How you may be treated when you come visit me in Cartagena! :)

President Juan Manuel Santos at the Film Festival opening.

As my college friend John can attest, you will be treated EXTREMELY well when you come visit me in Cartagena.

First, I'll make sure that your hotel room has a bathroom so large that everything echoes off the tiles. And you'll certainly need a second bathroom of that very same size in that very same hotel room just in case there's a problem with the first one.

Then of course I'll make sure that Isabella Rossellini & dreamboat Gael Garcia Bernal are staying in your hotel. I'll make sure that Gael wanders around the garden lobby a couple of times while we're sitting there having a drink, too, just so we can admire him. Juan Manuel Santos (the President of Colombia as we all know) will have lunch at the very same restaurant as you and he will speak that night at the opening of the Film Festival. You'll be sitting a mere 100 feet from him, as you can tell from the perfect photo above.

You'll want to be sure to invite me to the exclusive International Film Festival of Cartagena party, because with my excellent Spanish I'll order drinks for you. The vodka on the rocks you asked me to order for you will come with juice in it. Your next drink, which you really want to be a Johnny Walker (& which was requested of the waiter), will be a vodka on the rocks. But at least without juice!! You try again for a Johnny Walker only to be told by the waiter, with the help of my excellent Spanish, that they don't have any, so another vodka on the rocks it is. Finally you go up to the bar yourself & use your own excellent English & sign language and return with a Johnny Walker.  (As a side note, there was never any error in the drink orders I made for myself. Also in my defense, the great salsa music was very loud so hard to hear anyone talking, much less ordering drinks! :)

As compensation for my poor ordering abilities, I'll score for you a mojito popsicle.

And if you complain about anything, those torture instruments from the Spanish Inquisition come in handy…..

In the Museum of the Inquisition

In front of John's hotel in the old city

Of course, it helps if you a US film producer invited by the Colombian government to get this kind of treatment when you visit, but I'll certainly do my best....! :)

Hasta pronto?!

Teacher, Teacher!

That's what they call me: "Teacher." A student wants to ask a question: "Teacher, what does this mean?"; they see me in the hallway: "Good morning, Teacher!"; they see me on the street, "Hi, Teacher!" When I was doing my course in San Francisco learning how to be an English language teacher, many of the students there also called me "Teacher", but I thought it was because there were so many student teachers who changed every day and they couldn't remember our names. Of course now I realize that for most of those students, that's how they would address a teacher in their home countries. Here in Colombia it's customary to call your teacher, whether high school or college/university, simply "Profesor" (for a male) or "Profesora" (female), or "Profe" for short, so English language students will just translate that and call their teachers "Teacher." As we're teaching US culture as well as the English language, on the first day of class I told the students that in the US in a school like this they would likely call the teacher by his or her first name and they are welcome to call me "Barbara", but very few actually do.

I'm getting used to the "Teacher" moniker, although sometimes I wish I could call them "Student" because there are so many & it's hard remembering everyone's names! And many of the students' names are not "typical" Spanish names like Carlos, Maria, Sergio, Juana, etc.; there has been a trend in the past it seems (from the ages of the students) 20-30 years in Colombia to name kids with "different" (often taken from another language) sounding names, the famous example is "Usnavy" as a name, ie, U.S. Navy & pronounced "Oosnavie." I don't have anyone by that name in my class, but it gives you an idea. "Lady", often spelled "Leidy" or made plural and with an addition, such as "Misleidis" or "Yusleidis" is another example of how a word in another language has been taken and made into a name. Or there are different spellings of "foreign" names, such as Deisy, Jhonathan, or Brayan, or brand names (Westinghouse, Freixenet) become first names.

