Tradiciones del Campo

This past weekend I had quite a few rural country experiences. Saturday I went to Otavalo, a town 2 hours from Quito that has a huge mercado artesanal in which the Otavaleños sell their traditional clothing, lots of jewelry and paintings and wood carvings and such. It's famous and all, and everyone says you must go, but honestly the stuff was exactly the same as what you can get in the mercado artesanal de Quito (because they all come down to Quito to sell their goods). The only difference was the sheer density of people speaking quichua instead of Spanish, which was pretty cool to hear. But while I can now saw I went, I saw, and I conquered, in hindsight I would have rather not spent 4 hours on a bus for no reason! But I did buy lots of gifts, realising that my time is almost up here, so my few faithful readers should be thankful I went!


On Sunday I went with Jairo and Monica to a town called Quinche, about 45 minutes from Tumbaco. Jairo's dad was born and buried there, and they knew of a typical, popular restaurante, El Rancho, that serves cuy. Cuy, dear friends, is guinea pig. But deep fried and crispy, it is lunch! So, yes, if you zoom into this fine picture of me you will see the little claw sticking out of the chunk of meat I'm eating. I shouldn't say chunk, because it must have been a scrawny little guy for the noticeable lack of meat it had! But I must say I liked it better than steak or other red meats. Not as much as chicken, though. It kinda tasted like chicken, but it's rubberier. Anywho, I also tried Güitig, the popular natural sparkling water they make here, and I confirmed the fact that I don't like carbonation in my water. Tastes funny.


In the late afternoon I went up to Quito for the Book Week exposition that was basically a bunch of bookstores selling their kids' books. Unfortunately, Trin, they all had words. And right as I got there it started pouring, so we all were stranded inside for about 45 minutes. I ran into the physics/math teacher from BSQ who was there with his wife and daughter and his parents from England, and luckily they gave me a ride back down to the ecovía (it was over 100 stairs to get up to the park). But before I descended back into the valle, they invited me up for coffee, and get this--they had mini chocolate easter eggs, too! Cadbury, straight from England! What a great night, no?! It was really pleasant to chat with them, and I got to practice my spanish with his ecuatorian wife, so that was bien chévere.

And today I began my last week of student teaching! Tomorrow is a public holiday (international workers' day), so I wish you all a relaxing break and encourage you to find and join a rally for immigrants' right! I wish I could!

Two down, one to go!

At BSQ, the past two weeks since I've returned from Easter break have included an in-school Jazz concert, Family Fun Day, and most recently dissections! As previously described, Fun Day was pretty fun, and here's a pic of me, my tutor John, and his wife Nancy. She came with their two kids who are too cute, especially with their faces painted!

That took up all day Saturday, and the rest of the weekend I was making up a dissection guide for my Year 10 students. I got 5 cow hearts and two sheep heart and lungs (all fresh!). The cow hearts are as big as my head! I had never seen one before and had no idea they were so big! And the place said they couldn't send the lungs too because they would take up an insane amount of space. Just imagining that makes my eyes bug out. And when they began on Tuesday, it was a beautiful sight. This particular class is incredibly high-performing and generally interested in science, and their enthusiasm is a treat that I don't get very often. They were so into their external observations and figuring out where everything goes in and out that only one group actually started cutting after the 80 minutes! But it was so fun to hear their exclamations of discovery, as well as of "¡qué asco!" It was also hilarious to watch one of the kids inflate the sheep lungs by blowing into them through rubber tubing and hearing all the kids squeal in delight! But the best was that on the way out, four or five of them actually thanked me for letting them have this experience! How often do you hear THAT?! Just about never. And the next day they continued, but didn't finish due to their meticulous observations and explorations of every valve and tissue and chunk of fat. So I let them choose between being done or finishing next Wednesday even though the stench will be unbearable...and they chose the stench. One girl even offered to bring in nose plugs for everyone! So next Wednesday, the day my advisor comes, we will be fishing around in smelly, rotting animal tissue, and I could not be more excited! I LOVE dissections and I love that the kids love it, too! I'm just increasingly sad that I have to leave in one more week! Granted, I'm super excited to travel, but I love this stuff!

Last night I attended CENTI again, and loved it, and this afternoon I watched the Year 13 vs. Teachers fútbol match (we won 5-3) and I realised that I really do love fútbol! Especially on a small cancha (pitch), the action never ends! Why haven't I watched more of it on t.v.? Oh, that's right. We don't do fútbol in the states on standard channels. Ah well, it was fun, and now I've gotta get back to work on this silly portfolio that will most likely decide the route of my near future. Chao!

re-realisations

I have a skewed perception of cake portions.

Yes, we ate cake on Monday night and it was fantastically chocolate and just like the boxed cake mixes of the states. However, my slice seemed so small. And only by pacing my forkfuls with those of the others at the table was I able to make it last more than about 4 bites. Even worse, Sofy's friend couldn't even finish her piece! Are you kidding me?! I could have eaten half the cake in that one sitting, sad as that may seem. Another sad cultural thing is that they didn't eat it for breakfast. Or lunch! I did have another sliver after dinner, but seriously, folks, I've clearly got issues. How does one recover from seeing an 8-layer cake as normal? Is there a rehab group for that? If you find one, let me know and I'm there.

