GoForth and Blog

When I was in Central America and each day felt like a week, as traveling days tend to do, and I was whining to Dennis that it would be sooooooo long till I came home, he said that he was just waiting for July 18. Because once it was July 18, I would be home in a month, and a month would go by really fast. So, July 18 has come and gone, and sure enough, even though I still have more time left in Bogotá than what I’ve already spent here (I can’t think of a clearer way to phrase that- I just mean I’ve been here for 3 weeks and I have 4 left), I am in full appreciation mode because I know I will blink my eyes and the trip will be over. Not that I haven’t fully appreciated the past 5 weeks, but… you know what I mean.

This week was good- Cindy and I saw the new Harry Potter, I started yoga classes (although I’m pretty sure it’s not a real form of yoga… just a lot of stretching and… swinging… but it was cheap enough- $40 for 12 classes!), and Friday was Colombia’s independence day so we had the day off from work. I was really excited when I found out it was independence day, but it turns out that it’s a rather solemn day here- people watch the military parade on TV, hang their flag, and quietly acknowledge it in other ways, but nothing big. (Click here to see a nice video with the Colombian national anthem.) I celebrated by going to the Museo Nacional, which houses a comprehensive exhibit of Colombia’s history in what used to be the city prison (it became a museum in 1948), and on the top floor is a great collection of Colombian art. Here are some photos of: (1) The building, (2) A prison-like hallway in the museum, (3) A portrait (one of many) of Simon Bolívar, South America’s liberator and Colombia’s first president, (4) A model of la Catedral Primada and la Capilla del Sagrario in Plaza Bolívar from 1898, which I’m including because it looks just like the real thing, and (5) Fernando Botero’s 20 de julio – his depiction Colombia’s independence day.

In the afternoon at el Museo there was a free performance of traditional Colombian dances, so Gloria, Leo, and Sori met me there for that. It was a bit amateurish- especially after seeing videos of Sori in traditional dance performances, which were phenomenal- but still fun to watch… and hey, you get what you pay for.

I had myself a tourism fest on Saturday, because I want to be able to leave the city one of these weekends and I won’t do that if I still feel like there are things for me to do here. So I took a quick walk through el Parque Nacional- a beautiful urban park with this curious adornment:

Then through the charming neighborhoods of La Magdalena and La Macarena, where I saw this house which I’m seriously thinking of buying:

To the Museo del Oro (the Gold Museum) which holds thousands of pre-Columbian gold works, such as these:

Then to la Iglesia Santa Clara, which the Lonely Planet describes as “probably the most representative of Bogotá’s colonial churches.” It was built in the mid-17th century as part of the Poor Clares Convent, and is now a museum of 17th and 18th century religious art. (On the way there I walked around la Casa de Nariño, the complex where President Uribe lives and works, which was cool but also stressful as there are many men with large guns who tell you not to do many things, like walk on the sidewalk that surrounds the complex or stand on tall ledges to take pictures, even if you’re just capturing a good view of the city and are not at all trying to take pictures of them or the complex.)

After the church I went to la Casa de Moneda- a museum housed in what was once the Mint that displays the history of Colombia’s money and a collection of antique presses… and, more interestingly for me, a great collection of Colombian art. Here are three of my favorites:

Finally, I returned to el Museo Botero, partly because I didn’t have my camera with me the first time I went, but also because I just love it. I love it so much that I am going to make a separate post of Botero pictures.

Today Clarita- the Escuela Nueva director’s daughter, who also works for the organization- and her husband, Camilo- took me to Monserrate- one of the mountains on the city’s eastern edge. At the top of the mountain is a white church which can be seen, glowing, from everywhere in Bogotá. Here is a view of it, to the left of La Catedral Primada:

The church is a pilgrimage site for Catholics who attribute many miracles to the church’s statue of the Fallen Christ (El Señor Caído).

It’s possible to hike to the top, take a cable car, or a funicular. We had been planning to hike but were advised that it would be too crowded- which is was- so we opted for the cable car.

This turned out to be for the best, since not long after reaching the top it started to pour, which would have made the hour+ hike rather unfun. Here’s a photo of people crowding under the entrance to church to hide from the rain.

