“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