Alto de Los Padres
Clarification to a previous post: Those students I was talking about that I want to date....I want them to date EACH OTHER, I do not want to date them. Thanks Mol, for thinking I'm actually creepier than I am. Ruv you, mean it.
So minus my breakdown on Saturday, I had a really good weekend. After sulking/napping for most of the afternoon, I went downtown for this Jazz and Blues Festival that was at this sort of cultural center near all the government buildings. I was a little confused about what the place was but as far as I gathered, the place had several exhibition halls that were each sponsored by banks. Each bank had a branch in the building as well, so while you're waiting to do your banking you can explore the galleries. Kind of a weird idea, but sort of cool too.
The festival itself was fabulous. I love going to see live music and it cheered me up instantly. I felt as if I could have been sitting back in Minnesota or Wisconsin, watching a blues concert with my dad. Most of the songs were in English but were being totally rocked by all these Colombian dudes. I have no idea if they knew what they were saying or not, but most of the bands were excellent. The crowd it drew also provided excellent people watching.
After the festival, Pei and I met up with another friend and went to this pizza place recommended to us by another teacher at Colombo, the only other American. She told us it's the only pizza place in town that puts tomato sauce on the pizza AND has real pepperoni. Pizza here comes in a lot of different varieties, but none seem to be quite like it is at home. I always ask if the pizza has tomato sauce, they always look at me like I'm an idiot and say of course it does, and then without fail my pizza arrives, tomato sauce-less. This place did have tomato sauce though, and it was glorious.
I didn't stay out too late, because Sunday morning I had to get up at 6am to get ready for our hiking excursion. I went with 3 other teachers from Colombo, plus the husband and friend of one of them. Getting up that early 2 days in a row was harsh, but getting up for hiking was much easier than getting up to teach...We all met at one of the teacher's houses and then took taxis as far up the mountain as cars can get. We then had to walk up the rest of the road to reach the path.
Along the way we saw an interesting mix of poor and wealthy homes. It was clear that some people lived up there because they had to and it was all they could afford, but that others lived on the mountain purely to take advantage of the view. Our walk wrapped around the mountain, but most of the time we had a view of the city spread out below us. It took probably about an hour and a half for us to reach the top, stopping briefly along the way for a little snack of this sweet cake wrapped in corn husk. Yum.
At the top of the mountain was a small church where the teacher and her husband had gotten married, and where we'd made it up just in time for Mass (after a glass of fresh peach juice.) I will never cease to appreciate the fact that I can follow the Catholic Mass regardless of language because everything happens in the same order no matter where you are. It was quite lovely to be sitting in the last row of pews near the open entrance with a cool breeze blowing through.
After Mass, we went to a little restaurant-y thing for an empanada and some impromptu dancing on their patio. We sat there for quite awhile, enjoying the view, the breeze and the yummy food (about every 10 minutes someone went to go buy another thing to eat.) Finally it started looking like rain so we decided we'd better start to head back down. To entertain ourselves, we started belting out some hits from the great musical geniuses of Whitney Houston, Celine Dion and Elvis. I think I scarred a small Colombian child for life with my version of "I will always love you." It was preeeeetty fabulous.
By the time I made it home, I was quite ready for a nice shower and a good long siesta.
PS Is anyone else frustrated by the lack of availability of the verb 'siestar'? Should that not be a legit verb? Oh, ahora voy a siestar. In English you can totally say I'm going to nap now....why can't you Spanish with as sweet of verb as siestar?!
So minus my breakdown on Saturday, I had a really good weekend. After sulking/napping for most of the afternoon, I went downtown for this Jazz and Blues Festival that was at this sort of cultural center near all the government buildings. I was a little confused about what the place was but as far as I gathered, the place had several exhibition halls that were each sponsored by banks. Each bank had a branch in the building as well, so while you're waiting to do your banking you can explore the galleries. Kind of a weird idea, but sort of cool too.
The festival itself was fabulous. I love going to see live music and it cheered me up instantly. I felt as if I could have been sitting back in Minnesota or Wisconsin, watching a blues concert with my dad. Most of the songs were in English but were being totally rocked by all these Colombian dudes. I have no idea if they knew what they were saying or not, but most of the bands were excellent. The crowd it drew also provided excellent people watching.
After the festival, Pei and I met up with another friend and went to this pizza place recommended to us by another teacher at Colombo, the only other American. She told us it's the only pizza place in town that puts tomato sauce on the pizza AND has real pepperoni. Pizza here comes in a lot of different varieties, but none seem to be quite like it is at home. I always ask if the pizza has tomato sauce, they always look at me like I'm an idiot and say of course it does, and then without fail my pizza arrives, tomato sauce-less. This place did have tomato sauce though, and it was glorious.
I didn't stay out too late, because Sunday morning I had to get up at 6am to get ready for our hiking excursion. I went with 3 other teachers from Colombo, plus the husband and friend of one of them. Getting up that early 2 days in a row was harsh, but getting up for hiking was much easier than getting up to teach...We all met at one of the teacher's houses and then took taxis as far up the mountain as cars can get. We then had to walk up the rest of the road to reach the path.
Along the way we saw an interesting mix of poor and wealthy homes. It was clear that some people lived up there because they had to and it was all they could afford, but that others lived on the mountain purely to take advantage of the view. Our walk wrapped around the mountain, but most of the time we had a view of the city spread out below us. It took probably about an hour and a half for us to reach the top, stopping briefly along the way for a little snack of this sweet cake wrapped in corn husk. Yum.
At the top of the mountain was a small church where the teacher and her husband had gotten married, and where we'd made it up just in time for Mass (after a glass of fresh peach juice.) I will never cease to appreciate the fact that I can follow the Catholic Mass regardless of language because everything happens in the same order no matter where you are. It was quite lovely to be sitting in the last row of pews near the open entrance with a cool breeze blowing through.
After Mass, we went to a little restaurant-y thing for an empanada and some impromptu dancing on their patio. We sat there for quite awhile, enjoying the view, the breeze and the yummy food (about every 10 minutes someone went to go buy another thing to eat.) Finally it started looking like rain so we decided we'd better start to head back down. To entertain ourselves, we started belting out some hits from the great musical geniuses of Whitney Houston, Celine Dion and Elvis. I think I scarred a small Colombian child for life with my version of "I will always love you." It was preeeeetty fabulous.
By the time I made it home, I was quite ready for a nice shower and a good long siesta.
PS Is anyone else frustrated by the lack of availability of the verb 'siestar'? Should that not be a legit verb? Oh, ahora voy a siestar. In English you can totally say I'm going to nap now....why can't you Spanish with as sweet of verb as siestar?!
posted by Teresa @ 11:00 AM
1 Comments:
At March 4, 2009 8:10 AM ,
mollydizzle said...
I laughed out loud at the fact that you scared a little kid with good ole Whitney Houston! My ability to picture this is epic! Does everyone in Colombia know it's your birthday tomorrow?!?
~Mol Dol Amberg
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