We observed part of a mass, and then toured the grounds- there are a couple of very nice restaurants, but the fun part is the lane of market stalls selling souvenirs and LOTS of fried things.


The snacks are very Colombian- chorizo, chicken, corn-on-the-cob, platanos stuffed with cheese and guava paste, corn bread, soup… and intestines.

And of course, you need something to wash that all down, so various types of moonshine are available. Varieties of the traditional Colombian anise liquor, Aguardiente, are sold home-made and steeped with herbs, and indigenous brews are concocted from fermented maize, including chi-cha and masato.

The vendors offer free samples, so how could I refuse? I was a little nervous… most forms of moonshine are poisonously foul… but everything I tasted was not just tolerable, but really good! The maize drinks actually tasted like apple cider.
And so, a dulce end to another dulce fin de semana en Bogotá.

Take me Home!

This weekend has been great! I got a whole lot of English chatting in as Cindy and I spent the day in La Candelaria- she hadn’t been there yet so it was fun to show her around and play the expert. We had lunch in an awesome place called El Gato Gris (the Gray Cat)- a cozy Dalí-themed cafe.

We also took a look inside La Catedral Primada, which makes up one side of La Plaza Bolivar- the main square in the center of the city. On the outside, the cathedral looks impressive in size, but is rather run down… and blanketed in pigeons who occupy every spare inch of ledge space on the building (the Plaza in general is overrun- more pigeons than Trafalgar Square. And the same idiots who think it’s a good idea to feed them. I will never understand the pleasure people take in feeding pigeons. You wouldn’t go to a park or square and think, “You know what would be so nice? if several hundred rats were scurrying around here. Maybe next time I come I’ll bring some rat food.”).

But inside it is grand. Very different from La Iglesia Del Carmen with its white walls and relative lack of ornamentation, but beautiful nonetheless- huge and immaculate (no pun intended), with large crystal chandeliers and gold molding. I didn’t take any pictures of the interior because there was a service going on when I was there, but I’m sure I’ll have another chance.

Last night I took Cindy and Leo to a party I was invited to by Hanna, a Swedish grad student who wants to research Escuela Nueva for her master’s thesis. It was a housewarming party thrown by a Swedish embassy worker who had just arrived in Colombia and her roommates, though I never figured out who they were. Fantastic party- strong mojitos and daiquiris, a great mix of people- Colombian, French, Brazilian, German, Swedish, Finnish, Italian (and Cindy and me, the Americans); businesspeople, students, embassy workers, development workers, artists… and a live vallenato band- Colombian folk music from the Caribbean coast that is really popular here. Everyone was dancing and all of the Colombians in attendance were singing along to the songs. Here’s a picture of Leo breaking the ice on the dance floor with Maria, the hostess, and one of Cindy and me:

…a good time was had by all, except for the girl who expelled into a plant while waiting for the elevator at the end of the night.

And today a woman from work took me to her country club for the day. Swimming, sauna and a nice lunch. Ironic that my first day at a country club comes while I’m volunteering for an NGO in a developing country… but I’m not complaining.

Take me Home!

I just finished my first week of work con la Fundación, and it was about as nice as a week in an office can be.

First, I was extremely lucky to have been given a fairly involved assignment (which I’ll explain later), so I didn’t have to prance around asking for work to do as could so easily have been the case in a volunteer situation. Maybe this is the benefit of being in graduate program… people assume you are somewhat competent and aren’t afraid to give you something meaningful to do. That I like.

Second, because I’m a foreigner, I have an excuse to avoid the office small talk that always stressed me out when I had my office stint in NC. You know, when you see people in the kitchen, and you have to stop and chat with them- or when you pass people in the hall, you have to greet them… and when it happens 8 or 9 times a day you have to think of different ways to greet them so things don’t get boring… switching it up from “how’s it goin’” to “what’s up” to “he-ey” to a commiserating eye roll… so it’s nice to not feel that pressure here. Also, I have my own room to work in, so I can listen to music and chat online without looking over my shoulder every 2 minutes. Bueno.

Third, since I’m working for free, I don’t have to feel bad if my lunch happens to take more than an hour.

