San Francisco Hotel Barranquilla

Famed Columbian writer aptly observed that placing five Columbians in a room together soon becomes a party. So it's quite the sight to see about one million of them in the one place. Barranquilla, a gritty port town, is renowned nationally as the best city for Carnaval. We made it there in good time for the Batalla de los Flores parade on the Saturday and within minutes drinking rum with a few off duty policemen and their ...

... one's foam covered head stands out like the white flag of surrender. The truce is only temporary, however, as the friendly Colombians share the healing properties of their nectars of the gods with you ....rum and aguardiente. You cannot refuse this hospitality for fear of more foam reprisals and besides it's just good fun. Meanwhile, the passing parade is a marvelous ...

... I do this with Kelela? I didn't think so, but perhaps? Do I do this with my friends and family? Do I draw a line? Is it bad to draw a line? I will try to be more aware of this from now on, to better understand what is going on. So, much to tell today! Yesterday, Lili and I went swimming in Vulkan Totumo - yes, you heard right, swimming in a volcano! We went downtown to grab a bus and waited, waited, waited, waited.... We were approached continuously by beggars, it was ...

... Santeria, this is bad, very bad. Don't send it to your father! Lili I can't believe you went there!" Then I proceeded to tell her that it was all Lili's idea, since she goes there a lot, to get some herbs, charms, and spells, and that Lili made me drink something which made me suddenly madly love her. She got the joke.  So... joke aside, these types of "Natural Medicine" are intermingled with actual "Natural Medicine", but its amazing that ...

... the next level, and ensuring that things do not go back to the "old" way after I leave. Since the executive director has been out of commission for about 2.5 weeks so far, I have also been acting executive director as well. I have also met a bunch of great people, had really amazing (and one terrible) experience, from which I am learning a lot. I am improving my Spanish and I am making my decisions based on my heart, not on fear, and societal ...

... I don't end up going with them (they invited me). It was interesting though, they made me seem a bit older... maybe not older, but, different. Not that they didn't include me, or anything like that, they were very forthcoming, considerate, and good hosts, but I realized that I have moved on from a period of my life, which was their present period. I don't drink much anymore, don't smoke, eat healthy, live healthy, and have ...

... we headed to the local Empanada emporium for some...well, empanadas! (for those of you unsure, empanadas are the latino version of cornish pasties), and back to Joe's for a house party. Finally rocked on home at 6.30, so needless to say a good effort was made at celebrating! An effort was, however, not made on Sunday to do anything!! This weekend I'm going to a Fonseca concert (Colombian pop artist) which sounds really fun, and ...

... back into society. So, today I saw some very poor neighborhoods. The first one was called La Chinita. The soccer field, really was a dirty sand plot, with puddles, and goals. There was a small dirty pond behind the field, form run-off, filled with trash. The kids were barefoot, or wearing one shoe, shirtless, most with old clothes. They were mesmerized by Sammy, while he was speaking on the phone, They were all looking at us, in wonder, in ...

Time for another update! Thought I'd wait til a bunch of actual interesting things happened before I wrote another one!So what's happened since I last blogged... The Atlantico region (where I'm living) was in a state of high alert last weekend as a ship carrying 90 odd canisters of cyanide capsized and sank in the Magdalena river (where most of our water comes from). Panic ensued as the Colombian naval fleet arrived to try and gather all the ...

... to myself most of the time. All this for the grand price of £100 a month which ain't bad! The university is, for lack of a better word, spectacular! It's better equipped than most British universities, so they can't be short of a bob or two!The languages department even has a plasma TV in the reception area, which churns out movies like Spiderman and Harry Potter all day, which the students can watch in between classes!Or, I'm sure, instead of ...