I had been thinking about how I wanted to write a blog post about the little things you create in a life and how strange it is that a life that is so real and rutted is suddenly gone?
Little things like the smell of the hallway of my apartment building, and the much stronger smell of my apartment. The sounds of the birds that hang out right outside my bedroom window, which is also above my head and sounds like they are flying into the room at least a few mornings a week.. they are pigeons, colombian style of course, which are actually much cleaner and more beautiful. A refined beauty and equally natural beauty, much like colombian women. The distinct sound of each door of this apartment. The sounds that initiates any good aguacero, and the temperature drop. The smell of urine in the various places i frequent often, the walkway on the way to my bus stop, also coincidentally where homeless people pass out all the time, right in the middle of the sidewalk, just doesn't make sense, maybe its especially warm or something. The distinct smell in each of the three corner stores i frequent, and how i kind of have the same relationship with each of the families that own these stores. The smell of the pool, the english classrooms and the centro de idiomas. I was thinking about all these little things that have consistently been in my life here no matter how different the other aspects of my life were, it was a year of phases. Tonight I had a realization of one other small thing.
The tree outside our front balcony of the apartment. Particularly in the last four months I have developed quite a relationship with this tree, I have no idea what kind of tree it is but it flourishes in unison with the weather. In the "verano" parts of the year the tree is a bright bright green, it creates long pea like seed pods and when the hot strong Andean sun hits them they heat up and pop sending seeds flying into its surrounding, including our balcony. On a hot, sunny day in a quiet moment on the balcony you can hear the pop, pop, pop of the seed pods. As it started to rain a bit more and the temperature dropped a degree or two the what we might call "otoño" or fall that only lasts a week or so. There might have been a short period of flowers, but I am having a hard time remembering. The tree then changed to bright fall colors... orange, brown, red, yellow and green. It has now started to heavily rain again, el "invierno" and tonight i noticed that the tree is super lush. So lush, the lushest you could imagine it, it looks as if it is dripping green leaves. Beautiful.
On the eve of my last month in Colombia, its the little things I've been thinking about.
Much like the shifts in the trees cycle, my life this last year has been in shifts. Shifts of a short period of normalness. Then everything would change and the much used word "normal" takes on another meaning and continues to be a great joke, sometimes simply making too much sense, agreeing with all the idiosyncrasies of life. The development of this year and the plot of my colombian story have developed in phases. And in all those phases there were the little things.
But life continues to feel relatively normal and pleasant. Its a pleasant little life I've been living these past months and sometimes it feels like it could just float on and on, but theres a feeling in the air that i will soon be floating away, floating home. In fact, I believe Colombia will come to the perfect close. Things, people, pastimes and places have slowly begun to ex out of my life as my life slowly shuts down. But the amazing place about this city and this country is that there are always more amazing places to discover, things to do, people to meet, stories to hear, and things to learn.
This last weekend we went Guatapé. We being, team M plus a few. Its surprising that as bonded as team M is, we travel separately. This was our first time travelling as a team M unit. It wasn't just us of course, we had a few randoms and extras. Keko, meg's very 420 friendly, big smiled, likes to have a good time boyfriend has been visiting for about a week now and will stay about another week, Iñigo, a spaniard working at the engineering university up in Envigado, makes a good Spanish tortilla we ate three of them this weekend. Damien, Iñigo's roommate, a French dude doing his "práctica"/internship at the same engineering university and takes many candid pictures. Daniel, Elly's "parce" from the international program at the university she works at. Daniel has become quite a dear friend to the group over the past 10 months. I had some good laughs with dear Daniel. And for our Saturday night barbecue we were joined by a french random, Charly, who has been travelling for three years, definitely had the travelling bum feel to him, you can tell he's seen many things and places. That was our crew and it was a great weekend. We had a barbecue, climbed the Peñol, ate lunch, went on a 2 hours boat ride throughout the lake, went swimming, and learned about and saw quite a few of Pablo Escobar's 300 fincas in the area. So crazy. Quite a wonderful weekend, my camera is unfortunately pretty broken so I didn't take many pictures, but I will have to steal some from my friend's.
It is pouring rain, once in a while i see a lightning strike then hear the roaring thunder. Its 11:30 I think its time for bed or atleast time to head in that direction.
See ya'll in one month.
Monday, April 30, 2012
Monday, April 23, 2012
the falling action
I have now started to write my next blog post 3 times and every time I get halfway through, get frustrated or lose inspiration and give up. The first attempt was a description of last weekend's little getaway to the Eje Cafetero (coffee growing region) for Meg's birthday, which was amazing, but not stories I felt I was able to reflect on for my blog-post, but a weekend full of Colombia reflections, wine, masks, host springs, horseback riding, "willy's" (jeep cars used to transport groups of people), waterfalls and green green mountains and scenery.
Another attempt was a long list of things about Colombian that I won't miss, the plan was to make a list of both things I will and will not miss but it kind of just turned into a frustrated rant about all the little things in Colombia that drive me crazy. There still might be a post to come following this theme though. I made another blog post attempt in which I tried to describe my life, the current happenings in it and my thoughts on it all. All the before mentioned posts were failures. Truth is I have to be in the right state of mind to truly write a good post that actually expresses how I feel and the trials and tribulations of la vida Colombiana. I think I'm in that state of mind now.
Reflecting back on the failed attempts to post over the past few weeks, I'm realizing that I haven't really realized or been able to pin point my actual thoughts and feelings. I've been feeling kind of emotionally numb. Well that was until yesterday. Yesterday I got the confirmation email from the Fulbright travel agency confirming my flight home to SFO June 1st. Although I've had that date in my head for a few weeks and I've known how imminent it is, having it set in stone and confirmed made it that much more real and that much more exciting. I was jazzed, I turned up the reggae music I was listening too, danced around and informed anyone who would care that por fin I was officially coming home!! That night I celebrated by going to karaoke night, where I belted out all the lyrics to California Love and Sweet Home Alabama, feeling so much patriotic pride and excitement it was almost uncontrollable. That excitement and the general fact that I will be on California soil in just about 40 days has pushed me from the limbo-land of feeling numb and just kinda gently floating through my last days in Medellín into full blown "I-am-totally-over-this"-Serena mode. Anyone who knows me well at all, or who was close to me during the end of college, high school, middle school and even sort of Ecuador knows what this mode is like. Its a sort of apathetic, parallel universe that I push myself into, where luckily time ticks by, nothing new happens, I don't search for adventure, I fall off the face of the social planet and I just get comfortable in my own little bubble, ruminating and reflecting. Right now my universe consists of salsa, porro, ballet, afro, pilates, spinning, treadmills, swimming, yoga, tv shows, movies, veggies and an occasional glass or bottle of wine. Its not a bad place most of the time, but it often does feel like I'm just wasting time away and thats never a good feeling. But then again, thats kind of how Colombia has been for me this entire year, at least now I have something exciting and tangible to look forward to and at least I am filling my time with the three things that have kept me sane this year: dancing, swimming and wine. Truth is I'm over it. Colombia has done all that it can for me right now and this experience needs to come to a close. Honestly, I've been slowly shutting down the Colombia experience since December when I went back to Ecuador. This was followed by three months of visitors, many amazing days, moments and conversations with Lloyd, a trip back to the USA and trips around Colombia. I was also the happiest I've been in Colombia during the past five months.................
Coincidence? I think not. In the past five months, having spent time with dear friends from home, my parents, my Ecua-family and friends, an incredible family week in Florida, and relaxing in the ocean I was reminded of how wonderful and enriching the simple life I live in California actually is. It reconfirmed how my friends, both those from Elk and Mendo and the handful of wonderful friends I made at Pitzer, are truly the most important thing in my life and without them I am only a fraction of who I really am. They make me the best I can be, they make me happy, they make me proud and most of all they keep me real. I have missed all of them more this year than I ever have before, I have never felt the pain of missing someone so strongly and I have certainly never wished more that teleporting actually existed. Not to say that I haven't met some amazing people here in Colombia, but they haven't been my people.