So as far as office life goes, I can’t complain. And the truth is I am so happy to be working for this organization that I would sit in a cubicle and small talk and prance if that’s what I had to do.

And now I’ll explain what I’m doing. The Escuela Nueva Foundation has been working with rural multigrade schools in Colombia since the 70s. They have been quite successful, so in more recent years they’ve been enlisted by most Latin American countries to help improve rural, and sometimes urban schooling elsewhere. Now they’re moving beyond the continent to countries in Africa and possibly India, and that’s what I’m helping with. There is already an “internationalized” version of the EN curriculum that was created for export elsewhere in Latin America, but now it needs to be taken out of the Latin American context. So I am helping to develop an International Prototype Kit, which will be more Afro-centric than Latino-centric, but still general enough for each region to tailor the curriculum more specifically to their needs, which is the point. We’re starting with Social Studies, and this week I finished the first unit, on Community. It’s a fun project, because I get to pretend that what’s in this book is going to determine what kind of people these kids become, so I can include all the right topics in all the right phrasing so that the children who use this book are going to be tolerant, peaceful, cooperative problem-solvers. If only it were that easy… but it still makes for good inspiration.

My week has been pretty low-key- my evening activity has become reading or writing at a cafe near home, since I’m not entirely comfortable being out and about after dark by myself. Last night my friend Cindy- the American I befriended in the Miami airport who is here visiting family for the month- came down to hang out. I was excited to have some relaxed time with an English speaker, thinking maybe we would go out somewhere, and life would feel a little normal again… but she ended up hitting it off with Gloria and Leo and they chatted away in Spanish while I could do nothing but listen- between the volume of Cindy’s talking and the speed of Gloria’s and the time it takes me to compose a sentence in Spanish, I had no hope of contributing to that conversation. Oh well. We’re hanging out tomorrow and I’m not inviting any Spanish-speakers.

And that’s the word y’all.

Take me Home!

So, I’m actually quite glad that I opted not to travel my first week here. I spent the week exploring the city, and getting to know Gloria, Leo, and Sori- the family I am staying with. They are wonderful, helpful, caring people and I am lucky to be able to stay with them. And I’ve really enjoyed getting to know the city. Some things about Bogotá:

• It’s BIG (census data estimates around 8 million but I think it’s MUCH bigger than that), and it’s busy.
• It’s even easier to navigate than NYC. The streets are in a numbered grid- Carreras run north-south and Calles run east-west- but making things even easier is the way addresses are written; for example, Carrera 21 #39-71 means the building is on Carrera 21, 71 meters from Calle 39 (in the direction of Calle 40). Brilliant. Plus, there are huge mountains bordering the city to the east, so if you can see those (and you almost always can) you know which direction you’re facing.
• The people are ridiculously friendly and nice. They have the South American version of Southern Charm- they use “Señora” and “Señor” the way Southerners use “Ma’am” and “Sir”. And they have this formal accent that makes it sound like they’re speaking Italian. It’s lovely.
• There are a ton of cultural events going on, often free- movies, concerts, performances, lectures… plus museums galore, also free or very cheap (especially compared to Boston, those cultural snobs).
• The driving etiquette is as bad as China’s… I’m back to having to look over my shoulder while crossing at a green light because cars making rights-on-red have the right of way. This infuriates me. There is no reason why that should be OK. But, to its credit, the city is somewhat progressive when it comes to cars- for example, depending on the last number on your license plate, there are 2 3-hour periods per week when you’re not allowed to be on the road. And, every Sunday and holiday, a few of the major roads are closed half-way (so a 4-lane road becomes 2 lanes, e.g.) and turned into “Ciclovias”- bicycle routes from 7:00 am-2:00 pm. AND, there are 2 days per year where private driving is banned entirely. I think it should be 1 day per week, but when you’re talking about 8 million cars, 2 days per year is still a significant footprint-shrinker.

• They are really into hot chocolate here- they shave it from bars into simmering milk. Yum. The hot chocolate shelves in the grocery stores rival ours for canned soup. They’re also quite good at pastries and ice cream and there is a bevy of crazy tropical fruits to be had. Sadly, however, when it comes to cuisine I think Colombia is the Great Britain of South America.

