More Attempts at Cooking

I realize I have done a very poor job of following up on my "Cooking in Colombia" theme, but to be honest, I haven't done much really, nothing to special at least.  But here goes my shot at a quick post on what I've been cooking.

Remember those arepas I made?  I was originally practicing them for an actual recipe form the book for Chicken and Chorizo Arepas with Chimichurri.  The filling of the arepas included shredded chicken, avocados, parsley, onions, garlic and a mayonnaise-Dijon mustard creamy sauce topped with slices of chorizo.  To dice the onions I went to my handy dandy Magic Bullet, and ended up with minced onions.  Oops.  Also used it to shred my chicken because I refuse to do so by hand.  Once again I underestimated it and ended up with chicken a little finer than I would have liked, but I wouldn't say it did much to change the taste.  I also decided to take my chorizo out of the casing and cook it ground rather than in slices.  This is what it is supposed to look like:

What it actually looked like:

Not the prettiest, but in all honesty it was darn tasty.  Kind of like a chorizo and avocado chicken salad.  I would definitely make this again, and maybe follow their recipe a little better, if for no other reason than to make it LOOK better. 

Verdict:  Success

More recently I tried to make fish tacos.  My roommates and I used to frequent a bar called Gaslight near our apartment in Lincoln Park for their $2.50 fish tacos and chimichurri fries on Wednesday's, and of course to visit Tessa.  I knew these could in no way live up to my expectations, but went for it anyway and threw in chimichurri fries for the heck of it.  Or maybe because they are one of my favorite foods.  Just maybe.

I decided against the beer batter, but in hindsight, it may have improved them.  I used talapia for the fish and marinated it in lime, garlic and other spices.  Unfortunately, I couldn't find cayenne pepper at the store, which also may have mad a big difference.  The cream sauce was equal parts mayonnaise, plain yogurt and ketchup all of which are readily available here, although I'm fairly certain that "natural" flavored yogurt in Colombia might actually mean vanilla.

I cooked some potato wedges in a pan with some oil and seasonings and then tossed them n a simple chimichurri sauce made from oil, parsley, garlic, oregano and a splash of vinegar.    Pretty easy.  After cutting up some cabbage, the tacos were ready to go!  And they weren't great.  Tasted pretty blah.  I would try it again when I had all the ingredients and maybe try a more flavorful fish or shrimp.  The fries however were delicious. 

Cookbook photo

My photo

 Verdict: Fry success, taco fail

Just last night I tried my hand at lasagna that David has been asking me to make.  After consulting with my mom, I set out for the grocery store, found what I needed including ricotta cheese and no need to boil lasagna noodles!  Score.  I can't tell you exactly what went into it, because very much like my mother, I rarely follow a recipe or keep track of what goes in.  Sure I glanced at a few online recipes for suggestions, but other than that I just threw together some seasonings with diced tomatoes and pasta sauce and mixed cheeses with other spices and spinach for the filling.  An hour in the oven and we had some VERY good lasagna.  Very proud of myself for this one.  No pictures, sorry.

Verdict:  Success

For ladies book club last week I wanted to take something quick and easy that preferably had a fall feeling to it, and apparently I found the prefect recipe:
http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/apple-pie-party-dip-688358/. 
So easy and everyone loved it; I'll definitely be keeping this one for future use.

Verdict:  Success

I think that's all I have now, except for my messy attempt at homemade fondant, but more on that after I attempt to make the coolest birthday cake ever.  Until next time. 