Footwear

Quick insight for the day:

#1 Reason to Never go Barefoot: You have no defenses against bugs on the walls or desks or floor.

That's right, I've used my footwear three times today alone, well above the one/day average! What would I do without flip-flops?!


But for some good news, today is Sofi's birthday and THERE IS CAKE! Monica had bought an imported boxed chocolate cake mix, I translated the instructions, and Normita the maid baked it today. I don't know how it tastes yet, but I swooned at the smell of the house upon arriving home this afternoon!

Conejitos galore!

For those dying to know every detail of my week, here are the most exciting details: When I returned last Saturday from the beach, there was a cage on the porch, and inside was a cute little bunny rabbit! Her name is Lolita and one of Sofia's friends gave it to her. Why? Not so sure. I have never randomly gotten an animal as a pet, but hey, it's cute. Why not? I immediately told them of my newly-learned clever usage of faeces of just putting the cage over the flowerbeds, and now we're doing just that!

Nothing but school and homework happened all week. See, I have this massive project that is basically the compliation of everything I've learned and practiced throughout my whole educational career that will not only prove to my professors that I've learned well, but it should prove to potential employers as well that they should take a chance on me and give me a job. And I just started on Monday. Way to go, Karla.

But Thursday I went up into Quito to attend a church service at CENTI. Remember that I had met a nice old lady on the bus who invited me to a great church with awesome danceable music and no scary theology? And then I went on vacation. But now that I'm back for three weeks, I will be attending the weekly women's service on Thursday nights. So I went and it was encouraging, convicting, and a great blessing. And the whole busride home I chatted with Edelina about her 6, I repeat SIX trips to Israel! She tried to convince me to go with my family, but I'm not sure how that one'll turn out. Either way, she is a really neat lady!

I must confess that I've watched a few hours of t.v. this week, mainly because the cold rain makes me unable to do anything but crawl into bed to get warm. And last night, after a week of more mental energy than I've exerted all semester, 2 hours of watching Orli laugh and cry and walk was the perfect way to forget all about life. [Sigh] Love him.

Back in the real world, the rain continued. All week. All night. All day. It did, miraculously, stop temporarily this morning for BSQ's Family Fun Day in which there were games and prizes and raffles and food. And an awesome obstacle course led by yours truly. It was just like doing VBS recreation again! Sans the plastic tarps stuck down with kitchen knives, of course. But soon enough there was just about enough water to make a slip-n-slide, so no one ran the course. I must admit, the slipperiness combined with hurdling objects while blindfolded would have most certainly induced some injuries. And it did give me a chance to eat lunch, but still. This rain is dreadful! And it's still raining now! You know how our saying is "April showers bring May flowers?" Yeah, well their saying is "in April, a thousand rains; in May, even more!"

Ah, but back to the bunnies--there were 6 of them being given away as prizes throughout the day. Two were grayish, but the other four were just like Marshamallow! Too cute!

So I'm off to make a few portfolio pages before I'm chilled to the bone and head back to my nice, warm bed. Chao!

Las Elecciones y La Ley Seca

I don't know if it made the news there in the states, but yesterday was an election day in Ecuador. Rafael Correa was recently elected president in January and has promised to change the political power from the hands of a few wealthy to the people. So yesterday 78.2 percent of the country voted to get rid of the old assembly and create one that is made up of local people, nominated and elected locally that will then re-write the constitution. A great article can be found here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6561961.stm

Now, any election is exciting, especially in a country where voting is obligatory. But a funny cultural aspect is that from Friday to Sunday, the whole country (and they did this in venezuela, too) is under la ley seca, or a dry law. No alcohol can be sold nor consumed publically, presumably so that people don't vote drunk. I always wondered if or how they enforce such a law, but here they certainly do. All the election coverage went from the latest statistical projections to the latest tally in each major town of how many drunks were arrested. Interviews were conducted outside the polls and inside the jails. It was quite an interesting few hours of t.v.!

Personally, I'm thrilled about the positive changes in politics here and in Latin America and I encourage you all to stay informed about the current situtation here in Ecuador! ¡La Patria ya es de todos!

Beach Bummer

Sadly, I awoke to rain, slept 2 more hours, and awoke to clouds. I found a panadería for pan y café and returned to the hotel. I had to check out by 11 a.m. so I quickly took a dip in the Pacific. I can’t say I noticed a difference from the Atlantic, but it was a monumental first, nonetheless. I said my goodbyes to the Germans and went back to San Vicente, crossed the Bay to Bahía, and went to the tour agency to buy a t-shirt, planning on wasting the whole day until the night bus for Quito. It turns out there was another tour just leaving for Isla Corazón, a mangrove island. I signed on and went back across the bay to San Vicente where we took a bus in the other direction to the canoe dock for Isla. Francisco, the 70 year old guide did all the work while Miguel, a German teacher at a German school in Quito and I did all the resting! I had never seen mangroves before (though it was on my list of ecosystems-to-see) and what impressed me the most were all the crazy roots! Yeah, sure, when we rowed into the breeding grounds/flying practice field of all the frigates and ibises and herons and such, it was neat to see them all flying and screaming and their sheer numbers wowed me, but I’m no ornithologist and I soon got bored. So I took pictures of the mud and the swamp and more roots and flowers until Miguel finally agreed we could go. He never did stop raving about how close we were and how much he was going to recommend this to his colleagues.

