Week 4 photos!

Day 22: This one almost got its own post, last week. What is it, you might ask. It is a bill! With a receipt stapled to it! In Colombia, you pay most of your bills at Olympica, the local supermarket. This is our water bill. Because of laziness, I paid it a week late. On the bill it says that one day after the bill is due, they turn off your water/power/gas. Like an idiot, I did not believe this.

So, at 7am on a Sunday, when I was still asleep I got a phone call from the porteros that went like this:

Me: Bueno.
Portero: blahblah(I didn't understand) Esta aqui para cerrar el agua.
Me: *thinks they're telling us we have a water outage* Ok, gracias.
Portero: ...Pago la factura de agua? Porque va a cerrar.
Me: *realizes this is about our personal water, not the water for the whole builidng* Oh! Si, ya pague. Dos dias pasada.
Portero: *blahblah*
Me: Pague. Yo puedo bajar.

So I quickly threw on clothing, grabbed the bill with the receipt and went down. The water guy was really nice about it, and checked us off, wrote down our info and moved onto the next person in our building. I was SO GLAD I'd paid the day before.



Day 23:
Milton! Our building cat. Lauren has taken a shine to him, and leaves out food. She lets him in when we're home.



Day 24:
I have to admit, it was like 10 o'clock and I didn't have a photo, so I photographed water.



Day 25:
The sunset from our balcony. Why can't cameras ever capture a sunset?



Day 26:
Oh, no! A fire, you might say. Right next to a school! Fire department! Get the kids to safety!

False. Here, when people have a big pile of trash (plastic, paper, whatever) they BURN IT. They set it on fire and leave it to burn. Trufax. Why? Lack of a good waste department and habit, I think.

Who cares that they're burning plastic right next to a school.



Day 27:

An iguana. They're kind of like squirrels around here. This one was right in the school parking lot. When I tried to get closer, he booked it.



Day 28:
Mom, I know that you think we all sit around and drink coffee late into the night, but in reality people sit around and drink cervezas late into the night. It's a way of life here. You'll see people at 4pm with a couple dozen bottles on their table, just chilling out. That's essentially what people do, they relax with beers and friends at little tiendistas.

Week 3 photos!

Day 15:
This is not the best photos of these little fruit juice stands - they're all over the place. One of the highlights of living here is that everywhere has fresh juice. It's not over sugary or processed or anything, just juice and water or milk. DELICIOUS!



Day 16:
Laundry day! Luckily we have a laundry machine on our floor and a dryer in the basement. I still hang the sheets and towels, though.



Day 17:
After forever of wanting a hammock, I finally got around to buying one. Well worth the 70,000 pesos!



Day 18:
Rommmate napping as we waited for some friends to come over. Why is everyone late here? Everyone laughs because Americans are on time for everything.



Day 19:
Plantains are a really common fruit here, and you get them for pennies. Lauren and I have figured out a really easy plantain dinner: boil them until soft, mash them with some grilled onions and then serve with sour cream.



Day 20:
Workout clothes! I've started going to an aerobics class. I don't understand any of the words he says (or if I do, I don't understand why he's saying things like "climb!" and "twice!") however, I've learned that certain sounds mean a certain movement, so it's getting a little easier.



Day 21:
This is a picture of Gaira - the small bario near the Rodadero (where I live). It's an awful picture taken from a moving bus.

Week 2 photos!

Day 8: My packed suitcase for Colombia. I feel like I didn't bring THAT much stuff back, but apparently I was over the 25 kg limit!



Day 10: You'll notice I skipped day 9. Airports are boring for everyone. Day 10 - this is the view from my apartment. I feel so lucky every day. Although it gets really hot in the afternoons!



Day 11: The classroom nice and neat and clean before the kids come in on Wednesday! It was nice to work in the calm!



Day 12: Mystery fruit! I guess I could have looked at the receipt to see what I bought, but I promptly lost the receipt. It was a hard shell with a soft, spongy white flesh covering gray-green juicy seeds. It was kind of like a pomegranate, but less bitter.



Day 13: Our view at night. There's always things going on. We get loud music until about midnight, it's insane. You can't quite see it, but there are people still on the beach at 11 when I took this photo!



Day 14: Went out to a dance club with some teachers from school. It was a small place off the beaten track. It's amazing how many people dance here. Everyone knows how to salsa

However, what's really weird is how many people dance with partners who aren't their boyfriends/girlfriends or spouses! That is, it's very common to see a married woman dancing with a married man VERY close. No one seems to think that this is odd or inappropriate. Different cultures!

Week 1 Photos

Day 2



Day 3



Day 4



Day 5



Day 6

Day 1

Day 1: the champagne I bought that Ellen, Dad and I drank the morning of New Years.