Sunday, September 30, 2012

Back to School

Today is Sunday and it currently It is a very sunny morning in Quito. Right now I am sipping on free coffee from the Vibes Hostel and 80's rock is echoing from behind the backpacker's bar. This particular living space has brightly colored walls and a decent lounge for relaxing after a day of studying.

After arriving last Monday night the week has been filled with language classes, salsa classes, and meeting some really interesting people. Wednesday was the first day of what looks like 3-4 weeks of personal Spanish classes at the Simon Bolivar Language School with a friendly Ecuadorian named Zulma. So far the experience has been interesting and Friday we talked for two hours about our opinions of Hip-Hip and our mutual dislike for Jennifer Lopez. The process has been really challenging but also good fun. The school arranges student activities outside of the classroom which is nice because it provides opportunities to make new friends. On Thursday the school celebrated it's 18th anniversary and after cutting a cake we all boarded a Chivas party bus and joyrided for a couple hours with loud Latin music blaring and people passing around servings of spiked cider. The school is almost entirely filled with Germans and people with Eastern European dialects.

Since arriving the week has also been consumed with personal Salsa lessons with a lady named Fernanda and its been very fun but extremely hard. Hopefully after a few weeks I won't look like a gringo on the dance floor and next Wednesday a few people at the school will go Salsa at a local bar.

Yesterday some Germans from the hostel and myself took an hour long bus ride to Otavalo which hosts a huge market each Saturday. Anything from necklaces to goats could be bought at a reasonable price. Today will be a walking day through parts of Quito's historical Old Town. I hope everyone is doing well! More updates soon!

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Quito Kid

It's Thursday and over the course of three days a great deal of tripplanning has been altered. On Monday I took a plane from Bogota to Medellin and had a few hour layover before taking another flight to Quito, Ecuador. The final destination was supposed to be in Guayaquil with hopes of enrolling in a Spanish school in Montañita later in the journey. After doing some research and following a gut feeling I decided to not finish the day's trip and left the Quito airport with my backpack and booked a hostel very last minute. It was a risky choice but the taxi driver from the airport was a really informative and friendly guy which provided a great deal of positive reinforcement.

I now have been in the city for three days and have been enjoying a stay at the Vibes Backpackers located in the heart of New Town. The staff is friendly and I am the token American in a place filled with Germans, Kiwis, and various members of the European Union. This particular area of the city is filled with hostels and does a good job of catering to a diverse set of travelers. The prices for food and rent are considerably cheaper than Colombia which is a very nice bonus. Cars are more relaxed and the massive Pinchincha volcano looms above the city.

Yesterday I registered for Spanish classes at a language school called Simon Bolivar and will be doing intensive private lessons for at least the next three weeks. My teacher is named Zulma and she is pretty nice so it should hopefully be a good experience. In addition to Spanish I also just enrolled in a salsa dancing school to try and get more immersed in the local culture. Dancing and language learning are two major reasons for the trip and it feels good to have found a city that offers both as a reasonable price. A tentative idea is to stay here for three weeks but this could end up being longer or shorter. Only time will tell but until then life as student should be fun. More updates to follow but I hope all is well!

Monday, September 24, 2012

Farewell and Hello

Currently I am enjoying my last cup of Colombian coffee in a chill location called Diletto's and taking in the scenery before getting a taxi to the El Dorado Airport. Classical music is the cafe's soundtrack and it feels bittersweet to be on the road once again. Excitement comes knowing that an entirely new culture, history, and series of experiences are about to greet me on arrival in Ecuador. Bitterness comes from leaving newly gained friendships and walking away from a really good life in Bogotá. Thirty minutes ago all of the other great people at Emerging Voices and myself said our goodbyes then parted ways as they left for today's projects. These were some of the nicest people I have ever met and it is a gift to have crossed their path.

I know little about Ecuador and the mystery of a new place sounds like a good way to start the week. Today I'll fly to Medellin, have a second layover in Quito, then have a final stop at Quayquil which is where my hostel for the next two nights is located. After Wednesday the itinerary is a completely blank canvas: There are tentative plans for visiting Puerto Lopez then enrollment in a Spanish School in Montañita. As of now I'm looking into Couchsurfing contacts and waiting to hear back from two schools. Either way I'm headed to the beach and am planning on learning Spanish while enjoying hopefully some surfing or just being a complete bum. The trip has been really structured so far and it will feel good to take it day by day. There are also some help exchange opportunities near the Peruvian border which might be a good fit.

