Kathy and I spent the last 3 days in Armenia. We stayed at a nice hotel. While in Armenia we want to Parque Nacional del Café! It wad a beautiful park. The best part was the dance show, unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos 😔
We went out to dinner and had a few drinks as well. Armenia was nice, but I enjoyed Salento a lot more. There was more nature and more activities to do.
Kathy and I went to Coffee country from October 6-12, 2014. We spent 3 days in Salento at an amazing hostel called La Serrana. They had amazing dinners and an awesome atmosphere.
We spent an entire day hiking the Valle de Cocora. What we thought was an easy hike turned into a 6 hour adventure of crossing rivers and then seeing the bridge, getting lost in a field of cows and horses, and making our way over countless questionable bridges. Kathy does not enjoy bridges which made it difficult and hysterical at the same time.
The next day we (well just me) went on a horseback riding trip to a waterfall. Kathy made it down one hill before she decided that her horse and her were not going to be friends. I went to the waterfall in a group of 10 people, it was pretty amazing. On our way back, it started to downpour. I don’t think I have ever been so wet!
We spent a few hours at a cafe where they gave us a class on making coffee. That was a lot of fun! He prepared the coffee 5 different ways and showed us how each one tasted differently. Wew bet to a coffee plantation called Don Elias which was a small family finca. It was a lot of fun until I dropped my phone in the toilet! No worries, I was able to save it!
Our three days in Salento were jam packed and amazing! I look forward to going back to Salento again!
Being away from family and friends around your birthday is a difficult thing. Sometimes, I wonder why I am here away from the people who love me, but then I remember… I am here for me. I am here to explore new places, to grow as an educator, to enjoy the beauty of other places, and to meet new people. I have one amazing friend in particular who is always there for me no matter what. She was one of two people from school who came out for my birthday last year! Every weekend, we enjoy making breakfast and having a wine or beer night, and when I am really stressed she talks me off the ledge. She is the one who reminds me of the beauty of this amazing country which brings me to… Rainbows and sunsets! It is hard to be angry in life when you see natures beauty on a daily basis. Being away from home is always difficult, but then I take a step back and enjoy the beauty around me and remind myself that my family and friends are still there and they still love me! Thank you to all my friends and family around the world who have helped me grow as a person and who continues to support me on my journeys! Love you 😘
A few weeks ago, Vincent Ventura (literacy consultant) came to Cartagena to visit and consult us on our balanced literacy practice. While he was here, I finally went to La Popa to over look the city. It is defenitly a different side of Cartagena that I do not see everyday. It is amazing how sheltered you can feel in such a large city.
The monistery at the top is beautiful as well!
This just reminds me that there are always new places to see and go. Often times I feel like I have seen the city until I go to places like this. Let the exploring begin!
This last picture is the community of La Popa walking up to the church for Sunday night Mass. I have never been a church goer, but it gave me goosebumps to see the sense of community and love that these people showed.
Guess what? I downloaded my blog onto my phone! I think this means that I will write more… Or at least I hope so! I have decided that living by a beach is nice, but being in the mountains is even better. This past weekend a few friends and I went to Medellin. I love that city! It is cooler than Cartagena and it has so many more things to do… Especially outdoors things. We got there Friday night and ate Dominos pizza (trust me, it is delicious when you don’t have it all the time). That night we went out and met some friends. On Saturday, we went to Plaza Botero which is where the artist Botero displays his art work. He loves fat things.
As you can see, he enjoys making statues of fat people.
On Sunday, we went to Parque Arvi to see the waterfalls. It was an amazing day hiking around and seeing nature.
Well that about sums up my weekend! I am still loving my time here in Colombia and I look forward to showing you more soon!
The Saturday after the street parade, the beauty queens participate in a water parade. Two beauty queens are on each boat with 5-7 Navy officers in uniform rowing the boat. It only cost 45 mil which is about $22.50 in dollars to get a seat on a boat to watch the parade. There was a whole group of us who went together to watch the parade. It was an extremely hot day and we were going to be sitting on a boat for 4 hours with no shade… My white skin and I were prepared. I bought a hat and reapplied sunscreen every 30 minutes or so.