Halloween in Colombia

So now that it's actually close to Halloween (as in tomorrow) I feel like I can share my Halloween in Cali, which I have celebrated twice already.  With two costumes.  Yes, I'd hate to admit it, but I was one of those people who was dressed up and at a party on October 22nd, but please, hear me out.  It really wasn't my fault, nor the fault of anyone else, except maybe the Colombian government.  You see, they decided to hold elections today, the day before Halloween, thus making this what we call a "dry" weekend in ALL OF COLOMBIA.  Yep, you got it.  No alcohol was sold this weekend anywhere.  Well, actually I found out Friday it didn't start until 6pm last night, but whatever.  Yes, we could have bought alcohol last week and partied it up much closer to Halloween, but then you run the risk of having someone call the police on your party and apparently you can get in a lot more trouble when it's supposed to be a dry weekend.  Confusing I know, but I don't really ask questions, I just went to the party.  And then there was Halloween at school and having kids dress up on a Friday is a way better idea than dressing up on Monday, can't disagree with that.  So there you have it, there is my semi-explanation of why I had a costume on in my Facebook picture last week.  Judge me.  Go ahead.

Well now that that's out of the way, here's how it went.  If you don't know already, I love Halloween because it means I get to be crafty and try to be creative.  Oh, and I don't do slutty/sexy Halloween.  Tried it freshman year of college (sort of) and hated it.  So stupid.  I can't remember the last time I just bought a costume, put it on and was done.  If you ask me, that's cheating.  C'mon people, use your imagination.  I suppose when your mom makes you a homemade werewolf costume (did I mention I was kind of a tomboy as a kid), it starts to become a tradition.  She started with some of my old sweats and sewed patches of fur from the inside as she would take the train to and from work.  Add some scary teeth, lots of face paint and black hairspary and there you have it.  I requested a picture, but we can't seem to come across it, but trust me when I say: it was awesome.  There was also the year I requested to be a "ghost cat"...yeah I was just a white cat...Even as an adult, I find immense joy in coming up with a costume and piecing it together from scratch.  Last year for "Thanksoween" with David's family, I made him the Operation guy and I was a doctor; my costumes my not always turn out looking the best, but at least I put in the effort.

Normally I like to get crafty with fabrics and dyes etc, but I was worried about finding those things here, and the date kind of snuck up on us, so we decided to go with something that we could sort of piece together.  Nonetheless, I think our costume this year was still a hit.

Anyone who used to watch the Price is Right and thus the awesomely bad commercials in between should get the reference.  In case you missed it, David is from Publisher's Clearing House and is presenting me with a check for $10 million, flowers, and the random assortment of balloons Cali had to offer.  I clearly was caught by surprise and had to jump out from the shower to answer the door.  Clever right?    The only problem was, it wasn't very cross-cultural.  Colombian and Canadian friends just kind of stared confused, or politely gave a forced laugh and complimented me on my "just got out of the shower" costume.  Hrumpf.  Also, if we didn't have our props, then everyone was confused and thought David dressed as the President or a politician.  Finally sick of having to go run and grab props, David kindly told anyone who showed up late that they missed the surprise and didn't deserve to see our costume.  Harsh, but fair.

I also goet in a crafty cooking mood for the party and took some goolish treats to Amanda's too.  Eyeball Oreo balls and monster toes made with chorizo looked gross, but tasted delicious.  I was glad to be able to find almost all the ingredients I needed and made other improvisations as necessary, like cherry juice for red coloring.

There were a lot of other great costumes, and so many creative and homemade!

Mr. President with rocker and pirate

Ninja Girls

Incredible Hulk

All the fellas

Then there was Halloween at school.  Of course I needed a different costume, and I struggled all week with what to do.  At different points I considered a bag of jelly beans, a pencil, a gumball machine among others, but finally decided on a skunk, or in Spanish, zorillo.  With a borrowed black hooded sweatshirt, my black sweatpants, a white towel, a black sock and a clothes hanger a was a homemade skunk.  Oh and tape.  Lots of tape.

Most middle schoolers didn't dress up, or changed right before the Halloween assembly.  Middle schoolers can be pretty lame.  I managed to get a picture of some my students that were dressed up.

