Dear M.I.O. Riders, You Suck.

I like to think that I generally keep things pretty positive on here; true, I may complain here and there, but overall I try to see the bright side of things.  That's not gonna happen in this post.

The M.I.O. is the city sponsored system public buses here, and while I don't really have any qualms with the entity as a whole I certainly do have some issues with the passengers.  Now, if you are one of the M.I.O. riders that is capable of acting civil and like a decent human being, then congratulations, you are in the small minority of people that does not get an eye roll or huff from me at the station.  We have have actually at one time or another shared a frustrated glance, thanks for being awesome.  Unfortunately, such people waiting for the bus are few and far between.  In fact, they sometimes seem nonexistent.  Here's the problem: everyone wants to be the first person to get on the bus they are waiting for which, in turn, causes not only a mad dash for the doors when said bus arrives, but it brings people to clustering around the doors that approximately 2.5 people can fit through at any one time.  That means, even if a person sees that the approaching bus is not the one they desire, they will hold their ground firmly in front of the sliding glass doors so that when their bus does come, they can get on first.  News flash people: THIS DOESN'T WORK.  Really what you are doing is causing mass chaos and more importantly, irritating the hell out of me.  Hi, I'm the one kindly waiting at the back of the crowd until I see the T31 coming from down the block.  And guess what?  I always manage to get on the bus.  Although, sometimes its a close call after I have to push my way through the crowd serving as a blockade for the door.  Sure, I may not always get a seat, but its really not a big deal.  I come from the land of L trains and CTA buses where getting a seat isn't always likely, and sometimes standing is the better choice anyway. 

Then there are those who are fond of the psych out.  The "I have been standing here in front of you and now as a bus that you need comes I am going to move toward the door like this is also the bus I am waiting for, but then stop dead in my tracks so that you have to re-route around me and almost miss the bus you waited 20 minutes for.  I was actually just trying to get closer to the door."  Thanks.  I get it people.  You are worried about getting on the bus and getting a seat, and I understand why.  I sometimes worry too when I see the 4:00pm crowd waiting for the E21 and E31, but you are only making it worse. When you crowd the door, it makes other people nervous too, so they crowd the door and then people have to push through 30 people deep just to get the gosh darn T31!  See?  Its a positive feedback loop, not much different than this one:

So if everyone just waited for their bus to come before stampeding toward the door, then we wouldn't have this ridiculous problem, and everyone could get on the bus peacefully.  But it won't just happen, be the change people.

Oh and don't even get me started on the guy who gets on the bus and stops approximately 8 inches in from the door.  Hi, sir.  Do you realize I can't get passed you and the door is now shutting on me and the 20 others trying to get on the bus?  Thanks for caring.

Paddling the Pacific

When David's friends Tony and Randy decided to visit, we I spent a lot of time trying to think of a good trip to take them on while they were here.  Luckily we had a 3 day weekend, so that made getting out of Cali for a bit a little more reasonable, but still didn't give us much to work with.  After lots of blog stalking, Lonely Planet reading and advice from friends, we decided to do a kayaking trip to the Pacific with Julio and Bicivan, the same group I went with to Volcan Purace.  I had heard nothing but good thinks about this trip and it really couldn't be worse than the volcano hike, that is off course unless I were to fall and tear my MCL again, but that didn't happen, thank goodness.  In fact, it was probably my favorite thing that I have done so far.  Now, I know I say that a lot, but it really was quite the experience.  Even better, we had 4 other co-workers join us, 3 of which had done the trip at least one other time and Kristin's cousin visited last minute and jumped on board.

Saturday started off early, and to a bit off a rough start with me thinking at 4am that they had been kidnapped as they weren't yet home and David's phone mysteriously shut off mid ring.  Luckily, they were ok, well at least not kidnapped, and we eventually made it to meet up with the rest of our group and were on our way to Buenaventura.  After about a 2.5 hour drive, we were in Buenaventura, a major port city on the Pacific Coast.  While there are actually a lot of goods and money coming through the port, the city itself appears very poor because the people benefiting from the port don't actually live there.  While I wouldn't have minded exploring the city a bit, it left much to be desired and I was OK with jumping onto our lancha for the ride to Juanchaco.  I had been warned that this trip was rather bumpy, but we lucked out and although it was the bumpiest boat ride I had been on, it was smooth compared to normal.  Even better, I didn't get seasick at all since my tolerance for motion (cars, taxis, buses boats etc) has improved about 100 fold since being here. 

