-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
Ok, so the pineapple is good...what about the wine??? :)
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