My kids all loved my costume and said how cute and creative it was, some didn't even know I had made it myself (OK it wasn't THAT good, but I'll take a compliment).  I meant to take a can of Febreeze to school to "spray" people, but in the rush of the morning I forgot.  I think it could have made a difference.  Unfortunately when it came time for the teacher contest, a certain math teacher dressed as a greaser won for his black T-shirt and jeans and gelled hair.  Yeah, I'm sure his on stage hip thrust had nothing to do with the screaming 12-14 year old girls...I'm a little bitter.  Oh well, I'm just glad my kids liked my costume and lots of them saw me later and said they wanted me to win.  And that science is cooler than math.  Fine, that last parts a lie.  Some of my 7th grade girls below won for the group costume for being candies.  Cute.

Middle school group costume winners

UP! High school group winners

When I saw the UP characters as I was walking back to my class after lunch, I made them stop for a picture.  So good!  I told them how creative I thought it was and wished them luck, and they won! 

Some high school teachers dressed as super heroes.  David was Wolverine from X-Men and had some fellow 10th grade teachers joined him on the theme as Beast and Storm.

All in all it was another successful Halloween and I'm glad I had so many creative friends to share it with!  Happy hauntings everyone!

Semana de Receso in Bogota

Every year in Colombia, students get one week off around Columbus Day called Semana de Receso.  This started just a couple years ago in order to encourage traveling in Colombia.  While the students had off from October 7th to the 18th, faculty and staff still had curriculum days Monday through Wednesday, but I'll take a 5 day vacation anytime. 

This Semana de Receso was extra special as two friends of ours from home came to visit.  Jackie and Tessa are avid travelers and planned a trip to South America around the time we had off.  They spent two weeks in Ecuador before coming to Cali on the 12th.  They ventured to our apartment while we were still at school, but luckily Wednesday is the day our cleaning lady Rosa is there so I left her as well as our security guys a note to let them in.  After work we eagerly jumped on the early 2:30 bus home to greet our guests.  Not surprisingly, we walked in to find Jackie snuggled/balancing on 2 chairs in the living room napping, while Tessa was reading up at the pool.  It was so great to see them.  Our first order of business however, was to attempt to contact the Cali airport who managed to lose Jackie's bag.  Stupid airport.  Luckily she ended up having an email that they had found it, but she didn't get it until we were back at the airport Thursday to fly to Bogota.

Wednesday night we went with my friend Kristin and a friend she had in town to a bar/restaurant called Bourbon Street which had the "normal" food Tessa and Jackie were craving after 2 weeks of traditional Ecuadorian food.  Afterward we went to Amanda, Jeff and Courtney's in San Antonio.  They all have really cool studios/one bedrooms in the same little building.  They recently got a homemade wooden table for the rooftop outside Amanda's place and invited us all over to celebrate the start of Semana Receso. 

  

Thursday morning we made our way up to Loma de la Cruz, an artisan market in the north per the suggestion of Kristin and several other friends.  It was a very cool little area with lots of shops that David and I will certainly be heading back to to do some Christmas shopping!  Since it was a weekday, there were quite a few tiendas that were closed, so I would suggest going on a weekend to get the full experience.  We also played with the CUTEST little puppy, whose 4 year old owner I'm sure was convinced we were going to try to steal him.  David also got a Colombian soccer jersey he has been wanting since we got down here, so I think it was a success overall.

