Colombia in a nutshell :]

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My time here in Colombia is coming to an end... I have five more days before I head to Hawaii. I absolutely love this place and am looking forward to coming back here after my stay in South Korea. The past two weeks have been quite different than the rest of my trip because I have been living as a Colombia, well not so much as a travelor. No I do not go to work or school, but I have been living in Medellin with a family. I go to work with them sometimes or I go to school with them. It has been great, one of my friends is going to school for Civil Engineering and I go to classes with him... and take notes... in Spanish... AND I understand what is going on! Haha, it helps that a lot of it is Math, one of the reasons I absolutely love Math, it's universal. :]

Being here I understand more than ever how ignorance can lead to fear, a lesson I am so glad I learned in this manner. Many people were absolutely thrown back that I decided to go to Colombia to travel. I got comments like "you're going to get kidnapped", "what are you asking to get raped", "watch out for the drug lords" etc. Much of what we fear of Colombia is what we are fed through movies and media. Yes, Colombia was really bad back in the 80's but it has changed so much! I guess it takes a lot longer time for good news to travel. Now it's not to say that Colombia is perfect and has no drug issues here. Yes there is still trafficking and people who do drugs, and yes I have been near it once that I know of. I didn't know till the next day listening in on other peole's conversations. BUT they were travelors, coming to Colombia to party and do drug thing. I am sure that it is around more than what I see because I am not looking out for it, nor do I know what to look for. But honestly, it is not that bad. The US has a huge drug issue yet for some reason Colombia is made to look like some crazy country. And honestly, I don't know how many people realize that Mexico is the "New Colombia", they are like Colombia was back in the 80's. The Colombian government and police force are working hard to get control of the drug issues that took over Colombia in the past, and you can see it when you come and visit.

Colombian's are extremely nice, kind and helpful as a whole. I have never in my life had so many people see me and want to make sure that I knew where to go and what I was doing... I am certain it doesn't hurt me to be Asain, for there are NONE here! Okay, I met two while traveling, they were from Hawaii. And there was a couple that owns a Chinese restaurant. They saw me while they were in the car and stared just as hard as the Colombians... shocked to see another Asain in Colombia I'm guessng. Haha. Anyhow, here's a story that shows the kindness of the people in this country. I was on my way from Medellin to Santa Rosa a couple weeks ago. I wanted to take a look at the coffee region here. To get there I take a bus and get dropped off at a restaurant where I pick up a city bus to get to Santa Rosa. I was supposed to get into Santa Rosa by 6:00pm. Well there was an accident, a semi truck had flipped over and we spent a lot of time chill'n waiting. There was a couple on the bus that started talking to me, of course no one spoke any English, so it was a good language lesson for me! Anyhow, they wanted to know where I was going to make sure I knew how I was to get there. I let them know and they told me they would let me know when to get off and how to get onto the next bus to take me to Santa Rosa. While we were waiting a bunch of people were trying to sell us things, one was selling popsicles. Now it was extremely hot that day, and everyone on the bus wanted to make sure I got a popsicle, napkin the whole works. The entire bus had my best interest and it was so sweet! Well, I didn't get to the "restaurant" to pick up the other bus till 9:00pm. I quote restaurant, because the bus driver ended up just driving me to the fork in the road where he would go one way and I would need to go the other, because it was so late the bus I was supposed to pick up was no longer running. So basically he was letting off in the dark next to a highway ... with no lights, LOL. I was a little freaked out because it was my first time in this part of the country and I had no idea what I was doing. And when I am traveling to new places or around new places I make sure to get there in daylight and such... but things just happen sometimes. Anyhow, I got off the bus and EVERYONE on the bus got off too! They were all worried about me and didn't want me to be left there by myself. So they waited... a taxi driver was going the other way and they were whistleing and waving him down. Once he got to us, they spoke to him and made sure he knew where I needed to go and sent me on my way! Now here it is we are well past 3 hours later than scheduled and they didn't care, they wanted to make sure that I was safe. They were talking about how I was traveling by myself and amazed that I was and without knowing how to speak English!

