Barranquilla: the City of 1.5 Million Dancers

So I have been here for a little over a month now and have come to the conclusion that there is not a single person in Barranquilla, besides us gringos, who can't dance.  Dancing is such a huge part of the culture here that children basically start dancing as soon as they are able to walk.  I have literally witnessed a class of 10 year olds take a break from their everyday studies (math, reading, writing, etc.) to have a second instructor walk into the room and DANCE with the students for 45 minutes..... you don't know a bruised ego until you get out-danced by a bunch of 10 year olds.  The kicker here is that everyone is not only dancing to Salsa music, but there is Cumbia, Vallenato, Merengue, Champeta, and Reggaeton.  Lucky for me it appears as my host family's personal mission is to teach me how to dance to every type of music listed above.  So at every function where music is present, which is EVERY function, there is also a gringo trying his best to figure out first what type of music is playing (some are pretty similar) and how to dance to the given rhythms.  Sometimes my family even goes out of their way to get me dancing.

So it was my birthday on Tuesday and when I finished Skyping my mom and dad my host family had a surprise birthday party for me set up with food, cake, and decorations (pictures below).  So back to the dancing....so after the great party we all sat out on the front patio and talked for a while.  We suddenly heard music blaring from a house down the street (blaring music at all hours of the day/night is very common here).  Before I knew it my host sister was introducing me to three cousins and demanding that I learn to dance Cumbia.  So there is the example of going out of their way to get me dancing.  Next thing I realize is that this is not just some dance, but there is choreography and my sister is asking if I can participate in the dance preformance the following day.  So my cousins say yes and I begin to learn the choreography with seven other colombians.  On the day of the dance I went over to their house to practice some more, but to my surprise there were only four other people there.....What happened to the rest?  This we will never know, but this did not make my cousins happy and they were actually so displeased that they called the performance off (Plans falling through.....THEME?).  All in all I still learned Cumbia and actually am really digging all of the dancing that plays such a huge part in the lives of EVERYONE in Barranquilla.

Exciting news:  This Thursday we will be told where we will be for the next two years!  I will keep everyone posted.  

Pictures:  Birthday/Cumbia Crew/Random 

The host family at my surprise birthday party

The Dance Crew

A Raspa'o (flavored crushed ice with condensed milk on top) Vendor 

There a a few of these Kiss themed Mona Lisa pictures around town

The road near my house a few hours after an arroyo

Boat at the beach.  The beach is about 45 minutes from Barranquilla and is not known to be really nice, but the water  is perfect!