Adventures of My First Week with Gloria

Adventures of My First Week with Gloria

                I spent last week with Gloria, pastor of La Iglesia Cuarta, Chaplain at El Colegio Americano, and teacher at El Colegio Americano. We had time to relax, catch up on sleep, enjoy each other’s company, visit cities outside of Barranquilla, and spend time with different people.

                        
                   Gloria with one of the thousands of painted trees

                On Tuesday, Gloria, two of her friends, and I ventured to Usiacuri for the first time. Upon arriving, we found out that the town is not made for cars. So, Gloria parked her car and walked to the house of her pastoral visit and her friends and I began walking to different artisan goods shops. I did not know that we were going to be shopping, so I had not exchanged any more money. The wonderful women I was with loaned me money so I could purchase the beautiful handmade goods that I wanted. We walked all throughout the town. We stopped at Julio Florez’s (Julio Florez is a famous Colombian poet who focused on romantic poems) house and museum, but it was closed so we walked around the grounds and took photos. Tuesday was an extremely hot day in the mountains of Colombia, so we stopped for a Colombian sno-cone. We continued our walk to Gloria’s car with our shopping bags, but had to stop and rest in some shade along the way. While we relaxed in the shade, an ambulance drove by. A few minutes later, it drove by again but this time it stopped and the EMT asked if we were okay. We had to laugh because we were sure they asked because I was beat red from the heat and the sun. Alas, we were all okay! After spending time in Usiacuri, we ventured to Pital for another pastoral visit. My first times in Usiacuri and Pital were a wonderful adventure with new friends…and an adventure in which the language spoken was solely Spanish, and my face was bright red!

                           
                                      Catholic Cathedral in Usiacuri

                            
                                  Museum and House of Julio Florez          

                           
               Medicinal water pools that Julio Florez used for health benefits

                                   
                            A man preparing our Colombian sno-cones

                Soccer is one of the most important things in the lives of Colombians. So, when there is a game, it is a holiday! After Tuesday’s game, I celebrated the win with Johana and her husband, Daniel. We walked through the park across from Gloria’s house and I picked up a mango that fell from the tree right as we walked past. Watching the game with my friends from the Presbytery has become a tradition. So, we all watched Saturday's game together, also! I had a great time watching the game with my friends and even found myself cheering almost as loudly as they were! 

                             
                                            Cheering on Colombia!

                                       

                                 

                                       

                           
                       A walk through the park with Johana and Daniel

                My second venture to Usiacuri was with Gloria and her niece, Claudia. Claudia wanted some fun handcrafted gifts like I had bought, so we ventured out to the small town for the second time that week. This time, Julio Florez’s house and museum was not closed so we were able to tour it and learn about Juilo Florez. The museum and garden are two of the most beautiful places I have been to in Colombia. Of course, I also did some more shopping of the handcrafted goods!

                                 
               An employee of Julio Florez's museum reciting a poem of his 

                            
                              The garden at the house of Julio Florez

     

     Gloria in front of the house of Julio Florez

                The weekend consisted of two Colombian weddings. While in attendance of the two Colombian weddings, I learned that dessert is the first food that is served at weddings and that Colombians are the best dancers in the world! I attended church at La Iglesia Septima with Omar and Gina on Sunday and then we ate at my favorite Mexican restaurant in Barranquilla (nothing compares to La Fiesta, but it is delicious!)

                           
                                            The First Wedding

The second wedding

 

Sofia, the Flower Girl

Omar loves cake!

Mexican restaurant

                I know that this blog post is really late for last week, but I figured better late than never! I am thoroughly enjoying my time in Barranquilla and different people comment on how they can tell my Spanish has gotten better. I just wanted to give an update of last week and hopefully this week I will have more blog posts with less information and more details of specific days! Thank you for your continued support and interest!