Perfect Day in Cartagena

It's ridiculous how perfect the weather is today. Seriously. OFf the charts. Super sunny. Really warm. Really breezy. The ocean seems extra Caribbean in color today. No joke. I'm in my swim suit... we're ready to rumble... just waiting for Nick and Ashley to arrive!! And by ready to rumbler... I do mean that we're ready to spend the rest of the day by the pool in the sun. A fun day.:)

We did have a very dark moment in our trip on Friday... care of Spirit Air. Our friends at Spirit Air cancelled our flight on Monday the 4th. They put us on a flight on June 3rd... or we could fly by on June 6th. The whole thing is just a mega bummer. And Spirit Air was incredibly disappointing in terms of how they handled it. So... our not-so-positive impression of them flying down here has become a "yea... I don't think it will ever be a good idea to fly Spirit Air again" kind of impression. We're sad that our vacation has been cut a day short. Weekends are precious since Lindsey and Michelle obviously won't need to work... and it's a game changer in terms of our weekend plans for next weekend. But I do get the fact that it's incredible to get to enjoy time we have left here even if it is a day shorter.

There's much to recap... but Nick and Ashley just arrived! So it's time to begin a new leg of the journey. Good friends, great sun... extremely content...:)

Grounded

My view from where I'm typing... it's the ocean!:)

My. It sure is crazy humid! And already really (really) warm and it's only 8:00ish am. I like Cartagena.:) If I wouldn't be able to catch some quality ocean breeze... this heat and humidity would totally freak me out. But knowing that getting ready for the day today probably means throwing on a swim suit and some sunblock... that's a pretty great deal.:)

We landed yesterday without any glitches. Although to be honest... I don't think Spirit Air makes the top of my list... and Jachin being 6'4", I'm not sure it would even come close to making his list at all. Funny (you know... "funny"... but not really funny), old, crazy cramped planes! But travel went smoothly all the same. We were at Lindsey and Michelle's apartment when they got home from work. Can't even explain how great it is to SEE them. It's SO much different than seeing them on Skype or in a Google hangout. And yet at the same time it seems really bizarre to think that it's really been as long as it has been since I've seen them last. I sure do treasure friendships that don't skip a beat despite continental separation.:)

We got to jump in last night on "food for the homies," so they call it. Michelle and Lindsey are here for two years teaching at an American school. Several of the teachers from their school have shown up every Thursday night with loads of food to share with the homeless community near the historic center of Cartagena. After hearing so much about it, it was fun to get to be a part of it. I really appreciated the sense of community in the gathering, the easy spirit and gracious intention of it all. Sharing food obviously seems like a kind idea, but what I actually appreciated about it is that it has shaped how the teachers involved, plus other friends that have gotten involved with the effort, relate to many of the street vendors in the city. They sure aren't people that Lindsey and Michelle just walk by and try to avoid getting pressured into making a purchase. Rather they're people, names, stories, part of shared community. I really loved getting to see that in action.

After hearing many a tale over skype, it was crazy fun to get to put personalities and real, live interactions with people I've heard so much about. It will be great fun to continue to do so. I'm feeling extremely grateful for the chance to get to see friends' worlds. And sharing it all with Jachin makes it all the more meaningful. People REALLY liked talking with him last night even though he hasn't mastered much Spanish beyond "Si" and "Si claro."

Alrighty. Off to a full day in Cartagena.

back to ORD... followed by Colombia!!

Mobile Office :)

Funny. The last post I made here was from ORD. And that's where I'm headed right now. Jachin and I are in the car right now as I type. Somewhere east of Hixon, WI. I'm plugged in and connected to Jachin's phone (wireless hot spot) in order to submit my last paper of the quarter!!! I intended to finish well before I got into the car... but thankfully Chicago isn't that close... so it gave me plenty of car time to wrap up!

Jachin and I are heading to a park n' ride just outside of Chicago before hitting O'Hare for a Spirit Air flight to Cartagena, Colombia at 5:30ish am tomorrow morning! We're reeeeally looking forward to some quality time with our friends Michelle and Lindsey. Plus two other friends from Texas will be meeting us there on Sunday! Should be a fun and restful week to get away, sleep on the beach, enjoy friends, etc. Physical distance in friendships... I suppose it's really all quite relative or subjective... but I can't wait to actually have quality time with these four that I don't see nearly as often as I'd like to. And I'm really stoked to get to share an international experience with Jachin. I suspect it will be really insightful...:) And very fun, of course. But then again... Jachin makes most everything more fun.

Anyway. I'll try to take up the cause of blogging for the week since I'll be international. Follow along if you'd like. But for now... it's time for me to relish in my submitted homework assignments.:)

ord

Decided not to pass up the chance to do one more post from an airport. I'm back in O'Hare. I missed my final connection last night so I slept for a bit in a sleep number bed with plenty of pillows that were the perfect thickness. Glorious. Seriously. Words cannot express how amazing the bed was. Thanks American Airlines for helping my transition from South American hostel beds to American beds so dramatic! (imagine anything from mattresses that are caving in to rock hard mattresses for the last 3 weeks, and lumpy sometimes paper-thin sometimes fat and solid pillows) Wish I woulda been in my own bed... but I sure wasn't suffering either.