What waits ahead is relatively unknown and this is exactly what I want. Farewell Colombia with your vibrant people, insane drivers, foot stomping music, and mind erasing Aguardiente. Hello Ecuador it is a pleasure to meet you :) shall we dance?

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Out with a...

It's Saturday and I just completed my very last morning as a volunteer for Emerging Voices. After working 18 hours a week as a food server in a homeless kitchen it feels good to be finished despite the fact that the people were great and the patrons were generally nice. Salazar, Juan, Che Chee, and Cesar will never be forgotten.

Today was a mess and I feel cynical to be happy about not coming back to a certain extent. We were short staffed and the only people who were capable of distributing food were Lupe, Erika, and myself. After serving 94 plates people in the room began losing their patience and soon we were rushed by homeless who wanted their proper serving of juice. Normally we walk around each table of patrons and distribute food then a cup of juice. Today was a different vibe and people were trying their hardest to skip their neighbors. The atmosphere went from calm to unsettled once the first juice cups came out. It was chaos and soon Lupe and myself decided to stop serving all together and let them wade in their own madness. We turned people away because the food had run out and a sea of hands grabbed for juice like a multiple armed monster. It was an awakening yet good way to end this volunteer stint.

On a lighter note this is my last weekend in Bogota and a group of us are planning on going dancing at Andres located in the Zona Rosa which is a major street for clubbing. The previous two nights included getting a couple beers with some friends I met in Cartagena and also meeting some other locals who grew up with my friend Laura who is now in California. The volunteers here are great people and it was an honor to serve next to them. I would highly recommend coming to Bogota to volunteer because the country is beautiful and easily one of the most misunderstood places in the world. It will be hard to top the experience that I have had here but am very much excited for Ecuador. I will give details later but people are leaving for pizza and papa needs to get his fixings. Peace and love...and pizza.



Friday, September 14, 2012

Ecuador Booked

It is Friday and a large group of volunteers and myself just completed a good day of feeding homeless people. I have been doing this assignment all week and the tasks each morning are now becoming second nature. The fellow servers from the community are very funny and call each other bad words in Spanish. Salazar is a 68 year old Colombian who is fluent in Italian from working on cruise ships and he jokes around with Juan who runs the feeding project about how much of a bad person he is. The atmosphere is laid back and each individual has a fun story to tell.

After volunteering I chilled with my friend Zach from New York and now the rest of the volunteer group is taking it easy at the apartment where we all live. As of two minutes ago I have now made official plans to see Ecuador. On September 24th, a Monday, I will board a flight from Bogota and land in Guayaquil which is Ecuador's second largest city located close to the southern Pacific coast. There will be only about 10ish days in Ecuador because there is a lot of land to cover for the next three months.

Ecuador boasts numerous beautiful sites and landscapes that are all worth seeing but I am planning on dividing my limited time between a few beach towns, primarily Montañita. Montañita is a very small surf town that sits about 160km outside of Guayaquil, well known for solid swells and a really affordable Spanish school. A major goal while in South America is to become fluent in the native tongue and this particular school feels like a great fit because of the location. For small extra fees students can also have the option of taking salsa or surf classes which could be fun as well. After a week here and a few extra days wandering the coast the next stop will be Peru. I hope everyone who is reading this is having a good day and I miss you. More updates as things happen! Booyashakaw

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Bogota Base

It is Sunday and one full week of volunteering with Emerging Voices is now officially complete. After touring around the different projects available to volunteers here in Bogota I feel safe to say that there is one that fits my interests the best, feeding local homeless. On Friday two other volunteers and myself assisted a local soup kitchen in feeding over 160 homeless people. The work was fast, intense, and very fun. It felt a lot like my old job except the customers were actually a lot friendlier lol. People were extremely grateful and polite and it felt for the first time that I was making a tangible difference in other's lives.

Monday through Thursday was very eye opening and enlightening but none of the other projects seemed like a good fit despite the fact that everyone involved was great to work with. Feeding homeless was what I signed up for and it was satisfying being a part of a team of locals working to provide a meal for less the fortunate. I plan on continuing this assignment for the remainder of my stay in Bogota which lasts for two more weeks. The tentative plan is to make my way to Ecuador immediately after or possibly head north to Medillin for a few day to see a different part of the country.

