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Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Rope Burn, Blisters, and 10 Friends Later

The Boat
 The other day as I was jogging along the beach as I noticed a handful of fishermen dragging in a huge net from the middle of the ocean.  So I obviously stopped and in my best La Boquilla accent offered my help.  In a matter of seconds I found myself wading in the ocean with 10 other men walking a thick weathered rope to the shore line and then going back into the water and starting the process over again.  After an hour we finally pulled the net to shore, but not before the rope got the best of my hands, wrists, and shoulders.  In pretty severe pain I stare down and see my shoulders and wrists rope burned and my hands badly blistered, but I knew the job was not done. 

Trying my best to continue and grab the rope/net and give any living sea life to the man standing next to me, I couldn’t help but think how hard this must be to do everyday!  We finally finished the job and sorted the catch (fish, crabs, and prawn) into separate buckets and they then unexpectedly offered me a ride back to my part of the beach in their boat.  I gratefully accepted and on the ride back found out a lot of them have children that I will be teaching in La Boquilla.  After we pushed the boat back onto the sand, I was given nine prawns and a unidentified fish as a gift for the hard work I put in and invited back anytime I desire.  So all in all I did get rope burn and blisters, but I also met 10 badass local fishermen and am sure I will be seeing them plenty over the next two years.  
The gift

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Sunday Bloody Sunday

The Winner
Before: So from my own personal experience and what I have heard from others a few common weekend activities include listening/dancing to deafening music (Champeta, Vallentato, Reggae, and Reggeaton), going to the beach (and getting burned if you are a gringo), drinking adult beverages, and going to the Sunday cock fights.  Last Sunday when I first arrived my host ‘Father‘ and I went on a nice walk along the beach and on the way back stubbled upon a large group of people circled around something and shouting loudly.  I was really intrigued and later asked what all the people were doing.  To my surprise my host ‘father‘ casually explained that it was a cock fight and that in La Boquilla every Sunday is marked with the LEGAL cockfights; He even explained that the betting provides a good means of commerce for many of La Boquilla’s citizens and coming from a Padre you gotta believe it.  So I figure what better way to integrate myself than go to this important aspect of the local culture.  I will report back with all of the bloody, not the british usage, details.

After: Although that was not my first cockfight, thanks to Jeremy Bhatia and the nice people of Costa Rica, I can’t unsee what I just experienced.  The crowed at the ‘ring’ was circled around a few rows deep and I was really shocked to see the majority of the spectators were school aged children whom I will probably be teaching.....I guess I can start the first unit with some cock fighting vocab: rooster, blood, death, betting, and beer!     

My friend and I showed up at around 6:15ish as he said they usually start around 6:00.  However, in true Colombian fashion, the fight did not start until 7:15.  So what happens is they first have to weight the roosters and find two that weight the same amount, the owners then tape up their legs and melt wax onto a really sharp talon type thing, they then stick that talon above the roosters claws and add another layer of tape so it doesn’t fall off during the fight.  Then once they are prepared the betting starts.  The bets are placed before the fight as the owners circle the inside of the ring and try and talk up their animals.  If you want to bet on one you give your money to that owner and give him your name so he can find you after if he wins to give you your money.  The most common bet is probably 20,000 pesos ($10), but with my living stipend this was a little too rich for my blood so I placed a 10,000 peso ($5) bet on this guy.  However, the owners put even more money down and I literally saw 6 and 7 year old kids betting 1,000 and 2,000 pesos (25 and 50 cents)!

So after waiting for an hour the fight finally started and the eardrum shattering yelling began. After about two minutes into the fight it was obvious the rooster I bet on was going to win and eventually the other owner called the fight.  So after all that waiting the fight only lasted three minutes, but on the bright side no roosters actually died.  We were then told that it was too late to start another and headed home.  So I left with a great cultural integration experience and 10,000 pesos richer.           

On another note I started reading Hunger Games and it is incredible!  Thanks Mom and Dad for sending it down. 
Note the amount of young kids watching




Son of a Preacher Man: The top 10 Perks of Living with a Priest


1.  Huge house (previous to the Priest and myself, the house was home to ten nuns)
2.  There is a cook!
3.  He has internet (when the cables of La Boquilla are not stolen)
4.  I can be independent when I need to be because it is only him and myself 
5.  Room has TWO fans
6.  Great balcony
7.  Free cab rides from one of his friends
8.  He knows everyone
9.  I get the occasional discount on food because I live with “El Padre” 
10. THE COOK does LAUNDRY!
My new room

The balcony

The beach two blocks from my house

View from the balcony

Beach soccer game

Closed beach restaurants

“A Savage Journey to the Heart of the COLOMBIAN Dream” Hunter S. ThompsonISH

New House

The savage journey began with a anticipated hard goodbye as I packed all of my things into a van.  The van would eventually be packed full with seven of us in total and all of our luggage for the next two years.  I was definitely  holding back tears as I bid farewell to all eight members of the family that I had grown to love over the past three months.  As I was the second volunteer picked up I had plenty of time to think about how lucky I was to be placed with such a great family and how excited I already was to stay with them in February for Carnival.  After the van was sufficiently uncomfortable we started the two hour journey to Cartagena.  As we approached the city I began to realize this was going to be another typical Colombian journey.  The van soon passed La Boquilla and I started to think maybe I should say something.......So finally I said, “Are we not stopping in La Boquilla?” this question was met with the response, “I don’t have any address in La Boquilla.”   The driver then asked for my address and although I did have a paper with an address I did not remember seeing any street signs when I came on my site visit in November.......Turns out I was right and the driver had to ask more than five people, who LIVE in La Boquilla for directions before resorting to asking in terms of landmarks, i.e. the church.  We finally arrived and I was greeted by the Priest, Miguel Angel (Quite the name for a priest if you ask me) and it turns out we have more than just a first name in common.  He is very laid back, enjoys going to the beach, and playing Softball.  So we clicked pretty quickly.

