3 MONTHS IN...

Celebrating Juli's Birthday, Barú-style!

It’s been just about 3 months (or ¼ of the way) since we first stepped foot in South America and although there have definitely been challenges amidst the adventure; we’re learning to appreciate all that Colombia has to offer. So our Español is still far from fluent (okay it’s more like Spanglish, but the Costeño accent is hard!) and teaching English here is much more difficult than we imagined, still…life is good.

We’ve blogged about the bugs and the lack of clean water, the power outages and the heat. But with all of the challenges, we are extremely fortunate to have some pretty great perks living on Isla de Barú.

Sunset on Playa Blanca

This past weekend we celebrated another volunteer’s birthday with a fiesta on Playa Blanca, where we camped overnight in cabanas. We were treated to a spectacular sunset over the Caribbean, followed by delicious food, music and of course, dancing. Later that night, we were walking along the beach, looking up at the stars, feeling grateful for everything we were experiencing – it was one of those moments in life where we wished we could bottle it all up and save it forever.

Beach Cabanas 

The next morning we awoke to a perfectly beautiful day on the beach. We spent the day relaxing in the sun and enjoying the warm, turquoise waters, wishing the weekend didn’t have to end.

A pretty decent trade off for the difficulties of living in Santa Ana, if you ask us.

It’s Kind of Like…

Sunrise over Santa Ana

We were sitting around discussing how we could accurately describe our daily lives in Santa Ana to our friends and family back home and we’ve come to the conclusion that it’s kind of like being on a really long camping trip.

The amenities, while comfortable and more than we expected, are just not quite the same as home. While we have a flush toilet, it doesn’t really work properly and involves a little jiggling and finagling to get things going. The shower is only warm when the water has been cooking in the pipes all day—Santa Ana’s version of a solar shower. Camp stoves we’ve used back home are more efficient than our teeny gas stove here. Our bed is comparable to a camping pad. Drinking water and conservation - high priorities all day every day. We’re constantly shooing, smooshing, catching and/or swatting bugs of all shapes and sizes. And frogs. And scorpions. Basically, there are animals all around. With the frequent power outages and dirt pathways, we’re putting our Black Diamond headlamps to good use (Thanks Adam). We’re never quite clean between the intense heat and ever-present dirt and sand, which collects on everyone and everything.

Luckily we love camping. Sandals, all the time. There is always music in the background. We can often see or hear kids playing outside. Beyond our tiny town, we’re surrounded by undeveloped wilderness and close to one of the most beautiful beaches. We have good times with good people every day. Nighttime entertainment consists of reading and playing cards. We can see the stars. We fall asleep to the sounds of nature every night. Now if only we could make s’mores… 

Fundación Educativa Instituto Ecológico Barbacoas

We Made the News Again!

Ok, well Micah and the private school volunteers made the news:

El Tiempo Video Link
(a few great close-ups of Micah teaching)

5 Challenges of Living in Santa Ana (that we are learning aren't so bad after all)

1. Water & Power Outages:

Okay, so headlamps are a must and we’ve learned to keep a bucket of water on hand for toilet flushing, but all in all—not as bad as we thought. The power usually goes out during dinner a few times a week (luckily we have a gas stove) but it has only lasted through the night once, so far. Sleeping without a fan is the hardest part.

2. Hand-washing Laundry: It's not fun, but once you get the hang of it, it’s not the worst thing ever. It takes a long time and stains seem impossible, but fortunately the dress code is pretty simple on Isla de Baru. “Iron” is no longer in our vocabulary.

3. Bugs: When you get bit, it sucks. It seems on any given night you can either be bite-free or completely covered and itching like crazy. There is no in between. However, we’ve experienced much worse mosquitoes elsewhere in the Caribbean. Sure, it’ll get worse when the mysterious, unpredictable rainy season arrives – but in the mean time we are happy to sleep mosquito net-free! 

4. Cold Showers: This is simple – it’s a million degrees outside and we have no air conditioning at home or at work. Enough said.

5. Lack of Resources: There is one restaurant that serves one option per meal, but its always tasty and we actually have enjoyed cooking for ourselves. There is no post office, no bank or ATM, and no grocery store. We are getting used to shopping just for what we need each day at the nearby tiendas. You just walk up to the counter and ask for what you want. If they don’t have it you walk 30 seconds to the next one and try again until you find something relatively close to what you thought you wanted. It’s easy and kind of nice to get to know the different tienda owners and their regular patrons. If nothing else, this has been a great excuse for us to make the journey into Cartagena on the weekends, which is always a fun adventure.

More on that next post...

Spiders: scary but rare, so far.

Cooking for ourselves proves delicious!