This little guy almost came home in one of our purses

Shoe maker in Loma de la Cruz

We made our way up to Granada for some coffee at Juan Valdez and lunch before heading back to Ciudad Jardin to pack and head to the airport.  We wanted to leave in plenty of time as the airport is north of Cali, and at that point didn't know how easy or difficult it would be to get Jackie's bag.  I had never really gone through a large airport in another country NOT going back to the US, so not having to take off my shoes and have our bags put through 5 times was a nice change  Waiting for our flight we got some quality reading time in and ice cream, and then more reading when our flight was delayed.  When we finally got on our plane we were in Bogota within 35-40 minutes.  Shortest flight ever; I barely had time to recline my seat before we were descending.  We got into a taxi and made our way to our hostel in La Candelaria.  Before heading to Bogota we were told this was the most dangerous part of Bogota at night.  And after getting back people were surprised we stayed there.  And the woman who ran the hostel told us it was unsafe at night.  And another couple staying there had been robbed the night before.  Now, all these things considered, I still felt pretty safe.  I would not be roaming around the streets of anywhere in Bogota at night anyway.  During the day, the neighborhood was really cool, and close to a lot of the things we wanted to do and see.  And well, we too like to live dangerously...

The name of our hostel was Anandamayi (I think) and I would recommend it to anyone, especially if you are looking for a quieter hostel, but not if you don't like sharing a room with up to 11 other people.  But really it wasn't bad.  There were only about 4-5 other people in our dorm in addition to David, Tessa, Jackie and I. 

The first morning we got up and had breakfast courtesy of the hostel: 3 breads, 2 fruits, 1 cheese, 1 egg and coffee or tea.  It was no made to order omelets, but it got the job done and saved us money.  Then we set out on our way to explore Bogota.  Our morning included seeing Bolivar Plaza where the senate and judicial building are as well as a cathedral and stopping at the Donacion de Botero (Botero Donation), both within 5 blocks of our hostel. 

Botero is famous for his "proportionally exaggerated"
(aka FAT) paintings and sculptures like Mona Lisa here

Me in a fat hand

Afterward we walked a little further from our hostel to the Gold Museum (Museo de Oro), but stopped just outside to look through another artesian market where I got a scarf and a bracelet and David got "Diario de Ana Frank" so read in Spanish.  We made our way through the Gold Museum, nothing extraordinary, but definitely cool to see.  LOTS of gold.  And they had a fun floor map you could walk on.  Obviously I stood on Cali and therefore have a new banner for my blog title.  Thanks Bogota!

We grabbed a yummy pasta and salad lunch at a little (but crowded!) restuarant called Andante Ma Non Troppo back in La Candelaria close to our hostel, which according to my Lonely Planet guide book was supposed to have the best bread.  Good bread, good food, great lunch deal.  We spent the afternoon walkin around more of Bogota with some more markets and just general touristy things.  One thing I love about South America is the street art/graffiti and all of the colorful buildings.

"Smiling since 1999"

 

For dinner went to Zona Rosa to the Bogota Beer Company.  Not a whole lot to choose from for food, but dark beer ooooh the dark beer.  It was delicious.  Cali only has light watery beer that personally I think is awful.  I thought they would have a larger beer selection but they only had there four normal selections and then a Weizen.  Still worth the trip.  Given that it was rainy and cold, we didn't explore much of Zona Rosa like we had hoped.  The next morning we were up trying to decided what to do for the day, asking the ladies at the hostel for some insight.  After some road blocks, we decided to head to Zipaquira to see the Salt Cathedral, Catedral de Sal.  Good advice and good decision.  This "salt mine" was so much more than I expected.  There was an hour long tour that we decided todo in English to get the most out of it, and I'm glade we did.  It meant not only could I actully understand and appreciate what he was saying, but that it was just the four of us with two older Texan couple.  It made for an entertaining tour.  The sculptures were beautiful and if you ever make your way to Bogota, plan this into your trip.

I had a "miner" accident.  Haha, get it?

Stations of the cross

Nativity

We had a late lunch and caught our bus(es) back to Bogota.  We thought about going out for a beer, but once again the rain kept us in.  That, and  the hostel had Monopolio, the Spanish version of Monopoly: just one more way I've been working on my Spanish.  Naturally I was the first one out and the David Hotel chain took over the world, but at least I lasted more than 30 minutes this time. 

