeling her back and butt with his hands. There passionate kiss continued, now she was sticking her tong in his mouth, he then gently pushed her towards the fridge, and pressed his body against hers; there bodies were now locked very closely together. He had heard about the effect of coke on sexual libido, but now he experienced it himself; he filled a strong sexual desire for her, but he had no response from down there between his legs; his Johnny was completely idle, with no signs of hardening. He doubted he would be able get it up, even if Dianna would be lying naked in front of him, begging him to enter her. He put a stop to their long French kiss: “I am going back over there” and he gently released himself from her hands and went back to the living room. There he had a couple more lines with everybody else.

They entered the early morning hours now, and the effect of the coke was getting less and less; each new line he sniffed had a diminished effect compared to the previous one, and tiredness and sleep started to set in. Tom decided he had enough. “I think I am going to call it off a night” he said. “You can just sleep in the guest’s room, I don’t think we’re going to keep it going for much longer anyway, we’ll just finish those few remaining lines.” Jim replied. Tom said good night to Jim and the girls and went to the guest’s room. He managed to sleep, but it was a light sleep; he would wake up every once in a while, and then try to fall sleep again. He was feeling that effect of the drug was wearing off, and he was starting to feel more and more normal after each short nap.

Easy Money: Chapter 7, The Big Deal

A couple of days latter, Tom sat sipping his coffee in the living room. He had left the task of selling the coke to Jim as agreed; he would see Jim every once in a while talking to a group of hostel residents, probably offering them coke. He talked little to Jim during that time; Jim told he was working on it, and that he had been visiting all the other hostels (there were a few of them in this neighborhood), trying to find new clients for their new merchandize, and that he things were going well. He also told Tom that the clients were quite satisfied with coke, some even saying it was the best they ever had.

Tom was joined by a group of new comers, and they all sat around one of the antique wooded tables in the living room. All the others had just arrived the day before to the hostel; Sean, Lisa and Adam, the former two were English the later an American. The population of a hostel is one of those ever changing things, every day there are new faces around. The exception to that being those few who decide to stay in the city to study or work; they usually rent an apartment, but never the less still show up at the hostel to socialize and meet new travelers. “I want to get some coke guys; I heard its dirt cheap here. Do you want some too?” Sean asked the others. That caught Tom’s attention, until that point he was not paying much attention to the conversation. “How much is it?” Lisa replied, “I heard it is 15000 a gram” Sean replied. “That’s about 3 Pounds, I paid 50 Pounds back in England” Lisa exclaimed. “That’s like five US dollars, sure I’ll buy some” Adam replied. “I’ll join too” Lisa added. “We’ll get 10 grams then” Sean suggested, looking at his friends, who seemed to nod in approval. Tom was now attentively listening to the conversation, and started thinking: “Why not offer them some of the coke he and Jim had, that way he could help Jim in selling the stuff; and the sooner they sell it the sooner he can leave for the coast”. “I can get you some Charlie if you want, I know somebody who has some very good stuff”. He said it, surprising even himself, but the words have already gone out of his mouth, and he kept his nerve. “Who do you get the stuff from?” Sean asked, “Some local dealer I got to know, it is very good stuff, I assure you” Tom replied, “Alright, we’ll give you the money and you get it for us” Sean said, looking at his friends for approval; “Fine by me” Lisa said, “I don’t have a problem with” Adam replied, and they each reached for their pockets and handed Tom 50,000 Pesos each.

Tom pocketed the money, and went to see Jim at his apartment, which was about fifteen minutes walk from the hostel. He knocked on the door, and a few seconds later he heard Jim voice from the other side, asking who is it? “It’s me; Tom”. Jim opened the door, “Come on in mate”, he said. They both went into the living room, there on the table in front of couch was an open bottle of Ron, and Tom could smell the Ron from where he was standing. The TV was on; it was showing a porn video of two Latin women having lesbian sex. “Cheap pirated porn, 3000 pesos for a movie”, Jim commented. “How about a sip of Ron”, “Sure” Tom poured some Ron into the bottle’s cap and skulled it. “I need 10 grams of coke, I got a buyer for it” Tom said in an apprehensive tone; this is not something I am used to doing after all. Jim looked a bit surprised, but then smiled and said, “I didn’t think you had it in you mate” patting Tom on his shoulder, “Give me a second” he added. Jim went to his room and came back with one 10 gram bag coke, and handed it over to Tom. Tom pocketed it in nervously into his pocket. “I’ll see you later then” Tom headed out. He found his buyers still waiting for him in the living room. He handed Sean the 10 gram bag, “You can’t do the coke in the hostel though, it is best to do it in some club” he advised them.

