Everyday from the moment I step out of my door to the moment
that I step back inside I am very aware that I am a minority. I hardly ever see someone else that looks
like me. I have blonde hair, blue eyes,
and fair skin and that is just unusual for Medellin. Dale has it even worse because he sticks out
at least a foot taller then anyone else he has blondish hair (it’s really brown
but in Colombia anyone who doesn’t have black hair is blonde) and blue
eyes. Needless to say when we walk down
a street we are noticed. We stand out and no one has any problem pointing out
just how much we don’t look like we belong.
Some people are very nice and in their typical Paisa way they muster up a
few words in English for us “Welcome to Medellin.” Although I understand that these people are
only being friendly and nice after living here for almost a year and still
being welcomed to the city is a little discouraging. How much can a place feel like home if you
are constantly reminded that you don’t belong there? One thing that people do here that only seems
to bother me more and more is all the staring.
As soon as I open my mouth to talk to Dale as we walk down the street
heads turn in every direction to stare at the gringos. Walking through my usual commute people just
stare. On the Metro people stare and in
every normal routine I do people stare and stare and stare. I think that I now know somewhat what it must
feel like to be a famous actor or something.
To be noticed everywhere you go and to get unwanted attention in every
aspect of your daily life; it can get to you.
People even go as far as to yell English taglines at us. Any English words that they may know is just
fine “hello-how-are-you-fine” “I love you” or just “hellllllllooooooooo”. If only I had made as much money off of being
the only person to ever say “hello-how-are-you-fine” as Tom Cruise did for
“show me the money” maybe I could tolerate this a little better.
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
If I Were a Rich Man
Over our summer vacation Dale and I got the chance to share
our adventure in Medellin with my mom.
We had a lot of fun and got to explore many aspects of the city that
were unknown to us before. Medellin is a
city full of things to do, however, most of these things cost money and as penniless volunteers many things are out of our reach.
When my mom came to visit we got to see how the other half of the city
lives and got to really enjoy everything that the city has to offer. If you plan to visit Medellin here are some
things that we enjoyed as tourist in Medellin.
Illeras Park
Illeras Park is an area of the city that has a cluster of high-end
bars and restaurants all with their individual theme. We drank beers at the Irish themed bar, had
Margaritas at the Mexican restaurant, Long Islands in America, Colombian
cocktails in hammocks at the Colombian restaurant and Hurricanes at Hard Rock
Cafe.
We took a bus out of the city to Santa Fe, a nearby colonial town. We had a lot of fun in the small town. We took a Moto
taxi to the infamous Puente de
Occidente bridge, ate an incredible Colombian lunch, and strolled around the
plaza. Although the town couldn’t be
more relaxing the bus ride left something to be desired. I am just happy we all made it back alive as
the bus flew up the mountains taking turns so that we were only on 2 wheels
half the time.
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| At the bridge |
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| Moto Taxi |
Oviedo and Sante Fe
Shopping Malls
I have been window shopping
in these beautiful malls for 6 months but actually shopping in them exceeded my
expectations. The retailers were all so
helpful and nice and despite our small knowledge of Spanish they really loved
that we were trying to speak their language and that we were spending time in
their city. We shopped for unique
clothes and quirky gifts these malls had just about everything. Also spending a shopping day with my mom is
something that I was really missing so it was so much fun to have this day with
my mom.
Ciclovia
Every Sunday morning
Medellin shuts down its main street for the public to exercise. People Jazzercise in the parking lots of the
closed businesses, they walk their dogs, roller blade, run, bike and walk. It is a great way to people watch and enjoy
your Sunday mornings with the Medellin community.
Publito Paisa
Publito Paisa is a mock
colonial town in the city. It is very
cinchy but is a nice place for scenic views of the whole city and you can
easily find knick-knacks and souvenirs.