This was the waiting area to board the boats. 
The straw hat ladies…. and John. 
Leah and I before we really got covered in foam.
After standing in the hot sun for about an hour, we boarded a small boat that help almost 20 people.. Tight quarters if I say so myself. The boat drove around the bay for about an hour passing big party boats with bands, music, and even DJs. As you can see from the pictures, there were boats of every size.
Once the parade began, we parked our boat next to the rope and watched the beauty queens row by. Once they finished, all the little boats revered their engines and sped to the next location to watch the parade all over again. I am not sure why we needed to see them three more times, but it was fun to speed by all of the big boats. The water was so crowded… I am surprised there were not more accidents. We did collide or bump into three boats, but everyone was very calm about it. At every location along the parade route, people would throw colored water balloons (aka little bags of colored water) at each other, foam each other, and even throw buckets of bay water at each other. It was overall a good time.
Right in the middle of the parade, we looked up and saw this rainbow. It was such a beautiful day. I will say there are not a lot of events going on in Cartagena throughout the year, but when there is something they go big. Expense does not matter and it is a good time had by all. Go BIG or go home!!!!
During the month of November, Cartagena celebrates it’s independence from Spain. They have parades, music, fireworks, and lots of fiestas. We went to the parade Thursday afternoon and it was amazing. The parade includes Colombian beauty queens from each region of Colombia. The people perform different dances based on their culture from their region. It was awesome to see the different costumes and dances. We were warned ahead of time that there are a lot of thefts during these celebrations and that we should not carry a lot of money or expensive cameras with us. During the entire parade, I felt safe. We did not see any theft or anyone getting hurt. After the parade, a few locals told us that this was a small year for the fiesta. Most people did not come out because they could not afford to travel due to the economy being low.
With the parade comes a little fun as well. They sell these hug bottles of foam and everyone is spraying everyone. Also, people throw colored powder on each other or they just walk up to you and paint your face with their hands. It was a lot of fun. I was lucky enough to get my whole face painted for FREE!!!!
Sweet revenge was given once we got our own bottles of foam…
Leah and I before things started to get really crazy.
I must have been standing in a bad place because my face was covered. Everyone else only had a few spots of blue on their faces. I look like I belong in the movie Braveheart.
Not only was it fun being foamed and colored, but it was a lot of fun watching the parade and seeing the cultural dances that each part of Colombia had to offer. That is one thing that is amazing about Cartagena… it is very culture rich.
Two hours away from Medellin is an area called Guatape. This gigantic rock has 650 stairs that must be climbed in order to reach the top… or so we thought.
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From far away it did not look too bad… Once we were right next to it, that was another story. YIKES!!!
It was a long walk up those scary looking stairs. It took us about 30 minutes to get to the top. I was so excited when I reached the step that said 325…Half way there….
When we finally reached the top (or what we thought was the top) the views were unbelievable. As you can see….
Once we reached the top, we found out that there was actually 740 stairs and we had to continue to climb… NOOOOOO!
Getting closer… almost there 
Time for a break and a photo shoot. Stacey and I at 675 stairs 
Brian and I at 675 stairs.
Finally we made it to the top and it was well worth it… I could have stayed there for hours.
All I know is one day I will be back and I will make this trip again. The sights were amazing. Our principal and his wife spent the week in Guatape in the little houses you see on the water. I forsee that being something I would like to do as well.
When we made it to the bottom, we took one last “we made it” photo and ate some lunch. Another successful day during our October break.
To end this post… I want to share my favorite photo from the trip. On our way down I stopped at a window and took a picture. I think it turned out awesome because the window looks like a frame for the picture. So pretty…
Our first day adventure. Last weekend, Stacey and I went to the grocery store where we met a guy who spoke English (we were very excited). Needless to say, before leaving the store, we gave him our number and told him that if he wanted to hang out with North Americans, give us a call. He promised to cook us dinner which sounded wonderful, because Stacey and I are not doing much cooking. Monday night he had us over for dinner and made tacos. They were so yummy! Most people think that being in Colombia includes eating a lot of so called “Mexican” food like tacos, burritos, enchiladas… NOPE Colombian food is very different. It is not spicy, includes a lot of white rice, and meat. I am growing to like it. This is probably the hardest part for me…getting used to the food. Okay, I got sidetracked…back to the story.
