To the left: Meat.
Okay, it's chorizo, which they make in Santa Rosa, a town we visited on Saturday. Warren ate one of those thing!
Ahhh... hello again. I've neglected to blog for a few days, but during the week it was because we were very boring people leading very boring lives (I laid in bed and watched Friends on Thursday afternoon), and Friday and Saturday were very busy days. So, I'm sorry if you've been worried about my health (or Warren's health). We're quite well. It took a few days for us to completely recover, but we both are healthy and happy now.
Like I said, we were very boring during the week. We returned to school on Thursday, but only for a few hours, and Fridays are short days, so we really didn't spend very much time at LPV at all this past week. We have to make up a week of our afternoon classes our last week here, but that's perfectly fine with us.
Friday afternoon was our "get better" goal because we had made plans a week before to visit one of our student's farms. The student's name is Ricky, and he came to Springfield last 
year for Camp Bear International. Ricky was actually one of the "problem" children last year (although he was really a good kid most of the time), but he has been one of the most helpful and welcoming students at Pino Verde. His parents are amazing. Last weekend Ricky and his mother, Adriana, took Warren to UniCentro (the mall), and this weekend they took us all over the area. (left: Manu, a student we met in Missouri. She went with us to the Panela trapiche and to the termales. She is eating panela before it hardens.)
year for Camp Bear International. Ricky was actually one of the "problem" children last year (although he was really a good kid most of the time), but he has been one of the most helpful and welcoming students at Pino Verde. His parents are amazing. Last weekend Ricky and his mother, Adriana, took Warren to UniCentro (the mall), and this weekend they took us all over the area. (left: Manu, a student we met in Missouri. She went with us to the Panela trapiche and to the termales. She is eating panela before it hardens.)
On Friday we took the bus to Ricky's apartment and had lunch with his family. They made us a fabulous lunch, and my food was most definitely vegan. I hadn't had anything except potatoes and rice for a few days (everyone was worried about my stomach), so it was wonderful to eat fresh vegetables and pasta. Warren had a huge plate of fish covered in a rich creamy sauce, and we had bread, wine, and salad! For dessert, they even gave me CHOCOLATE Silk soy milk! I was in heaven!!!
After lunch they drove us to the farm. Ricky's family (left) produces panela, which is a form of sugar. It tastes like m
olasses. We were able to see the entire process, from the sugar cane growing in the fields, to the donkeys that carry it to the trapiche, to the processing plant, to the packaging room. To process it, they put the sugar cane in a machine called the trapiche, which squeezes the sugary-edible part out and leaves behind the cane. The cane is then used to heat large vats of boiling raw sugar cane. They boil it multiple times, in different vats. This removes bacteria, and then the sugar liquid thickens. As it thickens it turns to a gold color. The workers then scoop it out onto large metal sheets and work it like they are making peanut 
brittle. Eventually it becomes thick e
nough for them to mold it, and then it is packaged and sent around the world. It is supposed to make little boys and girls grow up strong and tall. (Like milk... but it's sugar.) The finished product has absolutely no additives--it is only boiled and hardened sugar cane. They use it in drinks and in traditional dishes here. Kids also eat it straight, but it's like eating dark brown sugar. I actually really like it, but it is so sweet and rich that it is hard to eat a lot of it.
olasses. We were able to see the entire process, from the sugar cane growing in the fields, to the donkeys that carry it to the trapiche, to the processing plant, to the packaging room. To process it, they put the sugar cane in a machine called the trapiche, which squeezes the sugary-edible part out and leaves behind the cane. The cane is then used to heat large vats of boiling raw sugar cane. They boil it multiple times, in different vats. This removes bacteria, and then the sugar liquid thickens. As it thickens it turns to a gold color. The workers then scoop it out onto large metal sheets and work it like they are making peanut 
brittle. Eventually it becomes thick e
nough for them to mold it, and then it is packaged and sent around the world. It is supposed to make little boys and girls grow up strong and tall. (Like milk... but it's sugar.) The finished product has absolutely no additives--it is only boiled and hardened sugar cane. They use it in drinks and in traditional dishes here. Kids also eat it straight, but it's like eating dark brown sugar. I actually really like it, but it is so sweet and rich that it is hard to eat a lot of it.
After we saw the processing plant we visited the pig farm, and then we spent time at the "finca" (the country house), snacking and relaxing and watching it rain. No one actually lives at the finca anymore because in 1999 an earthquake basically destroyed it. The house is still standing, but it has been deserted. Ricky thinks that witches live in it. Maybe they do, but we had fun sitting on the porch and relaxing. On Saturday we had our morning classes. Saturdays are really tiring because we have over 48 kids in the course of 4 hours, and we are supposed to play games in English the entire time. In the first group we have like 8 seven-year-old boys, and only two of them really understand English. It is exhausting to try to get them to listen and participate.
Ricky's mother offered to take us home after our classes, and on the way we stopped at UniCentro. It's a very nice mall (with the first McDonald's in Pereira... oh so exciting), but we didn't have very much money with us so we spent our time window shopping. I did, however, buy a Spanish-English dictionary. Also, Ricky's mom sat with me and showed me a book called "This is Colombia." The book was in Spanish, but it had gorgeous photographs. She probably sat with me for 20 minutes explaining the pictures (in Spanish). She is much too nice to us.