This year has arguably been one of the most difficult years of my life, but it has also been important. It has taught me many important lessons and more than anything it has pushed me into yet another stage of maturity. In its own way I think (and I hope) it has prepared me to face the "real world". The thing about going home to Elk though is that as much as I glorify it in my mind no matter where in the world I am, its not always rainbows, sunshine and smiles. Being home is actually really difficult for me sometimes. I often feel like I don't belong there, I am often frustrated by the small town mentality, I don't feel understood, like no one understands everything that I have experienced and seen and how it has changed me, and I feel trapped, like I'm living in a happy bubble while I know that out there beyond the redwood trees and dramatic cliffs there is a world where most people live difficulty, where to use the title of a popular classic 90's film "reality bites". Lets be honest, for the most part life on the Mendocino coast is bliss, it is its own paradise, where money seems to grow on trees for many of the residents, where despite the crappy fog people still are happy, where you can live the healthiest life-style ever, where you can meet people from all walks of life, where you can live miles and miles away from your neighbor, there are no freeways, no sky-scrapers, no pollution and where community becomes family. But sometimes it almost seems surreal and sometimes this bliss, this bubble, is frustrating. Truth is, many of the people living in this region came to live here after having come to the realization that reality does bite sometimes, even in Mendocino, but the bite is a little more manageable when you are surrounded by all the physical and internal beauty of the Mendocino coast. Or people, who have travelled far and wide, experienced life at its fullest and lowest and have always found their way home to the tranquility, beauty and Mendo love that hugs the cliffs like the summer fog. So yes, home is a magical place that has nurtured, supported, polished and defined who I am and all that I have done, it is a place that warms my soul and if I don't end up living my life there I will only settle for the most similar place I can find. But sometimes I feel stifled and misunderstood there, like no one knows who I am now after Pitzer, Ecuador and Colombia, like I still somehow get squished back into the box I fit into in high school. But what I have come to realize is that no one will ever really understand all the experiences, moments and people who have come in and out of my life in the past five years and how they shaped me to who I am today, because they weren't there. The only person there for all these moments was me..... Lloyd has always told me how important it is and how liberating it is to travel by yourself. This has always scared me, but this year I have done it a handful of times. Lloyd explains the importance as the ability to be able to make decisions based on no one else but yourself. Although this sounds selfish (and selfishness is my least favorite quality in anyone!) its about knowing who you truly are and being ok with it. Because in the end there is no one else, its just you. You are the only person who is always there, who always understands and is there to catch you when you fall. Its important to recognize all the truths about yourself, both the good and the bad and deal with them and play with them as they come and go. This I believe is a major purpose of life and a nearly infinite process.
Taking this realization and my new relationship with myself away from Colombia, I step back into a place that is dangerously familiar armed to face the "real world". Now one (I have even been known to argue this point) could argue that Mendocino/Elk or the life I live there is not the "real world" but the truth is that its a big part of my world and for me its real. And that is what has been the hardest most frustrating part of this past year abroad, I have felt like I am living in a dream world, in a place where whatever I do has little to no repercussions, where I can be or pretend to be anyone I want, where I haven't worked more than 20 hours a week, where the temperature is consistently a perfect 75-80 degrees, where rainy season means I have to take taxis more and be sure to never leave the house without my sombrillo (umbrella) and where the word "stress" has almost lost full meaning. It has been a dream, a really long dream.
But in the end, when it is all said and done the bad memories kind of fall deep into the back of your mind, filed away and the memories that remain are all the best, and it becomes a time you forever reflect fondly upon.
So yes, I have lost most motivation in my life here and I am ready to go home. Its like a plot, I hit the climax months ago and now I am sliding down the curve through the falling action almost arriving at the resolution. But this year has been filled with so many enriching moments, reflections, experiences and people that I think have affected, changed and shape me in more ways than I realize now when I am longing for redwoods, rivers, the Pacific and my people <3
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| Happy Birthday Meg! |
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| hotsprings in the rain :) |
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| there's just something about waterfalls... |
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| awesome... |
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| hoseback riding in valle del cocora |
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| they say they are some of the best paisajes in the country (but my camera is pretty broken right now) |
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| we rode horses to this waterfall. |
Another attempt was a long list of things about Colombian that I won't miss, the plan was to make a list of both things I will and will not miss but it kind of just turned into a frustrated rant about all the little things in Colombia that drive me crazy. There still might be a post to come following this theme though. I made another blog post attempt in which I tried to describe my life, the current happenings in it and my thoughts on it all. All the before mentioned posts were failures. Truth is I have to be in the right state of mind to truly write a good post that actually expresses how I feel and the trials and tribulations of la vida Colombiana. I think I'm in that state of mind now.
Reflecting back on the failed attempts to post over the past few weeks, I'm realizing that I haven't really realized or been able to pin point my actual thoughts and feelings. I've been feeling kind of emotionally numb. Well that was until yesterday. Yesterday I got the confirmation email from the Fulbright travel agency confirming my flight home to SFO June 1st. Although I've had that date in my head for a few weeks and I've known how imminent it is, having it set in stone and confirmed made it that much more real and that much more exciting. I was jazzed, I turned up the reggae music I was listening too, danced around and informed anyone who would care that por fin I was officially coming home!! That night I celebrated by going to karaoke night, where I belted out all the lyrics to California Love and Sweet Home Alabama, feeling so much patriotic pride and excitement it was almost uncontrollable. That excitement and the general fact that I will be on California soil in just about 40 days has pushed me from the limbo-land of feeling numb and just kinda gently floating through my last days in Medellín into full blown "I-am-totally-over-this"-Serena mode. Anyone who knows me well at all, or who was close to me during the end of college, high school, middle school and even sort of Ecuador knows what this mode is like. Its a sort of apathetic, parallel universe that I push myself into, where luckily time ticks by, nothing new happens, I don't search for adventure, I fall off the face of the social planet and I just get comfortable in my own little bubble, ruminating and reflecting. Right now my universe consists of salsa, porro, ballet, afro, pilates, spinning, treadmills, swimming, yoga, tv shows, movies, veggies and an occasional glass or bottle of wine. Its not a bad place most of the time, but it often does feel like I'm just wasting time away and thats never a good feeling. But then again, thats kind of how Colombia has been for me this entire year, at least now I have something exciting and tangible to look forward to and at least I am filling my time with the three things that have kept me sane this year: dancing, swimming and wine. Truth is I'm over it. Colombia has done all that it can for me right now and this experience needs to come to a close. Honestly, I've been slowly shutting down the Colombia experience since December when I went back to Ecuador. This was followed by three months of visitors, many amazing days, moments and conversations with Lloyd, a trip back to the USA and trips around Colombia. I was also the happiest I've been in Colombia during the past five months.................
Coincidence? I think not. In the past five months, having spent time with dear friends from home, my parents, my Ecua-family and friends, an incredible family week in Florida, and relaxing in the ocean I was reminded of how wonderful and enriching the simple life I live in California actually is. It reconfirmed how my friends, both those from Elk and Mendo and the handful of wonderful friends I made at Pitzer, are truly the most important thing in my life and without them I am only a fraction of who I really am. They make me the best I can be, they make me happy, they make me proud and most of all they keep me real. I have missed all of them more this year than I ever have before, I have never felt the pain of missing someone so strongly and I have certainly never wished more that teleporting actually existed. Not to say that I haven't met some amazing people here in Colombia, but they haven't been my people.