Beyond trying to learn names (which I've successfully done in my current classes, but class groups change every four weeks), the first two weeks of classes have gone fine! I'm teaching two beginner classes and one advanced; with the beginner classes I sometimes use Spanish but not with the advanced. So in one respect, teaching English is not that great for my own Spanish learning, but I'm learning more and more each day about teaching and about the English language. In a truly geeky way (that my mother and friends Dave, Lisa, and Maureen, among others, will especially appreciate), I love learning all the "whys" of English grammar as I prepare for classes, figuring out the answers to students' questions, using various resources and my Spanish knowledge to try to anticipate what their questions will be, and I hope to fascinate you all with these details someday when you come visit or when I next visit you!! :)

The Centro Colombo Americano is the white building on the left with the US & Colombian flags. The old city wall is straight ahead and the Caribbean Sea just beyond that!

This coming week is the Cartagena International Film Festival here, the most important film festival for Latin America. A Hamilton College friend has been invited to participate so I look forward to seeing him & getting an insider's view of the Festival!

More photos of the Centro Colombo Americano in Cartagena here.

A trip to Panama makes me official!

Downtown Panama City

I now have a Colombian work visa stamped in my passport allowing me to work as an English teacher at the Centro Colombo Americano in Cartagena—woo hoo!! Despite all of my travels, I’ve never had a work visa for another country, so it's kind of exciting.

View from the old town to downtown.

Getting the work visa involved leaving the country in order to apply at a Colombian consulate for the “permission” to enter Colombia as a worker. I went to Panama City, Panama, for this as it’s about the closest place I could go, plus it would give me the opportunity to see the canal. It’s less than an hour flight from Cartagena to Panama if going non-stop, although on the return I had to go via Bogota which made it a 5 hour trip.

Went for a jog here along with the Panamanians!

I didn’t see a lot of Panama City, although the area around the Colombian consulate is under a lot of construction as they’re building a new metro. There is a downtown area with lots of modern skyscrapers which I only saw from a distance. Panama City has an old walled town similar to Cartagena’s as well as a nice area for running, walking, biking, roller blading that stretches along the bay front.
 

The Queen Elizabeth on her way through the canal!

The closest section of the canal, the Miraflores locks, is about a 25 minute cab ride from downtown; there’s also a museum there as well as a restaurant that overlooks the locks. I didn't expect to see signs warning of crocodiles on the sidewalks as we neared the area where the locks are...but didn't see any of the reptiles around! I--unknowingly--timed my visit perfectly to see the Queen Elizabeth cruise ship coming through the locks as I sat down for an early dinner. The 100 year old locks are quite impressive although of course already out of date as there are many boats larger in size than “Panamax” (the maximum size of ship which can use the canal). Panama is building a set of parallel locks to be opened in 2014 which will accommodate the “Post-Panamax” supertankers and larger modern container ships. (For those of you wanting to know more about the canal, click here!)
 

No, not even tempted :)

Due to our occupying or managing, depending on your viewpoint, the canal, I did note U.S. influence in Panama City. The U.S. dollar is the currency in use—you go to an ATM & withdraw US dollars, prices are in US dollars, your credit card is charged in US dollars, etc. There are “Bolivars”, Panamanian coins (no bills), but they are the shape, size & value of US coins (penny, nickel, dime, quarter) in order to be of equal use in vending machines, stores, etc. U.S. coins are also widely in circulation. In addition, tax is charged on top of purchase prices, which I don’t think I’ve seen that in any other country I’ve been to; in other countries normally the tax is included in the purchase price you see--no charges tacked on at the cash register. In grocery stores you can get a lot of U.S. products which are not as easily found, in my limited experience, in other Latin American countries I’ve visited. Something very different I saw in one Panamanian grocery store was that they were offering free samples of liquor to promote a certain brand -- that’s something that perhaps should be spread more widely?!
 
Now that I have my work visa, I can officially start my teaching job. The next month-long class cycle starts this coming Monday the 6th. I get my teaching assignment (schedule, number of classes & levels) Friday night, giving me the weekend to prepare. Cross your fingers for me!

All of my Panama photos can be found here.

Feliz Año Nuevo!