Restaurants
Medellin has all kinds of
food to offer from traditional Colombian to southern comfort food. Our favorite restaurants included Crepes and
Waffles, a chain restaurant throughout Colombia that serves all types of foods
with spices and sauces, El Corral, a
gourmet burger joint styled like a typical diner and Bonuar a American
restaurant that served great short ribs and wonderful mixed drinks, which is
hard to come by in Colombia.
3 Cordilleras
3 Cordilleras is Medellin’s
microbrewery. They brew 5 types of beers
from a brown ale to a cider beer. They
open up their brewery on Thursdays and allow beer loving people in and for a flat
rate you can drink about as much as you want and take a tour of the factory.
It was definitely a high light of Medellin and brings a taste of
American beers to the masses.
It was so much fun to share
our city with my mom and getting to be tourist in this city was incredible.
Adventures on the Coast: Part 2 Santa Marta and Cartagena
Checking back into our hostel still
sticky with sweat and layers of dirt built up over the sunscreen and bug spray our
only thoughts were of a clean shower and dry clothes. Only moments after the
best shower ever we decided to delay our trip to Cartagena due to our inability
to move around with any ease. We booked the hostel for an additional 2 nights
and it was the best decision. We spent
the entire next day just laying around at the hostel. We enjoyed watching
movies, swimming in the pool, drinking, eating and meeting great people. Two San Francisco guys run the hostel and
being there made me miss the USA a little.
They made it a point to bring some things from the states to Colombia;
like they had real Heinz ketchup, English television, and the bar was decked
out in traditional USA gear. However, I
think that the most familiar aspect of the La Brisa Loca was that everyone
spoke English; in fact some of the staff didn’t even speak Spanish at all. It was so nice to be surrounded by people
that you can understand not only their language but their culture as well. I did not realize how isolating it can be to
live in a culture that you weren’t raised in and how even the small things can
be very uncomfortable and unfamiliar.
Other then just being incredibly lazy
we also made it to Tayrona Park, which is the beach about 40 minutes outside of
the city. We only had a couple hours to enjoy the beach
but it was wonderful. We had the entire
strip of beach to ourselves and we had a great time. It was the first beach that we have seen in 6
months and as we both have not lived far from a coast in our entire lives it
was so comforting to listen to the waves crashing against the shore and to feel
the sand between our toes.
The next morning we took a bus to
Cartagena to spend the reminder of our trip.
When we arrived to Cartagena the beauty
of every detail of the streets overwhelmed me.
Colorful balconies hung over finely decorated doors as horse drawn
carriages galloped through the streets.
The first thing we did was just soak up this fairytale city. Later that night we met up with a few of the
volunteers that work in the nearby island of Baru. We enjoyed swapping stories and catching up.
We had not seen each other since orientation so we had a lot to talk about and
their experiences are far different from my own.
The next day we took a short 10 minute boat ride to Tierra Bomba Island where we planned to spend the night. The beach was nothing to speak about and although we tried to spend time in the sand it was impossible with all the bugs. We made the most of the pool and sunbathed all day. After 4pm we were the only guests at the hotel as the other people spent the day there and then returned back to Cartagena. It was very weird to be at a large hotel all alone but again we made the most of it and the owner was very nice and friendly. We had a private dinner on the beach and it was very romantic (private because we were the only ones eating but private just the same). We were on the boat back to the city after a morning of collecting seashells on the beach.
We were very excited to return to
Cartagena but noticed immediately that we did not return to the same city that
we had left. In the afternoon it seems
like the streets closed down and none of the stores and restaurants were open. It was smoldering hot so I don’t blame them
for shutting their doors during the hottest hours of the day but it left of
with not much to do. During the evenings
the city was jammed packed full of venders selling everything and
anything. Tourist swarmed the streets weaving
through peddlers and traffic. You could
not move 2 inches without being bombarded with people shoving their products
into your face. Even sitting at the
nicest restaurant venders had no problem interrupting your dinner to jingle
their trinkets at you.