This year has arguably been one of the most difficult years of my life, but it has also been important. It has taught me many important lessons and more than anything it has pushed me into yet another stage of maturity. In its own way I think (and I hope) it has prepared me to face the "real world". The thing about going home to Elk though is that as much as I glorify it in my mind no matter where in the world I am, its not always rainbows, sunshine and smiles. Being home is actually really difficult for me sometimes. I often feel like I don't belong there, I am often frustrated by the small town mentality, I don't feel understood, like no one understands everything that I have experienced and seen and how it has changed me, and I feel trapped, like I'm living in a happy bubble while I know that out there beyond the redwood trees and dramatic cliffs there is a world where most people live difficulty, where to use the title of a popular classic 90's film "reality bites". Lets be honest, for the most part life on the Mendocino coast is bliss, it is its own paradise, where money seems to grow on trees for many of the residents, where despite the crappy fog people still are happy, where you can live the healthiest life-style ever, where you can meet people from all walks of life, where you can live miles and miles away from your neighbor, there are no freeways, no sky-scrapers, no pollution and where community becomes family. But sometimes it almost seems surreal and sometimes this bliss, this bubble, is frustrating. Truth is, many of the people living in this region came to live here after having come to the realization that reality does bite sometimes, even in Mendocino, but the bite is a little more manageable when you are surrounded by all the physical and internal beauty of the Mendocino coast. Or people, who have travelled far and wide, experienced life at its fullest and lowest and have always found their way home to the tranquility, beauty and Mendo love that hugs the cliffs like the summer fog. So yes, home is a magical place that has nurtured, supported, polished and defined who I am and all that I have done, it is a place that warms my soul and if I don't end up living my life there I will only settle for the most similar place I can find. But sometimes I feel stifled and misunderstood there, like no one knows who I am now after Pitzer, Ecuador and Colombia, like I still somehow get squished back into the box I fit into in high school. But what I have come to realize is that no one will ever really understand all the experiences, moments and people who have come in and out of my life in the past five years and how they shaped me to who I am today, because they weren't there. The only person there for all these moments was me..... Lloyd has always told me how important it is and how liberating it is to travel by yourself. This has always scared me, but this year I have done it a handful of times. Lloyd explains the importance as the ability to be able to make decisions based on no one else but yourself. Although this sounds selfish (and selfishness is my least favorite quality in anyone!) its about knowing who you truly are and being ok with it. Because in the end there is no one else, its just you. You are the only person who is always there, who always understands and is there to catch you when you fall. Its important to recognize all the truths about yourself, both the good and the bad and deal with them and play with them as they come and go. This I believe is a major purpose of life and a nearly infinite process.
Taking this realization and my new relationship with myself away from Colombia, I step back into a place that is dangerously familiar armed to face the "real world". Now one (I have even been known to argue this point) could argue that Mendocino/Elk or the life I live there is not the "real world" but the truth is that its a big part of my world and for me its real. And that is what has been the hardest most frustrating part of this past year abroad, I have felt like I am living in a dream world, in a place where whatever I do has little to no repercussions, where I can be or pretend to be anyone I want, where I haven't worked more than 20 hours a week, where the temperature is consistently a perfect 75-80 degrees, where rainy season means I have to take taxis more and be sure to never leave the house without my sombrillo (umbrella) and where the word "stress" has almost lost full meaning. It has been a dream, a really long dream.
But in the end, when it is all said and done the bad memories kind of fall deep into the back of your mind, filed away and the memories that remain are all the best, and it becomes a time you forever reflect fondly upon.
So yes, I have lost most motivation in my life here and I am ready to go home. Its like a plot, I hit the climax months ago and now I am sliding down the curve through the falling action almost arriving at the resolution. But this year has been filled with so many enriching moments, reflections, experiences and people that I think have affected, changed and shape me in more ways than I realize now when I am longing for redwoods, rivers, the Pacific and my people <3
Monday, April 9, 2012
Semana Santa
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| Semana santa pilgrimage in Barichara. |
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| Church in Barichara. |
Semana santa is the week leading up to Easter, and the entire country is on vacation. Most people just have off Thursday-Sunday but schools take the whole week off. The high season for all touristy spots is Christmas and the New Year and Semana Santa. Everything and everywhere is una locura. Flights are expensive, hotel prices go up, busses are full, hostals are full, city streets are so full of people you can't move and it is impossible to snap a picture without some annoying colombian doing a stupid pose in your frame. To my surprise, Jueves y Viernes Santo (Thursday and Friday) are more important and a bigger holiday than Easter Sunday. Busses stopped running Thursday and Friday, terminals were closed, people were flooding out church doors and there were pilgrimages to church. Yesterday, Easter sunday, as I rushed to the grocery store to buy some supplies for my Easter dinner with Jessy I was thinking about what everyone I know and love in the US was up to on Easter sunday. I was imagining pastel colors plasted in every store and restaurant, colored eggs, colorful easter baskets, peeps, the smell of egg salad (vomit), stuffed animal bunnies and chicks and any other adorable little animal, little girls with pig-tails and pretty floral print dresses, young kids hastily searching for candy and of course the queenie's egg and a family dinner (we usually have lamb or something). For most people in the United States Easter has entirely been taken over by hallmark. Most children who don't have religious families or backgrounds don't even know the real reason Easter is celebrated. Sure people still go to church on Easter, and watch religious plays and treat the holiday as it should be and always has been, but consumerism has again taken over this day in an overwhelming way. I couldn't tell if I was sad to not see pastel colors vomited over everything yesterday or if it was kind of refreshing.
Since Semana Santa is the only week of vacation before summer vacation students and families with kids eagerly try to "aprovechar" (take advantage) of the week off. Since I had just spent three weeks travelling around and having vacation I didn't find it necessary to sprint off to some other side of Colombia (or another country). I spent the first half of the week with Lloyd as he packed and got ready to go home. Then I got on a night bus to the Santander region by myself. The plan was for two friends to meet me Friday morning but due to semana santa craziness they couldn't get tickets and I was left alone in San Gil. But it was a blessing in disguise, I had the greatest time ever travelling by myself. A skill that I've been trying to nurture and build and I finally felt like I may have semi-accomplished it! I actually kind of wished I would have stayed longer.
Santander is a region of Colombia bordering Venezuela and neighboring Antioquia and Boyacá (Bogotá region) known for lots of outdoor adventures, eating hormigas culonas (literally ants with huge asses) and goat and horse (yummoo). The town of San Gil was flooded with mostly Bogotanos and almost every bed in the city was taken. I luckily got taken in by a super kind couple (Colombian woman, Swiss man) with a hostal who squeezed me in on a blow up mattress. I spent the weekend, running, hiking and swimming and it was so amazing.