Quindío wax palms, Valle de Cocora

I spent the week around New Year's on a "finca" in Colombia's "Coffee Triangle" with friends from Spain & Colombia--talk about beautiful & relaxing! The finca was a large vacation house which the 9 of us easily fit in to;  we were so busy with the pool, jacuzzi, beach volleyball & enjoying the surrounding countryside that we never even got to use either of the two pool tables, the tree swing, or the soccer field which were also available. It was a working farm with cows--we had fresh milk, dogs, cats, rabbits, roosters (although we could have done without their early morning wake up calls) & even peacocks roaming the yard.

Great food & gorgeous views!

I was told that many of these vacation homes several years ago belonged to various drug lords who ruled the area. While in the past the average Colombian wouldn't have dreamed of vacationing in this area due to the drug lord and guerrilla activity, tourism is now booming. We visited the Cocora Valley, where 60 meter tall Quindío wax palms (Colombia's national tree) shoot above the cloud forest below--an amazing sight; floated in (& out of! :) a bamboo raft down a river; soaked in thermal hot springs; went under, through & behind water falls; strolled through Salento, a typical Antioquian town; toured a coffee plantation and tried our hands at picking coffee beans; and of course we ate very well!

Burning last year's woes...

For New Year's Eve itself, I was introduced to a few Colombian traditions. First we wrote down on pieces of paper things from the past year we wanted to leave behind; they were then all put in a pot in preparation for burning at midnight--get rid of all the bad from the 2011! Many people will make large dolls, dress them in clothing from all the family & stuff them with the "bad" from the past year to burn at midnight--our pot had a tiny doll representing this. In in our pockets we also had lentils to ensure a year of abundance and some kind of cash for financial security. At the stroke of midnight, we each ate 12 grapes, a tradition I'd been introduced to in Spain as well. I learned too late that I should have been wearing yellow underwear at midnight to bring wealth & prosperity in 2012!

Touring the coffee plantation.

After a week in the coffee zone, I returned to Bogota by car with my Spanish friends who are living in Bogota, an ~180 mile trip that took us a lightning fast 9 hours. As there is no train system in Colombia, all goods are transported by truck and passenger buses are also popular. Any goods arriving at Buenaventura, Colombia's Pacific port, arrive at the capital city by truck using the very route (ie, the only route) we were using to get to Bogota; buses between Bogota and the other main cities of Medellin and Cali use this road as well. The single lane highway climbs a mountain and is filled with hairpin turns; you can imagine how slowly these trucks laden with goods climb and how difficult it is to pass with all of the turns. So it's slow going....and an experience!! One of the pluses about this route, however, is the amazing scenery, although for our climb it was cloudy & rainy and we couldn't see much (this weather added to the excitement of the drive! :), but for the descent, the green countryside with its steep terrain was amazing.

A "fiambre" lunch wrapped in banana leaves during our bamboo raft trip

I'm in Bogota briefly before returning to Cartagena. The weather has been taunting me here with beautiful mornings & early afternoons--my friend's apartment has floor to ceiling windows with fabulous views of the mountains and is right near a great park, so at least for a couple of days I've been out "running" (& I use that term loosely). It's all making me wonder why I'm not living in Bogota....but once the rain starts in the afternoons & I hit traffic whenever we venture out, I remember why. Still, it's growing on me and I do have some great friends here, so I'll be back!


A few more photos of our week in the Coffee Triangle are here.

Happy Holidays!

In the depths of the Salt Cathedral

I am back in the U.S. for a brief holiday visit but was able to enjoy a few sunny days in Bogotá before leaving!

I visited the Catedral de Sal (yes--salt!) in Zipaquirá, a 40 minute bus ride north of Bogotá. The town is kind of a smaller version of Villa de Leyva with a nice main plaza. Salt has been mined here since the 5th century BC and early miners had carved out a sanctuary as a place to pray before starting work. That developed into a larger "cathedral" in the latter half of the 20th century which ultimately was closed for structural reasons in 1990. A new "cathedral" (it is a functioning church but not an official cathedral) was built 200 feet below the old one, is 200 meters underground, and opened in 1995.

TransMilenio buses bypassing traffic!