Now that the transaction has been successfully executed, Tom sat down in the patio contemplating his actions. He felt surprised by himself, even a little afraid, as one would when venturing into new grounds. Until two days ago he would not have imagined himself dealing drugs. They were going to do it anyway, and if I did not provide them with the coke, they would he found it somewhere else, he thought to himself. Then he decided he would go see Jim and tell him about the successful deal.

He went back to see Jim in his apartment, he found him still watching porn. Tom sat down at the couch next to Jim, and poured himself another shot of Ron. “How did it go?” Jim asked. “It went well; I got 150,000 for the 10 grams”. “Well done mate, well done”, Jim said grinning. “How is it going with the rest of the coke?” Tom asked, “Well, I managed to sell about 200 grams, and made about 800 Pounds. I am running out of clients to sell though, I could wait for some new comers to sell them, but it is a slow process, and it could take us three weeks to sell all this stuff, if we are lucky” Jim paused for a moment then added: “But I have an idea, I am thinking to sell 1Kg of this stuff straight to this dealer; the one I used to buy my coke from, Pablo. The street price for that is 1000 Pounds; it is less hassle and we get rid of most of the stuff in one go”. Tom thought for a moment; what is the sense of staying here for three more weeks to make the money, it would be no better than giving the English classes. “Sounds like a good plan”, Tom replied. “I am going to look for Pablo later today”, Jim said. Tom lay back in the couch, and watched the porn.

A couple of hours later Tom got back to his hostel, and Jim went to find Pablo. Tom hanged around in the living room, reading his book; a Spanish novel by some obscure Mexican writer. His Spanish was good; especially the speaking part, but he still struggled when reading Spanish novels, even with a dictionary. But he was determined to make the effort to improve his Spanish, no pain no gain, he told himself. An hour later Jim showed up with a satisfied look in his face, “It’s done, I managed to get 3.5 million pesos for it”, he said. “That’s about 900 Pounds, not bad”, Tom got up from his seat, they shook hands and followed it by a warm hug. “Let’s go to the apartment and I will give you your share of the money”. They went back to the apartment were Jim gave him a large bundle of 20 and 50 thousand peso notes. Tom held the large bundle of money in his hand, he had crossed a line, he would not have thought he would before, he was feeling uneasy about it in the beginning, but now that feeling was being overcome and replaced by a different feeling, that of triumph and euphoria; he had overcome his fears, taking a risk, and was now rewarded with a reward, a reward he was now holding in his pocket. He looked at Jim, and they both grinned, “You want a beer” he asked Jim. “Sure”. “This one is on me, Lets get back to the hostel and have a beer there” Tom said. They went back to the hostel, where Tom went and grabbed a couple of beers from the fridge, and wrote it down under his name. He handed Jim the cold beer, they looked at each other, “To us” Jim made a toast, and they both took a few gulps of their beer before putting them down. “I say we go get some good food tonight, we earned it. How about some Sushi? I heard there is a really good Sushi place up in Zona Rosa” Tom suggested. “I am not a big fan of Sushi, but I am sure I’ll find something good to eat there” Jim answered.

Easy Money: Chapter 6, The Stash

It was quite late already, around 11 o’clock on a Monday night. The streets were very quite on Monday nights, probably the quietest night in the week, the Rumba of the weekend had ended, and most bars and clubs are closed on Mondays. Tom and Jim walked up the fourth avenue towards the intersection where it all happened. It was a surreal walk at that time of the night, and an almost full moon made it a bright night. Old Colonial houses lined up both sides of the 4^th avenue, and many of the house facades and porches were decorated with lovely black sculptures. When they got to the intersection, Tom pointed out the flower bed to Jim, “There” he said almost whispering, and pointed to the flower bed by nodding his head towards it, he did not want to point with his finger, afraid that someone would notice; the streets were empty except for the occasional by passer. “Wait here and keep and eye, while I take a look” Tom walked towards the flower bed. He stood in front of it and tried to concentrate; he brought up the image of the chase in his mind, and tried to remember which plants were raffled. Then he crouched down and looked under the plants in the flower bed, where he thought the object would have landed. In the faint light, he managed to glimpse a black purse, lying between the plants, just were he thought it would be. He looked up at Jim, and gestured to him to come closer. “I see something there between the bushes” he said. “Well, just get it” Jim replied, sounding impatient. “Don’t you think we should just call the police” Tom hesitated. “Let’s see what it is first, we don’t want to bother the police if it is nothing” Jim replied. “Alright” Tom resigned, went closer to the flower bed while still crouching, then reached for the purse and grabbed it. He then quickly stood upright, and looked around to see if there were any by passers. He saw none.

