CARNAVAL!!!

This past weekend we had our first Carnaval experience! Barranquilla, a city further northwest on the Colombian coast, is famous for this Caribbean cultural festival. For the entire month of February the city hosts party events and parades. This weekend (approximately 40 days before Easter) was the biggest and most outrageous and held the main events, including La Batalla de las Flores, or the Parade of Flowers.

Our friend, Oscar, and his family graciously hosted us with the other six Santa Ana volunteers (plus one from Cartagena). Oscar and his girlfriend, Mirna, showed us around and taught us the proper way to celebrate Carnaval. On Friday night, they took us to the Aguila Festival, which was in a huge stadium and showed the local soccer game on big screens. There was great live salsa music and in Colombia, where there is music there is always dancing. They were also kind enough to introduce us to the local tradition of covering fellow revelers in corn flour when they least expect it.

 

Saturday we woke up around 5:45 a.m. and claimed our spot for the parade, which was an exciting display of vibrant colors, live music, dancing, exquisite costumes and beautiful people. Afterwards we walked to Mirna’s tia’s house, where several brave volunteers (including Micah) enjoyed traditional Mondongo Soup (cow intestines), which was delicious. Later that night, while Oscar and Mirna were at the Marc Anthony concert, we met up with other WorldTeach volunteers living in Barranquilla, as well as others visiting from Bogotá and Montería, for dinner and drinks (thanks again M.R. and David!).

It was a great night, but felt a little strange to have a choice of restaurants and clubs to patron. Any kind of food or drink we could want within a few blocks. Guess we are taking to the island lifestyle quicker than we thought we would. After only 1 month in Santa Ana we are learning how little we really need in order to be happy and live comfortably. 

Overall, we had an amazing weekend learning about and celebrating coastal Colombian culture. We were impressed by the city of Barranquilla and we are forever grateful for the hospitality of the Ruiz family.

One Month in Colombia: CHECK.

Mother of one of Micah's students selling us mango on the beach.

This past Saturday marked one month in Colombia so far. That’s it. One month.

It seems like we were in Cota/Bogotá months ago and it has to be longer than two weeks on Barú.
But we don’t mean for that to sound negative. It’s just that a lot has happened since we arrived. In fact, a lot has happened since Saturday…

US/Colombia vs. Brazil

We all went to Playa Blanca on Saturday and had a great day. Weather was hot and sunny, as always. We found a perfect spot with sun and shade in front of a little restaurant owned by one of our student’s parents. Had a great game of fútbol with some students and Brazilians (we won!). Other than Steph stepping on a sea urchin and ending up with an archipelago of spiky spines in her foot, it was a great day.

Sunday, almost every one of us woke up with stomach issues.

Micah Dice:

I woke up Sunday with bad stomach issues that lasted until Monday afternoon. The nurse from my school forced me to go to the clinic in town, where they took my blood pressure, poked my stomach and said I have a parasite. I’m skeptical, but either way I feel better, and have a prescription for antibiotics if I don’t feel better in the next little while. Classes were good today; I had 2 blocks, so each class for 2 hrs. We were able to get a lot done and many of the kids asked why I didn’t come to school the day before and actually seemed to miss me.

While sick, I was able to finish the second Hunger Games book (only took me 3 days!) and I’m 1/3 of the way through the last in the series. Then it’s on to For Whom the Bell Tolls and then maybe I will finish Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (I started it, but too much P&P, not enough zombies).
Funny story from one of my 10th grade classes: a female student asked to be excused so she could go outside and fart. My male co-teacher spent the next 1/2 hour lecturing the girls on how to be more lady-like.

And one last thing…WTF PATS?!?!

Two of Steph's 4th Graders

Steph Dice:

I feel much better knowing Micah is better. It was pretty funny when the nurse came to our room and started yelling at him in Spanish saying that she “didn’t care if he didn’t think he needed to go. It would just keep returning if he didn’t”. She would not have taken no for an answer.

We lost power Tuesday during dinner, the second night in a row, so I walked to the nearest tienda with two other volunteers, Juli and Fiona, for some treats. On the way back, while trying to navigate the reconstruction of the main road through town, Fiona and I both fell knee-deep into a giant mud puddle that was slightly green and smelled of human waste (and probably was). My first instinct was to cry, but Fiona and our audience of locals were all laughing so I finally gave in to the humor of the situation. Although they laughed, there was no shortage of help as our new friend Juan rushed to get water to help us wash off. We were quite the entertainment for all. Meanwhile, another gringo (from France) showed up and did the same thing – in what seemed like slow motion, as we tried to warn him. Gringo trap? Probably not, but hopefully we’ll be able to navigate as well as the Santa Ana locals before too long.

Other than that excitement, and finishing three books in the past 2 weeks, I’ve just been trying to adjust to my classes. I expected things to be challenging and I anticipated behavior problems but some of my classes are beyond anything I could have imagined. Today was my hardest day so far but some classes are harder than others, so I’m confident each day will get a little easier. I hope!

Pre-Reconstruction Puddle