So the taxi driver dropped me off at the hostel. Well the hostel was completely empty! I was just outside Santa Rosa and had no idea where to go or even if there was another hostel in the area, if there was I had no internet connection so I wasn't going to be able to find out! Well while in Barrenquilla one of my new friends gave me his old cell phone. He told me since I am traveling by myself and don't know how to speak Spanish I need to have a cell phone. He placed minutes on it for me and let me know to call him if I needed a translator. Well I couldn't get a hold of him but I did get a hold of my friends in Medellin. There was a guard that was walking by and he was talking to me, I couldn't understand a thing he was saying... I think my nerves got to me and my knowledge of Spanish went out the window. At this point, I was really scared! haha. But I was still laughing... picturing myself sleeping on the side of the road... Anyhow this guard wanted to help me so he spoke to my friend on the phone and between him, my friend and the neighbor across the street was able to find the managers of the hostel. It had moved, they were worried sick about me because I hadn't shown up. When I called, they rushed out the door to come and pick me up.

All of this shows the kindness of the people here, and this was in just one day! I could talk about the next day, but I don't want to bore you too much, haha! But the next two days were adventurous and again, I had many people help me and get me from one place to the next! Now, just becuase there are tons of kind people here doesn't mean there aren't a few bad apples. I am still very smart about how I travel and who I talk to.... okay well I actually talk to anyone and people here even find that strange... also because I wave goodbye to everyone LOL. Anyhow, like I stated before I don't go out at night by myself, or travel at night. I have a couple of times, but they were in places where I had already been and felt very comfortable in. When I am about I am very aware of my surroundings. Colombia is just as safe as any other place. I think when we live in small safe towns like Corvallis we forget how the rest of the world is, even in our own states. Take New York, there are places you will not find yourself late at night and you can't just leave things around because they will get stolen.

I met a Colombian here who spent some time in the States. He talked to me about his experience... In New York in the subway he was mugged and had all of his things stolen on Christmas Eve! He spent some time in Iowa, or someplace like that, and while he was there there was a school shooting at a primary school. He says it is strange because Americans are so scared of Colombia and think it is so bad, but really he has never heard of anything like that (a school shooting) in Colombia. He said now that's scary. You have your kids go to school and there's a chance that some other kid is going to bring in a gun and start shooting!

...the fear of not knowing... I believe this keeps so many people from finding some amazing things within this world.

Okay, so some other things about Colombians.... traffic rules, just a suggestion! No kidding. The only 1 rule I have found that sticks as a rule, cars always have the right away, pedestrians do NOT! Ever! No joke!! Red lights, just a suggestion. Blinkers, I don't know why people even use them here. But if you wave your hand out the window now you are serious about switching lanes, LOL. If there is two lanes but a third lane can me made, by all means please do start another lane of your own. If there is no traffic coming the other way on the road, go ahead and make it a one way road. No big deal. Neighborhoods sound like downtown New York because when crossing intersections instead of stopping, just honk the horn so people know you are there... but since everyone is honking their horn who really knows what is going on? Seat belts.. well if you're sitting in the front, just hold the belt in place, but don't buckle it. If you're in the back, forget about a belt! You probably won't even be able to find it. Motorcyclists can do what ever they want! Haha. Seriously seems that way. But they do have strict guidelines on safety for motorists. They have to wear a vest when it is dark and on their vest they have the number of the license plate in reflective material. And their helmet has to have the lisence number on too.

I am certain I am missing some major details, but I must study now!

I am taking an online course here to help me teach in Korea, it's a course through a school in New York. It makes it seem like I'm really not traveling but living here LOL. Also, bought a Spanish book yesterday! The Five Love Languages, haha I will master Spanish!

<3 Loves and Hugs <3

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