During my week of exploring, I spent a lot of time in La Candelaria- an old neighborhood just east of the center with colorful colonial architecture, narrow, cobblestone roads, and lots of cafes, restaurants, and cultural sites. It’s my favorite place in the city so far.

(Here are some more photos of el barrio)

Also in my first week, I visited the Donación Botero- a free museum mostly featuring work by Fernando Botero, who is Colombian and generously donated his work to the museum (he’s the guy who does this stuff), as well as some other artists- it has an awesome sculpture by Dalí, and I didn’t even know he did sculptures! It is a great museum- I love Botero’s work, and the space itself was fantastic- bright, clean, interesting. I’m glad it’s free- I’m definitely going back.

I went to el Museo de Arte Moderno de Bogotá- or the MAMBO (despite its awesome acronym, it was not as good as the Donación Botero); the swanky Rosales district in the northern part of the city, which is a shopping and eating haven; went to the top of El Mirrador Torre Colpatria- the country’s tallest building (48 stories, I think)- for some incredible views;

La Biblioteca Luis Angel Arango- or the Blaa, which I love- a big central library with exhibits and cultural events; checked out some artisan markets; and went into La Iglesia del Carmen- an amazing church in La Candelaria.

(The street that La Iglesia del Carmen is on is super narrow, so it’s difficult to get a photo of much of the facade at once… you can see a more complete photo here.)

I enjoyed a free outdoor concert on an afternoon when it was actually warm enough to just be in a t-shirt… (it rarely gets warmer than 70F/20C this time of year… back to pastiness for me) and of course I put in a fair amount of cafe time.

Take me Home!

The custom of eating in Latin America is that lunch is the big meal, and dinner is served late (well, late by most Americans’ standards- at the GoForth household we rarely eat before 9pm), and it’s more of a snack than a meal. I think that’s a great way of eating- eat your big meal when you still have several hours of your day to burn it off. I’m vowing now to make that my habit once I get home… we’ll see how long that lasts. It’s much easier to buy a bagel sandwich for $4.50 for lunch than to spend $15 or $20 on a dinner-sized meal… but anyway, that’s not the point of this post.

So dinner in Latin America is an understated affair. On my second day in Bogotá, when it was time for my first dinner with the family, they all sit down to bread and butter with hot chocolate, and I sit down to the 3-course meal that Gloria has prepared for me. It was embarrassing. So after dinner I told her nicely that the meal was lovely, but I did not need that much food- that I’m in Colombia and I want to eat what they eat. She said, “Oh, but we’re accustomed to eating very small meals for dinner!” I said that was fine- that’s what I wanted too.

So the next night Gloria served me a small plate of papaya and banana, a whole wheat bun, and a piece of mozzarella cheese. I made a big deal of telling her that was Perfecto, to be sure she got the idea. So that’s what I got for a few nights, and then slowly she started sneaking more and more food into the meal, until Saturday night when I was served my 3-course meal again. And Sunday night was the same. I thought maybe it was because I hadn’t eaten lunch with them on those days, so she was worried that I hadn’t had enough to eat. I didn’t say anything, thinking maybe on Monday she’d go back to fruit and bread, but no. Huge dinner. So Tuesday (yesterday) morning before leaving for work I told her that, especially now that I was sitting in an office all day long, I really didn’t need a big dinner. She replied, “OK, that’s fine, but I already bought fish for you.” Grrr. I had to tell her, “Well, if you already bought it….” So last night I had my fruit salad… with a plate of regular salad, eggplant with some weird sauce, french fries, and a cold sardine (I don’t know much about sardines, but I always thought they were small- here they are a pretty good size and served whole, and cold). I really do prefer the fruit-and-bread-and-cheese dinner, but it’s also that I’m not a huge fan of Gloria’s cooking.

So tonight, I was relieved when she asked me what I wanted before preparing something for me. I said fruit would be great. “No tuna?” “No. Fruit is good.” (One night last week when she was clandestinely increasing my meal size she served a plate of mushed-up canned tuna. It was gross.) And fruit I got… she served me a huge dinner plate-full of fruit, arranged quite artfully. It was absurd. It was all I could do to keep from getting my camera. But at least it wasn’t a cold sardine.

