Greetings from Bogota. Krista just ran to the bathroom, so while she's gone, I'll fill you in on where we are right now. On Thursday, we flew from Santa Marta (on the coast) back to Bogota, where we will be for the next two weeks (flying home less than two weeks from now, crazy!). We are staying at Glenn and Glenda's house again, who have graciously lent us their space while they are in the States. Krista wasn't feeling so hot yesterday, so we spent the day relaxing at home, her sleeping and me hanging out (and going to the store a TON of times to get various things that we needed). Krista is back now, so we can tell you about Santa Marta.
(One other thing, my camera turned itself on in its case a couple of days ago, and is now dead; Krista decided that it was a good idea to leave her cord at home. So, between the two of us, we have no way of uploading pictures at this point. We'll keep taking pictures with Krista's camera and upload them when we get back, so make sure to check it out after we return!)
Santa Marta is a city of a little less than 500,000 people that sits right on the Carribean coast (we walked to the ocean pretty much every day). The temperature there was much more agreeable than Cartagena, but still plenty hot. We spent the first couple of nights in a hostel right by the beach, and then spent our last 3 nights with Glenn and Patricia Davis, who kindly offered up their home, their delicious food, and their wealth of knowledge to us. We had some of the best Colombian food we've had thus far in their home (Busma, their helper, and Patricia were phenomenal cooks). Glenn and Patricia were extremely helpful in finding places to go, giving us directions, and showing us around their favorite beach, which was magnificent. We owe them many thanks for their kindness.
Highlights:
-The hammocks out on the roof of our hostel were awesome. We spent a good amount of time reading and journaling out on the hammocks. It made us really happy about our most recent purchase (a hammock!)
- Nearly every night, we went to the beach to watch the sunset. It was awesome. If you've never seen a sunset from a westward-facing coast, I highly recommend it.
- Not really a highlight, but I (Josh) was sick for about 72 hours, so went spent some time laying low. Krista did a great job taking care of me, going to the store for granola, juice and medicine for my bowels (sort of like bad-tasting Gatorade).
- We spent a day in the fishing village of Taganga, where we relaxed on the beach in a beautiful Carribean bay and got some sun (a little too much for the both of us, but worth it). There we had awesome fresh fish for lunch and enjoyed the clearest ocean water I've ever seen.
- We went exploring in Santa Marta and saw another beautiful, really old Catholic church. We also went to the Museo Archeologico, where there was a really cool picture exhibit on the history of Colombia from the 19th century to present, and well as some sweet pre-colonial pottery and a real mummy! (very different from how they are portrayed in movies).
- More football. All of the team we rooted for lost, which was a bummer, but the games were exciting. Final is tomorrow....
- We spent a morning in the small village of Minca, high up in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, which is famous for organic coffee and a beautiful landscape, as well as birdwatching (not really our thing, though). We had a couple cups of wonderful coffee, and went for a short hike to los Piedras (literally, the Rocks). It was a beautiful river with lots of large rocks to climb on. Of course, Krista had to take of her shoes and walk in the stream for a while (while I had to run off in search of a bathroom....). It was marvelous there, and much cooler than Santa Marta. A nice change.
We really enjoyed Santa Marta, but we were happy to be back in Bogota, where there is less heat and far fewer bugs. Krista left the coast with a few massive bug bites on her thigh, which swelled up quite impressively, but are now much better. We'll hang out in Bogota this week, and then this Thursday we start the SEED learning tour, which we are really looking forward to. That lasts until next Tuesday. We'll have the day Tuesday and Wednesday to savor last bits and pieces of Bogota, and then we fly back to the US! Time is flying.......
-Josh and Krista
edit: i don't really know about the white background on this post, google decided that we needed it, and i can't change it. highlight the text if you can't read it
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
San Gil and Cartagena
We write to you now from Santa Marta, which is testament to the fact that we are a little behind on our updates, but we´ll catch you up to speed on this past week or so now and then blog about Santa Marta this weekend (hopefully). We left off in San Gil, where we were thoroughly enjoying the tranquila atmosphere and the pleasant temperatures.
San Gil
We spent the last couple of afternoons of our time in San Gil watching football games (international football, so soccer to us norteamericanos) in a cozy little coffee shop that we found on the square. This was a wonderful way to slow life down a little bit and enjoy being in a Colombian city, surrounded by Colombians. It gave us a great opportunity to observe and appreciate how Colombians interact with each other (and with us) while watching the country´s favorite sport. One of our most memorable moments was close to the end of one of the games we were watching; there were quite a few of us gathered around the TV, watching an exciting end to the game. At one point, there was a phenomenal shot on goal that just barely missed. We all exclaimed (rather loudly) at the shot, so much so that a dog that was hanging out in the shop with us started barking excitedly. We all shared a good laugh at that.