We then rowed to a dock where we got out and walked along the pier-thing that’s about 5 feet above the mud. We planted mangroves by dropping the long seed pods from the pier. My first attempt failed, but my second went in at an angle. Hopefully it will germinate and grow successfully! We then heard explanations of the various posters and educational tools they have there thanks to a few lone researchers that have come and gone working on theses and whatnot. On arriving to the canoe, my flipflops got the best of me on the mossy, slick cement landing dock and I shaved off a li'l chunk of my shin and knee. Funnily enough, the chunk of knee that is gone is in the exact same spot where I fell coming out of the cargo plane with Poppe at the air show. But I was tough and didn't complain even though it did hurt wuite a bit with the wind blowing on it, and soon enough my fibrinogen kicked in and clotted the wounds right up.

We made it back to the harbor, waited an hour for a bus that never came, drove back to San Vicente with some police whom Francisco knew, crossed the bay once again, and ate dinner at a really nice place right on the bay. For $4.50 I got two glasses of passionfruit juice, a heaping plate of fried rice and veggies, and a cup of coffee! It was nice to chat with Miguel, but I must say he was much less of a flexible, spontaneous traveler than I am. I tend to just wander in the right direction, look for/smell for appetizing food, ask direction at every fork in the road, and I end up okay with welcome surprises along the way. But Miguel picked one restaurant out of his guidebook (looking all touristy and vulnerable as he spent 5 minutes reading it), then asked for explicit directions on how to arrive (even though we knew the right direction to go), and didn't once stop to look at street vendors' goods along the way! But I suppose we arrived just the same, and the food was good, so I shouldn't complain.

Well, we both waited for the same night bus back to Quito, we both endured the horribly uncomfortable seats (only the regular and not the elite, $1 more bus had spots) and the water overheating and delaying us for 1.5 hours at 2 a.m., and we both arrived super tired to Quito at 7 a.m. I was going to take the $0.25, 1 hour troleride to the valle, but he invited me to take a taxi with him (and invite = he pays) to Tumbaco, so I got close to home in less than 30 minutes! I then bused home and arrived just in time for Saturday morning breakfast, which is always more elaborate than weekdays. Interestingly enough, though, even with all the great fresh juices and eggs and croissants, I am seriously craving some cereal, Special K perhaps. And none of this nasty whole milk nonsense, either!

So there you have it--my beach adventures ended, leaving me with Saturday and Sunday to unpack and wash my clothes, to arrange my souvenirs and papers and clutter, to catch up on journaling and blogging, to plan lessons for my last three weeks here in BSQ, and to SLEEP!! I slept from 8:30 p.m. to 8:45 a.m. on Saturday night, and I think I've now officially caught up on everything! Whew! Traveling is exhausting!

Day 3 at Río Muchacho

We began the morning by planting a tree. Mine was an avocado, the others' were mandarin oranges. We harvested coffee and more yuca, and then we ground the yuca for the cook to make a dessert with later.

We then gathered palm seeds to make rings, tagua nuts to make necklaces, and mate gourds to make cups and spoons. The rings are so easy! You just saw them in two places, the center falls out and you sand it down to size. The tagua is equally simple, but you get to be more creative by where you choose to sand it down. The viens that run deep maintain their brown peel color while the surface goes white. The mate is harder in that you have to scoop out the insides and then really scrape all the remnants out, which takes awhile. You then sand the edges and carve whatever design you want. Aside from not being creative nor artistically gifted, the gourd peel is really hard to carve! The ones we ate from were by far prettier than mine!

After lunch we milked a cow to make cheese. No, actually Jimson milked the cow and we all TRIED to milk her. Holy cow! It's harder than it looks! I could not get the cow to be hole-ly because nothing would come out! Who knew it was that hard to do?

We then added some chemical/bacteria starter powder to curdle the milk (still not really sure) that was then ready in 15 minutes to be gathered from the surrounding liquid. We added pepper, salt, turmeric, and some other spices and put it in a press/mold to squeeze out the rest of the liquid.

While we let that set, we went to the river to fish for shrimp. Again, we proved quite imcompetent and ended up just wading around while Jimson swam along in the deeper pools and successfully found plenty! He helped me momentarily conquer my fear and made me actually hold one while I waited for Tanya to come with the bucket and he went off for more. ¡Qué asco!

When we returned, we ate the fruits of our labours, none of which I particularly cared for. The cheese texture was nasty, I'm not big on seafood, and the yucca dessert was disappointingly gross! I did enjoy the chiflas (banana chips), but we had nothing to do with them!

We quickly packed to leave, we said our goodbyes, and we arrived in Canoa just in time for an impressive sunset! I hadn't made plans yet and the dorm rooms were cheap at the beachfront Hotel Bambu where the Germans were staying, so I stayed there too!

I took a short walking tour of the town, all two main roads, and returned to spend the evening with the germans who had already gotten their drink on. We had joked the whole time of going crazy on unhealthy stuff once we got off the farm because everything seemed TOO healthy and pure!