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| view of valley from Barichara. |
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| view of Barichara from up the hill. |
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| colonial colors with color accent. |
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| the church in Barichara. |
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| checking out the view |
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| I love the old colonial look, so much history right there. |
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| more colonial Barichara |
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| hiking to el Pescadito |
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| family party time at el pescadito! |
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| the upper part of the river where i decided to hang out |
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Another reason I found myself laughing to myself was the excitement these people had to be where they are. Grown men were literally acting like 11 year old boys jumping and diving off the rocks into the water, laughing at their friends as their legs separated diving off rocks, the canyon echoed with the sound of belly flops, and then running back up to do it again. I watched men do this for hours and hours. Meanwhile the girls and women were up on the rocks, cooking the sancocho, combing their hair and posing like slutty super models for pictures (a thing that drives me crazy.. the way people pose for pictures.. especially girls). Another thought that had me laughing to myself as I watched these Colombians utterly enjoying themselves. Another thing that I had to notice, was their swimming abilities. This is something that has had me laughing since I got down here since I spend most of my time at the pool, but I would safely say that if Colombia was flooded the entire population would be killed not by impact but because they cannot swim. Now I realize that I happen to be from a family that has swimming and water sports in the genes and I come from a community where we were taught to swim at the river as young children so to me it seems like an obvious skill but there are certainly Americans who can't swim or can't swim well. But Colombians are on another level, and the funniest part about it is that they are so into it and think they are swimming so well. But thrashing your arms around and throwing your head back and forth is not swimming my friends. I watched a man jump in the water and swim to the edge literally looking like a dog, definitely the best doggie paddle i've ever seen! Yet another (and the last) burn I would like to make on Colombians is their choice of swimming attire. How can it be comfortable to jump in the water fully clothed when you have a bathing suit on underneath? Or how can it be comfortable to wear underwear underneath your bikini bottoms? I watched a girl who had been roaming around in her bikini for hours, put on a pair of long grey leggings and then jump into the water??.......???......... WHAT!? How does that make any sense? How can there be a reason for doing that? Maybe they are hoping to be warming? Maybe swimming in clothes has something to do with body consciousness? But Colombians do not need to be body conscious, they are naturally hot (most of them) and they have the worst diet ever (super lucky). Americans are way less body conscious and we are like the fattest people out there!! Maybe they don't have money to afford a bathing suit? I'm just not sure, but it just is so uncomfortable to swim fully clothed. This reminds me of another hilarious swimsuit moment. Months ago when I was in Cartagena with Meg and her boyfriend Keko I was eager to head to the beach. But Keko responded that he didn't have his swimsuit. Meg and I looked at him and his outfit (nylon sport shorts and a tshirt) and we were like "dude just swim in those, you are wearing shorts!" Keko got a very surprised look on his face and laughed, "these?" he said "no, no these are for the street not for swimming!" Meg and I looked at each other and laughed explaining to him that that is the normal bathing suit for boys our age in he US. Later when we were alone Meg said to me, "you should see his real bathing suit, its essentially skin colored underwear." Speedos are definitely still totally in down here. This all goes into the category of cultural things I will never understand, along with why both Colombians and Ecuadorians like to cover themselves in sand when they are at the beach and then run around and play soccer like sand monsters... do they not chafe and itch?
I also went to a waterfall with these two awesome Swedish girls. I really wanted to see these waterfalls and I thought they were going to be truly amazing and they were quite breathtaking but they were so over-run and full of tourists I couldn't handle being there for more than 15 minutes. It was an unfortunate trip because it took an hour to get there and back and I only stayed for a few minutes because it was like a zoo of annoying Colombian tourists who moved at a snails pace hiking to the waterfall and they were pushy and cut you off as you tried to climb up to the waterfall.
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| cascadas de Juan Curí. |
My time is rapidly coming to an end. I will be home in less than two months. Its a bittersweet thought but in general I know its time to go home.
Happy Easter to all, and happy spring.. see you in less than 2 months!!!! ahhh so exciting!
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Friends, Visitors and Manu Chao
The best part of this semester has been the many visitors I have had, some planned others not so much. A week or so ago I saw a mendocino friend Austin Roberts post on facebook that he was headed to south America and what do you know he was flying into Bogotá. Just so happened that the timing for his trip matched up perfectly with with the Manu Chao concert in Medellín. I mentioned it to him and the next thing we know Lloyd and I are having margaritas with Austin in Parque Lleras and heading to Manu Chao. The city was buzzing about the concert, everyone my age I know in Medellín was going or was wishing they could go. I had a feeling it was gonna be good.
I've been to a fair amount of concerts this past here in Colombia, some were certainly better than others, I remember some better than others, some venues were certainly better than others, some served alcohol others did not, some had hour breaks between artists, other began at 2 am. What i'm trying to say is that the latest, Manu Chao, was by far the best concert I've been to in the last year. The venue was perfect, the crowd was better, the energy was wonderful and the music was great! Here are two videos from the night. The biggest bummer of the whole thing is that i didn't bring my camera. :(
Desaparicido-Manu Chao, Medellín 2012
Welcome to Tijuana-Manu Chao Medellín 2012
My parents left about a week ago. I'm sure many of you have already heard their stories so it will be not be necessary to describe all the adventures we had together. It was quite fun and i truly enjoyed showing them around my new home and introducing them a bit to my life here and the magic, beauty and uniqueness of Colombia. Some photos...
We did the Pablo Escobar tour, which I hadn't done and was looking forward to doing. Now I've realized that its better to not mention to Paisas that you went on the Pablo Escobar tour because they don't quite understand why we (foreigners) would be interested in that man. Furthermore, many like to pretend like he never existed. The times I have mentioned it to Paisas they either go silent or look at me confused. There are many reasons for this response, but in general it is something people say with a hushed voice or don't mention at all. One cannot deny that Medellín has not changed that much, its all still alive and well just pushed out of the downtown areas of the city. Its all very complicated and obvious the deeper you begin to understand this place.
I've been to a fair amount of concerts this past here in Colombia, some were certainly better than others, I remember some better than others, some venues were certainly better than others, some served alcohol others did not, some had hour breaks between artists, other began at 2 am. What i'm trying to say is that the latest, Manu Chao, was by far the best concert I've been to in the last year. The venue was perfect, the crowd was better, the energy was wonderful and the music was great! Here are two videos from the night. The biggest bummer of the whole thing is that i didn't bring my camera. :(
Desaparicido-Manu Chao, Medellín 2012
Welcome to Tijuana-Manu Chao Medellín 2012
My parents left about a week ago. I'm sure many of you have already heard their stories so it will be not be necessary to describe all the adventures we had together. It was quite fun and i truly enjoyed showing them around my new home and introducing them a bit to my life here and the magic, beauty and uniqueness of Colombia. Some photos...
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| In Guatapé |
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| overlooking the dam |
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| Alirio's vegetable garden |
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| as part of the tour we were shown these old artifacts that were in Pablo's jail. yup those are his briefs, who knew Pablo was a nut-hugger type.? |
After waving my parents goodbye as they headed up to the airport to fly back to Florida, I sighed. It was not exactly a sigh of relief nor a sigh of sadness. It was a sigh of reality perhaps. Having my parents gone now means I am entering the final stage of my time in Colombia. Lloyd leaves Wednesday and then the visitor phase is truly over. This saddens me a bit as it has been absolutely wonderful having a best friend to do everything with, even if its spending a Saturday night on the balcony talking about life. So here I am looking at two (maybe two and a half) more months in Colombia and it all looks like a blur. I don't have any solid plans and I really don't know what the next two months will bring. Some travelling hopefully will occur so that I can check off my much shortened Colombia Bucket List. Other than that I don't really know. I was thinking about it yesterday and how I see two options: Fall deeper into the Colombian culture and life as to absorb up everything before I leave making it a thousand times harder to go back home (Ecuador experience). Or start to prepare myself for departure now, not saying that I'm gonna totally step away from trying to deepen my existence in Medellín life but start to emotionally detach so that when I return home in early June I will mentally and emotionally be in some kind of limbo land hopefully making it easier to absorb back into the US culture and start to shape my life in California.
Will I be ready to go? Yes, for the most part I am, however there is a huge part of me dripping with fear about returning to California and trying to start a path towards "real life" and a successful future. I'm afraid of regret. Of regretting not staying after I go home. I know there are great opportunities here that with a little effort, luck and energy I might be able to find, but I have not felt a motivation to find them. I received a message from another friend on a Fulbright who has decided to extend her grant, now this is not an option with the Fulbright Colombia commission but hearing this exciting news gave me back that twing of fear. It made me question if I should stay, if going home was truly the right choice. But then the social pressures I tend to put on myself fall away and I realize that I'm done here. This it he time of the stay where the little Colombian quirks that have always been annoying start to really get to you, I remember the same thing happening in Ecuador. I'm done living in a huge city, I'm done living in an overly male dominant society, I'm done over-consuming fried food and meat, I'm done living in a strong Catholic society, I'm done breathing poor air quality, I'm done seeing plastic girls with a bitch face and ugly hair, I'm done being stared at, I'm done being honked at, whistled at and cat called, I'm done living far away from the place and people who give me strength and happiness, and most of all I'm done feeling useless and under-utilized. I know that its time to go for now, I know that returning will be hard and I will find myself in a moment of wishing I stayed, but I know that if I stayed it would be hard. But I am excited. I know great opportunities will cross my path if I put myself out there to find them. No need to be afraid.