During one of our first days in San Gil we noticed a building that had a large words painted on it: ¨Inversiones y Planes de la Paz.¨ With my poor Spanish, I (Krista) thought, sweet, it must be some kind of peace-building organization. I thought it roughly meant ¨visions (like ideas) and plans for peace.¨ We didn´t have any contacts in San Gil to teach us about the conflict situation locally, so I was really excited. Josh was a little skeptical that it was what I thought it was, but I insisted that it was at least worth asking. Days went by and every time we passed the building I would say that we needed to check it out sometime. Finally we did. As we approached the building, we read a sign outside. I couldn´t understand all of it, but it did sound suspiciously like something to do with caring for the dead. Still stubborn and hopeful, we walked inside. There were pictures of coffins on the wall. Not a good sign. I asked the woman at the desk what they do, and sure enough they were a funeral home. It was disappointing that it wasn´t an organization working for peace in Colombia, but made for a good laugh.
We also had a bit of a change of plans in San Gil. Our original plan was to go to Sincelego for a week, where our main SEED contact lives, and see her city, as well as visit the campo and get a picture of more rural Colombian life. Unfortunately, things did not quite work out as planned. Sincelego ended up not working out, and we ended up going straight to Cartagena, which ended up working out great. We got to connect with a SEEDer (Larisa Zehr) and spend the afternoon with her gaining insight about what she does in a rural Colombian setting (more on that later). Just another reminder of the necessity of a little flexibility in life.
San Gil
We spent the last couple of afternoons of our time in San Gil watching football games (international football, so soccer to us norteamericanos) in a cozy little coffee shop that we found on the square. This was a wonderful way to slow life down a little bit and enjoy being in a Colombian city, surrounded by Colombians. It gave us a great opportunity to observe and appreciate how Colombians interact with each other (and with us) while watching the country´s favorite sport. One of our most memorable moments was close to the end of one of the games we were watching; there were quite a few of us gathered around the TV, watching an exciting end to the game. At one point, there was a phenomenal shot on goal that just barely missed. We all exclaimed (rather loudly) at the shot, so much so that a dog that was hanging out in the shop with us started barking excitedly. We all shared a good laugh at that.
Apart from the football, we also enjoyed the best arepas we´ve had thus far (absolutely delicious), as well as probably the strangest snack we´ve ever had, which is the regional delicacy: fried ants. While we weren´t the biggest fans, I´m sure they grow on you....
During one of our first days in San Gil we noticed a building that had a large words painted on it: ¨Inversiones y Planes de la Paz.¨ With my poor Spanish, I (Krista) thought, sweet, it must be some kind of peace-building organization. I thought it roughly meant ¨visions (like ideas) and plans for peace.¨ We didn´t have any contacts in San Gil to teach us about the conflict situation locally, so I was really excited. Josh was a little skeptical that it was what I thought it was, but I insisted that it was at least worth asking. Days went by and every time we passed the building I would say that we needed to check it out sometime. Finally we did. As we approached the building, we read a sign outside. I couldn´t understand all of it, but it did sound suspiciously like something to do with caring for the dead. Still stubborn and hopeful, we walked inside. There were pictures of coffins on the wall. Not a good sign. I asked the woman at the desk what they do, and sure enough they were a funeral home. It was disappointing that it wasn´t an organization working for peace in Colombia, but made for a good laugh.
We also had a bit of a change of plans in San Gil. Our original plan was to go to Sincelego for a week, where our main SEED contact lives, and see her city, as well as visit the campo and get a picture of more rural Colombian life. Unfortunately, things did not quite work out as planned. Sincelego ended up not working out, and we ended up going straight to Cartagena, which ended up working out great. We got to connect with a SEEDer (Larisa Zehr) and spend the afternoon with her gaining insight about what she does in a rural Colombian setting (more on that later). Just another reminder of the necessity of a little flexibility in life.
Cartagena
After a 15 hour bus ride overnight through the foothills of the Andes, we arrived in the coastal town of Cartagena, where I´m sure the first thing we noticed was the heat. It was SO hot. After sweating out all of our body water on the bus into the city, we arrived at our hostel. To orient you a little bit, Cartagena is an old Spanish colonial town, known for it´s historic Spanish forts and the Spanish Old City on the peninsula, which is where the vast majority of the tourism is located. Just outside of the old city is a neighborhood called Getsamani, where there is a huge number of hostels. We were staying in Getsamani, about 5 minute walk from the Old City.