They both stared at the purse. “Let’s open it” Jim said. Tom was feeling less worried now and more curious. He took one more look around, and when he could not see anyone else around, he opened the zipper of the purse, and they both peered into the purse. Inside there were plastic bags of different sizes, filled with a white powder, his hunch was right after all Tom thought, “Its coke isn’t it?” he asked Jim. “It looks like it” Jim replied, then reached into the purse, took out one small bag, opened it, and licked a bit of the powder with the tip of his tong, “Its coke, strong stuff too” he said. “Shouldn’t we hand it to the police?” Tom said warily. “I don’t think it is a good idea to go to the police, there will be too many questions. We could get into trouble” Jim replied. “We could be in even bigger trouble if we get caught with this stuff” Tom said, not backing of. “OK, let’s not do anything rash, lets think about it first” Jim said in a reconciling tone. “Alright maybe you are right” Tom as well did not want to continue the argument there on the street. Then with the corner of his eye, Tom glimpsed the silhouette of two figures appearing from around the corner, and approaching them. He looked up and the two figures became clearer; they were two policemen, they looked more like military than policemen; wearing khaki uniforms, and bullet proof vests, but Tom already knew that this how policemen generally dress in Colombia. Tom signaled to Jim with a slant movement of his head and eyes that something was behind him. Jim turned his head and saw the approaching policemen coming; they were now only a few meters away. Tom felt nervous, almost panicking, but he held his nerve, closed the zipper, and just held the purse tightly under his left hand, and against his waist. Jim seemed to handle the situation with more cool, and when the policemen reached them, he just casually looked at the them and said “Buenas notches”, the policemen returned the greeting, and just kept walking on; they did not appear to be interested in them.

As the police man got further and further away down the street, Tom felt his palpating heart calming down. “Let’s go somewhere safe first, and take a good look at this stuff“, Jim suggested. “Alright, but you carry the purse” Tom said in an agitated tone. They walked up the hill, all the way to the edge of the city, where the forest starts. They sneaked into the forest, and found a secluded spot, they where away form the street lamps now, but the moon provided them with enough light. Jim unzipped the purse again, and they peered inside.

There were a lot plastic bags, and they came in three different sizes. “How much is in these bags?” Tom asked. “The small ones are probably 1 gram bags, like the ones I usually buy. These look like 10 gram ones, and I would guess the large ones are 50 gram each” Jim said, while sifting through the content of the purse. “There is definitely more than 1Kg in here, probably 1 ½ Kg” he added. “What do we do with it?” Tom asked. “We sell it, and we make some money” Jim answered swiftly. Tom stared at him, shook his head and said: “I don’t know, it sounds crazy”. “Look, we could both use the money, I know what to do with this stuff, just let me handle it, I’ll do all the work, and we split the money, you’re the one who found it after all” Jim continued. Tom just started it him, not knowing what to say. “For you it will just be easy money, no risk and no effort. What do you say?” Jim pressed on. “I don’t know, it sounds like crazy idea” Tom repeated. “Think about it for a minute. You don’t need to do anything, and you get half the money, I am basically offering you free money. You and I know how traveling with some more man can make things so much more enjoyable” Jim added. Tom thought about it; really what does got to loose? And I do need the money; with that money he could go on his trip to the coast, and will not need to stay in Bogotá to teach English classes. “Alright, it’s a deal, but I get half the money, right” Tom said looking Jim straight in the eyes. “Half the money” Jim offered his hand for a shake, Tom shook it, both were grinning. “But where are we going to keep this stuff” Tom asked with a wary tone, “I don’t think the hostel is the best place to keep it” he added. “I have an idea. Carolina, the chick I had a date with today, she said I could stay at her place; she has an apartment not far from here. It would be a perfect place to keep the stuff. Its kind of late now, but I will call her anyway”. “Sounds like a good plan” Tom smiled.