Time for the final leg! And then some time at work before the weekend. Tchau!

mia

Well I'm in the Miami airport with a chai tea in hand. My flight left late from Medellin this morning... but we were already boarded and I sure didn't know the difference - I was out the whole time. I'm exhausted but I'm glad to be getting closer to my bed. Getting off the plane was somewhat of a rude awakening - I really miss the South American charm already! Seriously. And it was funny to go through customs here. I've always thought that customs in Latin American airports was a joke, a chance to make chit chat and compliment you on your eyes. But it appears that Ecuador and Colombia are countries the US is more suspicious of because I've never gotten so many questions and never been sent to so many additional lines. And in the end it's all the same chit chat, they just joke with you about being a Gopher and compliment you on your new football stadium instead of complimenting you on your eyes. The good news is that no one actually tried to open up my backpack - I'm confident they wouldn't have gotten it zipped shut again.:)

Colombia and Ecuador from hindsight already both look wonderful. Colombia is such an interesting gem. Their history and contextual reality is so dark just 10 years back. Being in Medellin, the stories of guerrillas, violence and drugs are so fresh (Medellin is after all Pablo Escobar's hometown), but that might be influenced in large part by who we stayed with and that where we stayed was Escobar's 'hood. But it really has radically changed and I suspect it's reputation will quickly change - it's a wonderful and beautiful country and I felt so safe the whole time. Although it was also really interesting to learn more about Venezuela's current reality as it relates to Colombia... it will be interesting to see how the tension rises or disseminates along the Colombian/Venezuelan border.

I suspect my dear travel buddies Michelle and Ali are getting ready to get on an overnight bus to the northern coast of colombia right now. As for me, I need a break from looking at my phone screen. It's nice to be back to in-network 3G streaming on my phone, but it sure was a wonderful treat to be free from my phone for three weeks!:) I'll upload pictures tomorrow or Saturday. For those who have travelled along... thanks for joining me.:)

wrapping up

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't sad to be wrapping things up in South America. Three weeks was nothing... my backpack doesn't smell much yet; I'm not nearly sick enough of repacking it everyday; I still have a few things I never wore (really... I brought too many tanktops); I've gotten to the point where I can understand 99% of anything anyone says (might be closer to 94%?) but I have a long way to go with my speaking; I could eat a bag of Milo Nuggets (little crunchy chocolate candies of goodness) everyday; I'm MUCH closer to the ocean now than I am in MN and yet I won't get to see it; there's just something about Latin American that I find endlessly endearing. But I truly am deeply grateful for the family, friends and community that the Twin Cities holds. And I am looking forward to spending less time on buses, to guaranteed hot water, to celebrating my neice's birthday and the Powderhorn art fair this weekend, to some MN summer days.:)

I really enjoyed Myriam and her family in Medellin (we're back at Myriam's sister's apartment tonight) - wonderful Colombian insight that really left me wanting more time to work on my Spanish to help with relational connections. And our jaunt through the Colombian coffee-side was beautiful and relaxing. We spent two nights in Salento, I finally got to see my cloud forest and we toured a great coffee farm, too. The seven hours we spent on the bus this afternoon/evening was great motivation to look forward to my car. And so now my backpack is packed and my alarm is set for 5:15 am to get the return journey started. I'll send Michelle and Ali off with well wishes for sunny beach days as they send me off to hop back to MN. I've got a long layover in Miami - I've never flown standby, but here's hoping something works out because otherwise I hit Chicago in the evening and then arrive in Minneapolis at 11:45 pm. Phew. We'll see how it all goes.

When I'm back to the MN side of life (and probably from the Miami airport... cause I'll have the time. ha.) I'll update more and upload photos with all the posts as well. But for now... it's time to get a bit o' sleep. Hasta!

a change in pace

We made it to Medellin! Sitting in the front of the bus was a wonderful way to do overnight transportation, although you never sleep as well as you'd like. We arrived at Myriam's family's house around 8:00 am and our full day of Spanish began.:) It was a very fun change of pace to spend time with Myriam and her family - she's got the cutest grandma ever. Sure I couldn't understand most of what her grandma said, but it seemed to be mututal.:) We drove north of Medellin in the afternoon to their farm, which is a beautiful piece of land set into some rolling Andean hills. (Michelle & Myriam in the photo to the left at the farm) Her brother lives on the farm with his wife and kids. It's a work in progress, but it was fun to hear how much potential and joy Myriam and her brother see in the farm. I drooled as I looked at the avocado trees and the passion fruit vines. Oh what I would do to get one of each of those in my yard. Seriously. (Michelle & I eating passion fruit in the photo to the right... sooo good) They've got a lot of coffee plants sprouting, the spectrum of different types of banana trees and some orange trees. Gosh would that be fun. We puttsed around the country side and then picked Ali up from the airport! Myriam's family is wonderful and all the Spanish is a great deal of fun but is exhausting.:)

These changes in our travel patterns will be fun ones. We're staying at Myriam's sister's apartment, so I'm glad to be able to pull a few recent photos from my camera. Today and tomorrow we'll try to make the most of the Feria de las Flores (the Flower Fair) that's the big deal in town for the next week. Today is the horse parade. And then Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday we'll explore the Zona Cafetera (the coffee zone) before I hit the road on Thursday back to MN. Who knew three weeks could go soooooo fast!

(And this photo isn't a great one, but Ali's in it! On the left. We went out for Arepas on the way home from the airport last night.)