Even the police were troublesome in
Cartagena. We were walking along a main
street in the early evening when we were stopped by two young police officers. We
were the only gringos on the street we were definitely the most sober and least
suspicious. However the cops drove by
everyone else and stopped us. They spoke
to us very abrasively and did not even try to help us understand what was going
on. Feeling helpless we tried to go with
their requests as they began to pat down every inch of Dale’s body. They pulled my purse apart unzipping each and
every compartment. The more intensely
they searched the more uncomfortable I became until they pulled out Dale’s
wallet and started taking out his money. At this point I was certain that we
were being robbed and this is when I started to talk back, in retrospect
probably not the best idea. Fortunately,
perhaps at my protests or perhaps for other reasons, they just gave us
everything back and left. Later we found
out that they were trying to get a bribe from us; common practice in Colombia
is for the police to try to find something to pin on tourists and then to ask
for a bribe to let them off the hook. Either
way it was incredibly disheartening to be treated so poorly particularly since
we have only had good experiences with police in Medellin.
Despite the obvious problems we had
with the city we still had a good time. We
rented a two-person bike to ride around the city. We loved peddling around the beautiful old
city swerving around people and cars. We
enjoyed a romantic horse drawn carriage ride around the city at night. Cartagena also had some great restaurants,
coffee shops and ice cream parlors. I am so
glad that we took a trip to the coast, as it was so very different from
everything in Medellin. However seeing the
Medellin city lights as we returned home almost made me tear up because Medellin
is truly the best city and I was so happy to return to paradise.
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| The Cevicheria, the restaurant made famous by Anthony Bourdain. |
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| Hot dogs from the street vendors. |
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| Peruvian fusion restaurant |
Friday, July 20, 2012
Adventures on the Coast: Part 1
Ciudad Perdida
This month Dale and I took 2 weeks to
visit Colombia’s Caribbean coast. Our
plane touched down in Santa Marta and immediately after getting off the plane
it was very apparent that we were not in Medellin anymore. Our very rural and rundown tour of the
scorching suburbs of Santa Marta left us wondering what this trip would have in
store for us. Although our Spanish has
improved ten fold since we arrived it was impossible to understand anything
that spilled out of the taxi driver’s slurred speech. As proved common throughout our trip I really
think they speak a completely different language on the coast. But we pulled up to a nice city street and
parked at La Brisa Loca, the hostel that we had planed to stay at. We didn’t have much time to enjoy the hostel
and the city as we were scheduled to climb the Sierra Nevada mountain to Ciudad
Perdida (The Lost City) bright and early the next morning.
DAY ONE:
The morning of our adventure we awoke
in a panic to see our door wide open with the lock broken. We frantically searched for our wallet and
were at a loss to find it. Certain that
we had been robbed we went into panic mode rearranging our plans, canceling our
trip and after we had thoroughly worked ourselves into a great panic attack we
ran across an employee who had found the wallet. We came to realize that we had not been
robbed but instead the break in was conducted by a dog who decided to curl up
under our bed for the night. With only
20 minutes left of the morning we quickly prepared for our trek and ran out the
door to catch the jeep that was to take us to the highest point of vehicle
travel. With such a close call of
cancelation we were relieved and ready to take on whatever the hike could throw
at us; little did we know what that actually meant. After about one hour on the jeep we pulled
into a little restaurant and were joined by the other crazy hikers that signed
up for the journey. We began to get to
know our fellow travelers over lunch excitedly awaiting the beginning of our
adventure together. The first day’s trek
was to be 4 hours and supposedly the most difficult; after completely the
entire trek I can confidently say that everyday was the most difficult. The beginning was very lovely and it was nice
to see many other hikers passing by us on their return from their own
adventures. But the joy and excitement
quickly melted away by the brutal midday sun. Just when I thought I could not make it
another step in the heat the sun vanished and was replaced by rain clouds. Immediately ecstatic for the cooling weather
I did not think of the repercussions until it began pouring on us. We all found shelter under a tin roofed
tienda to wait out the thunderstorm; no not the safest idea but options were
limited. Happy to be cooled off and
rested I was ready to continue ignorant to what the rain had actually done to
our trail. For the remainder of the trek
it was like walking up clay. You would
take one step forward then slide two steps back all the way up, that is if you
were lucky enough to not fall. Everyone
was slipping and sliding the whole way then our guide was nice enough to make
us aware of the 5 people that died on the tour due to mudslides, gee thanks. Luckily everyone slipped into our first
campsite before sundown exhausted, soaked, and covered in mud.