Easy Money: Chapter 5, The Incident

That evening Tom decided to go and try out a Kebab and Falafel fast food place, which somebody in the hostel had recommended to him; he had been thinking about checking it out for a few days now. The place was about seven or eight blocks from the hostel, going up the 4th avenue; a walking distance from the hostel. Walking down the streets of Bogotá was no fun at all; pedestrian crossings generally don’t exist, and even when they do, drivers just ignore them. When people talked about the dangers of traveling in South America, they would generally refer to either crime or diseases, but Tom thought that crossing the street was the number one danger in South America. Tom was almost hit by a car crossing the 3^rd avenue, the car came from the opposite direction, and made a sharp right turn without signaling, completely ignoring Tom who was crossing the street at that time. Tom wondered if he had just turned invisible; he seemed to be invisible to the car drivers. He continued his path, and he reached the 4^th avenue and turned left. Cars generally went quite fast up the fourth avenue, probably wanted to pick up some momentum for the climb, which might be crucial at such altitudes where car engines get strapped for air. Tom walked up the 4^th avenue, and when he almost reached the intersection with the 10^th street, he heard some police sirens in the distance. The sirens were followed by the high pitch engine sound of an approaching car, it sounded to Tom like a fast car is coming from behind, going up the 4^th avenue, and still accelerating. Tom flinched and moved away from the edge of the road, then turned around to look at the car. He saw a green Porsche Boxter about 30 meters down the street. As the Porsche approached the intersection it suddenly slowed down, which allowed Tom to take a look at the occupants of the car: A young white guy with long black hair, who looked Colombian was driving the car, setting beside him at the passenger seat was a blond woman. Her hair seemed fake to Tom, but he couldn’t be sure; he could only get a quick glimpse at the pair. The woman was also seemed to be holding something and looking very tense. The car then made a sharp turn to the right, into the 10^th street and sped away. But just before the car accelerated again, Tom heard a rustling sound, coming from the some plants in a flower bed on the right side of the road, and he thought he saw the plants get raffled. He didn’t pay much attention to that as the sound of the sirens, getting louder and closer, distracted him. He looked back down the 4th avenue, and saw a police jeep approaching. The jeep also slowed down at the intersection and took the same turn as the Porsche, then sped away. Tranquility was then restored, and he looked around and saw a few more people who stopped to see the action. Some of them exchanged comments. A few seconds later thought, everybody just continued walking. Tom also continued his walk to the Kebab place, which was only two more blocks up the road.

At the Kebab place Tom realized that the Kebab was not Kebab, it was actually Shawarma, and it was not even a good Shawarma. He was disappointed with his Kebab sandwich, but then his mind turned its attention to the incident he witnessed, what had happened there? The woman was holding something in the car, and now he also remembered a detail, he had seen before, but did not give it much attention during the incident; He remembered seeing a hand come out of the car, just after the car made the right turn, as if someone was throwing something out of the car. Did the woman throw what ever she was holding in the car? Then there was that raffle of the plants. That must have been what happened; she threw something out of the cars, now he was sure. Considering the car was chased by the police, it must have been something they did not want to be caught with; Tom would bet his money that it was drugs, most likely cocaine; this is Colombia after all, the world coke capital.

After his disappointing snack Tom went back to the hostel, found the hammock in the patio free, and threw himself in it to relax. An Australian guy, Tim, was playing the guitar, in the living room, and Tom could hear the music well from where he was lying. Troy liked to play his own music, generally sad music, but very beautiful never the less. The tunes of the classical guitar added to the relaxing effect of the hammock, and Tom closed his eyes and enjoyed it. His meditation was interrupted when heard a voice calling him: “Hay Tom”. The voiced landed him back in the real world, and he opened his eyes to see Jim standing beside him.

“Hey mate, what have you been up to today?” Jim asked him, while taking an empty seat beside the hammock. “Well actually, I witnessed something interesting this evening”, then told Jim about the incident. First he hesitated about telling him the part about the object he thought was thrown out of the car, but then he decided to go ahead and tell it. “I think I saw them throw something out of the car, I think it was drugs, it fell between some plants in a flower bed on the side of the road” Tom said, talking quick. “Do you think it is still there?” Jim asked him, “Assuming that there was something thrown out of the car…” Tom was now feeling less confident about it, and started to doubt himself. “I think it would still be there, I don’t think any of the other people at the street noticed it. There were only a few of them anyway and I didn’t notice anyone looking towards the flower bed”, now doubting himself even more, if no body noticed it, maybe it is because there was nothing to notice. “I think we should go check it out” Jim suggested. “Look, I am not even sure there was something thrown out of the car, I might be just imagining things” Tom replied in a defensive tone. “Well then let’s go check it out, it is not far away from here, and if it’s nothing then it’s nothing, what we got to loose” Jim reasoned. “OK why not, let’s go and check it out” Tom replied, convinced by Jim’s argument.