Sunday morning we were up and off to Monserrate.  After buying tickets and waiting in the sweltering sun, we got on the cable car and made our way to the top to be greeted my cold rainy weather.  Oh the weather of Bogota.  From the top there is a beautiful view of the city, a church and yet anoher artesian market where I found a Christmas gift for my mom.  Shhh don't tell her though ;-) Waiting in line there were several families and little kids that kept looking at us as we all stood corraled.  I heard some "tan blanca" (so white) and finally a little boy asked if he could take a picture with Jackie, Tessa and I (had to get la rubia (the blonde) in of course.  The also took pictures with the tall white guys from Sydney and Germany; apparently white people are famous in Bogota.

 

On our way up

Enjoying the crowded ride

Bogota in the background

After taking the cable car back down, we caught a cab back to our hostel to have our sandwiches since the rain put a damper on our picnic idea.  After a couple rounds of gin rummy, it was time for Jackie and Tessa to head to the airport to catch their 6:00 flight to Cartegena.  David and I didn't have much else to do so we split a cab with them and hung out at the airport at the Bogota Beer Company near our gate.  We did use our awesome Spanish to ask if there were any earlier flights (and she understood us!) but there weren't. 

So to finish, my final thoughts/insights/advice on visitng Bogota:

• Bogota has seriously bi-polar weather.  Dress in layers.  One minute you're sweating in a T-shirt and jeans, the next you're searching for your scarf and jacket
• The air might be cool, but the sun is strong so sunscreen is a must
• I will definitely be planning a trip back to see more of the places outside and around Bogota
• Note to self: bring back beer next time

Another long post, my apologies.  Until next time...

Binationals in Pereira

Every year, the schools in Colombia that are part of SACS get together for Binationals, a several day sports tournament hosted by a different school each year.  The high school, middle school and teachers all have different locations at different time of the year.  As I mentioned at the end of my Panaca post that I went straight from Quimbaya to Pereira with three other 7th grade teachers for Binationals.  As you can imagine, three days filled with activities with 7th graders followed by more traveling and a weekend of sports is exhausting.  Good thing this was all followed by Semana de Receso. 

Anyway, after the buses taking everyone back to Cali dropped us off closer to town, we wandered our way around asking how and where to catch a bus to Pereira.  And by "we" I mean Christian, one of the PE teachers.  Thank goodness for him because the collective Spanish of Durkee, Scott and I probably wouldn't have gotten us far.  We found a helpful little old man who informed us we could just wait at this corner for a bus to come and he would flag it down for us.  Sounds great.  We grabbed something to drink and waited with all of our bags outside a little tienda for the bus to come, with no specific arrival time.  After about 15 minutes, the man informed us that we in fact had to go somewhere else to catch the bus.  I didn't actually catch what he said, but we had to get up and do more wandering so that's what I inferred.  We wandered for about another 10 minutes until we found a bus place, where they told us we had to go to a different corner to catch the bus to Pereira.  Five more minutes of wandering and we found the bus, ready to leave.  Luckily it was the first stop so we all got seats after paying our whopping $5000 pesos (close to $3 USD) for our 1.5-2 hour bus ride.  As is the case with most Colombian buses, the driver stopped anywhere and everywhere to pick up anyone and everyone along the way, which is why our trip was a little longer.  It got pretty crowded and hot, but luckily I had grabbed a seat next to the window and exhaustion from Panaca allowed me to sleep the majority of the time.  Even when an elderly gentlemen was jabbing his elbow into my side for about 30 minutes.  Thank you sir. 

When we got to the bus terminal in Pereira we caught a cab to our hotel and Christian got us all checked in.  Then we went out to the centro to grab a bite to eat, at which point we realized that Christian, bags still in hand, wasn't actually staying at the hotel.  His parents live about 30 from there and he was going to stay with them.  So in other words, he went COMPLETELY out of his way to make sure we got to our hotel and found a place to eat safely and double and triple checked that we knew how to get back before he had more traveling of his own to do.  Amazing.  Yet another reason I love Colombia, my school and co-workers.  Scott, Durkee & I grabbed some Italian food and looked around the mall a bit before heading back and waiting for the people from Cali to arrive.  Their bus wasn't leaving school until 6pm so they weren't scheduled to arrive in Pereira until about 9:30-10:00.  When I got back to the hotel I caught up on Internet, attempted to read before passing out around 8pm.  Woke up when David knocked at the door and then pretty much went back to sleep until morning.  Field trips are exhausting. 