So we chatted and chatted until about 10 pm when we walked the town again. I wanted to dance, and Peter had taken salsa lessons in Germany, so he wanted practice, too. There was only one bar open and it only had the bartender, but he promised to play salsa, so Peter and I stayed and Anya and Tanya left for the hotel. I had the best pineapple/orange juice of my life at that bar, but the dancing was less impressive. Peter wasn’t necessarily bad, but we had to dance on sand. It was incredibly difficult because it was deep, you certainly couldn’t spin, and there were chards of wood, glass, and rocks that frequently made us cringe and move to a new spot. But it was fun, nonetheless. I returned excited for a day in the sun!

Day 2 on the farm

After my early awakening (though the crazy-loud noise of hungry pigs would have done it by 6:30 anyway), I watched as the animals were fed and cleaned, and it's quite a process! After breakfast we went to the gardens and picked lots of veggies and yuca, and chopped down banana leaves for our tongas, a traditional lunch. Back in the kitchen the cook made it all good and tasty and we soon got to wrap up our hot meals. Amazingly enough, they were still hot 3 hours later when we ate them! With our lunches in Jimson's backpack, we set off on horse for the humid forest and waterfall. We finally got to the house of the lady who owns the forest (horses aren't as comfortable as I remember) and ate lunch with her in her simple, bambu/palm leaf house on stilts. I was blown away by the absolute lack of furniture and decorations aside from one one hammock, a small bambu table, and one newspaper clipping on one wall of some religious festivity. We then set off on foot for the forest that has howler monkeys. Jimpson found us three and we rested awhile watching them rest. Man, it was hot there and all we did was sweat! The mosquitos really liked me, too (surprise, surprise) and I was happy to get back on horse. We headed for the waterfall, but no one else wanted to swim (the pool did look a bit dirty), so we rested some more and went back to the farm. After dinner we made coffee from beans that had been dried and shelled. We had to roast them and then grind them, and I must admit it isn't very good coffee. I don't know if it's the type of bean or the way we did it, but it's not that good. Ah well, it was fun anyway!

The one girl who had been in the third not-roof-height bed left that morning, so I slept the night on ground level away from our fledermaus companion. However, at 2 a.m. Tanya awoke screaming about something in her ear. After we doused it in water, it stopped moving so we went back to sleep, but wow, crazy things here in our cabin on the farm!

And the travels continue...

From Popayán on Easter I headed for Pasto, a small unimportant town that simply took me off those dangerous roads before nightfall. Incredibly enough, after for waiting for 2 hours, I actually got on a bus without having to wait 11 more hours. Everyone and their uncle was trying to get out now that the festivities were over! Once in Pasto, I hoped to go out, but yet again my love for sleep prevailed. I awoke with time to walk the town looking for a panadería. Unsuccessfully I returned to check out and head for the bus terminal. I caught a bus to Ipiales, a taxi to the border, walked across back into Ecuador, and bused from Tulcán to Quito. On this last ride, I befriended a fun 9 year-old girl (think Eve Greenwood) and we chatted the whole 6 hours of childish things, friends, food, Rebelde, and then played with my camera. I quite enjoyed her company! For each of these transport transitions I had to wait longer than I hoped, but I still arrived in time to wash my clothes (holy cow, can we say sucia?!), shower, eat, and repack.

I then headed back to Quito (remember, about 1.5 hours each way!) bus terminal where I waited for the 11:30 bus to Bahía de Caráquez on the coast. I arrived at 8 a.m. for the 8:15 tour, but we clearly didn't leave on time. Beach time began. Along with me on the 3-day tour were three others, Anya, Tanya, and Peter, all from Germany. We did decide to do the whole tour in Spanish (and not English), but there was considerable amount of German spoken, too! I loved it! We crossed the bay by boat to San Vicente from where we drove in jeep to the organic farm Río Muchacho.
We stopped occassionally to identify random trees and fruits used for their glue or gel, and we saw fences made from living trees, a much better and more sustainable practice than cutting the trees down to make a fence. In this way one needs fewer resources and can also use them later if needed. We also stopped by the environmental school the farm started for the kids in the region. They learn sustainable practices, utilize dry composting toilets and graywater techniques.



Once on the farm, we got our cabins and lunch! Talk about healthy! Fruits, veggies, legumes, grains galore! We then got a tour of the facilities that blew me away! To start, they plant nearly every fruit and veggie that will grow in the tropical climate. Yuca, bananas, passion fruit, cocoa, pineapple, tomatoes, peanuts, oranges, lettuce, carrots, beans, papaya, corn, onions, coffee, beets, chard, ginger, dill, rosemary, sesame, turmeric, peppers, basil, and many more that I forget! The focus is on self-sustainability, and they sell excesses in the saturday market. They also use more than the fruits--they use dried banana leaves as rope and new banana leaves to wrap a traditional lunch. They reuse plastic 2-Liter bottles for a slow, constant watering system for new trees, which is awesome!


They use a dry compost toilet system that covers excrements in sawdust to eliminate the odor and flies. This compost is then mixed with other animals' faeces, escpecially that of guinea pigs. The guinea pig cages are placed over beds of compost so the faeces fall down, and they are rotated along as needed. They use a graywater system that filters the water and is used over and over first for hands, then clothes, then crops, etc. They even have a place to make and collect biogas from covered compost and solar panels to heat it up! They have a secadora, a solar-powered food drying system in which they have herbs, seasoning, coffee, and chocolate beans! They do use electricity when necessary, but due to the strenuous farm life, most go to bed a few hours after the sun goes down, so not much is used.