Easy Money: Chapter 4, The Orphenage

Next morning Tom headed out to visit the orphanage, which is located in a small town called Chia, in the suburbs of Bogotá. Getting there required taking the Trans Milenio to the north terminal. The Trans Milenio can best be described as an over ground metro system, which uses normal buses (sometime double length) running on exclusive lanes on Bogotá’s main streets; it was built as a cheap alternative to a subway, which the municipality could not afford. Tom's first couple of times on the Trans Milenio were confusing, but then he got used to the system and found it quite easy, his only gripe with it was it was always too crowded, no matter what time of the day he traveled, they definitely need to run more frequent buses, he thought. Luckily he got on the Trans Milenio at the first station in the line, which means he could get a free seat. Midway to the terminal the bus was already too crowded, more resembling a sardine can of people. He took the Tran Milenio all the way to the bus terminal, where he boarded a small bus going to Chia. It took about 45 five minutes to get to Chia’s terminal, where he hopped in an even smaller bus, that took him to the orphanage; everything exactly according to Ian’s directions. The orphanage was located at the edge of the town, where the valley ended and the slopes of the mountains started. The area was very green, and on top of a ridge, partway up the slopes, stood the imposing figure of a church, as if guarding the orphanage and its neighborhood. It could be a nice walk up to the church, Tom thought, maybe I will do it someday.

He called Ian just before arriving, and Ian was waiting for him on the main road when he arrived. He accompanied him to the offices, where he introduced him to the director of the place, Maria, who took him for a tour of the place. The facility was composed of several one story buildings, one housing the offices, the others each housing a different group of children. After visiting the offices, the tour continued to the home of the youngest group, children between 1-8 years old. They found the children playing in the yard and as soon they entered a few of them surrounded the visitors, welcoming and hugging them; demanding some attention. “Some of the children don’t have family, while others were abused by their family, and they’re better off here.” Maria explained to Tom

The next house was where they teenage mothers stayed. Some of them were mothers to be; still pregnant, while others already had their child, and they were carrying them or watching them play. All looked too young for motherhood, "the culprit is usually somebody in the family, others were just sold for prostitution by their parents" Ian told him, “either way their family environment was not an appropriate place for them to remain” he added. Going back they passed through the yard again, there one little girl, maybe four years old approached Tom, raised her hand and said vuelta. At first Tom had no idea what she wanted, a hug maybe? She incessantly repeated the word vuleta, now pulling on Tom’s pants. Then he remembered that vuelta means a turn in Spanish, and he thought he knew what she wanted; same as what his nephew back home wants all the time. He grabbed her hand at the rests, leaned back, and then spun her around in the air. The girl started laughing, and asked him to do it faster, after a few spins he put her back, he was feeling a bit dizzy, she was feeling even more dizzy, but pretty happy never the less. Before he could even recover he was surrounded by five other children, asking him to do the same to them, jumping up and down, shouting “a mi, a mi, a mi”. He knew it was going to make him really dizzy, but he felt he could not turn them down. He gave each kid a few turns, taking just enough rest in between each kid, to recover from the dizziness. “Would you like to spend some more time with the kids” Maria asked him. Tom hesitated for a second, and then decided he would, “Yes I would” he replied. “I will wait for you back in the office then, hasta luego”. Ian was just as busy, he was surrounded by another group of children at the slider, playing a different game, the kids would climb up the stairs, and then Ian’s job would be to ‘fly’ them back to the ground. He seemed to have his hands full with at least ten kids forming a long line; waiting for their turn.

After about an hour of playing with them, the children turned their attention to some other things, and Tom and Ian took advantage of the opportunity to slip away. They went back to the office where they met Maria again. "The children love it when they have new visitors; it breaks their daily routine. We can take care of them, but they still need the affection and attention of grown ups.” Maria commented. “Shall we go on to see the rest of the facility?" she added. Their next stop was kids with mental problems, "The attitude towards such kids in Colombia is very backward, they usually get sent to a mental institute. We are trying to pioneer a new approach, a more modern approach; treat them like human beings", Maria explained. There were children in various ages there, the severity of their mental disorder seemed to vary considerably; some of them looked like normal kids, while others clearly did not behave normal.

After the tour they went back at the office. “What does this orphanage need the most at the moment?” Tom asked Maria. "Well, we could always use more money; the land lord hiked the rent, so were having some budget problems, and we may have to vacate one of the houses. We are trying to buy our own land, build our own facilities, and save on the rent, but that is a long term project. We also would like to help the kids more when they become 18 and have to leave the orphanage; they still need support to get education and jobs, specially the single mothers. We are also full at the moment and we can't take any more kids, the social services call us often asking if we have room to take another child, and we have to turn them down" Maria replied. "One of the things I am trying to help them with is the fund raising, their fund raising at the moment is the nickel and dime approach, muffin sales, bingos, donations from individuals, they need to go for the big money, UNICIF, Christian churches, etc. As soon as I go back to the US I am going to try to approach some of these organizations" Ian said. "The children could also use more attention, we need volunteers to come and just spend time with the kids, like you did today. Some of the kids get adopted, but others will stay with us until the edge of 18, and they need some grown up people in their lives to give them the attention they need” Maria added.