I wrote a blog when I was two months in, now I have a little over two months left. I can undoubtedly say I am a slightly changed person and most importantly I am much happier and content now than I was then. I've gone through it all and come out the other end and its been a wild and fully enjoyable ride.
Monday, March 19, 2012
"Normaaaal" and not so normaaal
Its been another long time since I last wrote. Up until last week life in Medellín with Lloyd had been what I would consider "normal" however in reality it is far from other people's measures of "normal". But what is normal really? Normal, or better described written "normaaaaal" as to give the spanish accent effect, has become a regular part of my vocabulary or daily speak as it has become an inside joke between my room mates and I. Paisas tend to use "normaaal" frequently as well hence the butt of the joke, however often said after things that may not truly be normal. Therefore the fun of the joke is to through "normaaaal" out after a comment or story that isn't truly normal, its all about sarcasm and irony.
Lloyd and I took one trip down to the southern part of the Antioquia province to two cities called Jardín and Andes. It was a much needed escape from the city life. We didn't do much, but relaxed and soaked in the surroundings of these small towns whose entire income comes from coffee. The landscape is incredibly beautiful, green mountains as far as you can see covered in coffee plants. A local bartender we befriended described that people in that region are very rich, but rich with land and off coffee. Finca (farm) owners have many hectares of land used only for coffee production and since Colombia exports all its good coffee they make lots of money. He described to us that on sunday mornings in the main square of Andes each Finca owner has his only table and the workers come to get paid. These same Finca owners then sit, chat and drink coffee in the plaza all day long throwing out wads of cash. Jardín (means garden) is a beautiful little town also thriving off of coffee production. We walked around, found a river and jumped in. Nothing too exciting but a good trip out of the city, here are some pictures.
So after a few weeks of "normal" Medellín life: dance classes, English class visits, swimming, soccer games, arepas, rum and sidewalk chats about the greater meanings of life and cultural exchange with university students I boarded a Spirit Air fly to Fort Lauderdale, Florida for Little Elizabeth's (as she is called in our family) wedding. I was overwhelmed with excitement about the idea of seeing my whole family and being back in the good ol'US of A even if it was for less than a week. What first struck me as i roamed through the airport in Ft. Lauderdale was how ugly Americans are (no offense to any of you). Now of course this is a huge generalization and the crowd I was viewing were simply fat out, of shape, twang speaking tourists and drunk college students on Spring Break in Florida. I would venture to say that California has a healthier dose of natural beauty. I found myself laughing to myself has I overheard various truly American conversations.
Surprisingly being back in the US wasn't quite as strange as I expected it to be, yes it was different but it was so surreal and short that there wasn't enough time to really sink into the true effects of reverse culture shock. The wedding was an amazing family event, and although I went on a 4 day bender something I haven't done since college I guess that could be expected, it was a wedding after all. Elizabeth was beautiful and the whole ceremony was perfectly planned and organized down to the groomsmen's socks. Grandmother made the trip flawlessly and looked amazing at the wedding, looking years younger than her true age. We reunited with an old family friend Stacia and her daughter Maya which was incredibly fun and funny, bringing me back to the many years Stacia and her husband Jose entertained my sister and I during our visits to LA. My whole family looked radiant and proud as we watched the first of the three grandchildren or nieces make her vows to a great man. The question is when will the next family wedding be? We all danced the night away to the fun and rocking sounds of the Lucky Penny band. I couldn't have been more stoked to be hanging out with Julia and Jonas again and we laughed the days away, making me overly excited for my California return and all the wonderful friends I have at home.
After an epic trip to Whole Foods and consuming two Kombuchas in attempt to cure my wicked hangover my mother, father and I boarded a flight to Cartagena. Again everything was surreal and after a short hop, skip and jump over the Caribbean we landed in warm and humid Cartagena.
Cartagena is a truly interesting place. It is the only place the people really even dared to visit during the years of violence in Colombia and is therefore the most touristy place in Colombia, full of both Colombian toursits and foreigners. Cartagena is a compilation of many different worlds that somehow coexist in what seems to be a fairly functional manner. Last time I was in Cartagena I played the backpacker game, staying in the Getsemaní region (just outside the walled city) which was filled with backpackers, hostals, dirty, young and sometimes even pregnant prostitutes, people trying to sell you everything you can think of and young Colombian sketchballs offering you marijuana or cocaine (or probably more) on every corner. Many backpackers do not have the greatest of times in Cartagena due to the corruption, high prices and attempts (and often successes) at conning. I will agree that Cartagena is almost too weird a place to really enjoy it, but the old city is so majestic, magical and romantic that I could literally walk around and around it forever. Imagining that I was smack in the middle of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Love in the time of Cholera with horses and carriages trotting around the narrow colonial streets, old wooden terraces overflowing bougainvillea and other flowers, grand churches, old archways, lush plazas and historical statues, bright colored buildings, old doors and door knobs and of course the wall with its look out towers and cannons facing the warm Caribbean. Cartagena is perfectly restored and the old city serves as almost a large history museum. I cannot think of a more romantic and idyllic city. There isn't much to do except look fabulous, wine and dine expensively and walk around the
old city hand in hand with your lover (or in my case, my parents and Lloyd). There is also the Bocagrande sector of the city (where we stayed) which is where all the Colombian tourists flock. It is a peninsula surrounded by mediocre beach chalked full of white high rise condominiums and hotels. Not my first choice for a vacation spot but we got a great deal on an apartment to stay in so it made the most sense.
Cartagena is one of the 3 principle port cities of Colombia and home to a large naval base. Therefore there are consistently large yahts, container ships and cruise ships coming in and out of the bay. All these aspects combined with its huge tourism industry also make for a very interesting dark side of Cartagena. In general Colombia is known for sexual tourism and drug tourism, but Cartagena particularly. In our week in Cartagena we saw way too many dirty old men with hot young hookers or escorts, sleazy tourist men taking young afrocolombian girls on romantic trips to island resorts, dirty Colombianas in thong bathing suits asking innocent tourists to grease her up and girls on the street working. Most the night clubs in Cartagena are brothels in disguise with underground drug scenes. Drink prices are high and sex prices are higher. The dark side of Cartagena is much to evident and obvious, therefore making Cartagena a less desirable, dirty and uncomfortable place for the discerning tourist. However, this is true of all large cities these days especially those with lax enforcement of such things. However, Cartagena still has its perks.
Further proof of the extremely multifaceted city that is Cartagena are the outlying islands surrounding the city: Isla Barú, Tierrabomba, and the national park Islas del Rosario a set of coral islands now filled with island resorts, owned my rich and famous Colombians, or foreigners married to Colombianas. This is where we spent the majority of our week in Cartagena: Cocoliso Isla Resort. We were quite weary as we arrived, but it ended up being a great choice and fabulous experience. We were lucky enough to catch it on the off season and windy season. So this meant, few tourists, no heat stroke and no bugs! There were times when it truly felt like we had the whole place to ourselves, especially after the day trip boats left taking toursits back to Cartagena. We spent four days there, swimming four to five times a day in the lagoon, warm clear ocean and the pool, snorkeling along an amazing coral reef, sunbathing, reading, eating fruit, fresh fish and talking to the many locals there to serve us and offer us there many touristic services and artistry. The main livelihood of the people who live on these islands are fishing or tourism. After getting screwed over by the government and the rich and famous of Colombia, the locals have smartened up at overcharging, and creating ecofriendly ways to give tourists what they want while making a living for themselves. Our snorkel guide explained the life on Isla Barú perfectly: "We are no longer ignorant, we are educated and smart. On our island we have everything, grocery stores, schools, atms, stores, taxis, buses, cars and motorcycles. We live a simple live but its a rich and enjoyable life." On Isla Barú there are 8,500 people and despite many obvious differences my parents and I found some strings of similarities between the island life described by the locals and our own simple, tourism driven lives in Elk.