Along with tourists, 5-10 volunteers/interns live on the farm at a time. They stay anywhere from 1-6 months and help the 7 or so full-time workers. It is a well-oiled machine, my friends. Also there was a group of 15 students from various tribes in the Amazon region. They are learning primarily how to raise animals rather than simply hunt them, as it is getting harder and harder to move their tribes around freely. Some had never left their villages before, so were hving trouble adjusting. For familiarity and for energy, the week before they had started making the traditional chicha, a drink of super-boiled yuca that is then chewed and spit back into the pot and left to ferment. Yum. Anyway, it was interesting to chat with one of their teachers about their experiences. After an hour's rest (you think, why do we need a rest--we haven't done anything? But the sun is HOT and sucks the energy right outta ya'!), we ate dinner and rested a bit more. All the bowls are ceramic, and the cups and spoons are made out of 'mate', a gourd that falls from the trees along the road.


After dinner we got a bunch of dried chocolate beans and picked out the bad ones. We then cooked the good ones over a wood stove until the color changed and the shelled the bean inside. These we then ground, and let me tell you--it's hard work! But after we had all taken a turn, the guides helped us out like the pros they are and we then cooked the cacao with milk, water, and sugar to make a great chocolate sauce we spread over sliced bananas. It was fantastic! We all went to bed shortly thereafter, and as you can see from the previous picture, my bunk was the one closest to the roof. Earlier we had been told to close the screen door at night, not to keep mosquitos out but rather bats. Well, our bat clearly entered from another opening because that door was closed all day! At 6 a.m. I heard it enter and fly abover my head (quickly covered with blankets) and land on the ceiling. Though I didn't scream, I panicked a little and eventually turned around under the covers so as to be able to get down the ladder as quickly as possible. I got down and the bat didn't fly around anymore, but at breakfast when I told Anya and Tanya, they didn't believe me! Until, that is, they saw droppings on their beds and they saw it hanging from the ceiling later that afternoon directly above my bed! So those were Day 1's adventures on the farm!

The Many Blessings of Semana Santa!

For those of you who think it's miraculous that I actually made it out of the 'highly dangerous' country of Colombia, here's a list of other wonders just to make you think (in no particular ranking):

I encountered ZERO violence, neither toward me nor anyone else.

The music choice of the bus drivers on all the long trips (>3 hours) was excellent and mainly included salsas and vallenatos, and nothing too dreadful.

When the music choice was poor, the rides were relatively short. I only had to endure 80's and early 90s hits for about 2.5 hours, including Bright Eyes twice in English and once in Spanish, and the Titanic theme song only once!

I never once got sick from street food, which is virtually all I ate.

There were no landslides, especially on the road notorious for them. My tutor once got stalled by one that took 3 days to clear!

Every person I met was helpful and kind, not only giving me the needed information, but personal recommendations and the much-needed human contact that traveling alone lacks.

I remembered to buy and take my first malaria pill on the EXACT day I needed to for the following week's beach travels.

I only had to endure 2 kung-fu movies on a 9 hour bus ride, when clearly we had time for 3.

Of the 2620 km I traversed in 10 days, not one of the drivers got in an accident, even with all the mountain curves and high speeds involved.

I did not get cankles, even though I was not vigilent about my heel and toe raises 100% of the time!

I had enough money for all of my entirely unnecesasry travels and purchases when millions don't have enough for food and housing.

My tutor lent me his Lonely Planet guidebook so I didn't have to buy my own. It was a lifesaver.

It was raining during the majority of my long Bogotá bike ride which would have otherwise certainly turned into a huge thymine-dimer nightmare (=sunburn)

I got to spend the whole time speaking spanish with natives and non-natives alike (with the exception of one Canadian traveller)!

My journal ran out exactly as I finished my last Colombian adventure entry. On the very day it ran out, I arrived in Cununyacú where I could start my next one with my beach adventures.

For some unknown reason, el Banco Pichincha in Ecuador does not charge me the 3% international fee that all other banks do. Hopefully this anomaly will continue until I can get my Galápagos money out.

I had just enough time to put all my pictures on the family computer here in Quito, making room for travels to come. I would not have had enough room otherwise.

I did not have to spend Easter morning in a bus terminal!

I was not late for the church service, though by all norms I should have been!

I got to spend time in fellowship with others who really know how to praise God and encourage godly living.


So that's all I can think of right now, but every day was undoubtedly filled with invisible blessings and protection for which I am grateful and humbled.

Popayán, Take Two

I spent all day Saturday on a bus to Popayán because they say it's not safe to travel by night. The scenery was fantastic--I will never get bored with mountains! However, I arrived very stiff and anxious to move. After many typical delays, I arrived at 10 p.m. I knew there was a procession again, because Popayán is the town famous for them (though I still don't know what there is to celebrate on Saturday), but I assumed I had missed it for arriving so late. I was told that the clubs would be open, though, so I showered and got ready for some salsa. Well, it turns out that the procession had JUST started and went by the exact place I intended to go! So I stood on the surb and got to watch the whole thing, and it was in fact more impressive than other towns' due to the quality of the garments/robes, the coordination of the statue carriers, and the music (though in all towns the song "Yesterday" was exceptionally popular).