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| The beginning of our hike up the mountain. |
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| The jeep ride to our drop off point |
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| Our first campsite |
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| Happy right before the rain comes down. |
DAY TWO:
Half of our group woke up at 4:30am to
leave for their 4 day hike whereas the rest of us got to sleep in until
8am. We awoke disappointed that none of
our clothes had dried throughout the night and reluctantly slid into our soaked
clothes and squishy shoes. Two parrots decided that our fruit looked tasty enough
to interrupt our breakfast. They swooped
in and landed on the table sitting next to us like he belonged there. We had a
3 hour hike planned for the day and we arrived at the next camp after a hearty
but short day’s hike. It was fairly easy
and every time it seemed like it was getting to be too much we would find the
group sitting, resting and getting a snack of oranges or watermelon. We had a lot of time at the camp to relax and
enjoy the scenery. The little site was
run by a Kogi family, Kogi is the indigenous tribe that lives in the Sierra
Nevada as well as throughout the coast. We also had plenty of time to swim in
the nearby stream, to play with some of the Kogi children and to lie around
reading and napping.
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| Our breakfast companions. |
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| A fruit break |
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| Dale's friend at the campsite. |
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| Day two's campsite |
DAY THREE:
We were well rested and ready to begin our day at 6am.
Everyone was under the assumption that we would reach Ciudad Perdida that day
however after another 4 hour trek we stopped at another campsite. This was, by far, the most beautiful and
wonderful of all the hikes; hearing the clicking of toucans and parrots,
passing by magnificent waterfalls, walking along a cliffs edge, running over
streams of ants and hearing the bugs harmonizing with the birds. There were even stretches of times when I
could not see anyone ahead of me or behind me and being completely alone
surrounded by the beauty of the life that grows in the jungle was aweing. We again arrived at camp with plenty of time
to rest although we did not need it as much as the previous day. We swam in the stream and sunbathed on the
rocks until the sun went down. We passed
the time in the evening by playing cards and swapping travel stories with the
other hikers. That night I went to the
bunks for the night and as I passed through the door frame a giant spider, at
least 6 inches with long spindly legs, jumps down and lands on to the top of my
head. I manically brush it off in a
panic as Dale and I start yelling for the help of our comrades to kill it! Needless to say neither of us slept well that
night and after crawling into my chosen bunk I found a few smaller spiders in
the mattress along with all sorts of awful smells and creepy crawlies.
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| A Kogi village that we passed by. |
DAY FOUR:
Although it was a rough nights sleep we were excited to
finally reach our final destination, Ciudad Perdida (The Lost City). It was only an hour hike up to the city and
we did not have to carry our packs, as we would return to the camp for
lunch. We crossed a waist high river and
walked over an American made bridge; I suppose our government decided to contribute
a safe crossing over a river that we would have otherwise had to swing across
in a rusty shaft (God bless America). We quickly reached the steps that would
lead us to the ancient city. We were so
close but the steps were endless and they were not made for any average
American foot but finally we did make it to the top of the 1,200 steps. The city was spectacular it was founded in
800AD and was only discovered in 1972.
It was a huge site, which was thought to have housed 2,000-8,000 people. After spending 3hours walking around the city
we began our descent. I thought walking
up the steps was hard but walking down them took more grace and coordination
then I obtain. I held onto Dale for dear
life as I slid down the moss-covered rocks posing as stairs only thinking about
the possibility of adding another death to the tour guides tally. Only pure luck allowed for a safe return back
to stable ground. On our return to the camp
we found our lunch already ready and prepared for us. Immediately after eating we set off again for
another 6 hours of hiking. Already exhausted
and stressed from the day’s activities the hike was anything but the relaxing
journey that I enjoyed the day before.