On Wednesday, he invited us over to his bosses house for dinner and drinks. That night we had black-eyes peas, rice, and meatballs with some KILLER spice. My mouth was on FIRE!!! I still ate it though, I didn’t want to be rude. By the time we left dinner we had a plan to take a private boat out to the islands and drink, swim, snorkel, and party all day on Saturday. YIPPEE….
I guess I should tell you more about our new friends. Scott is a site manager, from Texas, for an oil company that has come here to help build the new oil refinery. His boss Robert is from Louisiana. They should be here for two years or more, building this refinery. This week, they have hit a minor bump in the road. All 12,000 Colombian oil workers are striking. They want more money! The unions out here are upset with the government because they are paying outside workers (from North America, Venezuela, etc.) 6 times as much money as the Colombian workers. Not cool!
Friday night Scott called and said the boat was reserved. We all had to be at his place by 8:30am. Who to invite…this was the hard part… We could only invite 10 people and our new group of teachers is 15 😦 I hate leaving people out, but I didn’t have a choice. So I called a few people, some said yes, others said no….
Saturday morning at 8:00 we headed over to Scott’s. In all 8 out of the 10 that I invited showed up. We got on the boat at 9:00am (Colombian time is a whole new thing – 8:30 really means 9 or 9:30). What a beautiful day for a boat ride. I put on sunscreen and away we went. We went snorkeling which was awesome. Lot’s of Finding Nemo fish. A guy on a little boat showed me where to go to see some awesome reefs and more fish. He was very nice, so I gave him a tip and he was shocked. We headed over to the party island which has little huts in the water where you eat and drink. So much fun! There were so many boats there, it was insane. We all just swam around, drank, bought jewelry, and hung out. Most people ordered some food and ate. Not sure what I was thinking, but I did not eat. I just wasn’t hungry because it was so HOT out. Lesson learned…when drinking in the sun, you should always eat. After everyone ate, we were about to head back when….I laid down and fell asleep for the entire ride home. Yep…beer, sun, and no food = sleep. Good news is that I feel asleep in the shade…. Bad news I only applied sunscreen once… So by the time I feel asleep I was already a lobster. Ugg. So as I sit here and write this I am apply aloe every 10 -15 minutes and moving slower than molasses. It is going to be a rough few days of healing, but it was so worth it.
We have really amazing friends down here and we got to spend the day on a private boat enjoying each others company. Hopefully, we will be able to do this again. The lessons I will take with me for the next time include: Eat lots of food before, during, and after drinking; drink more water; reapply sunscreen often, and always enjoy living in the moment!
Thanks:
These next few weeks I would like to thank my friends. I shall go in the order we met:
Angie – You were my first friend when I moved to Pennsylvania. I can’t believe we have been friends for 16 years. We have been through a lot together: different colleges, marriages, divorces, different states, different countries, multiple boy troubles, and yet we can always pick up the phone and still have lots to say. I am so lucky to have you in my life and I look forward to the next 16 + years of friendship. I love you girl! Thank you for always being there when I have needed you and for always standing up for me.
Danielle – We met the first day I moved into the dorms and you warned me not to go to the TBS meeting. I should have listened to you. We have known each other for 12 years and have also been through a lot. We have so many good memories from Bloomsburg. I still can’t believe you became a lifer there. We have had our ups and downs, but we have always remained friends. You will always have a special place in my heart Danielle and I hope that our friendship continues to stay strong. Love you 🙂 Thank you for all the years of advice and friendship you have given me.
Ginny – Our friendship started out rocky considering I did replace you and all! Neither one of us truly knows when we started to become friends, but we did and man have we had some awesome times. I was so excited when you wanted to move to Virginia with me. We were such good roommates too, until Steve came back and stole your heart! It all worked out, I got the cat and you got the fiancé. It has been so amazing to watch you grow up, get married, have children, and buy the farm that you have always wanted. I am so happy for you and glad that I have always been apart of your family. Thank you for all the years of advice even when I didn’t want it, and for allowing me to be a part of your family. I love you!
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