Some highs and lows of Cartagena:
After a 15 hour bus ride overnight through the foothills of the Andes, we arrived in the coastal town of Cartagena, where I´m sure the first thing we noticed was the heat. It was SO hot. After sweating out all of our body water on the bus into the city, we arrived at our hostel. To orient you a little bit, Cartagena is an old Spanish colonial town, known for it´s historic Spanish forts and the Spanish Old City on the peninsula, which is where the vast majority of the tourism is located. Just outside of the old city is a neighborhood called Getsamani, where there is a huge number of hostels. We were staying in Getsamani, about 5 minute walk from the Old City.
Some highs and lows of Cartagena:
-Heat: To reiterate, it was SO hot. Our first night in our hostel, the electricity stopped working in our room, so we had one meager fan to get us through the night. It didn´t go very well. We went through a lot of water in our two days there.
-Vendors: Being a popular international tourist city, there were plenty of people there trying to sell us things (mostly stuff we didn´t really want). And for those of you who have not yet had the pleasure of interacting with vendors abroad, it is an entirely different experience from what we know in the US. In Cartagena especially, vendors do not hesistate to call out to you, follow you, shove their wares in your face, and then try again later, even after you´ve clearly expressed disinterest. Suddenly, we had a lot of new ¨amigos¨ all wanting us to buy their stuff.
-Beauty: For as terrible an institution as colonial was and is today, the architectural legacy left behind in Cartagena is simply astounding. The Old City is a beautiful collection of Spanish-style buildings and narrow streets full of Venician houses, all surrounded by fortified stone walls. We walked along the stone walls and checked out some churches in the Old City.
-Vendors: Being a popular international tourist city, there were plenty of people there trying to sell us things (mostly stuff we didn´t really want). And for those of you who have not yet had the pleasure of interacting with vendors abroad, it is an entirely different experience from what we know in the US. In Cartagena especially, vendors do not hesistate to call out to you, follow you, shove their wares in your face, and then try again later, even after you´ve clearly expressed disinterest. Suddenly, we had a lot of new ¨amigos¨ all wanting us to buy their stuff.
-Beauty: For as terrible an institution as colonial was and is today, the architectural legacy left behind in Cartagena is simply astounding. The Old City is a beautiful collection of Spanish-style buildings and narrow streets full of Venician houses, all surrounded by fortified stone walls. We walked along the stone walls and checked out some churches in the Old City.
Food: The coastal fruit has been delicious as well. Fresh mango, watermelon and bananas just don´t compare with what you get in the States, mainly because it´s usually picked that day. We also had the best ice cream we´ve had in Colombia thus far: arequipe (sort of like caramel, or dulce de leche) and coffee, a wonderful combination of flavors.
As we mentioned earlier, we met with Larisa, a SEED participant, while in Cartagena. Over coffee, she gave us an overview of some of the conflict issues going on under the surface in Colombia, as well as some things more specifically related to Berruguita, the small village she lives in. We learned a great deal from Larisa and we won´t try to share all of it with you now, but here are some pieces...
-30% of Sincelejo´s population are displaced people. They are campesinos (people from the rural villages) who were kicked off their land by guerillas and/or paramilitary groups. With such a fast influx of people, Sincelejo´s infrastructure has not been able to keep up. Already an underdeveloped city (as is most of the coast), water shortages are an issue. The displaced people live in the slums on the outskirts of the city, and along with water shortages, live with lack of electricity and poor housing.
-Villages are invaded for different reasons including regional control, drug trafficking, and land grabs.
-There is no state presence in these villages. No police and no health care.
-The violence seems arbitrary. Campesinos do not know why they or their neighbors are threatened, attacked, or told they must leave their homes. They do not even always know if the attackers are from a guerilla or a paramilitary group. They are vulnerable to violence from both sides.
-There is a lot of injustice in the mining business throughout Colombia. The government recently passed a law that gives foreign mining companies more power than domestic mining companies. There are land grabs, particularly along the Magdalena river, to aquire land that has oil (Christian Peacemaker Team is doing accompaniment work to protect farmers in this area). In Choco, the gold mining is run by internationals and people from Medellin. Regional racism is at work, with wealthy white people running the business and poor black people working the mines.
There is so much more to share, but that is all for now. Talking with Larisa definitely made us excited to join the SEED delegation during the end of our trip and learn more about the conflict and efforts being made to help create peace. Until next time, buenas noches.
-Krista and Josh
As we mentioned earlier, we met with Larisa, a SEED participant, while in Cartagena. Over coffee, she gave us an overview of some of the conflict issues going on under the surface in Colombia, as well as some things more specifically related to Berruguita, the small village she lives in. We learned a great deal from Larisa and we won´t try to share all of it with you now, but here are some pieces...