Going down at a straight vertical proved to be much more challenging
then going up. Without any of our
enjoyable little fruit breaks my knees quickly began to feel like jelly and I
struggled with much of the walk. With the tough terrain I slipped on some wet
rocks a couple times leaving me with a notable bruise as well as many scrapes
and cuts. There were many times where I
mentally did not think I could continue but your body goes into some sort of
shock where it stops listening to what you think you can do and it just works
the way you want it to. It was quite a
challenge and it felt like such a relief to make it to camp. After a day like that everything taste and
feels better and it was the best dinner that I have ever eaten and the sleep
was the best that I have ever had.
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| The American made bridge. |
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| Waist high river crossing |
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| Endless stairs |
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| Our tour guide |
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| Ciudad Perdida |
 |
DAY FIVE
We awoke early for another long 7 hour hike. It was our last day and knowing that a cold
beer and a bed with an air conditioner was at the bottom of the mountain
waiting for us was just the kind of encouragement needed to slide into our
soaking clothes and squishy shoes one last time. The heat of the day boar down onto us as soon
as we left the tree covered campsite. Soaked
with new sweat as well as all the sweat that had built up over the past 5 days
we trudged down the mountain. Again we did
not enjoy any much-needed breaks we just continued down moving on the hopes and
dreams of what would lie at the bottom of the mountain. After endless slopping mountains we passed
through the small and familiar town in which we started our journey. We sat with our comrades and enjoyed an
ice-cold beer. It was quite an adventure
with all kinds of highs and lows but as I sit comfortably back home reminiscing
on the trip I am very happy that I took that journey. I am also very happy to be home.
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| We made it! |
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Mid-service Conference and Bogota
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| Joy and I at lunch in Bogota |
Monday, June 18, 2012
Fiestas and Ending the Semester
Colombians love to celebrate! We had the opportunity to go to a great fiesta thrown by the school for Teacher's Day. We were invited to the party only a few days before the event; which is more advanced notice then usual. We were told that we MUST cancel our classes for this big event, because of coarse a party is much more important then teaching any class (just one example in the difference of priorities.)
We arrived on time to Uniminuto, which of was way too early, to be greeted by 3 buses ready to shuttle the teachers to the restaurant where we would be for the rest of the evening. As we jumped into the bus to wait for the rest of the teachers to arrive we received an envelope of tickets; one ticket said rum and one ticket said food. I thought how nice it was to include a drink for everyone with their meal. To my surprise I found out that the ticket was not for one drink but for a bottle; Colombians sure know how to party. Needless to say everyone had a great time; drinking, dancing, and eating.
Later as I was thinking about this great night; I thought how strange it was to have such a party. I know that in the States the schools that are struggling would cut such an extravagant party first or at least cut back. Perhaps we didn't need to have 3 buses or a whole bottle of liquor or such large portions of food, etc. Whereas I enjoyed the party I can't help thinking that maybe if they had cut back then they could afford to put the money towards what I would consider more important things; the school is certainly lacking in more then one area. Maybe this is yet another difference in our cultures (can't say that I didn't enjoy it!)
We are now at the end of the semester and it seems like we just started yesterday. It was difficult to say goodbye to the classes that I loved teaching but it is also very exciting to know that I can start all over again with new groups of students next semester. All the students were so thankful to have been OUR students and they showed their appreciation in many different ways but one class went above and beyond my expectations. After I gave my very difficult final exam to my Friday night class they returned to the classroom to surprise me with a giant cake that read "Tank you teacher." They presented me with gifts and as we all enjoyed the cake they played a slide show of Virginia with Metallica music, perfect. Although I may have stumbled through my first semester of teaching it was very nice to see that they appreciated my hard work.
Now for a great two month vacation!
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