Suddenly before my eyes, hues of indigo arise...

My duffel bag is sufficiently overpacked with books for the 18 hour trek to and from Bogota. My iPod is charged and I have scored some dramamine to knock me out on the overnight bus ride halfway across the country. Plans have been made to crash with a trainee in the cosmopolitan capital for a few hours before our flight takes off Saturday morning to the Amazon. I managed to find my vaccine card in the mess of my closet that confirmed that yes, I will be good to go play in the jungle and will not contract yellow fever. I even talked my VP finance into giving me an advance on my salary with the argument that there is no ATM access where I will be going. SPRING BREAK = t-7 hours. PSYCHED.

if all you dreamed were new, imagine the sky high above, in caribbean blue...

Barranquilla, pure and simple, the little things that I have come to take for granted but that capture the essence of this city. Seen through the eyes of JuanK, Barranquillero, through and through, as well as a few other amigos...

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When theres a shadow, you follow the sun...

Starting to get goosebumps, butterflies in my stomach, the building anticipation that every travel addict has come to know and love as you prepare to depart on your next adventure. The borders between Colombia, Peru, and Brazil will blur, thoughts of teaching English left far behind on the coast, as my fellow gringos and I fish for Piranhas and swim with pink dolphins. By this time next week, I will be playing in the jungle. My attention span could rival that of a 6-year-old's.

To know oneself, one should assert oneself. Psychology is action, not thinking about oneself. We continue to shape our personality all our life. If we knew ourselves perfectly, we should die.
-ALBERT CAMUS

accidentally came across this link....

read all the way to the bottom :)

ZONALITO 2007

Digo que esta fin de semana fue un full “AIESEC weekend”. Todo la comité, tan newbies como viejos fuimos a Playa Mendoza por el “zonalito”, una conferencia parecido a lo que llamamos ROKS en los EEUU. Para mi el evento tuvo mucho exito y fue super bacano. La energia e entusiasmo de los newbies eran increible – siempre me alegre muchisimo ver la gente nueva aprendiendo sobre la organización y trabajando ya con mucha pasión, realizando las oportunidades.

El primer dia, Ferkho y JuanK, nuestro querido MCVP X, habian preparado una sesión para Bartira, Micaela, y yo como las trainees sobre un tema un poco dificil – todas las cosas malas de Colombia, digamos el “taboo”. Hablamos de la historia de las drogas, las carteles de Medellín y Cali, la vida diaria en Colombia durante el tiempo del poder de Escobar, la Plan Colombia, los aspectos negativos y positivos de la gran ayuda de los EEUU en la conflicta interna, la evolución de violencia politica y las guerrillas, las condicionnes politicas e economicas causaron la subida de los paramilitaries, porque la situción ha mejorando poco a poco, y mucho más. Ellos respondieron a todas nuestras preguntas porque digamos que es facil defender todas las cosas bellas que vemos en nuestra vida aquí contra los estereotipos horribles que mucha gente tenga sobre este país, pero es igualmente importante comprender que todavía es un país donde bastante malo ha pasado y por qué. Muchisimas gracias a ellos por su paciencia y deseo a compartir su conocimiento con nosotros, aunque pudo haber sido muy difícil.

Bueno, además de todo el trabajo duro, esta fin de semana fue super chistosa. El sitio era tan hermoso, con una playa mejor que tenemos en Puerto Colombia, super limpia, tranquila, y grande. Bailamos mucho como en todos los eventos AIESECos, hicimos las presentacionnes culturales de los EEUU, Bolivia, y Brasil, jugamos un poco de futbol americano, y reímos mucho.

Pues, lección de la fin de semana: no dé papaya.

it's no fairy tale, take it from me, that's the way it's supposed to be...

I hate goodbyes.

Yet this nomadic, aiesec, lo que sea, existance seems to inevitably lend itself to a continuous stream of farewells. Without a clue as to the if, where, and when you will meet again, I force myself to remain optimistic albeit the tears that threaten to fall.