It was getting late and he and Ian decided to head back to Bogotá. He felt uneasy leaving the place without at least making a small donation, but he was just too strapped for cash; the money he had left would barely last him a few days more. But he was impressed by the orphanage; it was very well organized, and the kids were definitely in the hands of good people. It was a shame though they could not get the funds they needed to realize all their plans; it made him feel happy and sad at the same time.

Easy Money: Chapter 3, Old Friend

Next morning back at the hostel, when Tom entered the living room, he noticed a face that seemed familiar. It can’t be, he thought to himself, but it was, it was Ian. Ian was setting over there in the living room, chatting with one of the cleaning ladies, who works at the hostel. He had met Ian exactly one year earlier, during his previous trip to Colombia, on his first day in Bogotá, in this exact same living room, they went out that night, and had a really good time at one of Bogotá’s night clubs. They made eye contact, but Ian also needed a few seconds to recognize Tom. Eventually Tom took the initiative; “Ian” he said, and then approached Ian offering his hand, Ian got up from his chair, shook the hand, and then they hugged each other. “Tom, Right?” Ian said uncertain, Tom nodded. “What a coincidence man, when did you get here?” Tom asked. “I just got here a few days ago”, Ian replied. “What a coincidence, to meet each other again in the same place after one year. What are you doing here?” Tom asked. “I am here to do some volunteer work with an orphanage, this time I am here for only one month, unfortunately. I just stopped by the hostel to say hi to some people”. Their conversation was interrupted when someone called: “Ian, Ian, cuando volviste?”, almost screaming. It was an old woman, another cleaning lady at the hostel, and Ian went over and gave her a kiss on the cheek and a warm hug. The woman’s the face was glowing with Joy at seeing Ian. “You are back again, how great, since you were gone I been having back pains; I am missing those back massages you used to give me”, she said. “Well if you need one now, I am ready, anytime you want”, Tom said. “That is so kind of you Ian, you were always so kind to me. I need to finish a couple of things first; I’ll be back soon”, the lady replied, and then went away with a happy smile still on her face. “I have to go now, I made some plans with some guys to visit the museum, but let’s get together for a drink sometime”, Tom suggested. “Yes sure, let’s do that, I’ll give you my phone number, I still don’t remember it though; it is a new Colombian mobile I bought. I think I have it written somewhere”. But Tom was quicker, he pulled a peace of paper he had written his new number on; he as well hadn’t managed to remember his mobile number yet, and he handed it to Ian, “Here, have my number”. Ian took the paper and dialed the number in his mobile, and after a few seconds Tom’s phone rang. “Ok now we both have each others number” Tom said. Then as Tom turned around and was about to go, Ian said in a hesitant voice: “Tomorrow I am going to the orphanage, maybe you would like to join me, I could show you around the place; show you what I do there”. Tom thought about for a second; maybe it is about time I do something other than partying in Bogota, in fact I am starting to get tired of this whole night life thing, “Why not? I’ll join you” Tom replied. “Would you like to go with me in the morning? I leave around 8 o’clock.”, Ian suggested. “I don’t like waking up so early in the morning, can I come on my own latter in the afternoon?”. “Sure I’ll give you the directions, and you can make your way there whatever time you want”. “Sounds great” Tom replied. Ian wrote down the directions on a piece of paper, explaining them while writing them at the same time, then handed the paper to Tom. “Common Tom, were leaving”, Tom heard Jim call him from the patio. “See you later man”, he said to Ian and left. On his way out another young woman working at the hostel seemed to notice Ian, and she let out a short scream of surprise, and then went over to give him a hug. He’s quite a popular guy, Tom thought, it doesn’t surprise me; he’s quite a gentleman and a good person.

Tom, Jim and the others went to visit the Banco Nacional Museum, the entry was gratis. The museum had some of Botero’s work; Botero the painter and sculpturer from Medellin, who became famous by depicting people exaggeratively fat: fat Pablo Escobar, fat Jesus on the cross, fat virgin Marry, fat bull fighters, fat everybody. But Tom had already seen plenty of his paintings at the Botero museum in Medellin, and they started to feel repetitive. There at the Botero exhibition, Jim asked Tom to take a photo of him, “I want to have a photo, to prove to my friends that I actually went to a museum, otherwise they would never believe me”. There were other works by other modern painters which Tom found quite interesting, though he had trouble remembering their names once he left the museum. There were also many works of strange modern art, which Tom mostly did not understand. And in one high security section; with thick steel doors and lot of security guards, they had a few valuable gold altar pieces, decorated with hundreds of emeralds, and tens of diamonds. They used to belong to the church apparently, the church must have been very rich in those days, Tom thought.

