More exploring

Since my last visit to el centro, I have been creating a list of all the things I want to see and do.  Surprise, suprise...so unlike me...
Anyhow, at 7:30am Juan Carlos and I hopped on a bus with list in hand and did not stop until 4:30pm when we got on a bus to head back home.  We covered quite a bit of ground and I forgot to take photos of everything!  (Too caught up in the moment!)

First stop:  La Puerta Falsa for the best tamal in Bogotá. Maybe the world.  

Tamal with chocolate and agua de panela accompanies by almojabana, queso, and pan.  This was NOT a light breakfast.

  

Next stop:  Juan Valdez.   La Puerta Falsa does NOT serve coffee, despite being in Colombia.  Loved the restaurant, but still needed the coffee.

Stop #3: BOOKSTORE!  Part of the Centro Cultural Gabriel García Márquez, this bookstore was BIG.  And not every book was wrapped in plastic, per usual, so I could actually peruse for real.  Delightful.

Stop #4:  Popped into La Casa de Moneda...but realized I'd already been.

Stop #5:  Another stroll through La Candelaria.  I just can't get enough.

La Candelaria - I love it!

Stop #6:  Break to try Chicha...at 10am.  Gross on multiple levels.  This is a fermented beverage made of maiz (corn).  It is very strong...and pretty terrible.  You could nurse this over a great conversation on a Friday evening...but on a Saturday morning it's best to take a few sips to say you tried it and dump the rest down the drain.  Thanks to my friend Hillary for telling me about this must-try...check.

Happy to be checking this item off my list.  Never again...well, never say never I suppose.

Stop #7: El parque de la independencia.  It was pretty cloudy and about to rain, so we didn't linger tool long.  Will need to return another day...with a good book.

Stop #8:  El Museo Nacional.  Definitely need Juan Carlos with me for this.  I had a lot of questions about the history and about the vocabulary. :)

The museum is in an old prison.  Absolutely gorgeous inside and out.

Stop #9:  La Macarena for lunch.  It was raining when we left the museum but I wanted to check out La Macarena...so we booked it with my tiny pink umbrella to a street filled with what all seemed like wonderful restaurants.  We chose the Mexican one.  I've been missing Texas a bit lately.

After lunch, the sun was out and on our way to bus I spotted this:
 

Seems fitting for the weekend...but certainly bizarre for the middle of Bogotá.

Great day...but I'm exhausted.

Tejo: A Colombian Sport

View from our home for the weekend. So peaceful.

Just returned from a long weekend in Moniquirá.  A small town in the departamento (like a state) of Boyacá but bordering the departamento of Santander.   Juan Carlos' friend Freddy invited us to drive up with him and stay with his family for the weekend.  So nice to have the invite and to get away - great food, plenty of time to sleep and relax, I read an entire book (Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children per Katie Norwood's recommendation) and I learned to play Tejo!!!

What, you might ask, is Tejo?  Tejo is a truly Colombia game (only second to soccer in popularity!) that I wish everyone had the chance to play.  It's kind of like horsehoes but with explosives! ...literally, explosives.  To play, first, you buy beer.  You don't have to pay for the canchas (courts, I guess is the best translation) or the time but you have to buy beer.  Funny rules these Colombians have, but this is a rule that I can live with.  (Also, this might just have been at the location we were playing...my guess is that in the big city of Bogotá they require you to buy beer AND to pay to play).  Anyhow, you get a tejo.  This is a round, flat disk (about an inch and a half thick) that weighs about 2 pounds.  This is what you throw at the target.  The target is a wooden box on an incline and the surface is covered with clay.  In the center, you place 4 mechas little paper rectangles filled with gunpowder (I think) or some sort of explosive material around the bocin - a metal circle.  The teams take turns to throw their tejos from 18 meters away (about 60 feet).  The person with the tejo that lands on the board closest to the bocin earns a mano for their team.  You can also earn 3 points by hitting a mecha.  You know when you've hit a mecha because the friction between the tejo, mecha (filled with gunpowder) and the metal bocin causes an explosion!  It's so fun!  But very difficult...I hit a mecha once and was SO excited!b

Here's a perhaps better description of the game by Wikipedia followed by pictures of my first Tejo experience.

The Tejo court and my target.

These are the mechas that are full of gunpowder.

 Action shots...I actually improved quite a bit...