And once the procession passed us, I and a few others headed into the bar where they played pure salsa all night long! Again, not much spinning, but I loved every minute of it and ended up chatting with a few students, girls included, which is really quite a blessing. There doesn't seem to be a lack of guys interested in chatting up the gringa, but it's seriously hard to make female acquaintances, yet alone true friends! But Ana Maria is studying PoliSci and is working on her thesis, and I really enjoyed all of their company! However, I didn't get back to the hostal unti lquite late, which made my sunrise plans quite difficult.

Fear not, I did muster the guster to WAKE up, but it was cloudy/rainy, so I didn't have to get up until around 7:30. I had seen an iglesia cristiana near the bus terminal and was bound and determined to do Easter up right. I assumed they would start at either 8 a.m. or 9 a.m. but ended up a little late--8:15. Incredibly enough, the first service started at 8:30!!! His mercies really are new every morning! Those 15 minutes were just enough to get pan y café and I was already filled with the Easter joy I know and love! The worship was equally refreshing and encouraging, and the message was uplifting, yet convicting. I never once had one of those "whoa, wait a minute" moments that I seem to get in all other christian churches' doctrines or practices here, but really felt connected to the other believers. And after 2.5 hours, it ended and the focus was, in fact, on Jesus's resurrection and not on anything else! I left to gather my things and head for the border, with a refreshed spirit and a renewed love for Colombia!

Me Fue Mal en Medellín

I’m back safely in Quito for all who were a bit concerned!!! I know I’ve been MIA for awhile, but I hope to match up now, including pics! I left off on the way to Medellín with high hopes due to friends’ recommendations. I really hated to leave Bogotá, and I hated leaving even more once I got to Medellín! Probably due entirely due to the holiday, there was no one on the streets except for the enormous amount of homeless people. I have never in my life been confronted with such harsh realities of poverty, (probably because of the weather they can sleep anywhere and everywhere all year long), and I was overwhelmed by sickening feelings of pity, disgust, anger, and hopelessness. Even aside from the lack of life in the city (which the many universities in the town most likely contribute a lot to), there really aren’t many museums or churches or beautiful sights to see. Also, there were no police to be seen and all the factors combined to make me feel fear for the first time. I was constantly worried about my purse, and I didn’t even want to be adventurous and walk along the little river for fear of being mugged. I did go up to a high outlook of the city where there’s a little imitation city of centuries ago, but I wasn’t impressed by any of it! The sculpture garden was a bust, my feet hurt from the long walk in my sandals, and I could feel myself getting more and more sunburnt. But I had to wait until 2 p.m. to check into the hostal, and with my bag in the terminal I couldn’t get to my sunscreen!

The two good things I have to say about the city are its many public art displays and sculptures, and the metro system which is pretty sweet! The famous Colombian artist Botero donated 20-30 sculptures to the city and they’re all over, easily noticeable because his style is to make everything exaggeratedly chubby—people, horses, birds, you name it. There is one place where there was a Bird of Peace that was ironically bombed by guerrillas. In a symbolic act they erected another one right next to it, so that was pretty moving to see. And the metro was convenient and fast, but twice as expensive as the 2 year old guide book said. Come to think of it, everything in Colombia is considerably more expensive than in the guidebook and than in Ecuador.

So once I made it into my hostal, I chatted with some of the viajeros and then set out for dinner and the procession that was bound to occur. First, just like everyone else in Medelliín, two guys in the restaurant werent just watching me eat, but the one was staring and signaling with his eyes and clearly didn't understand my angry/avoidance looks. People were far more aggressive and overt in Medellín than in other cities, wich was another unpleasantry. And then later, sure enough, there was a procession at the main cathedral. I went to the mass, but it was absolutely packed. I thought I could hold out for the standard hour even in my horrid sandals, but the priest elaborated on each of the 7 last sayings of Christ, and it lasted 2 solid hours even without communion! It was good, and I'm glad I went for the re-focus on the whole season, but I was distracted much of the time by my aching feet and by all the other distracted, dying-to-leave people. The procession began and included the standard figures raised on shoulders, but they were mainly of the women who were mourning. And then there was Jesus in a coffin at the end that struck me as kinda weird. Symbolic? Artsy? I dunno, but I wasn't feelin' it. And there was absolutely 0% chance of anything being open afterward, so to my hostal I went after wasting a day in the city and nearly 2 in travel time!

¡Estoy Enamorada!

I guess I left off on Sunday night pre-salsa dancing. Well, if you read back I was determined to find at least one person to dance with...and that I did. It turns out you really can't go out alone, but you must go as a pair, at least when hardly anyone goes out due to Semana Santa. I went out at 9:30, sat awhile watching the 5 couples dance who were the only people in the place, and moved on to the second of two places that had anyone at all. The best part is all the salsotecas in the centro closed at 10 pm!!! I went back to the hostal seriously depressed, but the owners told me that the places in a far south suburb are open until 6 a.m. and are more popular/professional. Well, I didn't want to pay the 30 some dollars for a roundtrip taxi. Just then, another viajero offered to go with me. I though "great! half the price", but he had a motorcyle! He's from Medellin heading for Quito, so I borrowed a helmet from the hostal owner(see, mom, I'm responsible) and off we went! It was great music, though the dancing was a little different (much fewer beloved spins and dips), but I had a blast! We had to return by 1 a.m. because he had to leave early in the morning, but it was a fantastic night that made me fall in love with Cali!