Easy money: Chapter 2, The Hang Over

Next morning Tom sat in the hostel living room sipping some coffee, and recovering from his hang over, his thoughts going over last night, a night that was pleasant, but it could have been better, he wasn’t lucky with chicks, unlike Jim. But he felt he left at the right time; it could have ended less pleasantly if he had stayed longer; he didn’t want to be around his friends after they started taking the coke. Anyway his mind turned to his more pressing problem; he was running out of money, and his flight home was still a month away. He had miscalculated his credit card payments, which came higher than he expected. He had also spent much more than he should have in Bogotá; hanging out with English young lads with a lot of money to spend was one reason; they would always calculate the prices in pounds, and then would say "That’s so cheap compared to England" or "That’s only like X Pounds". He enjoyed hanging out with them, but it was always expensive. Then there were those expensive hotel rooms he paid for when he would occasionally got lucky, always with a local chick; he had a rule of not hitting on gringas while traveling, they were destined for the local boys, he thought. Anyway he found a way to make some money in Bogotá; by teaching English lessons. But he would have to stay in Bogotá to do that, and he would not be making much money; enough to pay his expenses if he works daily until his flight, but he would not be able to do all the things he still wanted to do in Colombia; the lost city trek, diving on one of the Caribbean island, paragliding in Medellin, and the Barranquilla Carnival, among others. His other option was to ask money from his parents, but their relationship had been strained lately, and his decision to go traveling for a few months did not help matters; they thought he should start getting serious about his life and his career. He would only go to his parents as a last resort; he would rather teach the English classes and give up on all the cool stuff he wants to do.

His friends took longer than him to recover from their night out; after all they did stay out longer, and used more substances than he did. Only around 4 in the afternoon did they start to wake up. Everybody was feeling kind of hungry, and they decided on the local burger place, El Torro Rojo. They made their orders at the front desk, and then went to sit down. They were all having a hangover from last night, Andy had it the worst, “When I am high I just want to stay high, so I just keep taking more and more coke” he said still looking smashed from last night. “I think my nose is missed up, I can’t smell anything” Andy added while yawning. "But imagine how much that stuff would have cost us back home" Ryan commented. “The Charlie here is even cheaper than drinks, I’d just rather do the Charlie than buy some more expensive drinks in the club, drinks that I don’t want to drink anyway, Jim commented. He was the newest to the group, he just arrived to the hostel a couple of days ago, he seemed to be traveling on a relatively low budget for an English guy; in the club he was all the time complaining about he prices of the drinks. "Back in Medellin I used to be the middle man for the guys in the hostel. I knew the local dealer. I would get the money from the guys at the hostel, and buy them the coke. Sometimes I bought 10 or 20 grams at a time, then I would get it at a discount, not enough to make a big profit, but it paid for my share; I had my coke for free” Jim told them, seeming proud of his former coke dealings. “I wonder how much 1 Kg would cost around here” Ryan asked. “Around 1000 Pounds” Jim replied, and then added: “You know if we would just buy a large quantity of coke, we would probably get it for really cheap. I think we should do it”. Tom did not like the idea of his friends possessing large amounts of coke, and felt compelled to intervene; "Do you know what will happen to you if you get caught with a large quantity of drugs, you could get into serious trouble mate, forget about it". "Yah I wouldn't want to get caught with such a large quantity of drugs, one could spend a few years in prison for that" Ryan supported said in support. But Jim didn’t seem repelled from his idea, “No body cares in this country, all cops are corrupt. In Cartagena I got caught with some coke, and I paid the cop to get out of it. At first the guy wanted 100$, I offered him 20$, we haggled over the price, and in the end he accepted 40$. The purposefully search the gringos only for this reason; to get bribes; they really don’t care about gringos taking drugs. After the whole affair we even went and had a drink together, me and the policemen". "How much did you have on you then: 1 gram? 2 grams? I don't think that with 1 Kg you would get away with it that easily, you would go down mate, or you would have to come up with a really big bribe to get your way out of that mess”, Tom replied. Andy finally joined the conversation as well, "I don't think I am going be going near that crap again for a while, I am feel missed up man" he said in an absent voice. "Yes, maybe we should just take it easy on that Charlie for a while" Ryan said in agreement. At that point their conversation was interrupted, the guy at the order desk called them; their burgers were ready and they went to pickup them up.