Take me Home!

While Dennis and I were chatting tonight he told me a funny story, so I wanted to share it so he can be part of the blog too:

“there is this weird kid in my calculus class

he kind of looks like napoleon dynamite, so I thought he was weird right off the bat, but then I saw him wearing earplugs on the subway and in class he chugs carrot juice out of a giant one liter jug

Dennis: so anyways, we used to be in this tiny classroom with a really loud lit class next door. they were being all raucous during our test one time so he goes over to ask them to quiet down. the next thing we know, you can hear him screaming at them to “PLEASE SHUT THE HELL UP, WE ARE TAKING A MIDTERM NEXT DOOR!”

Dennis: they got in an uproar and were yelling back at him, we can hear every word through the thin walls. he runs out of the neighboring room and slams the door.. and as a last word you hear one of the lit students yell, “And Change your Socks!”"

Take me Home!

I spent my last night in Copán hanging out with Loli and her family, and in the morning I thought I’d take in a little hike since I’d be spending the rest of the day on the bus to Guatemala City. I was going to hike to Los Sapos- another small ruins site in the mountains with great views of the city. The LP said it was about a one hour uphill walk, which I assumed meant an easy 45 minutes for me. Well, after 45 minutes up steep mountain roads in the blaring sun, sweating buckets, desperately in need of a bathroom, I passed someone and asked how much longer to Los Sapos. He said half an hour. I took a picture of the view from the height I was at, found a shrubbery-covered spot on the side of the road, turned around and headed home. Good enough.

I said my goodbyes and promised I would come back as soon as possible, and took a shuttle to Guatemala City. Because the other 2 folks in the van were going on to Antigua, I was graciously left in the parking lot of a movie theater in Zona 11, and had to pay $7 for a taxi to my hostel in Zona 1. This was a 10 or 15 minute ride. My 4 hour ride from Copán to the parking lot cost $10. Whatever. I arrived at the hostel, which my 3-year old LP had recommended as a backpacker favorite, and wished I had shelled out the extra $5 or $10 to stay someplace nice, near the airport, to just avoid the city altogether. My hostel was… weird, creepy, not very clean feeling… I was glad I was only there for the night.

Promptly upon being shown to my room, I had a knock on the door, and then a voice: “Sorry, but you’re the first normal looking girl I’ve seen here and I wanted to say hi!” Lacey, a girl from Hawaii, became my buddy for the evening as we braved the sketchy nighttime streets of downtown Guate searching for a friendly place to have coffee and a functioning ATM. The night passed without incident (thankfully I didn’t see a roach in my room until the morning, so I slept), and I woke up at 4:30 am for my 5 am taxi to the airport, to begin the next phase of my summer.

Having decided at sort of the last minute to go straight to Bogotá, and not to spend the first week traveling as I had originally planned (I made the mistake of reading the State Dept’s travel warning website for Colombia, and got a little freaked out), I was not entirely sure that all communication had been successfully transmitted and that there would be people waiting for me at the airport. It wasn’t going to be a huge problem- I made friends during my Miami layover with an American who was going to Bogotá to visit family, and also with the Colombian mother of the adorable 2 1/2-year old whom I was sitting next to on the plane, so I had people looking out for me, plus I had several phone numbers… but still, it was a huge relief when I was hesitantly approached by a young guy at the airport exit, who I knew right away was Gloria’s son, Leonardo. Gloria and her daughter, Soraya, were at the other side with a sign for me. They took me home, fed me grilled cheese and hot chocolate, and before long I was snoozing away my first night in Bogotá.

Take me Home!

I had a nice, full week in Copán. First, I had my daily 4-hour Spanish lessons with Nelly de Espinoza who was a little firecracker of a teacher and the complete opposite of Mayra in San Pedro. With Mayra, our sessions consisted mostly of conversation, the amount of talking equally shared between us, punctuated here and there by an exercise or two. Nelly, on the other hand, was all business. It was one exercise after another, in rapid-fire drill mode, and when there was conversation, it was Nelly’s and it was at lightening speed. I would just nod my head and smile and usually by the end I would have some idea of what she had been talking about and be able to provide an appropriate response. It was an exhausting 4 hours. Fortunately she was a very likable woman… otherwise I would definitely have given up.

