Jardín

Quito --> Bogotá --> Cartagena --> Bogotá --> Quito --> Bogotá --> Jardín --> Medellín --> Bogotá --> Pachavita --> Bogotá.

In case you all were wondering, that's what life has been like for the past four weeks.  And I've loved every minute of it.

After I returned from Quito, I slept a night, then immediately woke up the next morning to go to a meeting and pack to leave that night for Medellín so I could meet Carolina and we could catch a bus from there to Jardín.  Jardín is in Antioquia and part of the coffee region--we went there to spend three days in the school they have (grades pre-k through 12) and teach English.  I have never been somewhere where a group of kids enjoy education so much.  Immediately, Carolina and I knew that our hearts had been in the right place for a while and had our feelings confirmed by the way we were treated by Mercedes (a professor and our guide for the week), the principal of the school, and the kids.  Each and every one of them wanted to know about the United States, learn more English, and even asked me about my time in Ecuador; a number of them were shocked that I had picked up another language in five months--of course, it had been many more years than that of studying, but got all of my practice in during my time in Ecuador.  

Do you know how cool it is to have students referring to you as "profe"?!  As in profesora.  YEAH.  Pretty cool.  Anyway.

So getting on with the story, Merce was nice enough to show us her students and her little pueblo all week, as well as feed us and keep us busy.  I am bringing home more than enough coffee from my trip there, so that's good news.  At the end of our trip, we headed to Medellín to explore for a day.  We went to Plaza de Botero and rode the metro--but I wasn't impressed at all with Medellín.  It's a pretty dirty city with a lot of poverty, but it also didn't feel safe at all.  We found out that most of the cool things to do "in Medellín" are actually on the outskirts of the city, but we didn't have time for that.  After an annoying encounter with a cab driver to the bus station, we got on a bus to head back to Bogotá.  We finally got back and I rested all day Sunday.  Sunday night, Carolina headed to mass with the Cerquera family so I stayed home and took care of a number of emails for school and so forth.  Julie and I ordered a pizza while we waited for the rest of the family to get back and then I headed to bed.  Pretty uneventful weekend before we had to pack up to head to Pachavita.  

Pachavita was pretty cool, but the pueblo itself is TINY and the people weren't as welcoming as most people in Colombia have been, which was rough.  But luckily, the kids made up for it!  There were even a few who cried whenever we left because they were going to miss us.  We were supposed to leave Friday afternoon, but Pachavita is so rural and up a mountain, that since it had rained all week, the buses couldn't get to us.  We piled into a truck to go into Garagoa, a town that was fairly close to where we were.  It was still a bizarre experience though, that's for sure.  

Now we're back in Bogotá, relaxing before we start this crazy week to end our trip.  3 days left in South America and it's really breaking my heart, but I hope that I can return ASAP.  It's been such an incredible experience to spend almost 8 months down here, but it's time to go home.  School awaits and I'm pumped to get the ball rolling for senior year!

Where is the good in goodbye?

-Anonymous