Lists and learnings: South America

A little delayed, but I got my new passport in the mail today and booked a flight to Spain in December, so catching up on this seemed to be the next logical step...

Lists and learnings:

+ Coastal communities feel so alive to me. In my travels around the globe I have spend many days hugging the coast and the vibe is something you can only find in people happy to be where they are and share a little bit of their lust for life. I am primarily thinking of Cartegena and the needed comparison to the Dominican Republic. Right out of the bus your body starts producing mass amounts of sweat and your eyes explode with all of the amazing colors. Walking in the street is no different, with shirtless men sitting in plastics chairs  playing a makeshift checkers game with leftover bottle caps. The water people are selling right and left is sweating more than you and your fellow travelers. Around every corner you may find ice cold coconuts or an impromptu beat boxer. The seafood is sweet and fresh while everyone you see greets you with a big smile and an open door. The coast is alive and the people that make it up more so.

+ Returning from a cold and rainy worksite day on Ecuador, I was riding with some kiddos in the back seat and a local camionetta driver. I had taken a few trips with this specific driver and various kids and always gave him a hard time about driving slow and taking care of "mis hijos." He was nice enough and always joked with us about his speed. On this trip he asked me if we could pick up his son at his home. It was in route and I easily agreed. It was then that he began to tell us about his son's history. At 12 years old doctors operated on his son's brain to remove a tumor and damaged his optical nerve and left him termporarily paralyzed. Since his operation he has slowly regained movement and blindly  rides his bike on a dirt "driveway" because he knows it well from memory. As this story unfolded I became emotional realizing after all the flack I gave him about taking care of our kids, I never took the time to ask him about his family. After mounting his son in the back of his truck he decended back into Patate and his son's improving health and hopes for his vision returning. I kid you not, ask the kids, the most beautiful rainbow I saw all summer (you see a lot in the valley of never ending spring) appeared and reminded me of all the hope- no matter how small exists in the world.

+ "Las mañanas no decíamos 'buenos días,' decíamos 'cuantos muertos?'l in a day trip to Guatape, Colombia right outside of Medellin where Pablo Escobar had put himself under self-arrest surrounded by all of his family and closest employees we took a visit to the site were he we killed. The area of Guatape and the view of it from a randomly huge rock at the enterance of town is claimed to be "The best view in the world." The islands and orange soil light up the Colombian and foreigners eyes alike. Understandably, a man with so much power and money would relocate himself there surrounded by trees importes from all over the world (the sugar maple sure grows funny there) and holes dug to hide all of his cash. What I had not conceptualized before was how heavy such a visit would be for a woman who lived during those times. After those of us from the US, Peru, Spain, and Veneuela coaxed her a bit she agreed to join us with no happy feelings to go with it. I am incredibly grateful for this because she really enriched and painted a picture of the hurt and heartache of the times of the drug lord's rule. It reminded me that no matter how crazy my parents think I am from visiting Colombia, or whatever we read in history books, we can really know nothing about that blib in history. The people who lived and lost in it still carry heavy hearts with any glimpse into the past, even if it was a sign of their liberation. After a walking tour of the past most dangerous city in the world, Merellin, we got tangible facts about his time. More importantly, we weren't allowed to use Pablo Escobar's name for fear of the locals hearing and thinking out guide was glorifying him, we were stopped multiple times-by multiple locals- to give us thanks for visiting and to tell the world that they weren't all bad, in fact they were quite nice, and we saw a city that had rebuilt itself up to reflect the pride and security they now felt within its walls.

+ Kids. Inspiring. As someone who works with kids nearly year round it is easy to say that kids inpire me, but there was something special about this group of kids from the summer of 2016. They came in patient and flexible as hell. Our last flight group arrived at 1:00 am and we left that same morning at 5:00 am for the Galapagos (Oh right, I was in the Galapagos two months ago!) Not a blip of complaint from the fatigued kiddos. From there we went full stride into an amazing experience on the island and then in return to our homebase on the mainland in Patate. I have met few groups of people who are as empathetic and compassionate as these kids. Things not going according to plan-ok no problem, lets play a game. Some kids speaking up and not feeling a perfect fit with the group- no issue, let me be your friend. I can easily say that I haven't laughed as I did with these kids in a long time... they were a refreshing group and commanded us all to want to spend time with them telling riddles, paying Mafia, or tucking into strange corners of the house playing sardines. Their empathy
and awareness of other people and their emotions shows wisdom far beyond where I was at their age. These new young friends of mine continue to bring hope for the future... something we might need now more than ever.


+Conservation is making its way to South America. When traveling, I have become aclimated to seeing plastic bottles and bags strewn about the ground of highways and sidewalks. I deffinately saw those this yaer, but I also saw initative and changing habits. Having gone to the Galapagos andthen to Tayrona National Park in Colombi you can see direct impact of global climate changes on these ecosystems. Both costal areas are suffing from drought and as a result local wildlife and vegetation is strugling. Helping a farmer in the Galapagos the lack of rain was tanglible. The lack of rain had chaned his crops and land, he showed us clear examples how the simple size of his fruits has changed in the last year. In these areas they push fro recycling and even in Tayrona they have started limited vessels of water that enter the park to prevent plactic wasts from affecting the local animal live. Clearly, the system isnt perect, but the knowledge is finally getting there. In both places I saw signs mirror in the facts we give kids suring ort talks in Nature's Classroom.

As I sit and re-read what I drafted over the summer I am thankful that my education hasn't stopped outside the doors school and I keep picking up knowledge in the many paths of life I find myself.