After settling into our camp-like cabins, we made our way to the beach to get our kayak on.  A quick tutorial from Julio and we set out to the Pacific.  The first day out was filled with the usual coastal rain, which actually wasn't bad since the weather was still warm and we were pretty wet from the ocean anyway.  We spent the next several hours kayaking through caves and caverns (I don't actually know the difference between the two) and exploring the many little tributaries off the bay.  To my surprise, David and I only flipped once and it totally was not our fault.  It was however David's fault when he "accidentally" hit me in the head with his oar going under the dock.  Then we flipped coming back onto the beach and I was covered EVERYWHERE with black sand.  All in all though, a good day out.

Some people needed more instruction than others.

Julio showing us a map of where we were headed

Sunday was an unusual hot and rain free morning and we set out to explore the three islands across from our beach, including a short walk, several waterfalls, tide pools and even a bat cave.  The sun and stops to hike and explore made for a long day, soar backs and ridiculous tan lines; I was wearing Chaco sandals and capris, so even one week later I have white strap lines zigzagging across my feet and it looks like I am wearing socks.  So attractive.  But oddly enough it was quite relaxing.  Our free afternoon was spent by most sleeping and then we went to watch the sunset over the water.

Hanging out in the bat cave

"We're the three best friends that anyone could have..."

Monday was a no kayaking day and we all thought we were hiking to Ladrilleros about 45 minutes away, but we ended up going to La Barra almost 2 hours away which was not good news for my already-had-enough feet.  My sandals are not three-day-in-a-row shoes.  Ouch.  Walking back on the beach in bare feet helped and then came the socks and sandals which was a significant improvement. 

All in all a was an adventure filled weekend with good friends, good guides, good food and beautiful scenery.  Getting out of the city was a great way to enjoy time with visitors and a long weekend break and explore another part of Colombia.

El Lorax: En Busca de la Trúfula Perdida

Given my love for all things Dr. Suess and animated, seeing the Lorax was something I have been looking forward to, especially since Horton Hear a Who was so great.  Yes, I have seen all of the Madagascars, Ice Ages, Shreks and as well as most of the rest of the animated "kids" films released in the last 10 years, and I love them.  I even own quite a few.  They're the type of movie I can watch again and again and they still get a laugh out of me;  I have easily seen Monsters Inc. 10+ times.  When The Lorax finally came out here in Cali, I knew there was a good chance it would only be in the theatres in Spanish since it is easier to dub animated films and kids movies usually come in Spanish.  And so it was.  Last weekend I finally decided to go see El Lorax: En Busca de la Trúfula Perdida, and even recruited Jess to go with me.  I accepted the fact that I may end up lost in a Spanish movie, but thought since the intended audience was children under the age of 12, I might be able to pick up on a few things.  To my surprise, I understood just about everything that was being said, outside of the some of the songs.  Now, yes, I probably could have watched it in silence and picked up on the storyline, but the point is that I actually was able to follow the dialogue, which is pretty awesome. 

Luckily, there were less than 25 people in the entire 2:20 showing, as my tolerance for children in movies is low, so there were few interruptions to our viewing.  We were both quite happy with the movie and found ourselves laughing louder than anyone else in the theatre on multiple occasions.  And while I do think I understood at least 85-90% of the movie, I do want to watch it again, in English, just to check my understanding, and because it was a great movie.  Not to mention Pipsqueak, the most adorable little creature in the movie.   How could you not love him?

Even better, given the message of taking care of the environment, I have every intention of showing some all of this in my class next year during our Human Impacts unit.

The Birds and the...Geckos?

We have about 3-4 regulars in our apartment, geckos that is.  We see them all the time running across walls or even in the dishes in our sink.  I find them entertaining and sometimes can't help but watch them play or fight with one another, something I think David (and now probably others) judges me for.  I tried to play with one once and it bit me.  Oops. 

As I was sitting here posting my last blog I kept hearing their little clicking and squeaking sounds they make at one another and looked up to find two of them right next to one other, which I found super cute.  And then my living room turned into an episode of Life (a series that I of course own and love).  She wasn't havin' it though, and scurried away.  My Saturday nights are super cool sometimes.

  

Can you feel the love tonight?