-30% of Sincelejo´s population are displaced people. They are campesinos (people from the rural villages) who were kicked off their land by guerillas and/or paramilitary groups. With such a fast influx of people, Sincelejo´s infrastructure has not been able to keep up. Already an underdeveloped city (as is most of the coast), water shortages are an issue. The displaced people live in the slums on the outskirts of the city, and along with water shortages, live with lack of electricity and poor housing.
-Villages are invaded for different reasons including regional control, drug trafficking, and land grabs.
-There is no state presence in these villages. No police and no health care.
-The violence seems arbitrary. Campesinos do not know why they or their neighbors are threatened, attacked, or told they must leave their homes. They do not even always know if the attackers are from a guerilla or a paramilitary group. They are vulnerable to violence from both sides.
-There is a lot of injustice in the mining business throughout Colombia. The government recently passed a law that gives foreign mining companies more power than domestic mining companies. There are land grabs, particularly along the Magdalena river, to aquire land that has oil (Christian Peacemaker Team is doing accompaniment work to protect farmers in this area). In Choco, the gold mining is run by internationals and people from Medellin. Regional racism is at work, with wealthy white people running the business and poor black people working the mines.
There is so much more to share, but that is all for now. Talking with Larisa definitely made us excited to join the SEED delegation during the end of our trip and learn more about the conflict and efforts being made to help create peace. Until next time, buenas noches.
-Krista and Josh
Sunday, June 17, 2012
San Gil
We have been in San Gil for four days now and are loving it. San Gil is in the Santander region of Colombia and has a population of about 50,000 people. This is our favorite city so far, muy tranquila. A nice break from the larger cities we´ve been in. This city reminds me (Krista) of Caraz, the town in Peru where I did my service during SST. One of our favorite parts of the city is the parque principal (main square). There is a large fountain in the center, a sculpture, lots of trees and green, stone paths, and plenty of benches. This is definitely the central hub of the city. Families hang out here in the evenings and it´s a great place to just sit, relax, and people watch. :) There are plenty of good places to sit and drink cafe or jugo, it´s much easier to find places, we can walk everywhere in the city, and we feel safer staying out after dark. And there is so much natural beauty here! Which brings me to some highlights....
-Parque Natural El Gallineral: It´s hard to describe this park with words. And even the pictures don´t do it justice. It is truly one of the most beautiful parks we have ever seen. Our guide book said ¨it´s like a scene set in JRR Tolkein´s Middle Earth,¨ and that´s no exageration. There were flowers that were huge and brightly colored that can only be described as ¨exotic.¨ The trees were the most amazing part. They were incredibly tall with thick trunks and you could see part of the root system above the ground. The most unique part was the hanging vine-like ¨hairs¨ that hung down from these trees. They are called barbas de viejo (old man´s beard). With sunlight shining through the hair-like vines, the forest looked absolutely magical.
-Barichara y Guane: We took a day trip to the nearby city of Barichara. From Barichara we hiked the ¨Camino Real,¨ an ancient stone-paved road built by the indigenous Guane people. It was about a two hour hike with a beautiful view of the mountains. We passed many grazing cows and goats, as well as a few trees. We also saw many fossils in the stones on the path. As you can see in the pictures, there were stone walls along much of the path. We could only wonder at how long it must have taken to stack the many rocks on top of each other. The path ended in Guane (tiny town, about 1,000 people), where we chatted a bit with some of the locals and explored the local church before taking a bus back to Barichara. We spent the rest of the day exploring Barichara, including a couple more churches and some artesan markets, before it started to rain and we took a bus back to San Gil.
Until next time,
Krista and Josh
-Parque Natural El Gallineral: It´s hard to describe this park with words. And even the pictures don´t do it justice. It is truly one of the most beautiful parks we have ever seen. Our guide book said ¨it´s like a scene set in JRR Tolkein´s Middle Earth,¨ and that´s no exageration. There were flowers that were huge and brightly colored that can only be described as ¨exotic.¨ The trees were the most amazing part. They were incredibly tall with thick trunks and you could see part of the root system above the ground. The most unique part was the hanging vine-like ¨hairs¨ that hung down from these trees. They are called barbas de viejo (old man´s beard). With sunlight shining through the hair-like vines, the forest looked absolutely magical.