Monday I walked about Cali seeing all the sites and browsing all the artesanía, and it only took me 4.5 hours! There's simply nothing more to see! So although I would have loved to try dancing again, my dancing partner was long gone and I was off for Bogotá. I spent many hours in the terminal until the 9:30 bus came around, and instead of the 12 hours the guide says it takes, we arrived after only 9!


Tuesday: I squandered some time breakfasting in the terminal, guarded my bag there (couldn't enter hotel until 2 p.m.), and struck off for Maloka, el centro interactivo de ciencias y tecnología. The minute I stepped out of the terminal, I fell in love with the beautiful city of Bogotá! There's a huge park right nearby with paved and marked bike paths and beautiful bridges for cars and for pedestrians. I oriented myself, chatted with some nice ladies taking a morning stroll, got some more coffee and finally Maloka opened at 9 a.m. Upon entering, I almost cried, it was such a beautiful sight! The exhibits were amazingly interactive and well-presented, and there was a great balance between national issues and international perspective. I learned about environmental conservation, electrical wiring of homes, petroleum varieties and refineries, space, aircrafts, electricity and magnetism, the human body, electronic communication, y mucho más! The guidebook recommends to set aside 3 hours, but I spent 5 and didn't even see an omni-cine! The timing was perfect because I then walked the two blocks to the terminal and took the 30 minute bus to the centro which just happened to pass one block from my Hotel Internacional! I checked in, showered with HOT water (increíble!), and set off to conocer Bogotá. I just strolled about, bought some souvenirs (guess what, Katrina? You're in luck!), ate some local foods, and went back to the hotel around 7 p.m. I took a nap with the intention of waking up at 9:30, but I didn't wake up until 11 p.m.!

Fear not, though, I mustered up the energy to get all dolled up and head out for the 6 or so salsotecas in the centro. I walked a few blocks before one of the many, many policemen warned me to take a cab. So wisely, I did. (for the record: I have not once felt endangered here nor have I been mugged, attacked, or bothered in any way other than the 17,000 times I've heard "ojos lindos") Sadly, every single discoteca, salsa or otherwise, was closed! Semana Santa is REALLY not good for nightlife! Again, I could have paid 10 USD one way to the more popular places in the north, but I decided to save it for the next night.

Back at the hotel I planned out my route for the bike ride I planned to take the following day. I had seen a sign for bicycles and was super excited to ride the ciclorutas.


Wednesday: I awoke super early and well-rested, but it was raining. That was okay, because I had planned on doing the suggested historic walking tour before bike riding (to get a better tan, which I still have none of, by the way). I walked by 46 different sites, mainly museos and iglesias, but one was the house of the president and they are super strict about not letting you take pictures or even walk on the sidewalk on that side of the street. Interestingly enough, one of the palace guards (I probably talked with 8 of them in just 6 blocks) offered to accompany me throughout the city when his shift was over (there's a formal changing of the guard that happens every M,W,F at 5 p.m.). Anywho, that all took about 3 hours and I intended on actually going into the museums the next day, but it was still raining, so I didn't know what to do.

I went by the place I had seen the sign, and it was to store a bike in their garage, not to rent one (no wonder it seemed so cheap!). After asking around, it turns out it is virtually impossible to rent a bike even though cycling is a HUGE sport because they are just so cheap to buy! Well, I wasn't about to drop $100 for one day, so I called many places that gave me the numbers for other places that didn't answer of didn't rent bikes...and finally I found one! It was pretty far to the north, and it cost $15 for the day, but I deemed it worthy, even though it was still drizzling. I had to do it today, though, because they were closing until Monday. I got to take the TranMilenio, the accordian bus that is super fast because it only makes limited stops and has it's own lane. Have I said before that I love public transit?! I arrived at 1 p.m. (I did have to walk about 10 blocks from the stop) and it was a place that sold imported (really nice) brands like Specialized. They outfitted me with a mountain bike, a helmet (which I, again,wore the entire ride--Colombian drivers are not to be reckoned with!), and a strap for my pants so it didn't get caught in the chain! How great is that?! They even filled up my water bottle for me! Well, the route that I had planned starting from the center no longer applied, and I hadn't actually brought the map, but I set off eager to ride the bike paths. I successfully found the humedal, a marsh/lake place, but then lost the path and rode on the road awhile, eventually finding the path near the centro. And then I could follow the plans again, except I never could find some of the streets. I probably spent 50% of my time on paths, 50% on roads, but it was fantastic! To give you an idea of how long I rode (really, I have no idea), I went between north/south streets, starting from calle 127 down to 26, up to 170 and back down to 127. East/west I went from avenida 30 to 80 to 7 and back to 30. But these were not direct routes because I had many errors of halfblocks, whole blocks, 10-block military complexes, etc. It never rained more than a drizzle, but the sun only shone for about a half hour of my 5.75 hour bike ride. It was perfect, though, and the freedom and speed of a bike and the long overdue physical exertion made me love Bogotá that much more! I arrived shortly before they closed, thanked them profusely, and caught the TransMilenio back home. I must confess, though, that even in my exhausted, wet and dirty state, the first thing I ate was a McDonalds ice cream cone. It's the first time I've eaten there in over 2 months, and it was good.