Volleyball and basketball games weren't until 1 in the afternoon the next day, so neither David nor I bothered to set alarms.  Luckily we woke up at 7am to discover our bus was leaving for the school at 7:30 for the day and we would be back until midnight or later.  Quickest shower and re-packing ever.  We made our way to Licio Ingles, the host school for the morning soccer games.  Still somehow exhausted and having little knowledge in the rules of soccer, I spent my morning sitting on a bench attempting to read/nap.  Lunch came around and then it was time for volleyball and basketball.  One of the other three schools didn't have a team and Bolivar had enough for two, so we split up.  Not sure if it was A and B teams (in which case I was definitely put on B) but we both lost to the other two school playing, but I will say we put up a heck of a fight.  I still have floor burns from all my awesome diving for balls sans knee pads.  Three games in a row was exhausting and while it was fun, I was certainly fading and glad it was over.  After our games, the basketball moved from the outdoor court to the covered (but still open-air) court.  Good thing, because most of the players were sun burnt from playing outside for 2-3 hours. 

Most of the Bolivar competitors

After all the sports we showered and changed to get ready for our evening with all the athletes at a finca another school was renting out.  Although finca literally translates as farm, it refers more to a countryside house or estate.  After several stops along the way we finally got there and I got to enjoy my first ever lechona, a traditional Colombian meal consisting of a roasted pig stuffed with rice and other vegetables.  Looks gross, tastes delicious.  The rice from the pig is served with an arepa and some of the crispy skin from the pig.  In general, lechona is made for special events or occasions, our co-worker had one for his wedding, and they can feed MANY people.  Although I was originally very excited for a night of fun, the blaring music and onset of continued exhaustion (I'm telling you it was a LONG 5 days) and excitement wore off and all I wanted to do was sleep.  Others agreed.  While some partied and danced, especially when the live band came, many of us sought hammocks, empty couches or any open floor to rest on.  Finally around 11:30 our friend Lyndi had had enough and called several cabs, since our bus wouldn't be going back until after 1am.

Sunday was meant to be another day of sports, but instead of school against school, we integrated teams and played.  The day started a little later and there was one soccer game and then lunch and then a basketball game.  No one who played volleyball had any interest in playing so we didn't.  We're a bunch of bums.  We packed up and boarded the bus for our trip back to Cali.  After 5 days gone, getting back and sleeping in my own bed never felt so good, but I'd probably do it all again given the chance. 

Oh and in case you were wondering, the school that hosted Binationals didn't have a softball field, hence, no softball.  Bummer.

Panaca

First of all, I would like to say that MY grade school fieldtrips were a joke.  Trip to Chicago?  Thanks I've lived here all my life.  Springfield?  I'm sorry I know its the capital and all but NO 8th grader thinks its cool or entertaining.  And my class never even got to go to Medieval Times like every other 6th grade class.  What a ripoff.  Now Bolivar knows how to do it right.  I probably had more on our fieldtrip as an adult than I had on any trip I had in grade school or high school, with maybe the exception of New York. 

Wednesday morning we got to school around 6am and started loading children and baggage onto 3 buses and started on our way to Panaca in Quimbaya-Quindio.  Quindio is the department or state (Cali is in Valle de Cauca) and Quimbaya is the municipal.  I'm still struggling with how exaclty to classify what Panaca is, so I think the best way is simply to describe the various activities we had over the three days we were there. 

