I’ve been to a few very improvised villages, neighborhoods and towns throughout my travels, howevr my experience today was much more, engrossing, providing a very humbling experience. This week I started volunteering in two poor neighborhoods, La Boquilla and Olaya. Obviously, this offers a new and different kind of engagement with locals. I’ll discuss both in detail in the future but today a small group and I traveled to a village 2-3 hours southwest of Cartagena, Maria Inmaculada Sede Coloncito.

Gustavo, my Spanish instructor along with the community organizer from Olaya, Ozmio, organized a small group to visit Maria Inmaculada Sede Coloncito. By sheer coincidence, Ozmio and Gustavo knew one another. Having just worked with Ozmio and his wife the day before, it offered me two familiar faces for the journey. Also on the trip was Gustavo’s sister Nimmia (who’s visiting home from Annandale, VA), Michael (an American from NYC) and Eva, another familiar face from Holland, (I meet her a few days prior at a bar where Gustavo invited his students) both of whom are students of Gustavo.

Gustavo and Ozmio wanted a few foreigners to accompany them on the trip to offer the village residents a view of the world they seldom if ever see. To see what’s possible and broaden their perspectives, if only a little.

I was unsure what the trip would consist of. My assumption was we’d interact with the kids and hand out toys or something along those lines. Upon arriving we were quickly shuffled into a “classroom” and us four visitors were seated in front of about 20 of the village adults. I thought, “What did I get myself into?”.

A conversation in Spanish soon ensued between a few outspoken town residents, Gustavo and Ozmio. I quickly learned this was the second of such meetings to discuss the towns desire to get electricity for their village. They were passionate, angry and eager for any advice and assistance. They have gone without power for 40 years and after pleading for electricity, they feel abandoned by the government (also the government stopped sending a teacher there for the kids). Feed up with being ignored, ostracized and worthless in the governments’ eyes, they said fuck it (sorry mom) we’ll do it our themselves! Problem is they don’t really know how. The had a few ideas and plans not quite thought out. From what I gathered, the only plan at the moment was for each family to raise what I think is $300 American dollars. After that, it’s pretty much up in the air. But they’re really really exacerbated and want this for their families. 

So Ozmio and Gustavo are trying to help. Neither of whom has any expertise in this area. They’re just two regular guys who want to help some fellow Colombians, less fortunate than themselves. And they don’t have much.

All the above to say it really offered a distinct engagement with citizens who want more but not quite sure how to accomplish it. There we were sitting in on a town meeting to discuss how they can work towards providing electricity their village. Not being experts in the slightest, us foreigners chimed in from time to time with questions and a little insight as we received translations. Somehow the idea of solar energy came up and that quickly became a debating point. Some wanted traditional power as its much quicker to establish and others open to a new approach. I’m not sure they fully understood the benefits of solar.  

I nearly bailed on going on this day trip, as the thought of waking up at 5am seemed too daunting. I’m so so appreciative for going and hope to attend another meeting before I depart. Makes my worrying about if I brought enough clothes to Cartagena or not seem… small!

I decided to have my first smoothie yesterday in the midst of exploring the city for the second day. I love smoothies and this one was delicious. The main ingredients were strawberry, banana and yogurt.

Wait… you’re not here to read about my infatuation with smoothies. So as I was saying I was exploring the Centro along with the other neighborhoods in the walled city for the second day. I had previously navigated the city my first full day here, Sunday, Jan. 13 after a 1pm meeting with Lisa (who is of Mexican decent which caused me to mistake her for a local and stand around the cafe for 10 minutes waiting around. A blunt reminder to one my life rules, never assume!) the head teacher of the volunteering group, I planned to roam and get lost for a few hours. I had another meeting at 6pm in the same mall (which offers a pleasurable respite from the heat) with Eugenia, the head of the organization which left me a lot of time to kill. Since I’m going to be here awhile I wanted to get my bearings and the lay of the land ASAP. So with four hours to kill, I walked, walked and walked, stop to eat lunch at a very touristed restaurant/bar where the Pats/Chargers game was on; then I walked some more. The city is wonderful in a very rustic kind of way. Not unlike many other Latin cities, I’ve visited but Cartagena has it’s own unique touch and feel. By the time my second meeting (which are very informal more just introductions) was over I was exhausted. So I headed back to my home for the next seven weeks for dinner.

Okay, back to yesterday Monday, Jan. 14 where this post originally began. I had a meeting (again very informal) for some final paperwork that needed be completed with the heads of Domino Volunteers; the organization who facilitates these volunteering endeavors for individuals like myself. After that, I had a meeting with Gustavo, who’s going to be teaching me Spanish while I’m here but he had to cancel. I saw it as another opportunity to get lost again and practice my Spanish (or screw it up, however, you want to look at) asking locals how to find certain places. I think I almost have it down. Not the Spanish but my bearings. I know one thing for sure, I 100% will be able to find that smoothie shop! I also pinpointed this restaurant with a rooftop seating that Ruthie and I can visit when she gets here in six weeks. 😉 I pretty much only interacted with locals today, either them trying to get something from me or me asking for directions. There was one little girl who came up to me asking for food or money but not in a pestering way if that makes sense. She was so adorable and I felt bad but couldn’t do anything but say “no entiendo” and smile as she walked beside me.

I guess me talking about walking around in the scorching sun isn’t too exciting huh… I did stop for about 20 minutes to sit on the wall closet to the shore and just sat quiet, gazing out at the ocean. Wait.. that’s not exciting either. But I promise it was awesome. 🙂

One thing of note; there’s definitely tourists here but honestly, not as many as I expected. I feel like I’ve seen a lot more visitors, ex-pats, backpackers etc. in other countries. I haven’t explored everywhere yet so we’ll see.

There are not many experiences like being somewhere new and different interacting with strangers with a completely different perspective on life and the world. I’m excited to see what living that for 8 weeks will be like.

Today’s my first visit to La Boquilla, where I’ll be helping to teach English. I’ve been told it is a very impoverished area.

I only took a few pictures during my stroll.

Of note: I pinned a smoothie shop in that mall I plan to patronize today for leaving to volunteer. IJS

Arrived safely in Cartagena Saturday, January 12 at 4pm EST. More to come….