It's 11pm and we're exhausted from a long day of flying and driving to our destination of Claraibeth's hometown in Boyaca. We settle in under many layers of blankets in bed; it will get down to 48 degrees tonight. It's 12:30am. Reggaeton music pulses in the background as the central square to the small town is one street over, and there is a festival this weekend. A d.j. on stage keeps the crowd going strong. I try to fall back asleep. It's 2:30am. The d.j. makes one last announcement to end his set on stage. I wake up momentarily to the [View Full Entry]

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Monte said today, "I know it has only been a week, but it almost feels like we live in Colombia now." It's hard to explain what he means, but I feel the same way. Some things are so dramatically different here, and our schedules are so much changed from our normal daily lives, that I've forgotten what it feels like to drive a car, watch tv, cook dinner. Also, Monte and I were so concerned with blending in and immersing ourselves in the culture from the very beginning of this trip, that we let go of a few americanisms along the [View Full Entry]

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Although I haven't written about it yet, now is probably a good time to mention how our mornings start in Medellin. To do that I have to first talk about class. Before this trip I could tell you a lot of things about Colombians, about how they lived, what they ate, what they like to do. What I couldn't tell you, because I didn't know, was that there is a fairly obvious class system in this country. My naivety is surely the result of having known mostly family from Colombia, and therefore, mostly one type of class. Monte and I started [View Full Entry]

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Although we're only a long weekend into our trip, I feel like I've been here for weeks already. Everyday so far has been full enough with activity that we are ready for bed by 10pm. There's no daylights savings here, so it doesn't help that it's dark around 6:30, too. Our favorite thing to do so far is to sit out on the balcony of my grandparents' condo. Monte says he could sleep out there. We eat, drink, talk, read, and gather out there for hours at a time. We're on the 20th floor of a tower that gives us [View Full Entry]

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After day trips a plenty outside of Medellin for our first few days, we finally spent some time getting to know the city itself. Although I've spent hours already staring out onto the cityscape from the balcony, my twinkling viewpoint was still far removed from the hustle and bustle of the taxicabs, the crowds, and the sounds of the inner city. Instead of stepping in one leg at a time, grandpa had us dive right in with a trip on the metro. Here is also a good example of the confusion that happens when a group containing members aged 9-79 tries [View Full Entry]

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I didn't think Id be writing my first blog entry so soon, but I also didnt think I would be staying my first night in Colombia at the Bogota Sheraton with internet downstairs. The 20 minute delay we incurred from Dulles to Bogota caused us to miss the last flight to our final destination of Medellin last night. We're missing the first day of the Feria de los Flores today, because the first available flight to Medellin today is at 4pm. Oh well, change of plans... first day in Colombia: downtown Bogota. [View Full Entry]

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Thirteen Days. Thirteen days and I'll be taking the trip I've literally been born to take. On the other hand, Monte has been hesitant about this trip since the day I first mentioned the idea. How did so much pressure come from one little trip? I think it all started with a plate of arepas con queso... Visiting my dad in Richmond one time shortly after Monte and I started dating, Monte had his first arepa. I watched almost too closely as he took his first bite of the grilled corn cake with cheese that my stepm [View Full Entry]

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