Vacation is here!!!!

So, when I accepted the job at Gimnasio La Montaña I thought that the vacation time was the same as the average school.  Not so.  We have 1 month... the teachers that is.  The students get the standard 2+ months of "summer" vacation (although when I say that here people give me a weird look...there is no summer!)  Anyhow, while I'm still not completely over the fact that my vacation time is shorter this year than what feels like ever before, I'm working on making the most of the time I have.

I began the vacation with a happy hour and dinner with friends on Friday night (hooray, school is out!).

One of my besties and me.

These two are troopers.  So many folks were too tired to come out -  but these two made it out because I was so excited about celebrating the end of my first year teaching in Colombian.

I then took a road trip and rented a house (20 minutes from Melgar) with friends.  Melgar is about about 6 hours away.  Well, I think maybe 3 or 4 hours normally but on a long weekend when everyone and their entire extended family leaves the city the trip doubles (yes, there was another Colombia holiday.  What was it?  I have no idea!).  The trip was amazing!  Great food and beverage, great conversations and bonding, tons of laughing, dancing, and ridiculousness, lots of sun and pool time and it was suuuuuuper relaxing.  Maybe only having a month makes every moment that much more delicious.   Here are some pics:

View from the car during the drive

Pit stop upon reaching Melgar!

The view from my towel when I was sunbathing next to the pool.

We played Rana and Tejo...I'm so Colombian! ;-)

Beauty stars, posing by the pool.

Where I spent my last 48 hours. Heaven!

**Note:  As my readership has increased and has included co-workers and well, strangers, I've needed to be more careful about what I post.  Hoping to offer some more reflections on this in the future (it's on my summer fun list!) but for now, know that I was not alone in Melgar, I'm just doing my best to share my adventures without sharing too much about the lives of others.  Again, sorry if this is note is cryptic.  Would love to be able to write a reflection on Colombian "politics" soon.