To get to the bus station for the bus to Zipaquirá and to get around Bogotá (on the rare occasion I wasn't walking!), I took the TransMilenio, a bus system that opened in 2000 with dedicated lanes allowing buses to zoom by the traffic-packed roads. Even with these dedicated lanes, it can take 45 minutes to go from northern Bogotá to the old part downtown, so you can imagine what it's like in a taxi or car to get around with traffic.

Bogota's Plaza de Bolivar with Montserrate in the background

The Cathedral of Bogotá and several government buildings surround the Plaza de Bolivar in the old part of the city; just south of the Plaza is the Presidential Palace, or the Casa de Nariño. When I was there, there was a group displaying photos of people who had been detained and or killed, the woman I spoke to said by the government for suspicious reasons, although I don't know anything else about this. There were also of course many Christmas displays, a large banner protesting the FARC (likely leftover from the previous week's peace march), and on a couple of the government buildings there was still graffiti and paint ball marks from student protests that had been held in October and November. It's a Plaza that tells a lot of stories!

Top of Montserrate with Nativity lights & view of the city.

I took the funicular up to the top of Montserrate, 3100m/10,000 ft above sea level, where there's a church as well as great views of Bogotá. It's well worth it and I was glad to have a clear day to finally take advantage, although I've been told it's impressive no matter what the weather. With more time, I'd take the hiking trail next time. Once at the top, not only is there the church but also various restaurants (some looking more dubious than others as you can see in some of my photos), shops and for Christmas, a great light display of huge Nativity figures.

Bogotá: Jorge, from Madrid, & I met in NYC in 1990!

Although not a fan of the traffic and (in general) weather of Bogotá, one of the great things about the city is that I have some good friends who live there (& then am getting to know their friends too!). Not just my Colombian friends Olga & Gustavo & their families, but several friends from Madrid who live there--some I have known since I studied there in 1982 and one who I know from my time at CIEE NY. Funny how you can travel to different countries and continents and find friends you've known for a long time and met in other parts of the world! (All of my Bogota photos are here.)

Now getting ready for Christmas with family...I'll be returning to Colombia to celebrate New Year's with friends in the "Coffee Triangle" (an area in the middle of the country where--guess what? they grow coffee!--and which has been declared by UNESCO as a World Heritage site) where we'll be for a week. Then I'll be heading back to Cartagena--I've been offered an English teaching job at the "Centro Colombo Americano" & will start observing classes in early January before teaching my own starting in early February. Stay tuned for those adventures!

Happy Holidays!

Written in rainy Bogotá

Wandering the streets of Villa de Leyva

I've (temporarily!) left Cartagena and am currently in the capital city of Bogotá, an hour+ flight from Cartagena but by bus it would have been ~18 hours (yes, I flew). I spent a great weekend in a small colonial town about 3 hours north of here called Villa de Leyva where a friend's mother lives (she has a cute little house that's available for rent if anyone wants to spend a few restful days here; see photos of the place here among my photos of Villa de Leyva). This area was always very desert-like but, as in the rest of the country, for the past couple of years it's been raining more than usual and so is greener, wetter, & not as warm as it used to be, but, as you can see in these photos, still beautiful and relaxing!

Holding a sign with photos of kidnap victims at the March for Peace

As you may know, there's a rebel army in Colombia called the "FARC" (a Spanish acronym for Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) which has been around for years, in theory fighting for the poor in Colombia. I won't get in to the politics or the history--way too complicated and I don't (yet?) understand it all--but in the past several years the FARC has been on the decline. One of the main ways they finance their efforts has been to kidnap wealthy citizens and hold them for ransom; they've also captured many police and soldiers to use them as a bargaining chip. In late November, four of the police/armed forces being held hostage were killed by the FARC when the army came across them. In response to the hostages being killed, social organizations here called for a country-wide (& later international) march for peace and freedom for hostages for December 6. I was able to participate in the march here in Bogota on Tuesday; there were many signs and banners showing photos and brief histories of those who have been kidnapped and are either still held or were killed. My photos are here and a good read with photos from another blog is here. People I've met here have had family members kidnapped; some were held for a few days, others for many months. I've read a couple of books written by hostages (3 US contractors and Ingrid Betancourt, former politician) who were held for 6 years in the Colombian jungles. It is difficult to imagine to say the least.