-Cascadas de Juan Curi: On June 15 Krista turned 23 and we celebrated by going to a waterfall (cascada). It was about 180 meters tall. We hiked a half hour trail to reach the base of the waterfall. We swam in the small but deep pool at the bottom of the falls, played under the falls, hid in the small alcove created by the water repeatedly spraying the adjacent cliff, and spent some time reading and sunbathing on the rocks (and getting sunburned). Other things we did to celebrate Krista´s birthday were getting jugo (of course) and dessert at the nearby panaderia. We also spent some time sitting in the plaza, one of Krista´s favorite places. It was a beautiful day.
¨It´s my birthday!¨
-Barichara y Guane: We took a day trip to the nearby city of Barichara. From Barichara we hiked the ¨Camino Real,¨ an ancient stone-paved road built by the indigenous Guane people. It was about a two hour hike with a beautiful view of the mountains. We passed many grazing cows and goats, as well as a few trees. We also saw many fossils in the stones on the path. As you can see in the pictures, there were stone walls along much of the path. We could only wonder at how long it must have taken to stack the many rocks on top of each other. The path ended in Guane (tiny town, about 1,000 people), where we chatted a bit with some of the locals and explored the local church before taking a bus back to Barichara. We spent the rest of the day exploring Barichara, including a couple more churches and some artesan markets, before it started to rain and we took a bus back to San Gil.
Until next time,
Krista and Josh
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Mining and Disparity
Hopefully by now you have caught on to the fact that we are having a lot of fun during our time in Colombia. We are seeing and experiencing some beautiful and amazing things. A lot of our experience of learning about Colombia has been fun, but some of it, like any other country, is also sad.
While in Medellin, Jessica (the MCC SEEDer) was a great source for learning about some of the injustices going on. We noticed that in Medellin, there were some pretty impressive social resources. There was a big library, a large "stadium" area that had lots of exercise resources (multiple swimming pools, soccer fields, etc), and an excellent public transportation system, to name a few. We commented to Jessica about how impressed we were with the public services, and she said that it is not as simple as it appeared. On the one hand, she really appreciates the services that are free of charge. She went on to explain how the Choco, located on the Pacific coast, is the poorest region in Colombia. She told us that it is also one of the richest. Choco has a lot of gold and other minerals and oil. Mining is a big industry there. When minerals or oil are mined from the land, regardless of who does the mining, the region that it comes out of is given monetary compensation (from the government or the company, I'm not sure). Antioquia is one of the richest regions in Colombia (Medellin is in Antioquia). Somehow, people in power in Antioquia make it seem as though the gold that actually comes from Choco is coming from Antioquia, and then the Antioquia region receives the money from the gold instead of Choco. While eating breakfast one morning with Dhira (Jessica's roomate who is from Choco), she told us about how her home is very beautiful but also very poor. She confirmed that many people mine for a living there, but although there is gold and other natural resources, they are still poor. After this, we viewed the rich resources of Medellin in a different light.
Jessica had also recommended that we take the metro to the metro cable, and take the metro cable to the end of the line to La Aurora. She told us that it would take us through the poorest part of Medellin and we would be able to see the disparity in the city. We listened to her advice and were indeed stunned by what we saw. There was indeed some extreme poverty in this area. We saw houses cramped together on a sharp incline that were made of many different random things, but nothing terribly secure. What was most shocking was what was at the top of the hill. We had been confused when we only saw people who looked middle class using the metro cable (since we thought it only went through poor parts of town). We realized why when the line ended and we found large, modern, and new apartments, with more new apartments in construction. We realized that the metro cable was only made because there were wealthy people at the top of the hill that needed to get down to the city. The metro cable passed not through the poor part of town, but over top of it, a literal and physical separation. A second physical separation was on land. The poor houses ended and then there was a large green area with no buildings before the new apartments started. It seemed clear that the city had gotten quite full and needed to expand, but the outskirts were poor. So what do you do? Make a big enough land gap between the rich and the poor so they don't have to see each other, and then make a way for the rich to get back to the center of the city without ever interacting with the poor. The disparity was tangible and shocking.
We know that the country we come from also has great economic disparity, and in that context, we are the middle class who benefit from the disparity. This is not an injustice that only exists in far away lands, but also in our own home. We were challenged to think about the gaps between rich and poor in our society as well. There are many questions and few answers.