Namaste

After almost 8 months of saying I wanted and was going to try Yoga, I finally did about 3 weeks ago.  Maggie, one of the 10th grade teachers, teaches a class after school on Thursdays, so I have had plenty of opportunities to join, and plenty of excuses for never actually going.  Back at the beginning of April I got the ok from my doctor to start running and trying Yoga after my knee/MCL debacle and decided I needed to go, for real, because I had a good feeling I would really like it.  Although I did attempt some Wii Yoga in college, that hardly counts as experience.  I think my biggest problem was my fear of feeling foolish as a first timer in a class of people who do Yoga almost weekly.  Luckily, I couldn't have asked for a more welcoming and open environment to attempt Yoga. 

My first class with Maggie went pretty well if you ask me; I was able to follow along pretty easily with some prior knowledge of movements and poses and never completely fell over which I count as a win.  I even surprised myself with some of the poses I was able to actually do and hold, albeit not all of them. I went back the following week and although I felt sore in most places the next day, it felt good.  It is relaxing yet requires focus on specific movements or places and awareness of the body.  And I can tell you from how I feel the day after, it is definitely a work out.  This week we didn't have class due to an after school activity for teacher's day and I found myself actually missing that 45 minutes.  So much so that I just went in search of free online yoga videos.  I found a 50 minute beginner's video, and while it was not as good as Maggie's class, it got the job done, even when my internet stopped working and I had to re-load the video about halfway through.  And now I find myself wondering what I will do while I am home this summer and next year when Maggie is gone.  Maybe Mandi will take over (if you read this, take it as another hint and a bit of pressure hehe) or maybe I will have to try out Yoga in Spanish; that would definitely be interesting.

As you may have noticed if you are an active reader, a lot of this year has been about trying new things (hence the experimenting) and I think that Yoga is just one more reminder that I can't be afraid to attempt something, no matter how uncomfortable or awkward it may make me feel.  Hopefully I can keep this in mind as I finish out my first year here in Colombia, and not lose the sense of wonderment as I move into my second year.  Namaste.

Delirio: Hecho en Cali!

Delirio is a salsa/circus/orchestra show that, as the title says, is made in Cali.  The performance we saw (which turned out to be the premier of the newest show) was "María, un Delirio de Amor", which Carlos explained to us was a Colombian version of Romeo and Juliet.  It is based on a novel written by Jorge Isaacs in which cousins Maria and Efrain fall in love, but are torn apart when Efrain must move to London to continue his studies.  Returning years later, he finds that Maria has died.  In the show I couldn't quite decipher what happened next, either Efrain married a ghost, Maria came back to life and they married, Efrain died and married Maria or Efrain married someone else all together.  Hard to say. 

Regardless, the performance was amazing and the dancing and gymnastics/aerobatics blew me away.  If you watch the dancers' feet on the video, it would be easy to think it is double time; it's not.  We got an extra treat when we discovered that there was also a Michael Jackson tribute portion of the show "Nadie es Igual".  This made the $120.000 pesos more than worth it for me; all of the free stuff they handed us as we walked down the read carpet helped too.  This is a production that I think is worth seeing again, although I would probably wait for the next show for a little variety.  Next time friends or family visit I would love to take them to see this because even if you don't love salsa I think anyone can appreciate the talent it takes to perform in this show.

Now, I thought about titling this blog "Why Technology Hates Me (But Really It's Usually My Fault)", but then decided people would be more likely to want to read about awesome salsa/circus shows in Colombia than hear me complain more.  That doesn't mean I'm not going to complain, but I'll try to keep it to a minimum.  You see, we went to Delirio a week ago, and it has taken me about that long to finally figure out a way to finalize and upload the video that I made of snippets from the show.  First, Windows Movie Maker would crap out anytime I tried to rewind in the video as I was editing it.  Weird.  Then when it was finally done (several hours and restarts later) it wouldn't upload to Blogger.  As I tried to upload it to YouTube, I discovered that it wasn't actually in a video, but a project file.  Oops.  Save as video file, wait ridiculously long time for save, upload to Blogger.  Wrong. No matter how long I left it to upload I would come back to an un-uploaded video.  Several days of trying and finally decided to upload the video to YouTube and then post THAT to Blogger...after it uploaded to YouTube for more than 230 minutes.  Por fin, I have a video for you, and while I am not requiring you to watch it, I think it is worth the 5 days it took for me to succeed.  Even if I have a shaky video hand and there are people occasionally talking in the background.  Insider tip: if you click "watch on YouTube" you can watch it full screen.  Enjoy.

Also, we're kind of famous as this is on the Delirio Facebook page,
along with a few others.