Noche de Velitas with Laura, Olga, Gustavo (via Skype!), Norell, me (& our photographer Angie!)

On a lighter note, last night the Christmas season officially started in Colombia with the "Noche de Velitas" or "Night of the Little Candles" on December 7 (the eve of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8). Everyone lights little candles and carries them around, "plants" them in parks, in doorways, on the sidewalks, wherever. We wandered around the streets of Bogota admiring the candlelight and holiday lights on the streets and in the various parks, returning "home" to light our own candles!

My friend Olga has been making sure I get to taste all of the traditional Colombian foods, from the various types of arepas (a bread-like thick pancake stuffed with egg, cheese, or meat, etc) to the delicious main meals of stews, meats, rice, etc. The type of food served varies from region to region and there are often various versions of the same dishes. And yes, all have to be tried!

Eating well with Olga in Bogota!

Food in a bag

I never thought about packaging ketchup in a bag before, but why not? It's like those ketchup packets you get at McDonald's, only on a larger scale, right? And if it works for ketchup, why not mayonnaise & mustard? Sour cream? And milk for that matter (which I'll admit I have seen before). Not just whole, 2% and skim, but condensed milk too. Be creative! Bag your water, your lotion, and your liquid soap while you're at it. It's convenient and space saving! The mayo, ketchup, etc., have spouts you can close; the milk, yogurt drinks and water don't. I'm working on a good system for those once opened, but so far binder clips are key.

Condiments!

Milk

Many of you know my aversion to buying water; however I was advised not to drink the tap water here. I had been boiling water but I couldn't keep up with my own thirst!

Ice cream sauces

Yogurt drinks.

OJ

Oatmeal, a very popular item (there's also milk with oatmeal, yogurt with oatmeal....)

Sour cream & alioli

Condensed milk, chocolate even!

Stuff in a bag: lotion

Stuff in a bag: liquid soap

Stuff in a bag: floor wax

Happy Thanksgiving!

No, Thanksgiving's not celebrated here, so no turkey, parades or football for me today! But lots to give thanks for. I spent this morning in La Boquilla, a disadvantaged community by the beach about 10 km/6 miles north of Cartagena's center. It's amazing the difference--you ride the bus along the coastal road, and just past the international convention center, expensive apartment buildings and fancy hotels, the bus takes a left turn into another world. Here most of the houses are mere shacks with many people and multiple generations sharing one small home. I only get the very briefest of glances into the houses as I walk by, but it's incredible the discrepancy in the standards of living. The people in the highrises, if they are on the "right" side, have views from their balconies that give them a bird's eye view of how the other half lives.

The playing field attached to one of the schools.

I've volunteered at a school in this area a few times painting, serving & helping little kids eat their lunch, playing with the kids and teaching English. The hot noontime meal that they get at school is key for them. At this one school they're given uniforms also, which may be their best set of clothes. Despite it all, these kids seem very happy (see the photos below!), although I know I am not even scratching the surface of what their daily lives are like. You can get a better view of what life is like for the kids and families in this area via these 6 short (2-3 minutes each) videos on "The Beach Children." There are also few more photos of the kids and the area here. It truly makes you thankful.

A few kids finishing up lunch; this kids in this school range in age from 1 to 14. The roof in this open-air area is made of dried palm branches; it's amazingly good at keeping out the heavy rains!