-Krista and Josh
While in Medellin, Jessica (the MCC SEEDer) was a great source for learning about some of the injustices going on. We noticed that in Medellin, there were some pretty impressive social resources. There was a big library, a large "stadium" area that had lots of exercise resources (multiple swimming pools, soccer fields, etc), and an excellent public transportation system, to name a few. We commented to Jessica about how impressed we were with the public services, and she said that it is not as simple as it appeared. On the one hand, she really appreciates the services that are free of charge. She went on to explain how the Choco, located on the Pacific coast, is the poorest region in Colombia. She told us that it is also one of the richest. Choco has a lot of gold and other minerals and oil. Mining is a big industry there. When minerals or oil are mined from the land, regardless of who does the mining, the region that it comes out of is given monetary compensation (from the government or the company, I'm not sure). Antioquia is one of the richest regions in Colombia (Medellin is in Antioquia). Somehow, people in power in Antioquia make it seem as though the gold that actually comes from Choco is coming from Antioquia, and then the Antioquia region receives the money from the gold instead of Choco. While eating breakfast one morning with Dhira (Jessica's roomate who is from Choco), she told us about how her home is very beautiful but also very poor. She confirmed that many people mine for a living there, but although there is gold and other natural resources, they are still poor. After this, we viewed the rich resources of Medellin in a different light.
Jessica had also recommended that we take the metro to the metro cable, and take the metro cable to the end of the line to La Aurora. She told us that it would take us through the poorest part of Medellin and we would be able to see the disparity in the city. We listened to her advice and were indeed stunned by what we saw. There was indeed some extreme poverty in this area. We saw houses cramped together on a sharp incline that were made of many different random things, but nothing terribly secure. What was most shocking was what was at the top of the hill. We had been confused when we only saw people who looked middle class using the metro cable (since we thought it only went through poor parts of town). We realized why when the line ended and we found large, modern, and new apartments, with more new apartments in construction. We realized that the metro cable was only made because there were wealthy people at the top of the hill that needed to get down to the city. The metro cable passed not through the poor part of town, but over top of it, a literal and physical separation. A second physical separation was on land. The poor houses ended and then there was a large green area with no buildings before the new apartments started. It seemed clear that the city had gotten quite full and needed to expand, but the outskirts were poor. So what do you do? Make a big enough land gap between the rich and the poor so they don't have to see each other, and then make a way for the rich to get back to the center of the city without ever interacting with the poor. The disparity was tangible and shocking.
We know that the country we come from also has great economic disparity, and in that context, we are the middle class who benefit from the disparity. This is not an injustice that only exists in far away lands, but also in our own home. We were challenged to think about the gaps between rich and poor in our society as well. There are many questions and few answers.
-Krista and Josh
A "Cultural Experience"
Sometimes, when you're in a place that is foreign to you, some things happen that you don't entirely understand. But your instincts tell you to go with it and see where it takes you, because it might be normal, excepting that you don't understand the cultural circumstances. Thus was the case in Guatape, when Krista and I sat down on a bench in a garden to rest a little bit and see what else we wanted to do with our day. A little to our left, there was a small alcove, where a small, older woman had just gone. She reappeared a couple minutes later, and told us that we should go in. Thinking it was just another part of the building we were in, we said, "sure" and headed that direction, only to have a priestly-looking man come out of what was apparently a room there and greet us, telling us to come into his office. Unsure of what to do, we went in. We introduced ourselves, told him where we were from and what we were doing in Guatape and made other small talk. He asked us questions, which Krista answered in Spanish, and he was very nice. We talked for maybe ten minutes (at which point Krista and I were sort of looking for a way out of whatever situation we had gotten ourselves into), and then he offered us coffee or pop. We politely declined, but he insisted, and went to get someone to get us something to drink. Krista and I were very confused, but again, we decided just to go with it (and really, what else could we do?). He came back with our beverages, we talked for a little while longer, he gave us a small tour of the building we were in and the garden in the courtyard, and then we parted. It was only a 15-20 minute exchange, but because we had no idea what was going on, it felt really out of our control. Of course, it wasn't a big deal. We just seemed to have stumbled upon a kindly priest-man who wanted to talk to some gringos. Cultural experience #1 survived, and a lesson reinforced. Even when you don't know entirely what's going on, go with the flow.
-Josh
Monday, June 11, 2012
Bits and Pieces
Here are a few tid bits from our trip so far....
-Bugs: One evening in Cali, Josh and I were sitting in a room that had open spaces in the walls to let in the fresh air. It never really gets cold here, so many rooms have these wonderful open spaces in walls. I commented on how amazing it was that there were so few bugs. We had seen very few and didn't have any bug bites even though we'd been in Colombia for over a week. I told Josh how wonderful it was to be in such a temperate climate and still have so few bugs. Of course, the very next morning I woke up to my first round of bug bites. I cursed my stupidity in jynxing myself. And since then, I have been steadily collecting bug bites, while Josh has only had two. Clearly, the bugs here have something to prove.
