Caribe Princess Barranquilla

... Surprisingly few outsiders are knocking about which means we get treated royally by the locals and feted at the free street concert the Sunday evening (they do struggle to differentiate between Irlanda and Holanda in the Spanish speaking world so I was Paul the Dutchman for the night). It is noticeable how much of a community feel the parades have, the participants waving and hugging friends and family members as they pass by.

... of colorful costumes, dancing, and what has to be the most stunning women on the planet. I believe there were some men in the parade as well but after reviewing my photos, I couldn't be sure. Sorry girls, try to enjoy the dresses or something. Guys, enjoy the girls. What follows is a magnificent photo documentary of Carnival 2009. I suspect you will not be disappointed.

... smelly, I was hungry, my feet hurt, and the shaved-ice cart man kept honking his horn - I grew more and more annoyed and bothered. I was bothered by the poverty, the injustice, the fact that I gave so little and wasn't helping most of them. I was bothered by the fact that I started saying "No", when they asked for money. I was bothered about waiting 1.5 hours for the bus to arrive. I was having a dark storm in my mind - the dark storms I sometimes get, which can ...

... still believe strongly in such "things". Let me re-phrase - I believe that Natural Medicine, Herbs, Alternative Medicine, have a lot of validity, and there is a lot of mysterious energy which we choose to ignore most of the time, but this lady was not the one to harness this energy! LOL! Anyway, even if you don't believe in it Vati, know that I am thinking of you, your health and happiness, and the well-being of your new house! Merry Christmas!!  ;-)

... At which point is such an evaluation just self-praise? Maybe I should also critique the things I could do better: I could try to study more Spanish, I could attend our internal soccer tournament every Saturday morning, I could work more with our employees at the field (trainers, psychologists), I could work more closely with our marketing director. There are a lot of things I could                          do better actually. Ok, now I feel better.

... priorities, better priorities than before. Some things haven't changed..........., but I have changed a lot. They were 23-25, and I'm 28, but that's not what made me feel different, not my age, but my outlook on life. Anyway, it was nice to meet them. What else, hmmm, I'm stuck in my hotel room, but I'll enjoy it... there's nothing else I can do that would make any sense. I talked to Farah and if the rain lets up we will go see a movie. 

... weekend after that I'm finally getting to go to Tayrona National Park! Spending my nights in a hammock on the beach and my days hiking in the forest and visiting the indigenous villages on the reserve. Very exciting! What else has happened? Last Friday I got my chance at American Idol (judge) style fame as I was invited to one of the local schools to help judge their "Fourth English Song Contest". Four and a half hours in the ...

... perhaps, or did they understand what we were talking about? I'm sure they did. The streets were unpaved, dirty, flooded, trash, no services, poor, very poor. I am starting to understand the problem. I was trying to put myself into their shoes, but it was almost impossible. The trip to Chinita and then El Romance, was very tiring. There is much more poverty here than I thought, but a very different situation than Kyrgyzstan, not comparable. 

... rumours abounded of a 3 day cut off of the water supply to nearly the whole region, people flocked to the supermarkets and fought over bottled water like the last minute turkey buyers in M & S on Christmas Eve, and all over the city reserve tanks of water hidden in the buildings' basements were brought into action. Fortunately it transpired that the canisters were all plastic and securely sealed. The naval fleet got most of ...

... And if you stroll down to the nearby cafe, you can sit and chat with your friends over a 3 course lunch, or chat on the internet on one of their 50 computers complete with state-of-the-art web cams. Or, if you feel like just chillin', there's always the lazy boy area, where, for a small fee, you can eat your lunch on a lazy boy whilst watching a film of your choice on your own personal TV. Man I wish I'd studied here!!! Unfortunately I just work ...