Besides volunteering a few hours each day, life in Bogota is getting very comfortable. The city is easy to navigate, taxis are cheap, the beer isn't that good, and music is as important as money for rent. For the past two nights a group of volunteers and myself have been dabbling in Colombian nightlife. Friday we went to a really cool quant salsa dancing bar where tipsy locals played bongos and strangers acted like best friends. Yesterday there was a free jazz festival which led to beers at The Bogota Beer Company and more music at Andre's. On Friday there also was a major soccer game between Colombia and uraguay and a few of us went to a local bar to watch the match. Today a buddy and I are going to a big flee market to buy cheap souvenirs and tomorrow will be more Spanish lessons after volunteering. I miss everyone and feel very fortunate to be here!

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

A Tale of Two Cities

Today is Tuesday and I have just finished my second day as a volunteer for Emerging Voices in Bogota. The mission of my volunteer coordinator Monica is to expose each new recruit to every project that the organization supports. There are now a total of six new volunteers, five being American and one being from China. Yesterday we took a metro bus to an orphanage called Hogar and today we took a more hectic transit bus to Soacha, one of the poorest districts in the city. While in Soacha we visited an elementary school, introduced ourselves to each class, then assisted professors during English study sessions.

These past few days have been extremely eye opening. Having grown up with the security of a solid education and a family foundation it was interesting to work within a completely opposite environment. The orphanage consists of a series of very pretty buildings, large playground fields, and a lot of great attitudes. At Hogar we played games with some of the kids then helped with landscaping duty within the property. Everyone is very nice and the attitudes towards life I brighter than any place I have ever been. The people who work there are very inspiring and the kids were so welcoming despite the fact that we were all new acquaintances. I hope to go back there soon to help out in any way possible.

Soacha is about a two hour bus ride through the heart of Bogota. The streets at this point are riddled with pot holes, garbage is scattered throughout each alley,stray dogs follow you in hopes of temporary companionship, and vehicles sputter through corners with complete disregard to pedestrians. The scene feels more like a burrow within a battle scarred country even though Bogota is one of the most modern cities in South America. The students at the school are sweethearts and have a strong desire to understand English. There was very little structure while we toured the campus because at the end of the day each volunteer took command of around twenty students of all ages to help them practice their English. At one point a lady with very little knowledge of my language grabbed me by the arm and led me into a room and yelled to its inhabitants "Teacher Teacher!" With absolutely no lesson plan and a bunch of excited eyes looking at me I pulled a ninety minute lecture out of my butt. It was really fun but a total mess because the kids ranged from 5 to 14 years old and spoke little English. I don't know I I want to do that again within that sort of learning enviornment but we shall see.

tomorrow we will go to a retirement home to spend time with Bogota elderly and then we will serve food at a homeless shelter. I am happy to be here but it's been a test. I miss family and friends but I need to be here.

Saturday, September 1, 2012

Bogota Beginnings

Last night I arrived back in Bogota, the capital city of Colombia, to begin a three week stint as a volunteer with Emerging Voices. Both cities share completely different climates and cultures. Cartagena is hot, muggy, and loud despite its beauty. Bogota is cold, relaxed, and not nearly as hectic despite the fact that it is a lot larger. Before leaving Cartagena I tried Camarones con Arroz which is a pretty authentic Caribbean dish in Colombia. It tasted very much like seafood then I hailed a taxi, checked in at the airport, and had a short flight to the big city. Bogota is the home of around 10 million people and sits 8000 feet above sea level. The buildings are not as pretty as Cartagena but Bogota will be a fun place to live for the next few weeks.

Upon arrival I met some new volunteers and now the apartment where we all live is filled almost entirely with Americans. This is a nice taste of home in some ways and the people are all very friendly. After eating dinner a group of us went to a hookah bar then checked out a salsa club for a little while. The majority of people who volunteer with this organization stay for at least a few weeks which means we all will work for a similar length of time.

Today is orientation day for three new volunteers and myself then afterwords we are going to see a professional soccer match between two Colombian teams. It should be exciting and I am looking forward to working with some really interesting people when the official project begins. I feel really lucky to be with this group of people because we all are about the same age and share pretty similar outlooks on life.

Tomorrow we will check out El Museo De Oro and possibly check more of the city our. more updates on the way! I miss everyone a lot and thankful for the support.