As the title of this post suggests, we have had a number of crazy/awesome experiences this week that really wouldn't happen anywhere but Colombia:
Because this week was Semana Santa there were no kids in school so we had the place to ourselves (or so I thought when I rolled out of bed and came downstairs in my pyjamas on Monday morning to discover the teachers were all in, much to their amusement...) Monday was just a rest day for us as we were shattered after a few very intense weeks. Mary and Naomi went out for a while and came back and told us about an incredible experience they had just had at McDonald's. This made Josh and I desperate for a burger, so we also headed out to McDonald's. Whilst we were waiting for our order we noticed some of the workers signing to each other so we started a conversation with them in Colombian sign language. The smiles on their faces when they realised we knew sign language were so big. It was great to meet some deaf people outside of the school and it means this is a burger I will never forget.
From Tuesday to Thursday we went away for a retreat to the countryside. Some of Abi's friends have a finca about 4 hours from Bogotá near a town called Villa de Leiva, which is a beautiful old colonial town - one of the few that survived the Spanish conquistadores. The finca (a house with a small plot of land) was absolutely beautiful with stunning views of the mountains. Colombia is so diverse, and I couldn't believe how different this area is to Bogotá. On the Wednesday we hired a driver to take us round a number of the local attractions. He had a pick-up truck with 5 seats inside, and there were 8 of us in total, so obviously some of us went in the back. But then we discovered there are certain roads where it is prohibited for people to travel in the back of pick up trucks so we had to cram all 8 of us inside the cab for these parts - only in Colombia! This was particularly fun after some obleas (wafer things) filled with arequipe (a very sugary hyperness-inducing caramel) with bohemian rhapsody playing at full volume... Lunch on Wednesday consisted of a huge platter of meat (pork ribs, a local sausage called Loganiza, black pudding type sausage, grilled beef and grilled pork) with potatoes, plantain and boyacan arepas. I have never before seen so much meat on one plate - once again, only in Colombia!
On Thursday we went to see a tagua workshop. Tagua is a type of seed that is particularly common in Colombia and they make lots of things from it. It was really interesting to find out more about it (more info on my Blipfoto if you want to know) and to see a craftsman at work. The bus was supposed to be picking us up from the finca at 3pm. Gloria, one lady in the family who owned the finca, had been at the house the whole time we were there and really wanted to cook lunch for us before we left, so we headed back to the house for a delicious soup with corn on the cob and chicken in it. The bus driver then phoned to say the traffic out of Bogotá was crazy and he was therefore running really late and wouldn't be picking us up for another 2 or 3 hours. This then led to another 'Only in Colombia' moment. We wanted to go out and get ice creams, so we were going to walk to the nearest town to buy some. Most of the family who would be spending Easter at the finca had arrived by now, and wouldn't hear of us walking to the town, so someone went and got their car to give us a lift. We couldn't all fit in so Josh and I said we would stay behind. After this car had left, someone else went and got their car because they were worried that we would never get to see this town otherwise. No amount of polite refusal would work so we followed behind in another car. When we arrived back with the ice creams, we sat around with the 12 or so people in this family eating and chatting. They then put the salsa on and started dancing with us. When the bus finally arrived, the whole family came down to the road to say goodbye and they were all hugging and kissing us, even though they had only met us an hour before. This is so Colombian - can you even imagine this happening in the UK?!
On Friday we made hot cross buns and lime curd to help us get into an Easter mood. Abi came over on Saturday morning to help us book flights to our next project on the coast (we leave in less than 2 weeks, I can't believe how fast time here has gone) and we then travelled up the mountain to Paraiso, a neighbourhood where Jen, another Latin Link missionary, works. It was her 21st birthday so we went up to give her a mini surprise party, complete with tea and cake.
Sunday was an Easter Sunday to remember. We had hot cross buns for breakfast whilst listening to all the Easter classics (See what a morning, He has risen etc etc). Then we went to church where we introduced the Colombians to hot cross buns over coffee. After the service we went back to Abi's house with lots of Colombians from church for a lunch of fajitas, followed by an easter egg hunt (well, chocolate football hunt, as they don't sell chocolate eggs here) then a short salsa class and a few ceilidh dances. Such a crazy afternoon, and definitely another 'Only in Colombia' day, but an Easter day that will stay with me forever. It was very different to Easter back home, but equally special.
This short blog post has turned out to be quite long...sorry I got a little carried away! And there's still so much more I could tell you. I haven't even started telling you what God has been doing over these past few weeks. Maybe I'll save that up and write it all in one big post at the end of our time in Bogotá...
Love you all lots! Chao! (They need to learn how to spell Ciao here...)
Prayer requests:
- That our last 2 weeks would be really productive and really special
- For improved Spanish skills, which will be really important in Santa Marta
- Thank God for his presence with us over the past few weeks, and for all the crazy yet amazing things we have been able to do and experience
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