...despite the fact that I look like I'm involved in some sort of interpretive dance!

Lazy Sundays

They're the best.

Enjoyed a delicious breakfast: Tomales Tolimense, pan con queso and café con leche. Yum!

Then spent the afternoon reading here, in the courtyard outside by house.

A day at the Polo Club

Yes, that's right.  My friends who think I'm uppity (I'm not), will love this.  Juan Carlos and his friends love playing polo.  Juan Carlos has took a bit of a break from playing, but we decided to go with a friend to watch (I had never seen a polo match) and to get out of the city.  It was a beautiful day and I've been feeling antsy lately.  Here are some of the photos from our excursion:

The view from the dirt road that led to the club.

It really exists!

Sitting in the car, watching the game, soaking up the sun - lovely!

 

I got to do a little riding as well - although I'm totally clueless and can never imagine trying to hit a ball with a stick running at full speed on one of these things!

My second lesson driving stick-shift - in this beast of an SUV!  So fun!

Go big or go home!

So this past week, I started getting the same questions from students and teachers "Are you going to the Bazar?"

I tend to be the last one to know about things because only certain things are communicated to new teachers and my Spanish limits me from picking up information from eavesdropping (I have to listen REALLY hard if I even want to understand what folks are saying...and to this discretely? much more difficult).  So I started trying to get information about this Bazar.  And all I could gather was that it was a fair-like event to raise money for the 11th graders.  We then started receiving e-mails about the lack of people signing up to work at "our-Bazar".  This just made me a bit angry because not once had I receive a formal e-mail with any information about this even that was supposedly mine somehow.

Well, the weather was absolutely perfect on Sunday (and Saturday for that matter) - sunny, about 70 degrees, a cloud every once in a while to keep the heat down - perfect.  So I rounded up Juan Carlos and we drove up to the school (in terrible traffic because everyone in Bogotá had the brilliant idea of getting out of the house).  Well, when we arrived I was totally surprised - in a good way.  This was a real, professional-ish carnival/fair.  There was tons of food, games, rides/things to climb and bounce around in for the kids, and entertainment (music, dancing, etc.).  I ate Sushi, Juan Carlos some sort of pork dish and then pizza (the guy can eat!).  After this we got in line to play Tombola.  People here love this game!  Basically, you buy a ticket and when its your turn you pick a number.  The  number corresponds to a prize.  You're guaranteed to win something - although some prizes are better than others.  Students told me about people winning a stick of butter and dog food.  But then other people have won bikes, drum sets, and weekend getaways.  Juan Carlos and I won a set of products from a Bath & Body-type store and a set of wine glasses.  Not too bad for $4.50... but kind of silly.  After that we watched the Carnaval-esque dancers and then played miniature golf.  Sadly, I got my butt kicked...I tried to be a gracious loser - but oof.  Juan Carlos didn't even know the rules!!!

Anyhow, a great way to spend the weekend.  I'm glad I didn't blow off the event. :)

Trying to look happy after losing at mini golf.

In line to play Tombola!

The entertainment was so fun!

No words.

Suesca: A weekend getaway

This weekend was another long weekend – or puente (bridge) as the Colombians say.  I had another chance to get out of the city with friends.  My friend Liliana’s brother, Willy, owns a bike shop and on the weekends runs bike tours in a small town called Suesca known for mountain biking and rock climbing.  In the town he owns a small hostel as well.

On Saturday, a friend of Willy’s, Juan Carlos, picked up Liliana, her son, and me – and we headed to Suesca for the weekend.  The town is about an hour away but within 15 minutes of leaving the city the air is clean and fresh.  We drove the whole way with the windows down, playing great music and laughing.  We also stopped at this amazing little restaurant that served the typical Colombian foods – meat, potatoes, plantains, and yucca – and drank Refajo, a refreshing beverage made by mixing beer with a typical soda (kind of like cream soda) called Colombiana. 

We arrived to Suesca around 4 pm and spent the entire afternoon and evening relaxing at a little restaurant in the center of town.  It is impossible to visit this town and not be relaxed.  Everything slows down the minute you get there.  Everyone in town knows each other and so we hung out at this restaurant like it was our own home.  We played music, ate empanadas and pizza and soup.  We also drank Canelazo - basically Christmas in a cup – it’s a hot beverage with cinnamon, lime and aguardiente – and in the crisp evening air of Suesca it is the perfect thing to sip to stay toasty.  