The world got a lot smaller as I met one of his friends, Kevin a 20 year old baseball player, who has friends playing baseball at Sinclair Community Collage, located in Dayton, OH.  I actually figured out that I played against them at Wittenberg my Junior year.  So needless to say we talked baseball for about an hour and I was invited to training the next morning at 6:30am.  However, I had to politely decline due to work and the fact that it was at 6:30am.  I am 100% sure that I am going to be playing Softball with the Priest rather than playing competitive ball again.  After a great dinner with the Priest, Kevin gave me a tour of the city and we ran into a cock fight (they are completely legal and occur every weekend here) and around 100 people dancing Champeta, a really popular dance here in La Boquilla (see link for video).  After sweating through my shirt I could tell it was time to return home and get some rest before my 8:00am meeting the next morning. 

First official day in La Boquilla:
I got up and was properly introduced to Laura, the cook, who had prepared breakfast for me!  The rest of the day was pretty typical Costal Colombian.  For starters, the meeting that was scheduled to start at 8:00 started at 9:00.  Once all 75 of the teachers were sitting in the ONE classroom, the meeting started, sans AC, with a motivational speech by La Hermana, or the Colombian Richard Simmons (in relation to her enthusiasm and motivational skills, not looks).  So not only was I inspired, but I really felt like doing jazzersize, or whatever RIchard Simmons does, after her speech.  This inspiration was however soon replaced by confusion as I was not able to understand much that went on during the five hour meeting because the teachers at my school tend to have a problem with the concept of hand raising.  What often happens is that one teacher will begin to explain an idea (I am still following at this point), then another will have a counter point and begin to speak louder so his/her idea can be heard (I am a little confused at this point), throw another teacher in the mix with another comment speaking even louder (I am now lost), and so on and so forth until a full out yelling match is taking place.

 Aside: During the meeting I was told a copy of the key was going to be dropped off and later given to me by one of the security guards.  However, after the meeting the key was nowhere to be found......So I started to walk back home and then remembered that Padre Miguel was visiting his family at a pueblo about an hour away and wouldn’t be home till 5:00 (actually got home at 7:00).  So now, thinking to myself I am completely screwed, waiting outside my house in the scorching heat I finally see my new friend Kevin.  Kevin later gets in contact with the Key dude and after waiting for an hour and a half and sweating through my shirt and polo, the key finally came!  After taking a nice nap, I ended the day by taking a relaxing jog along the beach, with no shoes!  So to recap, all is well in La Boquilla and I could see myself getting really used to jogs on the beach, reading on the balcony, and of course teaching English.    

View of the back patio
 

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Trending/New Years/Moving Out

So from the very first week in country I noticed it was very hard for me to gauge the age of Colombian people.  Many conversations with my family went something like this...."How old is you cousin 25?.......No she is 16."  Or "How old is your friend, 16?.....No he is 25."  I had a recent breakthrough and now believe I know one of the major players in this Colombian phenomenon.  The answer is ADULT BRACES....Yes adult braces!  It is very common here to see adults with braces, I mean really common.  I would go so far to say that seeing adults with braces is more common than seeing children or teens with braces.  I do believe that one reason for this is because dental care is finally not costing everyone an arm and a leg and so these young adults that have jobs can finally afford the dental advantages we Americans have been taking advantage of for years.  So although it is great that many Colombians are now straightening their teeth, I will be in a constant state of guessing and re-guessing the age of my Colombian friends for the next two years.....I hope I don't end up hanging out with a group of 13 year olds because I thought they were 23.  So to sum things up if the great nation of Colombia had a Twitter account #Adult Braces would be trending right now.

New Years:  New years was amazing!  I spent NYE in Cartagena at a great hostel ($10/night).  I was there with four other volunteers and although we were only there for a short period of time we got to go to the beach twice, see an amazing fireworks display, and meet some really cool Argentineans that were staying at our hostel.  The weekend could be summed up by the quote, "Are we really in the Peace Corps?!"

The answer to the above question is clearly YES!  We are actually ending our training this Friday and move to our permanent sites on Sunday.  I am anticipating a hard goodbye and lots of tears when I have to leave my host family.  My host family of nine has been one of the highlights of my Peace Corps experience thus far and I am really going to miss them!
Sunday Breakdown:  All seven of us Cartagena volunteers are going to me cramming into one van with all of our luggage and it will drop us off at each of our sites.  I will be the first to get dropped off as La Boquilla, or CartaHARLEM as it has been so eloquently dubbed.  I will then move into my new host family's house.  Well it is not so much a host family as it is a single 30 something year old male PRIEST!  Yes you read that correctly I will be living with a priest for two years.....So let the jokes begin!  I know I talked about creating a sitcom with a gringo and 9 Colombians (current living situation), but just imagine the comedic gold that I am sure to experience when living with a priest.

-So a Jew and a priest live in a house for two years.......