The bus ride was supposed to be about 3 hours, but with traffic and a certain incident in which a girl "accidentally" (this is still up for debate) broke a window on a bus with the emergency hammer, it took more like 5 hours to get there, setting our schedule back just a bit.  No worries though, if you know me, you know I slept 80% of the time, when I wasn't catching bits of Transformers 3 or Rio. 

We were originally suppose to stay in big malocas or huts with about 20-25 students each, but Colgate was having a convention there at the same time and partying all night, so they moved us into rooms at the hotel nearby.  When we arrived they introduced the kids to a general outline of the week and we had lunch before we were off to our first activity.  The first afternoon the students were split into "tribes" with Panaca guides to compete in Quim y Baya.  After being war painted with natural paint from seeds, each tribe had to complete different tasks from an egg toss to crossing a small pond and rolling team members in a wheel. 

About 1 min after this the boy in the stripes fell in again, and then again.  Being great teachers and principals, we watched and laughed.  And took video.

After dinner back at the hotel, two of the larger groups, including mine, set out for our camping adventure.  It had rained during dinner and looked like it might rain again, so we opted to camp where we had a roof to cover.  After students whined and fought about who was sleeping with who in what tents, the guides helped them put their tents together.  At which point it appeared as though the 6 teacher chaperones whould be without a tent.  We tried to work this to our advantage and figrue out a way to go back to the hotel, but in the end it turned out the guides had set up 2 tents for us.  One old, rickety tent not under one of the rooves and another on the hard floor right next to all the boys tents.  The females opted for the older tent furthest from the kids, even if it was't covered, and left the boys with the boys.  Of course it started raining again over night, and I was awoken by the terrifying sounds of the guides covering our tent with garbage bags so we wouldn't get wet.  I still woke up with wet feet but was greeted by one of the most beautiful views so it all turned out alright.

Day two was another busy day.  After breakfast, my group one started the day with canopying, or zip lining, a first for me.  I didn't really think much about it, so I couldn't syke myself out.  It wasn't until we started climbing the first tower that I freaked out a little bit.  The climb seemed unending.  Near the top I thought I was imagining the tower swaying or that I was just really shaky until Amy said something and I realized the tower WAS swaying because it was so tall.  Freaky.  Once I got hooked up to the cables it was no problem.  Except on the second line when I didn't make it all the way to the end and a worker had to come get me.  He started canopying toward me, flew into me, said "hola", and wrapped his legs around me and pulled me to the end.  It was a super special treat.  Then on the last line they have a photographer at the end taking pictures as you fly in, I got stuck again.  This time I was close enough I could pull myself in on the cable.  I hope a picture of that doesn't show up on the trip DVD.  Embarasing.

All the boys were the first in line.

Brian, the MS principal and Amy the 7th grade English teacher with me ready for canopy!

After canopying we spent the rest of the morning with the animals.  First was milking cows.  Some students even tried milk squirted straight from the utter.  It was both disturbing and gross.  While I didn't try any "fresh" milk, I did try my hand at milking a cow, and I have to say it was a lot easier than I thought.  In the same area were some baby and adult goats we could buy milk and other treats for.  Two of our most troublesome boys were the first to buy a bottle of milk to feed them, which I found cute and surprising.  They didn't even start teasing the animals until about 5-10 minutes in...boys will be boys.  Martin even offered me the rest of one of the bottles so I could feed the little guys too.  They were super cute.  Then there were the sheep.  The guides let the kids lay in the pens, put feed on the stomachs and had the sheep eat off the kids stomachs.  Weird, but funny.  We also had cows licking molasses off our hands and some students put it on their cheeks to let the cows lick it off, again weird and humorous. 