Around 8 pm, what felt like the entire town met up to play basketball.  Basketball is not quite as popular in the Colombian as in the United States.  Generally, I find that in the U.S. most guys can pick up a basketball and have a decent game.  In Colombia, no.  It was SO much fun, but we played 8 on 8, which is kind of ridiculous and the players were not good at all – traveling, shooting the ball over the backboard (repeatedly), etc.  I looked like an all-star and I haven’t played basketball in ages!

We ended the evening by heading to the hostel and enjoying a good night’s rest. 

Early the next morning, we woke up around 7:30 in the morning to head into town for breakfast – eggs, empanadas, and coffee.  Again, this town is very relaxed.  We took our time, enjoyed each other’s company, and eventually headed back up the hill to the hostal to get ready for our bike trip.  Things were not quite as organized as I expected.  The bikes didn’t have toe clips (I’m used to riding with clip-in shoes…I realize this sound pretentious but once you’ve used them it’s very difficult to enjoy riding a bike any other way).  I also had no water, a helmet that was extremely tight, and was scared to death that I wouldn’t be able to keep up.  I had decided that I wasn’t going to bike.  Liliana was going to follow behind in her car anyway because she had her 4-year-old son Marco with her anyway, and just wanted to enjoy the beautiful scenery.  Juan Carlos said that he would like to bike ride and so Liliana, Marco, and I began to follow him in the car.  After about 5 minutes up a very steep hill, Juan Carlos stopped and said he needed a break and that I should ride for a bit.  They totally tricked me into riding! :-)  But I was so thankful.  For about 2 hours, Juan Carlos and I took turns riding.  When one of us needed a breather, the other would hop on the bike for a bit.  The views were breath-taking, there wasn’t a single other car on the road, and the weather was overcast and cool – perfect for the strenuous work.  After the two hours, we finally reached the downhill and I flew down the hill for a good 10 minutes or so.  Absolutely awesome!  When the car caught up with me – the roads were extremely rocky so going downhill is easier on a bike – Liliana decided she was going to give it a try.  She was feeling out-of-shape and weak but she missed biking so she got on.  

This may have been the second highlight of the week because I got to drive!  As some of you may know, I LOVE driving and I have not been able to drive since I got to Bogotá because I, 1) Don’t have a car and 2) Can’t drive a stick-shift, which all the cars in Bogotá are (for the most part).  Juan Carlos’ car is also a stick-shift but he knew that I wanted to learn and told me this was the best place to do it.  I "learned" pretty quickly.  I spent the next 30 minutes driving down the road practicing going from parked, to first, to second, and back down.  I probably sounds silly but I was in heaven!  I am not quite ready to cross off “Learn to drive a stick-shift” from my bucket list – I still need to learn how to reverse and practice with the other gears – but I am off to a great start and am SO happy about it.

We returned to the city on Sunday evening but it was a perfect getaway for the long weekend and I hope to return often!

Una vaina loca

I cannot believe two weeks have passed since I last made an entry!  The pace of life here in Bogota is picking up and when I have not been working or out with friends I've been doped up on Nyquil and the likes in an attempt to rid myself of a cold that has lasted for nearly two weeks! (The late nights are probably not helping)

 

At Crepes & Waffles with friends from school

This weekend was packed full of fun times - lots of dancing which I love and meeting new people.  Friday night was the birthday of a friend from school.  We took her for a late lunch at Crepes and Waffles and then we went to a bar called BIG.  Folks here don't called it that, their name for it sounds something more like "P and G"...but maybe they're saying "B...I...G".  I have no idea.  But it was lots of fun and I got to see another side of the teachers I work with.  At school they are all very serious, but this not was full of silliness and nonsense.  Simply wonderful.

 

Aguardiente or Guardo is the drink of choice.  

It tastes like black liquorice. YUM! 

 Saturday night I went to a club called "Full 80's" where, as would be expected, they place 80's music all night long with the videos playing as well.  I am not very well versed in Spanish 80's music but we had a blast!  The DJ would play about 5 Spanish songs and then 5 English songs.  By the end of the night I was a sweaty mess.  Best case.

 

 

Whoa! Livin' on a prayer!!!!

                          

Sundays in Bogota

This weekend was a very low-key weekend.  I have finally gotten caught up on my work, which means I don't bring work home (lovely!), but it also means I have a lot of free time.

