To all my beloved family and friends,
I am still alive!! I promise!!
I can't even remember the last time I updated, there is so much to tell you! I'll start with before Semana Santa. The week before we had report cards due followed by conferences. The light at the end of the tunnel was Kayla coming down the day after conferences were over. She was coming down to spend vacations with me and see Colombia. The most difficult part of this week was that Grandma Soukup passed away, the day before conferences began. This was incredibly difficult because I just had to work through it all. There was no way I would be able to miss conferences or have enough money for another flight right before break. I hate being so far away and having to miss such important events like this one. I know Grandma would not have wanted me to spend that much money to come home, and miss my traveling. She was always an inspiration for going to see cool new places. Ever since I was little I was amazed by all the magnets on her fridge, some of them were from her wonderful grandkids, but she was truly a traveler. I will always be a traveler, and Grandma will always be in my heart.
On a different note, Kayla came in on Thursday afternoon, I sent Juan to go pick her up, because it would have been too difficult for him to come get me and then make it to the airport in time. Luckily he brought an English translator for himself. :) On Friday, I brought her to school. We took a math test, played soccer, ate chocolate, and learned a little bit. The kids were SO excited to meet Miss Soukup's best friend. Friday evening we needed to pack, and keep me distracted from thinking about how I was missing the wake/funeral. We went out for Mexican that night and I started to show her a little bit of my 'hood. Early to bed, because I now go to sleep earlier than Grandma Soukup ever did. On Saturday, we went to brunch in Parque Lleras at a little Bistro. Had to arrange the hotel for the night after we got back from our trip and then we were off to the airport with Juan! We were meeting four other teacher friends who were also going on our vacation. I signed us up for a super awesome vacation, flew to Santa Marta, spent one night there, started our trek to the Ciudad Perdida early the next morning for four days, after the trek we went to Palomino, a tiny little beach town that even Paisas (people from Medellin) don't know exists. But now let's get to the interesting part...
La ciudad perdida, we had to leave Santa Marta and take a jeep ride to the start of the hike. The jeep fit 10 people in the back, we were packed in like sardines. The man helping us get in the jeep kept saying "cuidado" because as you get in he didn't want us to bump our head. I was translating for Kayla and told her about 20 times to be careful, and then as I got in the jeep I smashed my head on the top of the jeep...the only one to do it, of course. It really hurt. The jeep ride seemed to take fooorever. It was so bumpy and dusty as we got closer. On the hike, we were with two girls from Switzerland, and a German/Colombian (dream man right there) man with his mother. Each day of the hike was amazing. The actual trek was alongside the mountains in the north of Colombia. There were several steep, hour long uphill climbs but the views were spectacular. We were deep in the Colombian jungle. Luckily enough we went at peak dry season so there were hardly any bugs, and I left the trek with maybe one bug bite. Other people who have gone have come back cooovered in bug bites, hundreds of them. Because it was dry season we were able to do the river crossings on big stones and rocks, we were able to keep our hiking boots dry the entire time. It was fantastic. Each day we stopped for a lunchtime break and there was always a natural pool we could jump into and cool off. Each time we were incredibly sweaty and smelly. I chose to go with just natural showers for the entire four days, I was a treat to be close to. It's a good thing we were sleeping in our own personal hammock each night, with attached mosquito net. Our guide was an indigenous Wiwa man, named Salso. He was an expert guide who knew all the right photo opportunities. He was very sweet, and would shake our hammocks each morning to tell us when to get up, it was quite early. Luckily, we were also going to sleep between 7:30-8:30 each night because it was dark then and some places we stayed at night did not have electricity. The food was very simple, lots of rice, beans, fish, and a little salad. I thought it was all delicious because I am used to this type of food and was starving after hiking 7-8 hours each day. Poor Kayla did not have the same experience, I believe it was less than desirable for her. We climbed the 1400 steps to the lost city on day 3 of our tour, it was an intense climb that felt never ending. However, once we arrived in the city, the views were spectacular. I didn't realize just how big and vast the city was. From the pictures I googled before leaving, it looked pretty simple and basic. The stories our guide told us were amazing about how people came to raid the city, the natives left before that happened and moved to a different part of the mountains. I think my favorite part from being in the city was drinking river water from a leaf cup. Maybe not the best decision to drink the water, but Salso did it and were all still alive. :) Some of the wildlife we saw were sneaky snakes hiding in the tress along the paths, an armadillo, and toucans. There is so much more I could write about the trek but I must move on.
After the trek was finished we had one last celebratory lunch then started our jeep ride back to Santa Marta. We had to stop a little way into the trip because all of our bags fell out of the back. We saved them, and kept moving on. In Santa Marta we stopped to pick up our larger bags, called our taxi driver who we hired to take us to Palomino, stopped at an Exito for large jugs of water (unable to drink from the tap in the North), money and snacks (none of which can be found in Palomino). In Palomino we stayed at the Dreamer hostel. The hostel was incredible and the beach was just a short jaunt away. We spent most of our time on the beach or playing pool at the hostel. We were able to relax, take naps, enjoy happy hour and sleep in regular beds. One afternoon we went looking for lunch outside of the hostel and stopped at a man in a truck who made us veggie lasagnas and banana and nutella crepes. It might've been the best lunch, if we didn't have to wait a total of three hours. I ended up buying myself a hammock in town, apparently I didn't get enough hammock time from three nights of sleeping in them. I needed my own. The beach was incredible, Kayla and I woke up two mornings to walk along the beach and watch the sunrise, but it was annoyingly cloudy each morning. The last night a few of us went for a run along the beach and were able to find a clear spot away from all the people so we watched the sunset in the distance, just incredible. Each night I was in bed early and enjoying all the stress-free sleep I could get. This was such an amazing place to visit.
If I have any readers left who made it through ALL of that, I apologize. Now you know why it took me so long to update about my trip. It was an incredible experience, I was so lucky to have my best friend here to show her this beautiful country and why I love it here. I can't wait to have more visitors!
The week after Semana Santa, we started our third and final masters course of the year. The Reflective Teacher. It has been a few long 13 hour days of work. I just have a few last reflections and one movie to watch before I'm officially done with it. I know these last few weeks are just going to fly by. We have today, May 1st off, due to their labor day. It was a nice treat after staying so late at school for class each day. Before I know it the end of the year will be here and then I'll be flying back home to spend the month of July with everyone I miss so much and love!
8 weeks til I'm home!
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