Tom was feeling quite hungry, and the sight of his juicy burger raised his spirit; a double burger with cheese and bacon, but when he looked into his burger, he was dismayed to see they had drowned it with mustard and ketchup. He didn’t mind the mustard, but ketchup! Inside his burger! He couldn’t understand why anyone would do that, next time he will have to remember to tell them not to put any damn ketchup in his burger. “Me and Andy are heading for the coast tomorrow, how about you guys?” Ryan inquired. “I just got to Bogotá; I think I will stay here for a few more days at least. Besides I just came from the coast down here, and I am heading south after Bogotá” Jim replied. “I think I am going to be here for a while too, I am going to be teaching English classes; I need to make some money” Tom said in a depressed tone. Then Tom remembered something and turned to Jim, “What happened with that chick you were dancing with last night?”, “I got her phone number, I’ll give her a call later to set up a date for tomorrow. I don’t think I am up for a date today”. “Good for you” Tom said winking at Jim.

Easy Money: Chapter 1, La Rumba (The Party)

Tom stood in the middle one of Bogotá's famous night clubs, surrounded by young Colombians and gringos dancing wildly to the beats of Electronic music. But he was already feeling tired and sleepy and he was ready to head back to his hostel; his night of Rumba was about to end, for his friends on the other hand, the Rumba was probably just starting. They had just bought some cocaine of a guy at the club, and now they were taking turns going to the toilet and sniffing coke. Coke is quite easy to get in Colombia, at every corner in Zona Rosa there someone selling it, sometimes even inside the clubs, and if one looks like a gringo, he will often get offered coke without even asking for it. Anyway Tom did not want to stay longer in the club, he did not like the way coke changed people, he thought his friends were quite cool, but soon once they had taken the coke they will be become more aggressive and obnoxious, no longer the fun friends he met back at the hostel. It was De Ja Vu all over again for Tom; he had been through this experience a few times already in Colombia.

"We were already having good fun anyway, why would you need to take drugs?" he asked his friend Ryan, leaning and speaking directly into his friends ears, trying to make himself heard over the loud electronic beats. Ryan did the same to answer back, "It gives you more confidence, that’s what it does”. An artificially induced kind of confidence, Tom thought to himself buy did not say it. “Besides, do you know how much this stuff costs in England? 50 Pounds for one gram, here I can get it for 3 Pound. If I am going to try it, it is going to be here, I can’t afford it back in England. Have you ever tried it?", “No” answered Tom, “Good for you mate, if you just want to stay out of it, it’s cool, I respect that”. Andy had come back from the toilet, his eyes wider than when he left. It was Ryan's turn to go there, and Andy' handed Ryan the little plastic bag containing the coke, then he turned to Tom and said: "Why aren't you dancing man?" at the same time giving Tom a forceful two finger push in the right shoulder; those gentle friendly pats often turned not so gentle after a couple of dozes of coke, he then added “I think you need some Charlie mate, it will wake you up and put you in the mode for some partying”. Tom tried to act as if not bothered by the push, he could not remember how many times he had been offered coke in Colombia, but his answer was the same every time. Tom just smiled to Jim and said, "No thanks, I think I just need a drink, I am going to the bar to get one", it was his excuse to avoid staying longer with Andy. He already decided he did not want to stay longer in the club; he would get his beer, linger at the bar for a while, and then tell his friends that he had enough for the night. Staying there would be like being the only sober person in a group of drunken guys; it just does not work that well. His friends will be staying there for a while, the cocaine’s stimulating effect will keep them awake. Of course he could just join his friends and take the coke, but seeing what it did to his friends, he did not see why he would want to do that. Walking his way to the bar, he saw Jim on the dance floor, he already had a couple of sniff, and it seemed to inject him with a dose of energy, he was dancing with a brunet; Jim with his blond hair and blue eyes always got the most attention from the local chicks. The chick he was dancing with had a pair of very large tits, clearly silicon enlarged, and she wore a blouse that exposed a whole lot of them. Plastic surgeries in Colombia are cheap and of high quality, and many women just can’t seem to resist the temptation of having larger tits. Apparently the local men like them; to Tom on the other hand they looked too unnatural; they did not impress him.

Easy money: Introduction

This short story attempts to describe a typical travelers experience in Bogotá, at least typical for some travelers. I wrote this story during my two month in Colombia. I got the idea for the story while I was in Bogotá, after going through two distinctly different experiences, and I though bringing them together, and weaving them into a fictional plot would make for an interesting story. As I mentioned he main plot is completely fictional, and although some characters may be partially based on people I met in, the names are completely fictional. That said there is one thing that is not fictional in the story, and that is the 'Fundación Niña Maria', this place is real, and I visited it a couple of times. Also the difficulties facing the foundation are real, and for those who are interested in donating money, volunteering, or just visiting, then here is the contact information of the foundation :

Vereda Fonqutá
Chia - Cundinamarca
email : ninamaria03@yahoo.com
Dirección Correspondencia Cra 8 No 13-26 Casa 11

I will be publishing the story over the next couple of weeks, one or chapters at a time. This gives me the opportunity to review the content one more time before publishing it.