This Sunday I took advantage of this time as a chance to relax. :)  On Sundays, a large number of the streets are blocked off for citizens to bike, run, walk, etc.  Cycling is the second most popular sport in Colombia, so folks LOVE this time!  I decided to use this as opportunity to try running again.  I am still not feeling one hundred percent used to the altitude but the weather today was perfect - sunny, clear and about 60 degrees Fahrenheit.  After my run - yes I survived but it was only for about 30 minutes - I bought a newspaper, made breakfast and spent the day lounging and reading.

I've inlcuded a picture of my breakfast for a few reasons: 1) To prove that I am eating.  My host mom seems concerned as every time she sees me the next question following "Como estas?" is "Comiste?" (Did you eat?); and 2) I'm trying out all the new fruits here and have discovered a favorite - pitaya - it's the yellow fruit in the picture with the white insides with black seeds.  It tastes a bit like kiwi, but sweeter and there's more of it! To eat it you cut it in half and then scoop out the inside with a spoon. DELICIOUS!

Jazz al Parque

This weekend I finally got out of my house! :)

I went to Jazz al Parque with some friends from school to see John Scofield . The weather gods were in our favor - finally - and it stopped raining long enough for us to enjoy a picnic and listen to John play for about an hour and a half. I'm not sure I was supposed to bring in food or wine but my friends assured me if I just acted like I didn't know what the security people were saying when they checked my bags, they'd let me in.  I didn't really have to act.  They security guard asked me something about comida.  In English I responded, "I'm not allowed to have this?!"...and then he let me pass.  They then explained that it is considered very Latin to try and find a way to trick the system or get what you want out of a situation, and that can be bad...but in this situation for wine, cheese, crackers and fruit with our jazz, playing the clueless American was worth it. ;-)

(In the picture from left to right: Sandra and David.  They are married. David is a history teacher at my school.  Sandra teaches at another school.  They both speak English, Spanish and Chinese (Crazy!).  After living in China for a few years, they both understand the desire to learn a new language and so they are very helpful.  Next is another David.  David de musica.  He is a music instructor at the school. Next is Anita.  We actually ran into her at the concert.  She is a primary school teacher and rides on my bus with me.  She is very sweet.)


Afterward, we went to a low-key bar nearby a friends house and spent the night talking. It was very nice. Everyone speaks Spanish and English - and they are all very encouraging about my Spanish. We spoke Spanish for a large portion of the night but I think when they noticed me zoning out (because my brain was exhausted) we switched to English.

I feel very lucky to be at my school, because it is full of such kind people. We talked about taking some weekend and/or weekend trips to explore some different parts of the country (very exciting!). So hopefully will have some photos to share...sorry I haven't been better about taking photos. Eventually I will post photos of my school and students.

Ft. Patiko

Today we traveled with the Ugandan teachers and their families to Ft. Patiko.  Ft. Patiko was once a place where Arabs traded African slaves.  Sir Samuel Baker (my school's namesake) was the man responsible for ending the slave trade there.  This was good news because I originally thought that my school was just named after some white guy that settled in Uganda but it turns out he may actually have been a pretty decent guy. :)

At Ft. Patiko we had a potluck lunch so each school was responsible for br

inging something - Sir Samuel Baker School was responsible for fruit, probably the easiest thing.  Gulu Secondary School had side dishes so I ended up helping one American teacher make guacamole (my

 favorite food - why this is not as popular in Ugandan as it is in Texas I will never know).   This was a rather messy venture since we had limited utensils - I ended up just squeezing the avocados because I had no knife or spoon handy.  Needless to say, it was DELICIOUS and I ate it with chapati chips until I couldn't breathe - there was plenty of it because the Ugandans didn't touch it.  

The most difficult part of the lunchtime was the children from the local village that came to watch us.  They were all in tattered clothes, several had ringworm, none had shoes

 and it was clear that hadn't eaten much in a while.  While there is certainly poverty all around Gulu town it is far worse in the more rural areas.  The park asked that we not give away food because it makes begging a bigger problem.  This is something that we talk about a lot at Invisible Children - making sure that the aid or assistance that we offer is sustainable and not just a short term solution.  HOWEVER, there is also just something very inhumane and completely unbearable about stuffing your face while starving children watch you...and we had plenty of leftovers so we broke the rules.   In the first attempt to pass out chapati the children were grabbing and trying to hide the piece they were given so that they could get another.  A Ugandanteacher, however, then told them that if they could sit down in a circle and not grab we'd have more food for them.  The first thing they did?  Ran to the jerry can and helped each other wash their hands.  My heart broke.  In the midst of their hunger and excitement these children - some as young as 3 or 4 years - remembered to follow the proper customs for their meal.  So often people in these dire situations of poverty are viewed as less than human but here was a perfect example to the contrary.