-Walking patterns: I can't seem to understand the walking pattern here. It may seem silly, but you notice when you're off. Generally people all walk down the street in a way that avoids ramming into each other. The same is true here, too, of course. But I'm missing something. I intentionally try to stay out of people's way, at times going out of my way to avoid running into them, and still manage to find myself in the way. And yet when I observe Colombians walking, they seem to just walk their own path, not jumping out of or in the way, just effortlessly walking, and they don't run into each other. Maybe after six weeks I'll get it right.....
-Food: Josh and I keep trying new types of fruit juices. We were buying avacodo from a street vendor, and we pointed to one of the kinds of fruit we didn't recognize. We asked if it was good for juice, and he assured us it was. So we tried it. Later we learned that it is called guayava and have deemed it one of our new favorites. Other kinds that we have tried (though not yet made) include lulo, guanabana, and mola.
Since we were staying in Medellin for a while and had access to a kitchen and fridge, we decided to make a big batch of rice and beans to last us for the week. They turned out pretty good, except that we never could get the beans to get past the still-mildly-crunchy stage. Later we made some of the beans into refried beans, which helped.
-Bugs: One evening in Cali, Josh and I were sitting in a room that had open spaces in the walls to let in the fresh air. It never really gets cold here, so many rooms have these wonderful open spaces in walls. I commented on how amazing it was that there were so few bugs. We had seen very few and didn't have any bug bites even though we'd been in Colombia for over a week. I told Josh how wonderful it was to be in such a temperate climate and still have so few bugs. Of course, the very next morning I woke up to my first round of bug bites. I cursed my stupidity in jynxing myself. And since then, I have been steadily collecting bug bites, while Josh has only had two. Clearly, the bugs here have something to prove.
-Walking patterns: I can't seem to understand the walking pattern here. It may seem silly, but you notice when you're off. Generally people all walk down the street in a way that avoids ramming into each other. The same is true here, too, of course. But I'm missing something. I intentionally try to stay out of people's way, at times going out of my way to avoid running into them, and still manage to find myself in the way. And yet when I observe Colombians walking, they seem to just walk their own path, not jumping out of or in the way, just effortlessly walking, and they don't run into each other. Maybe after six weeks I'll get it right.....
-Food: Josh and I keep trying new types of fruit juices. We were buying avacodo from a street vendor, and we pointed to one of the kinds of fruit we didn't recognize. We asked if it was good for juice, and he assured us it was. So we tried it. Later we learned that it is called guayava and have deemed it one of our new favorites. Other kinds that we have tried (though not yet made) include lulo, guanabana, and mola.
Since we were staying in Medellin for a while and had access to a kitchen and fridge, we decided to make a big batch of rice and beans to last us for the week. They turned out pretty good, except that we never could get the beans to get past the still-mildly-crunchy stage. Later we made some of the beans into refried beans, which helped.
Guayavana
Drinking mola juice
Our very own beans and rice with avocado and fried plantains. I've been working at improving my plantain frying skills, and this was definitely my best batch yet!
Papas criollas y queso costana (made by Dhira and mentioned in the Medellin post)
-Balcony: Jessica and Dhira's apartment has a balcony with a beautiful view of the city. We enjoyed several evenings out on it, admiring the view, studying Spanish, reading, talking, drinking coffee, and eating dinner. If only the city sounds came with the pictures....
Yes, Dad, that's a bowl of fresh pineapple! It's just as amazing as you say it is!
-Shoes: People like to keep their shoes clean here. We were told this before we came to Colombia. While we were walking down a street in Cali, sure enough, there was a man with a shoe cleaning kit who offered to clean our shoes. When thanked him but declined, and he said (in Spanish of course), "oh, of course, you clean your shoes at home." Josh and I pulled out the nod and smile response. We had a nice chat with the man and walked on. Looks like we have some work to do to measure up to Colombian shoe standards.
-Coffee: We love it. Plus we are tired more often here because of trying to adjust to a different culture and language. So we drink coffee 1-3 times a day. You cannot buy good coffee here by the bag (that common injustice where the people who live in countries that produce coffee usually can't afford to buy it, and instead it is shipped off to us rich folks in the north), so Josh and I bought a little jar of Nescafe (crappy instant coffee, but the smell and taste brings back fond memories from SST in Peru and Senegal). We far prefer the coffee you can buy by the cup at panaderias (bread stores) and restaurants. The coffee here is smaller portions and usually very dark. Yummmm.
That's all for now. Thanks for reading!