The second main aspect of my Copán time was my homestay. It was a cool experience. I stayed with a 60-ish-year old woman, Loli, who lives with her sister, Mercedes. Loli is divorced and her ex lives somewhere in town, and she has a daughter and son-in-law and 2 granddaughters who live nearby and come over often, and she has a son and daughter-in-law and granddaughter who live in LA. Mercedes is also late-middle age, is not married, has no children, wears her hair in pig-tails and tight tank tops with no bra. They are both characters- talked fast and laughed a lot. They fed me a ton of tasty food, and in the evenings they would send their great-nephew- who was visiting on his vacation from school- to get beers from the bar across the street. And I had fun playing school with Loli’s granddaughter, Lizie- a very energetic 9-year old who enjoyed checking my Spanish homework for me and practicing her English. It was nice to be part of their home.

Other than Spanish boot camp and eating at Loli’s, the major events of my week in Copán were visiting the ruins, a horseback ride in the mountains, and a trip to the Enchanted Wings butterfly garden.

The Ruins at Copán Ruinas

Well, they may be no Tikal or Chichen Itza, but Copán’s ruins were still very cool and were a great place to spend a morning. To paraphrase from my Lonely Planet Guatemala the basic history of the Copán ruins is thus:

There is archaeological evidence that the Copán valley was inhabited as long ago as 1400 BC. The ancient city that constitutes the tourist attraction today was begun in the 5th century AD by king Mah K’ina Yax K’uk Mo’ (Great Sun Lord Quetzal Macaw) who ruled from AD 426 – 435. From 628 – 695, Copán was ruled by Smoke Imix, who built the city into a major military and commercial power. After Smoke Imix was a list of kings with funky names, so I’ll just share those with you for fun: Uaxaclahun Ubak K’awil (18 Rabbit) ruled from 695 – 738 and was beheaded after being captured in a war by neighboring king Cauac Sky. He was succeeded by Smoke Monkey, who then turned the throne over to his son, Smoke Shell. Smoke Shell is responsible for Copán’s most significant monument, the Hieroglyphic Stairway. After Smoke Shell came Yax Pac (Sunrise or First Dawn), and then the final king, U Cit Tok’ took over in 822. It is not known when Tok’y (as his friends called him) died, but it was around this time that the ancient civilization in Copán began its decline. Eventually the city was consumed by the jungle, not to be rediscovered until 1576 by a visiting Spaniard, and then not to be shared with the world until the mid-1800s when two American travelers published them in a book. And there you have it.

The Horseback Ride

Although most of my Spanish school’s free trips were in the afternoons when I had my lessons, they scheduled a morning horseback ride up into the mountains for us afternoon kids. It was a pleasant ride, with nice views of the countryside, and they brought us to an indigenous village which is now a project of JICA’s (Japan International Cooperation Agency), in which women are being taught weaving and craft-making techniques, as well as the business skills to market their goods. So naturally, I bought some of their things- a scarf and a little Christmas ornament. The project is still in its early stages and ultimately the goal is to get their crafts sold in the souvenir shops in town, but at the moment the whole thing seemed a little weird- like this project is only working because a handful of tourists are brought through each day and guilted into buying things. It seemed a little like an EPCOT Center attraction. But anyway. It was a nice horseback ride.

The Butterfly Garden

Ah, the Enchanted Wings butterfly garden. I wish I could live there. What a gorgeous, peaceful place. The butterflies were actually kind of sparse- although I did see a couple with hot-pink wings, which was awesome- but the garden was magnificent. Filled with amazing tropical flowers I’d never even seen before. I was lucky enough to be the only visitor at the time I was there, so I just took my sweet time, taking 3 or 4 pictures of every flower there. There was also an orchid garden, but unfortunately it wasn’t their blooming season, so I didn’t get to see any of them. But no matter. The butterfly garden was sublime. I told the owner how much I liked it and she said I could come back anytime and not have to pay- if only I hadn’t waited till my last day in Copán to go there! Now, having my very own Enchanted Wings butterfly garden is my latest aspiration. Except I think in my butterfly garden it will rain marshmallows.

Take me Home!