We headed cak to the hotel for lunch and then our afternnon activity was horseback riding.  Much better experience than last time.  Nice and slow, no trotting or galloping, but nothing too exciting.  Except the Zorse, or zebra horse, which I thought was a Quagga that I once taught to a Biology class when discussing extinct animals.  Needless to say, when I saw this thing I was utterly confused and somewhat convinced that Colombian drug lords must have somehow had something to do with this.  However, upon further investigation when I returned to Cali, it appears as though zebra horses do exist in the modern world and there are different variations, some of which (the Quagga) are in fact extinct.  Glad I got that one figured out.  After our horseback riding, we watched the least PC rodeo show ever.  There were little people on little horses, who later dressed up as a little indian child that was kidnapped by cowboys after being lost by there hooting blonde pony-tailed indian friends, or so that is what I gathered from the story.  So weird.  After that little piece there was some pretty cool stunt riding though.

That night after dinner, the other group of students and chaperones camped while our groups went on a senses and solo walk.  The kids all put their bandanas on as blindfolds, and the teachers conviniently didn't have any, so I thought we were safe.  Luckily the guides offered their flags from Quim y Baya as blindfolds and we got to take part too.  We were all lined up blindfolded with our hands on the shoulders of the people in front of us.  The idea was to use our senses other than vision.  A special treat for me was also basically being without hearing as well since the guides, and therefore the students, only spoke in spanish.  I got the majority of it but it certainly was a challenge.  We walked blindfolded and then they put different things on us to touch and taste.  I didn't enjoy that very much.  After our senses walk, we took part in a solo walk in which everyone walked the path alone, without a flashlight until we came to a fork in the road that would lead us to our fire for the night.  Again, it waa difficult because I wasn't really sure what the fork was or where to go, but I managed.  And the moon was so bright we didn't need flashlights anyway.  At the campfire, our leader told some history and stories, most of which I missed because the vocabulary was foreign and the translation part of my brain shuts down after too much spanish comprehension.  They had a sort of graduation ceremony and all the kids got a certificate, a t-shirt and a hat, the teachers got a certificate too for completing the week. 

On our last day Friday my group had the dirtiest of all the activities: the Guadaventura.  I couldn't take anything without destroying or losing it, so I don't have photos, but I stole some from Rob the math teacher who has a waterproof/indestructible camera to give you all an idea.  The guides were also taking photos for the DVD they are making for us.  By the end of the activity I was literally covered head to toe, and everything in between, with mud.  We started by having to repel backwards down a steep hill surrounded by ominous looking plants and branches, down to the bottom where a huge mud pit and creek were waiting for us.  Of course the guides encouraged mud fights.  At the bottom it was quite slippery, so rather than trying to stay on my feet and falling, I chose to just scoot down the hill and embrace the mud and filth.  We had to get into the creek, several shoes were almost lost and countless feet stuck in the soft mud on the bottom.  We walked through the creek, got out up steep muddy hills and jumped back in.  Then we were tied to a rope by our wrist and had to follow the rope over and under branches and bamboo, which meant going under the muddy water.  Some girls cheated and slipped their hands out, so I was sure to give them BIG hugs and tell them what great students they are.  At one point I was up to my knees in mud and up to my waist in water, and gave myself some muddy war paint.  The end of our walk though the creek led us to an army crawl which is where things really got messy.  As we crawled through, those looking on were throwing and piling mud on our backs, easily adding 10 pounds as we slowly crawled through.  I reminded students that grades were due mid October, but that didn't seem to stop them.  Afterward we washed off in the water, then hosed off on our way back to the hotel and then rinsed off again in the shower by the pool before finally heading to our room to take a real shower.  So messy, but so fun and worth it. 

View of the army crawl area

Scott the Social Studies teacher crawling through

After cleaning and packing up at the hotel we had lunch and then waited for the buses.  Although everyone was heading back to Cali, Scott, Durkee, Chirstian and I got off the bus nearby about 15 minutes away and hopped on a public bus to head straight to Pereira for binational games.  Stay tuned for that recap.

Longest. Post. Ever.

Hope you enjoyed our field trip as much as I did!