On our last night in Cartagena Lloyd, Amalia (a beautiful and wonderful Argentine) and I sent the parents home and went to meet up with our roommate and dear friend Meg, her boyfriend (a Cartageñero) and some friends of his. We sat around at a large DJ set watching music videos from Colombia (particularly Medellín) and listening to music. Meg has gotten a wonderful insight to the true life of young artistic Colombians through the life of her hiphopping, breakdancing boyfriend and the non-violence trainings she has been in charge of throughout the country. I sat watching the videos and absorbing the moment we were in realizing what a, for lack of better words, "gangster" place Medellín is. There is a large hiphop community and a large population of poor youth whose lives have been rampaged with corruption, crime, violence, death and drugs. However, they are fighting, wishing, hoping and rapping for a change. The deeper i fall into my knowledge and experiences of Medellín I realize how freshly "recovered" it is from the Pablo Escobar days. The worst of the drug lords have been killed or locked up but the lower ranks of the cartels are still alive and thriving, they have simply been pushed out of the view and lives of the upper class and tourists and downtown city of Medellín, but are still thick in the poorer barrios and in the lives of many youths. All Colombians (not just Paisas) have lived unique and for many difficult lives. As I absorbed last night's environment it brought me to an interesting realization. Despite Colombia's long Northern coast along the Caribbean, water activities are minor and underdeveloped. There is little to no surf on the Northern coast and the most common water sports are jet-skiing and booze cruising in yachts and sailboats. Therefore the coastal youth do not have water sports to channel their energy, skills and creativity, to fight and speak out against the corruption, poverty, violence and difficulties of their lives and barrios (neighborhoods). So instead they turn to hiphop and breakdancing to express themselves, to make changes and to relieve their minds of the daily happenings and fights they must overcome. Ecuador is different, yes I am sure there is a strong hiphop community somewhere in Ecuador, but on the coast you find a strong surfer and water activity culture and scene. I clearly fit in and can relate to the Pacific water activity culture much better than a hiphop culture, but the work, talent and activities taking place in the hiphop community around Colombia is amazing, touching, powerful and rewarding. On the way home I sat in the front of the taxi thinking about the three distinct neighborhoods we passed through on our way back to the apartment. We left Ruth's house in a middle class, residencial, normal Cartagenan neighborhood, into the beautiful and majestic walled city that takes my breath away every time and into the high rises of Bocagrande attempting to look like Miami.
We (my parents and I) are currently sitting in the Cartagena airport waiting to board our flight to Medellín. I am excited to go "home" to Medellín and for my parents to see the contrast between the coast and Medellín and to see the unique beauty that is Medallo. :)
Lloyd and I took one trip down to the southern part of the Antioquia province to two cities called Jardín and Andes. It was a much needed escape from the city life. We didn't do much, but relaxed and soaked in the surroundings of these small towns whose entire income comes from coffee. The landscape is incredibly beautiful, green mountains as far as you can see covered in coffee plants. A local bartender we befriended described that people in that region are very rich, but rich with land and off coffee. Finca (farm) owners have many hectares of land used only for coffee production and since Colombia exports all its good coffee they make lots of money. He described to us that on sunday mornings in the main square of Andes each Finca owner has his only table and the workers come to get paid. These same Finca owners then sit, chat and drink coffee in the plaza all day long throwing out wads of cash. Jardín (means garden) is a beautiful little town also thriving off of coffee production. We walked around, found a river and jumped in. Nothing too exciting but a good trip out of the city, here are some pictures.
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| colorful and colonial jardín |
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| mountain views in jardin |
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| overlooking the river contemplating getting in! |
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| after jumping in, hiding out from the rainstorm. |
So after a few weeks of "normal" Medellín life: dance classes, English class visits, swimming, soccer games, arepas, rum and sidewalk chats about the greater meanings of life and cultural exchange with university students I boarded a Spirit Air fly to Fort Lauderdale, Florida for Little Elizabeth's (as she is called in our family) wedding. I was overwhelmed with excitement about the idea of seeing my whole family and being back in the good ol'US of A even if it was for less than a week. What first struck me as i roamed through the airport in Ft. Lauderdale was how ugly Americans are (no offense to any of you). Now of course this is a huge generalization and the crowd I was viewing were simply fat out, of shape, twang speaking tourists and drunk college students on Spring Break in Florida. I would venture to say that California has a healthier dose of natural beauty. I found myself laughing to myself has I overheard various truly American conversations.
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| family napkin rolling assembly line |
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| at dinner #1 |
Surprisingly being back in the US wasn't quite as strange as I expected it to be, yes it was different but it was so surreal and short that there wasn't enough time to really sink into the true effects of reverse culture shock. The wedding was an amazing family event, and although I went on a 4 day bender something I haven't done since college I guess that could be expected, it was a wedding after all. Elizabeth was beautiful and the whole ceremony was perfectly planned and organized down to the groomsmen's socks. Grandmother made the trip flawlessly and looked amazing at the wedding, looking years younger than her true age. We reunited with an old family friend Stacia and her daughter Maya which was incredibly fun and funny, bringing me back to the many years Stacia and her husband Jose entertained my sister and I during our visits to LA. My whole family looked radiant and proud as we watched the first of the three grandchildren or nieces make her vows to a great man. The question is when will the next family wedding be? We all danced the night away to the fun and rocking sounds of the Lucky Penny band. I couldn't have been more stoked to be hanging out with Julia and Jonas again and we laughed the days away, making me overly excited for my California return and all the wonderful friends I have at home.
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| The family at the wedding |
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| yayyyy! |
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| picture time.. jonas and the ladies! |
After an epic trip to Whole Foods and consuming two Kombuchas in attempt to cure my wicked hangover my mother, father and I boarded a flight to Cartagena. Again everything was surreal and after a short hop, skip and jump over the Caribbean we landed in warm and humid Cartagena.
Cartagena is a truly interesting place. It is the only place the people really even dared to visit during the years of violence in Colombia and is therefore the most touristy place in Colombia, full of both Colombian toursits and foreigners. Cartagena is a compilation of many different worlds that somehow coexist in what seems to be a fairly functional manner. Last time I was in Cartagena I played the backpacker game, staying in the Getsemaní region (just outside the walled city) which was filled with backpackers, hostals, dirty, young and sometimes even pregnant prostitutes, people trying to sell you everything you can think of and young Colombian sketchballs offering you marijuana or cocaine (or probably more) on every corner. Many backpackers do not have the greatest of times in Cartagena due to the corruption, high prices and attempts (and often successes) at conning. I will agree that Cartagena is almost too weird a place to really enjoy it, but the old city is so majestic, magical and romantic that I could literally walk around and around it forever. Imagining that I was smack in the middle of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Love in the time of Cholera with horses and carriages trotting around the narrow colonial streets, old wooden terraces overflowing bougainvillea and other flowers, grand churches, old archways, lush plazas and historical statues, bright colored buildings, old doors and door knobs and of course the wall with its look out towers and cannons facing the warm Caribbean. Cartagena is perfectly restored and the old city serves as almost a large history museum. I cannot think of a more romantic and idyllic city. There isn't much to do except look fabulous, wine and dine expensively and walk around the
old city hand in hand with your lover (or in my case, my parents and Lloyd). There is also the Bocagrande sector of the city (where we stayed) which is where all the Colombian tourists flock. It is a peninsula surrounded by mediocre beach chalked full of white high rise condominiums and hotels. Not my first choice for a vacation spot but we got a great deal on an apartment to stay in so it made the most sense.