Peace,
Krista
Medellin: Salpicon and Sunshine
Hola amigos! We are writing you now from Medellin, the third city on our national tour of Colombia. We are actually leaving Medellin tonight (our first overnight bus) for San Gil y Barichara, so we thought we would update you all on what we've been doing here. So, Medellin, a city of 2.5 million people that historically is known for the drug violence in the 1980s. Let us begin by saying that Medellin is no longer the city that it was in the 80s. It is a beautiful place, the people are wonderful, and the city felt very safe This has been our longest stay so far (a whole 6 days!), and we've really enjoyed it here. First and foremost, we had wonderful hosts. We stayed at the home of Jessica Sarriot, an MCC SEEDer here in Medellin, and her roommate Dhira. While Jessica was only here for 2 of our six days, she made us feel very at home and gave us a number of good contacts, including her friend Jaime, who we quickly became friends with as well. We had a lot of fun with Jaime. He showed us his university (although we weren't allowed inside due to high security), took us to a great place for fresh juice and salpicon (a Colombian treat, fresh fruit chopped up in fruit juice with a sweet sauce and ice cream on top), took us to a Colombian brewery, and played some mean ping pong with us at the Estadio. He was wonderful at answering our questions about Colombian culture, society and history, as well as helping us find things in the city. We were very grateful to get to know him while here in Medellin.
Our other main host was Dhira, Jessica's Colombian roommate. She was another wonderful source of information and good conversation. Dhira teaches English at a local school in Medellin, so she was awesome for helping us practice our Spanish. We had breakfast with her nearly every morning (usually eggs, and pancakes and sausage on Sunday!), which always led to a good talk. Dhira is from the Pacific coast of Colombia, and one morning we made a more traditional coastal meal called Papas Criollas y Queso Costena (fried potatoes and fried cheese). It was delicious. She has also been a great resource in general for things in Medellin. We were happy to have her as an impromptu host, and we appreciated greatly her hospitality and kindness.
Highlights from the trip:
From El Penol, we went to the small town of Guatape, which was very tranquilo and quite nice. We walked around the town, admired the artwork on the buildings, visited the beautiful Catholic church (including watching a baby get baptized), and got some good sun.
-Museo de Antioquia: A wonderful collection of contemporary Colombian artwork, as well as some international works. We really enjoyed walking through the galleries, and not just because they were air-conditioned.
For lunch, we had bandeja paisa, the real deal. This is a traditional Colombian dish from this region, and it is probably the meatiest dish we've ever eaten. It had rice beans, platano frito, papas fritas, fried egg, arepa, sausage, pork, some kind of meat that came from a cow, coleslaw.
Jardine Botanico: Beautiful botanical gardens near the University. We took our time enjoying looking at the many different kinds of plants that we'd never seen before.
So that's a brief summary of our time in Medellin. We love this city, and it is sad to leave, but we are looking forward to the more tranquilo setting of San Gil (a town of 50,000). Much love!
-Josh and Krista
Our other main host was Dhira, Jessica's Colombian roommate. She was another wonderful source of information and good conversation. Dhira teaches English at a local school in Medellin, so she was awesome for helping us practice our Spanish. We had breakfast with her nearly every morning (usually eggs, and pancakes and sausage on Sunday!), which always led to a good talk. Dhira is from the Pacific coast of Colombia, and one morning we made a more traditional coastal meal called Papas Criollas y Queso Costena (fried potatoes and fried cheese). It was delicious. She has also been a great resource in general for things in Medellin. We were happy to have her as an impromptu host, and we appreciated greatly her hospitality and kindness.
Highlights from the trip:
El Penol, which is a massive rock about 2 hours from Medellin. You climb 659 stairs to the top for a wonderful view of the surrounding area. We had a lovely bandeja lunch afterwards.
The rock:
The view:
Bandeja paisa pequeno:
From El Penol, we went to the small town of Guatape, which was very tranquilo and quite nice. We walked around the town, admired the artwork on the buildings, visited the beautiful Catholic church (including watching a baby get baptized), and got some good sun.
Salpicon
-Museo de Antioquia: A wonderful collection of contemporary Colombian artwork, as well as some international works. We really enjoyed walking through the galleries, and not just because they were air-conditioned.
For lunch, we had bandeja paisa, the real deal. This is a traditional Colombian dish from this region, and it is probably the meatiest dish we've ever eaten. It had rice beans, platano frito, papas fritas, fried egg, arepa, sausage, pork, some kind of meat that came from a cow, coleslaw.
Jardine Botanico: Beautiful botanical gardens near the University. We took our time enjoying looking at the many different kinds of plants that we'd never seen before.
So that's a brief summary of our time in Medellin. We love this city, and it is sad to leave, but we are looking forward to the more tranquilo setting of San Gil (a town of 50,000). Much love!
-Josh and Krista
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