After our meal together some of the village children helped us to make a path up to the top of the nearby mountain.  We trekked through grasses above my head, individual farmers' gardens and scaled rock faces to make it to the top.  On my way there all I could think was, "Oh please God let me not come across a snake" and "How are these children doing this with no shoes?!?!" and "Ouch, ooh, oh, ah, augh...really? is this worth it" ...but it was!  The view was amazing and it was quite

an adventure.  It was a great day of bonding between the Americans and the Ugandans.

AMERICA!

Saturday was the greatest party ever! Invisible Children hosted a 4th of July bash for all the teachers and IC staff (Ugandan and American). It was held at Acholi Inn - a high end hotel in Gulu town. It began with the food - we had CHEESEBURGERS!!!!!!!!! That's all I have to say. After 3 weeks of pure Acholi food, this American goodness was heavenly!

Once we ate the celebration began - we danced outside under the stars and the nearly full moon from 7 until midnight. Everyone was full of energy and I'm pretty sure that not a single person took a break. The Ugandans were very interested in how Americans celebrate this big holiday of Independence. It was especially humorous when they asked to learn our traditional dances for this day. We did not want to disappoint but the best we could come up with was the electric slide...thankfully they loved it!!!! We also listened to a LOT of Michael Jackson (I think I heard "Billy Jean" 8 times and it never got old) We also got to practice some of the Acholi traditional dances including the Raka Raka (no clue how it is really spelled) I think I held my own but I will NEVER be able to dance like the Acholi - they've got a special jean that helps them to shake it like no other.

This will definitely be a night that I will remember for a long time to come!

Picture: Sharon, me, Lisa, and Ryan (the American teachers at Sir Samuel Baker School)

Tourist in Uganda - Part 1

Invisible Children has planned several weekend excursions for the group while we are here. This weekend was our first excursion. We took a three hour trip to the Rhinoceros Sanctuary. While it should have been very relaxing it was not quite as nice as I would have hoped because I was rather ill. It was ideal, however, to get sick here – where it was very peaceful, we had no commitments and there were actual toilets (not just holes in the floor) and HOT showers! J

Despite being sick I was able to go on the rhino trek. We took a van out into the bush (about a 15 minute ride), we then hike a bit further, perhaps a mile, to get to the rhinos. The white rhinos are very docile animals and so we were able to get very close with 15 feet or so. Amazing! They are not the most beautiful creatures but it was still quite fascinating.

St. Jude's Orphanage

Today we visited St. Jude’s Orphanage. There were children there from newborn through 17 years of age. Generally children do NOT get placed in orphanages because it is customary for family members to take responsibility for children. One effect of this 20-year war, however, was an increase in the number of orphans. HIV/AIDS has also played a major role in the increased number of orphans, however, the number of HIV cases has decreased dramatically over the years. The visit consisted of us dancing and playing with the children. I let the children take my camera and take all the pictures they wanted. If I can figure out this blogging technology I will share some of their pictures with you. The children were all very attention-hungry which was very sad but we had fun together for the 2 hours that we were visiting. I left wondering, however, if we had done any good visiting. The children’s days are filled with meeting people and then saying goodbye.

In the evening we were invited to the farm of the Olalobo family. We spent hours listening to their stories. They are a more affluent Ugandan family. Tom, the father, went into exile in the 70’s due to a change in government leadership. Many of his family members were killed at this time. He returned in the early 80s with his children to build a house on his family’s property. A few years later they fled to England where the children were raised. Now 20 plus years later they have returned, finished their house and are working to develop sustainable business plans to help the Acholi region. The visit was fascinating! During the war, Tom’s mother stayed behind refusing to leave. Many people used his partially built home for protection from the LRA. There was a barbed wire fence around the property which served as a deterrent because the rebels never wanted to be trapped anywhere. Their stories of close calls and their reflections on the current state of Uganda gave me a lot to think about.

This place has my brain churning a mile per minute.