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| Bocagrande by night |
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| parents on the beach in Bocagrande |
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| the parents in the old city |
Further proof of the extremely multifaceted city that is Cartagena are the outlying islands surrounding the city: Isla Barú, Tierrabomba, and the national park Islas del Rosario a set of coral islands now filled with island resorts, owned my rich and famous Colombians, or foreigners married to Colombianas. This is where we spent the majority of our week in Cartagena: Cocoliso Isla Resort. We were quite weary as we arrived, but it ended up being a great choice and fabulous experience. We were lucky enough to catch it on the off season and windy season. So this meant, few tourists, no heat stroke and no bugs! There were times when it truly felt like we had the whole place to ourselves, especially after the day trip boats left taking toursits back to Cartagena. We spent four days there, swimming four to five times a day in the lagoon, warm clear ocean and the pool, snorkeling along an amazing coral reef, sunbathing, reading, eating fruit, fresh fish and talking to the many locals there to serve us and offer us there many touristic services and artistry. The main livelihood of the people who live on these islands are fishing or tourism. After getting screwed over by the government and the rich and famous of Colombia, the locals have smartened up at overcharging, and creating ecofriendly ways to give tourists what they want while making a living for themselves. Our snorkel guide explained the life on Isla Barú perfectly: "We are no longer ignorant, we are educated and smart. On our island we have everything, grocery stores, schools, atms, stores, taxis, buses, cars and motorcycles. We live a simple live but its a rich and enjoyable life." On Isla Barú there are 8,500 people and despite many obvious differences my parents and I found some strings of similarities between the island life described by the locals and our own simple, tourism driven lives in Elk.
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| Cocoliso Resort |
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| Hammock napping parents |
On our last night in Cartagena Lloyd, Amalia (a beautiful and wonderful Argentine) and I sent the parents home and went to meet up with our roommate and dear friend Meg, her boyfriend (a Cartageñero) and some friends of his. We sat around at a large DJ set watching music videos from Colombia (particularly Medellín) and listening to music. Meg has gotten a wonderful insight to the true life of young artistic Colombians through the life of her hiphopping, breakdancing boyfriend and the non-violence trainings she has been in charge of throughout the country. I sat watching the videos and absorbing the moment we were in realizing what a, for lack of better words, "gangster" place Medellín is. There is a large hiphop community and a large population of poor youth whose lives have been rampaged with corruption, crime, violence, death and drugs. However, they are fighting, wishing, hoping and rapping for a change. The deeper i fall into my knowledge and experiences of Medellín I realize how freshly "recovered" it is from the Pablo Escobar days. The worst of the drug lords have been killed or locked up but the lower ranks of the cartels are still alive and thriving, they have simply been pushed out of the view and lives of the upper class and tourists and downtown city of Medellín, but are still thick in the poorer barrios and in the lives of many youths. All Colombians (not just Paisas) have lived unique and for many difficult lives. As I absorbed last night's environment it brought me to an interesting realization. Despite Colombia's long Northern coast along the Caribbean, water activities are minor and underdeveloped. There is little to no surf on the Northern coast and the most common water sports are jet-skiing and booze cruising in yachts and sailboats. Therefore the coastal youth do not have water sports to channel their energy, skills and creativity, to fight and speak out against the corruption, poverty, violence and difficulties of their lives and barrios (neighborhoods). So instead they turn to hiphop and breakdancing to express themselves, to make changes and to relieve their minds of the daily happenings and fights they must overcome. Ecuador is different, yes I am sure there is a strong hiphop community somewhere in Ecuador, but on the coast you find a strong surfer and water activity culture and scene. I clearly fit in and can relate to the Pacific water activity culture much better than a hiphop culture, but the work, talent and activities taking place in the hiphop community around Colombia is amazing, touching, powerful and rewarding. On the way home I sat in the front of the taxi thinking about the three distinct neighborhoods we passed through on our way back to the apartment. We left Ruth's house in a middle class, residencial, normal Cartagenan neighborhood, into the beautiful and majestic walled city that takes my breath away every time and into the high rises of Bocagrande attempting to look like Miami.
We (my parents and I) are currently sitting in the Cartagena airport waiting to board our flight to Medellín. I am excited to go "home" to Medellín and for my parents to see the contrast between the coast and Medellín and to see the unique beauty that is Medallo. :)
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Ugly with Great Personality!
Well life is back in full swing only its 100 times better than it was just a short 5 months ago. It sure has taken a long time to truly settle in, I had no problem settling when I went to Ecuador, but this has been an entirely new culture shock experience. This is why it is so much more worth while to go abroad for more than 6 months, you spend the whole first half trying to settle and get used to it and right when you feel settled, comfortable and at home its time to get on an airplane, have your life shattered against the walls of your return, and try to settle back into the mold left for you at home which you may have outgrown or shifted within. The return is often times almost harder, it is important to find people who have experienced the same extreme shifts and who understand where you are at mentally, emotionally and physically.
Its been absolutely wonderful having all the visitors I have had the past 2 months. Of course Lloyd and Leona showed up right before my birthday, then the next weekend Ursula and Sasha, two fabulous Pitzer ladies on a wild and fun adventure through south America showed up. It was so wonderful to synthesize Colombia life, Pitzer life and Elk life. Mixing and synthesizing these aspects of my life has always been a challenge, but I find it happening more and more often creating in me a stronger sense of who I am, where my experiences have lead me and my strengths.
Leona ended up sticking around a little bit longer than expected due to Brazilian visa issues. She came back to Medellín from Bogota and we did a Karaoke night, and headed to Laura's (Alex my roommate's girlfriend) family's finca in Guatape.
If I haven't already explained the finca deal here in Medellín let me do so briefly. Finca's are a huge deal here, most family's have a finca in some rural area outside of the city. Some are small family inheritance actual farms and others are huge mansion style country homes. Regardless of the style of the finca they are generally used to get away and relax from city life or to rage and party all weekend long. I had one finca experience in October that I would like to pretend didn't exist that was in the style of the latter. But this weekends finca experience was the former, and just what all of us needed. All of us (Meg, Leona, Lloyd and I) are from small rural (ish) towns and city life really wares on you maybe even without realizing it. Laura's family is "bien campesino" meaning they like rural life, they like being in el campo. So they have a few fincas outside of the city. This one was a sweet small and ordinary house sitting atop the hill over looking mountains on one side and the lake or dam of Guatape on the other. It was far from civilization with only a few neighboring finca's owned by family and friends that Laura's family had sold off to them.
We all sighed with relief as we (finally) got out of the car and breathed in chill fresh air, there were frogs and crickets sounding away and the sky was completely dark. Black, black, black, with millions of beautifully twinkling stars. It was like looking up at the sky in Elk... except a slightly different orientation in the sky. We spent the night drinking rum and coke (our personal favorite at this point in time), staring out into the sky and the mountains lit up by the waning moon and talking about life happenings, funny stories, Colombia, the Paisa way of life, personal experiences and general all around life. It was a truly beautiful night. We spent the next day relaxing in the sun, smelling the grass, listening to the birds and swimming in the surprisingly warm lake during a rainstorm. It was one of the better weekends I had had in a long time and the best part was not spending an entire day hung over and lazy due to late night dancing extravaganzas.
