Weekendsssss

Hola!

Sorry it has been a while since  my last post! As I was just telling a friend, life here is weirdly passing very quickly at the same time that is not. I have spent a lot of time sitting and doing nothing (riding the bus ... Oh, man. So much time on the bus) but then my day runs out of light!

But, I can't complain. Life is good!

My Carnaval outfit the first day haha

Me falta decirles que hice durante mis fines de semana! Spanish is FINALLY coming a tiny bit easier for me, and I am getting back into the groove of thinking about some Spanish words before English ones, woohoo! As I said in Spanish: I still need to tell you about my weekends here!

A few weeks ago was Carnaval, the Latin American version of Mardi Gras. In Colombia, there is a city called Barranquilla that claims to have the second-largest Carnaval after Brazil, so my Cartagena buddies and I took a two hour bus ride north to check it out.

The main attraction was the parades (long, multi-hour parades with very detailed costumes and soooooo much dancing, handmade-looking floats and a five-man band playing music behind each dance troupe), but equally fun was the party after. Once the highly-attended parades end, everyone pulls out giant speakers and puts them on the patios of their houses or outside of their tiendas -- little stores, very common here -- and starts a dance party in the street. This is accompanied by giant cans of espuma, which is this foam that people spray at each other during and after the parades, and people throwing this flour and cornmeal mixture at everyone. It's a very dirty and very fun experience! There is also meat on a stick and empanadas on every corner, and people dress up sort of like they do for Mardi Gras but with different folk figures and more colors.

The before picture

After espuma and maiz!

This past weekend and one of my first weekends here I also trekked out to Playa Blanca, one of Cartagena's most beautiful beaches, about 40 minutes from where I live. It is truly beautiful! Very blue with calm water and white beaches. There is no running water on Playa Blanca (It is technically on an island) so we can only really stay for one night before feeling pretty gross, but it was definitely an awesome experience to wake up to beach sounds. There are lots of cabanas and hammocks for backpackers to stay, but Colombians sometimes make it out too. The specialty on the coast, especially the beach, is fried fish with coconut rice and patacones, which are fried and flattened plantains. Delish!

And of course, I have spent some weekends in town in Cartagena. The walled city, the main tourist attraction, is very beautiful. It is an old, little city built by Spanish colonials, so it is sort of Spanish/European looking but has its own modern, Colombian twists. Its probably what pops up first when you google Cartagena. I love the walled city and the Centro -- that downtown area -- but it is very different from the rest of Cartagena, which is much less "quaint," if you will, but still has its own character. For the most part, the locals here don't make it to the Centro often. The  younger people head out to Bocagrande, where there is a (less "nice") beach, tall buildings and it is the ritzy part of town. Most everyone else spends Friday night having a beer at a tienda at a plastic chair/table, or spends it with family. A friend and I here were talking about Cartagena, and we decided we would almost call it a rural city, despite the fact that one million people live here haha.

My friend Teresa at Playa Blanca

So, weekends are fun, but during the week I definitely earn my keep. I am finally getting comfortable being in front of a classroom ... sortof haha. I am also totally losing my voice (to Trina, Stacey, and my mom and dad: I know you guys have smirks on your faces right now :) ). I have even taught a few classes by myself while my teacher was out of town! I won't say they were great because they weren't -- I honestly don't even know if the students actually absorbed anything I talked about -- but it was a good step, and while I am here I have really been trying to focus on the tiny (tiny, tiny, tiny) triumphs haha.

I will say that I really love the students. I at first was mortified to be teaching high school kids, but Colombian students seem much more respectful of authority overall. Many students actually help me when I am trying to get the class to be quiet. Many are also excited about   English (I have a big group of kids coming to English Club on Monday mornings before class) and they love seeing how much Spanish I know, which is fun. They are incredibly interested in my favorite singers and stuff, which is unfortunate for them because I don't keep up very well with U.S. trends, but I try to hold my own haha.

OK ... Enough for now. I miss you all, (and American food, and leafy green vegetables), like CRAZY!!