This week, through a friend who's donated a lot of his IT expertise to this place, I connected with a community organization which is, among other things, working to help the local population develop marketable skills. For example, this morning I observed a class where about 25 adults were learning to set a table properly in order to work in a restaurant. The group has also set up time in their computer lab for locals to come for several hours in the afternoons to take free government sponsored online, self-paced English language courses. Each day next week I'll be to be the "go to" person in the lab to help answer any English-related questions while they are there taking the course. While a poor area, it is located on a beach that is frequented by locals and international tourists alike, and of course the convention center and hotels are nearby. So learning to speak English is an important skill to have, and having the computer lab--with highspeed internet!--available right in their community provides them with the access to these free classes.

Kids fooling around with the camera.

My Thanksgiving dinner will be fish, not turkey--I am on the Caribbean Sea, after all! But appreciating you all and how lucky I am.


Happy Thanksgiving!

I live in a maze

The fruit here is amazing!

The old wall not far from my apt

Something you might unexpectedly run into

While Cartagena is the 5th largest city in Colombia and has nearly a million inhabitants, most of my time has been spent in the historic center of Cartagena, which is probably an area roughly 3 miles around. Much of the old city is circled by the Spanish fortress wall from the 17th & 18th centuries and packed with narrow streets filled with people going about their daily lives, tourists gawking, street vendors hawking their wares (a lot of crafts, t-shirts, etc, to foreigners, as we are abundant here; but also fruit, guys carrying around thermoses of Colombian coffee, candy, sunglasses, the cell phone minutes mentioned previously, and other things to everyone), and the ubiquitous yellow taxis. There is always life in the streets--great people watching, great things to see. As most people don't have air conditioning, the house doors and windows that face the street, although gated, are often open to let air in. It means you have often perfect views of the sitting room & beyond, which as a observer I love (although would probably not like being on the other side as much). While this old town is a relatively small area, after 4 weeks here I am not always 100% sure where I am or if I'm heading down the right street. The streets change names *every* block, even though it is (in my mind at least) still the same street. This means that for the most part, people don't say what street something may be found on, they'll say instead what it's near (the Cathedral, x store/restaurant/bar, the Plaza Bolivar, etc). I'm still figuring out where the important landmarks are and am getting so that about 90% of the time I'm actually going the way I want to go, but it's fun getting lost in the maze and still discovering new things.

The bits outside of the walls that I have ventured out to are mostly adjacent to the old town. There are two small peninsulas to the south of the old city, Manga and Bocagrande, which are mixed residential/business areas with a lot of new buildings. Walking along the water in those areas also gives you great views of the bay and the Caribbean, depending on where you are.

And heading north from the old city (& I'm sure other directions as well), I've seen some mixed areas--some suburban type residential areas, but some also very poor. This photo was taken not far outside the old city wall, showing some of the really squalid housing some people live in. And imagine what it's like during the heavy rains. The various sections of Cartagena are given numbers, 1 through 6, depending on the relative wealth of the area, and your number determines the cost of various services (water, electricity, etc). The center of the walled city is designated a "5", the second highest/wealthiest, and these shacks on the water are a stone's throw from that wealthy area...I wonder if this area even rates as a "1." I've also been volunteering in a poorer community north of the city; more on that in a future post.

For more city shots, click here.

Mas fiestas!

Towards the end of the Independence Day Parade

And the parties continued...! I realized only after my last post that the kids (mainly) covered in blue (chalk), black (motor oil?!), etc, ask people for money & if they don't get a coin, threaten to  throw paint or chalk on them or hug them (& thus "color" them). It's basically meant to be all in good fun. For a couple of the people I asked if I could take their pictures in exchange for the coin "donations". The guy above right is wearing a traditional Colombian hat called a "Sombrero Vueltiao", which, if one of the real hand made ones, is a true work of art. The group on the left all assembled themselves for the photo after I asked just one of them for a picture. Anything for fun! I still am not sure why I saw on a couple of different occasions grown men walking around dressed like babies: in humongous diapers with pacifiers. Will have to figure that one out later. A lot of people were covered in splotches of white powder, too--in addition to selling huge cans of spray foam (shaving cream-like) all over the place, vendors were selling boxes of cornstarch too -- the weapons of choice for the Fiestas Novembrinas!! :)

I must say that despite several days, well, nights, actually, of seemingly straight mayhem (and fun), the old town cleans itself up pretty well. Each morning the cans, boxes, cups, etc, that had been strewn around the previous night were for the most part gone.

