Cali: Comida, Animales, y Edupaz

We are in Medellin, which we will tell you about in a bit, but first we will share about our experience in Cali. Cali is in the southwestern region of Colombia and much warmer than Bogota. We were only there for three days, but we quickly fell in love with the beautiful city and friendly people. Some highlights:

Breakfast: Every morning that we were in Cali we ate breakfast at our hostel where there was an artsy and eclectic little cafe. The meal consisted of eggs (in typical Colombian fashion: scrambled with onion and diced tomatoes), fresh bread with marmalada, coffee (strong, small, and delicious), and jugo (juice made fresh by blending various kinds of fruit with water and sugar). And all this for 4,000 Colombian pesos, or $2. We would eat this delicious breakfast out on the patio, soaking in the morning sun and enjoying some people watching. 

Slowing down: We come from a culture that is very fast-paced and "doing-centered" or task-oriented. We are in a country that is more relationally oriented and knows how to slow down. While we were in Cali, we took after the locals and learned to sit, linger over coffee, and think more about the quality of the activities we did during the day and less about the quantity.

Zoo: Talk about a great way to learn about a country! Colombia is known for its incredible biodiversity, and we were fortunate to see some of the animal diversity condensed into one large and very green park.

Edupaz: Edupaz is connected with Justapaz, and both are Colombian peace-building organization. We went searching for Edupaz, which we had heard about from a Mennonite friend, not sure whether or not we would be able to find it. But somehow we found ourselves in the office of Edupaz talking with three of its members. They were incredibly helpful, informative, patient with our poor Spanish, and friendly. Here's a bit of what we learned: There are two main projects that Edupaz works on. One is in the school system. This program works with kids, parents, and teachers. They work with women experiencing domestic violence. They work with teachers and directors to try to create more egalitarian and clear communication. The program provides mediation to try to resolve conflict between any of the parties mentioned above. The second program works with churches. They work to help build mutual relationships within the church and build community. Because many churches have a hierarchical structure, they try to help churches create more equal structures where power is shared throughout the congregation. They also help congregations make mission statements that are specific and concrete. These mission statements include clear roles and responsibilities, and some basic "who, what, when" commitments. The members of Edupaz stated that they believe people understand their own place and situation best, and understand that they coming in as professionals but "outsiders" did not have all the answers. They respect the wisdom of the people they work with. (Disclaimer, they told us about all of this in Spanish, so it is quite possible that we could have misunderstood some of this. Sorry to Edupaz if we get any of this wrong!) We really appreciated the members of Edupaz taking the time to sit and talk with us. We learned a lot about what a Colombian organization is doing to educate and create peace and better relationships in Colombia. Check out their website http://edupazcali.blogspot.com/2007/06/introduction-to-edupaz.html for more information.

Artisan Market: One of the ways we love learning about a culture is through its art. We have enjoyed wandering through a few different artisan markets and being awed by the colors, designs, and textures of various kinds of wood, cloth, jewelry, and paintings. One of our favorite styles is the mola art, originally made by the Kuna people. Google images "mola Colombian art" to see what we're talking about.

Culinary Adventures: We absolutely LOVE the fruit juices here. Some fruits we are familiar with (pineapple, mango, banana) and others are new to us. So far we have tried making papaya juice and pineapple juice, and both were great successes. We are determined to continue making this kind of juice when we get back to the U.S. It is quite simple: cut up fruit of choice and put in blender, add water (or milk) and sugar. Blend well, and enjoy! We have also made platanos fritos (fried plantains), one of my (Krista's) favorites. We've tried making them in the U.S. and they are without doubt far better here where they are fresh. We made hot tuna and platanos fritos sandwiches one night. Sounds strange, but we'd definitely recommend it!

We have only been here a little over a week, and already there is so much more we have to share with you than we can possibly write in this post. Even with trying to keep it down to a few highlights, it has already gotten to long. So we'll end here for now and have more to share with you later.

Ciao!
-Krista and Josh