So, um, for all my plans on salsa dancing, I could barely stay awake, yet alone stand, to shower and change. But also, the outlook didn't look good for a Wednesday night, either. So sadly, I went to bed at 9:30 p.m.!

Thursday (today! can you believe I'm caught up?): I again woke insanely early and killed time before I thought museums and such would open. One thing I didn't realize is that today and tomorrow are public holidays. That explains why the bike shop wasn't going to be open. I jut thought it was a personal decision, but hardly anything was open except for religious-oriented places or restaurants. The Monserrate (a church on top of a mountain accessible by cable car or funicular train), however, opened two hours early so I ascended, and tried to take pics of the amazing view, even though it started to rain again! It was almost like a procession, or rather a religious pilgrimage (perigrinaje) because tons of other people were going up, too (remember: a day off work). It was really strange, though, in that a few people were really into the spiritual aspect, but everyone else was there for the street food, street vendors, and fair-like atmosphere. It kinda sickened me, actually. But upon descending, I then successfully made it into one of the museos I had planned on as well as 4 that are connected in the same block. I never made it to the Museo de Oro, the world renowned gold artifact museum. I guess I don't really mind, though, because I don't even like gold!

Bueno, I checked out by 1 p.m. but left my bag there while I wandered about the septimazo, a fair-like event stretching 20 some blocks between two main parks along 7th avenue. Also, because it was a holiday, they close that street in the morning for the ciclovía, an event that gathers all the local bikers to tour the city casually and safely. But again, nowhere to rent a bike. So I wandered, bought street food, sat in the parks and people-watched awhile, and then called it a day. So here I am in the bus terminal awaiting the 10:30 bus to Medellín. Yeah, I changed my plans a bit and am not going to Popayán for Good Friday because I wasn't that impressed by the procession and the hoards of people and vendors and all. I will be there for Easter Sunday, where I think they only have a childrens' reproduction or procession or something. But at least it's not a bus terminal, which was my biggest goal of this spring break. So I hate to leave this lovely capital city, but my 9 days in Colombia are over half over and I must conocer more of this wonderful country!

p.s. pics will come in 2 weeks when I'm not paying for my internet usage.

Saludos desde Colombia!

Yes, I've made it safely thus far, first to Tulcán on the ecuadorian border, then to Popayán in Colombia, and I just arrived this afternoon to Cali. Plenty of good stories, lots of kindly old men taxi drivers whom I take every advantge of for free rides and dinner, dancing partner at a town festival/band play-off, and photographer in the Topiary garden/cemetary.



In Popayán this morning I attended mass and then was part of the Palm Sunday processional/parade, complete with a Policia Nacional band lead-in, then later a military band, and then a military school band, all surrounding the priest and two statues-on-boxes-carried-on-shoulders (interestingly enough, both of Jesus dead or dying, not triumphant in any sense). It kinda makes you think about the political situation when Jesus actually came in on donkey and most certainly not escorted by the local governmental police! So, for those of you who remember that Katrina, my mom, and I went to Christmas Eve mass, I believe I am officially a C&E Catholic!


Anyway, I wandered around the colonial town a bit, went to the many artisania fairs, bought lots of local foods (including empanadas pipián, which are filled with a peanuty filling!), and got a little sunburnt. I then took the very very hot busride to Cali where it is very very hot! The ice cold shower felt great and I just got back from dinner where I ate an arepa con pollo. Now, this was my first non-carb food since I left Quito, because Saturday's meal was coffee and bread, cookie, croissant, and bread and water. I just love all the panaderias! Today's meals were bread and coffee, chocolate bread, bread with guanábana filling, bread with piña filling, and now meat. I really shouldn't be allowed to choose my own meals!

Okay, well I missed out on salsa dancing last night because 1) there weren't any places/place open and 2) I was so incredibly tired that I went to bed at 11! But now I'm in the city renowned for its salseros and even though it's a Sunday night and virtually no one will be out, I'm gonna go find someone, even just one person, to spin me, dip me, and make me love Colombia even more than I already do!

Oh, the one thing I don't like about Cali is that they all have a very slurred, sloppy speech that makes me feel incompetant when I have to say "mande?" at least once, but usually twice! Ah well, it's good for me! Before the procession today in Popayán I had an entire audience of kids/adolescents that started with three girls and I chatting and ended with at least 6 more listening/watching the gringa with blue eyes talk!


The pictures are as follows: the river you walk over as you walk across the border; the awesome sculpted bushes in the Tulcán cemetary; the first Jesus statue proceeded by a woman carrying flowers and incence and the strets lined with people carrying palm branches and bush branches and branches ripped off of nearby trees; one of the streets in town; and a few of the kids who hung out with me/chatted with me before the procession.