Getting ready for the next street party; these smart people on the corner are charging for bathroom use!

The real reason for the parties: statues of the revolutionaries and flags of Colombia and Cartagena.

After days of dodging shaving cream, cornstarch, and "colored hugs", it's back to reality tomorrow--the parties are over (for now!). 

For all of my Fiesta Novembrina photos, view the slideshow here.

The November Parties

Keeping my beer safe from the shaving cream attacks!

That's a literal translation of Las Fiestas Novembrinas, but it doesn't do justice to what's happening here. This past Monday the 7th was a public holiday, celebrating All Saints Day (which was the Tuesday prior, many holidays are moved to the following Monday to make a 3-day weekend). Today, November 11, is the anniversary of Cartagena declaring itself independent from Spain, another national holiday, and it just so happens I'm here for the 200th anniversary of that. Most people had yesterday & today off, and add to that last Monday, and it's party week!

The Colombian flag starts off the 10K!

This past Saturday there was a 5/10K held around the old part of Cartagena as part of the November fiestas. It was free as long as you signed up, you got a t-shirt, support, etc. People young & old, fit and working-on-it, all sorts were out for it. It was held in the late afternoon, when it would be at least a bit cooler than in the morning plus there is always an afternoon breeze by the Caribbean. But still, the sun was hot. I got here too late to register (ah, shucks) but tried to volunteer, although it doesn't seem to work that way here, or at least not for this event. An "I ran the Cartagena 10K" t-shirt would have been good tho!!

Decorative lights line the streets of Getsemaní

The streets in the old city have been decorated with lights making it all look very festive & there are street parties in the different neighborhoods all week. For some reason during these parties there are various things that one must do: cover yourself in blue chalk &/or cover yourself in black substance &/or shoot off small firecrackers to scare the heck out of everyone &/or throw water at people &/or spray everyone you can with shaving cream. There are probably more "to do's" that I've missed on this list. 

By the Caribbean Sea....

Yesterday I watched the Miss Colombia contestants parade, held on the main avenue that's just between the city fortress wall and the Caribbean Sea. (I like saying that: "Caribbean Sea", as in "I live on the Caribbean Sea"; "I'm standing here looking at the Caribbean Sea"; "I'm watching the sunset on the Caribbean Sea"....am I making you jealous?!?! But I digress....) The Miss Colombia contest is always held in Cartagena during the Fiestas Novembrinas. We got tickets in order to be able to sit in the grandstands underneath a tent; having shade was key. We got there at 1 pm to get a good spot and entertained ourselves for the next 3+ hours until the parade actually started going by where we were.

Shaving cream, anyone?

There was Latin music blasting the whole time, the growing crowds constantly dancing, shaving cream was being sprayed at all times (there's even a song which tells people to spray at various points during the song, surely put out by the shaving cream company to boost sales?!), and vendors selling just about anything you wanted. There was a tent at the base of the grandstand where you could buy water, soda, beer, and small bottles of chilled rum. Yep, chilled rum. It was an entertaining day, with the parade itself not even being the highlight.

In front of the Chiva bus.

On the Chiva bus.

Not to be missed is the Rumba en Chiva trip earlier this week. A "Chiva" is a long, wide bus with benches which is apparently what all the buses of Colombia used to look like. In many places they are now used for tours/party trips. There's a Vallenato band on board, a type of Colombian folk music (that of course gets you moving). They provide drinks, a snack of traditional Colombian arepa as well as commentary during the trip. At one point all the Chivas stop at a section of the old city & the bands go up on the wall to play. People dance, there are other street buskers there, it's a party!

Chiva party on the wall!

Ok, time to go to Juan Valdez Coffee Shop (the Starbucks of Colombia) for my Spanish class. Yes, I have class during party week, the studying can't stop! :) Hasta luego!