I believe that I am who I am, and where I am, today in a large part because of the people who have come into my life. The people who have challenged me, who have pushed me, who have INSPIRED me. The people whose lessons have remained deeply engrained into my being long after we are separated, often by hundreds of miles of land and ocean.

I had been dreading tonight's goodbye for quite awhile. How do you let go of the person who has been your closest friend since the moment that you arrived to a place that once was completely unfamiliar but has slowly become home, the person who has been there for you through the highs and the lows, who understands the foreign culture which have emersed yourself into and a lifestyle which no one "back home" could really comprehend from emails and blog entries alone?

And so you take a deep breath. You know that if your paths are meant to cross again they will and you appreciate how much richer your life is because of that person. The flip side of the curse of having your friends spread out thousands of miles away across the entire globe is simply that....no matter where in this world that you find yourself, you are at home, because that is where your friends are.


thanks for being there for me alex. love you. prost.

topping the charts...

Looking for an exotic beach destination for your next vacation? We have one of the best, according to Guardian Unlimited...

2. Tayrona national park, Colombia
I've never been as instantly impressed by a beach as I was the moment I set eyes on Tayrona. After a 40-minute hike through the forest, I was expecting to see a classic Caribbean beach, all white sand and calm turquoise water, perhaps a few cabanas for the tourists. Instead I was greeted with a wild sea crashing on to rocks the size of houses that are dotted along the untamed and semi-deserted beach. In a country with a "healthier" tourist industry Tayrona would undoubtedly be a major resort, but as it's in Colombia the virgin rainforest cascades down the mountainside right on to the sand. And there was no one on it save a small community of backpackers who sleep in open-air hammocks.

Where to stay: Under the stars in a hammock strung between two palm trees.

The next big move, destination: UNKNOWN

I get so excited when I hear about my fellow nomads' exciting plans for the upcoming semester, as they plan study abroad, traineeships, and other crazy excursions. This one will be heading in my direction this summer and I would love to be able to visit this one.

Now that the excitement of Carnaval has passed, it seems that my time here in Barranquilla is rapidly spiraling toward its concluding moments. I realize that I still have a few months left, but at the same time, I ONLY have a few months left. Spring break will be upon us in less than a month, and I know that the time after that will pass even more quickly.

It has been just about a year since I first stumbled upon this country which has now become home. Odd. I find myself in a strangely identical predicament to what I was going through at this time last year...pondering what my next move will be. I am not ready to leave Colombia, but it is rare that you are ever really ready to leave a place that you have fallen in love with. Eventually you need to let go and be open to what will come next, because otherwise you never would have gotten to where you are. I have no idea if it is the right time for me to let go of Colombia.

Job hunting is starting to wear on me. It becomes so much more frustrating when I am uncertain of what I am looking for. Impatience. Uncertainty. ANTICIPATION. EXCITEMENT.

Where will I be a few months from now? Only time will tell...

cuz that's just how I roll....

you can bet your ass I am dancing in Colombia.

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Batalla de Flores y Gran Parada de Tradicion

ahhhh...

My rumba class at the gym today played Grease MegaMix, Ojos Asi, and Cotton-Eyed Joe :)

Weekend of a lifetime....and the people who made it all worth it

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WANTED: online photo gallery capable of uploading LARGE quantities of photos, user friendly in order to allow many people to download and share pics, that I can use to put together our Carnaval Trainee Weekend photo album.

suggestions? what do you use?

A romantic at heart...

...but only when it comes to languages ;)

I have given up on my futile attempt to learn German for the moment. I was in Patrycja's class for several weeks, but still cannot seem to make heads or tails of that language. I love sharing my office with Elena, from Italy, and our new trainee, Bartira, from Brazil. Listening to their phone conversations or reading their lesson plans, I am pleasantly amused to find that I understand a surprising amount of both written and spoken Italian and Portuguese, even though I have never actually studied a word of either language. Our little corner of the language institute is constantly becoming more and more international, and while I may have many frustrations with my job, my co-workers continue to make it enjoyable to be here everyday.