After UniCentro we went back home, but we didn't stay there for long! Ricky's family picked us up yesterday evening and took us to Termales de Santa Rosa. The Termales are hot springs, and they are up in the mountains! We drove high above Pereira, to Santa Rosa. It's a much smaller town, and it is the gateway to the termales. It is also famous for its chorizo.
We drove high up into the mountains, past little vacation homes and hotels, through lovely forests, and along a moun
tain stream. It sort of reminded me of a jungle-like Switzerland! I would have taken a lot of pictures, but it was night, and it was difficult to see anything. Luckily, there was a full moon, so we could partially see the scenery around us. As we drove, Ricky started telling us ghost stories. It was almost scary... almost. Eventually, the road ended, and we had to take a gravel road up the rest of the way. It took a long time, but we finally reached "the end of the mountain" as Ricky described it. (Left: inside of the hotel at the termales.)
tain stream. It sort of reminded me of a jungle-like Switzerland! I would have taken a lot of pictures, but it was night, and it was difficult to see anything. Luckily, there was a full moon, so we could partially see the scenery around us. As we drove, Ricky started telling us ghost stories. It was almost scary... almost. Eventually, the road ended, and we had to take a gravel road up the rest of the way. It took a long time, but we finally reached "the end of the mountain" as Ricky described it. (Left: inside of the hotel at the termales.) The Termales 
were perfect. Because it was night, I had trouble getting good pictures, but these sort of show what it looked like. The hot springs are on top of a volcano, but because they are so high in the mountains the air is cold. In addition, a mountain stream tumbles down the mountain and ends in a waterfall near the edge of the hot springs. The picture to the left shows the cold waterfall. Another waterfall, pictured below, was incredibly hot. It is the source of the hot springs, and the water falls from a wall of hardened lava! People go under both waterfalls and get really cold or really hot, and then they jump into the hot spring pools. The pools are varying temperatures, but they basically feel like hot bath water or a jacuzzi. The water is very clean, and because it has a lot of minerals it is also supposed to be medicinal. Since we were at a hotel, servers would come by and take 
orders for snacks and drinks, and then they would serve it to us while we sat in the water. It was excellent. We spent the evening swimming between the two waterfalls and relaxing in the pools. I sipped mango juice and Warren ate an ice cream sandwich, all in the comfort of our little hot spring. We also played with the kids that had invited us. Ricky, Manuela, and Manu's little brother Juan Jose are a lot of fun, and since they speak English we really depend on them.
were perfect. Because it was night, I had trouble getting good pictures, but these sort of show what it looked like. The hot springs are on top of a volcano, but because they are so high in the mountains the air is cold. In addition, a mountain stream tumbles down the mountain and ends in a waterfall near the edge of the hot springs. The picture to the left shows the cold waterfall. Another waterfall, pictured below, was incredibly hot. It is the source of the hot springs, and the water falls from a wall of hardened lava! People go under both waterfalls and get really cold or really hot, and then they jump into the hot spring pools. The pools are varying temperatures, but they basically feel like hot bath water or a jacuzzi. The water is very clean, and because it has a lot of minerals it is also supposed to be medicinal. Since we were at a hotel, servers would come by and take 
orders for snacks and drinks, and then they would serve it to us while we sat in the water. It was excellent. We spent the evening swimming between the two waterfalls and relaxing in the pools. I sipped mango juice and Warren ate an ice cream sandwich, all in the comfort of our little hot spring. We also played with the kids that had invited us. Ricky, Manuela, and Manu's little brother Juan Jose are a lot of fun, and since they speak English we really depend on them.After the Termales we went to Santa Rosa for a very late dinner. Our hosts wanted Warren to taste the homemade chorizo because it is supposed to be the best chorizo in Colombia. The restaurant was open-air, and the chorizo was hanging out to dry. It was very Colombian! Warren liked his chorizo, but we both had agua panela, and it was fantastic! It's hot water with panela dissolved into it, so it's basically like drinking molasses-flavored water. Yummy! : )
Today (Sunday) was family day at school. I had been looking forward to it, but after a 2 hour long mass in Spanish, I lost a lot of my enthusiasm. We were a bit out of place, as we don't have family at Pino Verde, so Warren and I found some of the single teachers and hung out with them. They were tired, and I don't think they wanted to be at school working on their day off, so we all ate lunch in a classroom, hidden away from parents and students. Since 3 of us were native English speakers, we ended up having a lot of conversation in English. It was very welcome after two days of trying to communicate with our Spanish-speaking hosts. (Ricky's family is wonderful, but the language barrier can be frustrating.) After a few hours, we wandered out into the crowd. Family day included wine, so many of the teachers and parents were really happy.
We were given a ride home by a lovely couple whose daughter is one of our students. Her mother went to Texas A & M, and she had perfect English, and her father knew a little English. We had a great conversation, but Diego (her father), is convinced that the world is going to end in 10 years because of global warming, so the conversation was a bit unsettling.
FINALLY: I NEED TO MAKE AN ANNOUNCEMENT. I mentioned in my first entry that I had accepted a position at a school in Seoul, South Korea for the fall. After a lot of thought, I've turned that position down. Basically I realized that South Korea isn't right for me at this time in my life. I'm not exactly sure where I'll be in the fall, but I'm really happy with my decision.
Warren and I miss everyone, but we love it here! I hope you are all well!
Nice post again!!!
ReplyDeleteToo bad for South Korea, but there will be several other possibilities coming up!! Maybe just in Springfield so we can all live there happily after after;)