In other news I'm officially back at work and loving it. (what a change!?) Nothing in my schedule has changed and nothing in the English department has changed, in fact i just keep learning more reasons for why it struggles, but my state of mind is changed. I am positive, I am confident and I understand how classes work, how the students are and I am familiar with the various lessons, subjects and readings in the god awful book. I am loving teaching and back to thinking that it is what I would like to do in my future, despite moments when I never wanted to step into an English as a Foreign language classroom.
I am also dancing my little tooshie off and enjoying it fully! I dance 4 days a week. Two 1 hr salsa classes with my favorite instructor/would be love of my life Norman from Cali, a 1.5 hr ballet class which is hilariously amazing and fun, and a 1.5 hr contempoafro class on friday afternoons which I absolutely adore!!! Its the best dance class i have taken in a long time.. its hard core, i'm always sweating and exhausted at the end and i have to go buy kneepads for the class.. hard core amazingness. Leona went to the class with me last friday, we had a blast and have been dancing ever since, bringing back the days of tap... (there might be an epic return to tap when i return back to mendoland). I've been dancing and i've been happy, its been blissful.
The apartment has life in it now, which makes Alex and Laura have life and enjoyment in them. Our relationship has totally changed and I think they are pumped to have us all around. We have been eating together, cooking together and grocery shopping together, it actually kind of has the family feel I am used to in a house. A lesson learned: I like living with people in a happy communal family atmosphere. Alex has decided he wants to use this opportunity to really practice English and he's been doing a great job at speaking with us almost every day in English. English teaching has really taken on a whole new shape in my vida colombiana. Furthermore, better energy in the house and the fact that lloyd absolutely adores the bull dog Gracia she has now started to seriously grow on me. She's pretty hilariously ugly and pathetic pretty much hideous, but she has a great personality!! She really does! As Alex says she is "una chimba de perra" and true, she's a pretty cool dog. I found myself growing more fond of her after I learned of the timely passing of dear old Mr. Buddhi. Lately, spending time with Gracia has just triggered so many great (and hilarious) Buddhi moments. Gracia still is a puppy though and still good at getting into mischief which gets really annoying at times, but she's truly getting better and growing up. Its actually pretty entertaining to have pets in the house, especially cause Lloyd and I are pretty good at making fun of them.
I was hoping to keep this post short as a slight update to my much improved vida colombiana. :) Lloyd and I bought a blender yesterday so we've been smoothie-ing it up and with all the fruit here its quite fun, cheap and delicious! ok, time to eat some beautifully colorful stirfry with quinoa! yummmm...
Its been absolutely wonderful having all the visitors I have had the past 2 months. Of course Lloyd and Leona showed up right before my birthday, then the next weekend Ursula and Sasha, two fabulous Pitzer ladies on a wild and fun adventure through south America showed up. It was so wonderful to synthesize Colombia life, Pitzer life and Elk life. Mixing and synthesizing these aspects of my life has always been a challenge, but I find it happening more and more often creating in me a stronger sense of who I am, where my experiences have lead me and my strengths.
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| Elly, Steve, Ursula, Mary, Me, Sasha and the french girl at a night out in parque lleras! |
Leona ended up sticking around a little bit longer than expected due to Brazilian visa issues. She came back to Medellín from Bogota and we did a Karaoke night, and headed to Laura's (Alex my roommate's girlfriend) family's finca in Guatape.
If I haven't already explained the finca deal here in Medellín let me do so briefly. Finca's are a huge deal here, most family's have a finca in some rural area outside of the city. Some are small family inheritance actual farms and others are huge mansion style country homes. Regardless of the style of the finca they are generally used to get away and relax from city life or to rage and party all weekend long. I had one finca experience in October that I would like to pretend didn't exist that was in the style of the latter. But this weekends finca experience was the former, and just what all of us needed. All of us (Meg, Leona, Lloyd and I) are from small rural (ish) towns and city life really wares on you maybe even without realizing it. Laura's family is "bien campesino" meaning they like rural life, they like being in el campo. So they have a few fincas outside of the city. This one was a sweet small and ordinary house sitting atop the hill over looking mountains on one side and the lake or dam of Guatape on the other. It was far from civilization with only a few neighboring finca's owned by family and friends that Laura's family had sold off to them.
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| The finca looking out at the lake and our jungle mobile that we travelled in. When we were leaving, it was dark and the headlights didn't work. Luckily they kicked back into gear. |
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| On the way to the finca. |
We all sighed with relief as we (finally) got out of the car and breathed in chill fresh air, there were frogs and crickets sounding away and the sky was completely dark. Black, black, black, with millions of beautifully twinkling stars. It was like looking up at the sky in Elk... except a slightly different orientation in the sky. We spent the night drinking rum and coke (our personal favorite at this point in time), staring out into the sky and the mountains lit up by the waning moon and talking about life happenings, funny stories, Colombia, the Paisa way of life, personal experiences and general all around life. It was a truly beautiful night. We spent the next day relaxing in the sun, smelling the grass, listening to the birds and swimming in the surprisingly warm lake during a rainstorm. It was one of the better weekends I had had in a long time and the best part was not spending an entire day hung over and lazy due to late night dancing extravaganzas.
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| morning walk to the unbuilt house. poses! |
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| Leona and Gracia lounging in the grass. |
In other news I'm officially back at work and loving it. (what a change!?) Nothing in my schedule has changed and nothing in the English department has changed, in fact i just keep learning more reasons for why it struggles, but my state of mind is changed. I am positive, I am confident and I understand how classes work, how the students are and I am familiar with the various lessons, subjects and readings in the god awful book. I am loving teaching and back to thinking that it is what I would like to do in my future, despite moments when I never wanted to step into an English as a Foreign language classroom.
I am also dancing my little tooshie off and enjoying it fully! I dance 4 days a week. Two 1 hr salsa classes with my favorite instructor/would be love of my life Norman from Cali, a 1.5 hr ballet class which is hilariously amazing and fun, and a 1.5 hr contempoafro class on friday afternoons which I absolutely adore!!! Its the best dance class i have taken in a long time.. its hard core, i'm always sweating and exhausted at the end and i have to go buy kneepads for the class.. hard core amazingness. Leona went to the class with me last friday, we had a blast and have been dancing ever since, bringing back the days of tap... (there might be an epic return to tap when i return back to mendoland). I've been dancing and i've been happy, its been blissful.
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| Gracia looking ridiculous and hilarious. |
The apartment has life in it now, which makes Alex and Laura have life and enjoyment in them. Our relationship has totally changed and I think they are pumped to have us all around. We have been eating together, cooking together and grocery shopping together, it actually kind of has the family feel I am used to in a house. A lesson learned: I like living with people in a happy communal family atmosphere. Alex has decided he wants to use this opportunity to really practice English and he's been doing a great job at speaking with us almost every day in English. English teaching has really taken on a whole new shape in my vida colombiana. Furthermore, better energy in the house and the fact that lloyd absolutely adores the bull dog Gracia she has now started to seriously grow on me. She's pretty hilariously ugly and pathetic pretty much hideous, but she has a great personality!! She really does! As Alex says she is "una chimba de perra" and true, she's a pretty cool dog. I found myself growing more fond of her after I learned of the timely passing of dear old Mr. Buddhi. Lately, spending time with Gracia has just triggered so many great (and hilarious) Buddhi moments. Gracia still is a puppy though and still good at getting into mischief which gets really annoying at times, but she's truly getting better and growing up. Its actually pretty entertaining to have pets in the house, especially cause Lloyd and I are pretty good at making fun of them.
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| Alex and I at the finca. |
I was hoping to keep this post short as a slight update to my much improved vida colombiana. :) Lloyd and I bought a blender yesterday so we've been smoothie-ing it up and with all the fruit here its quite fun, cheap and delicious! ok, time to eat some beautifully colorful stirfry with quinoa! yummmm...
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