So, it's been a while

I've been...busy? Not much has happened in and of itself that's all that new or exciting (minus a visit from a friend from the US (!) but we mostly retread old stomping grounds) . As substitute, here's an aggregate of the last few weeks

1. Started school. I'm teaching with 4 new teachers, most of whom don't speak English past an A2 level. And yet, it's been great planning and teaching with them so far...not because our classes are amazing, but because it feels like we're actually getting a bit done. Slow change is definitely the new motto.

2. Had another US visitor (!). We checked out Santa Marta and Minca, this amazing little mountain town outside of Santa Marta. Visited waterfalls and wells, bought fresh coffee from a local family (which naturally turned into a spontaneous revivalist prayer meeting), and saw more hummingbirds in fifteen minutes than I've seen total in my life. Turns out there are a few varieties in the Sierra Nevadas in that area that don't exist anywhere else...but you'd have to ask the real birdwatchers what they were. I just saw incredibly gorgeous, tiny, iridescent birds of different shades and sizes...

3. Bought and ate raw honey, from Minca. Complete with little insects, that's how real it is. Used it in stovetop apple crisp (chopped apples plus cinnamon plus a pinch of salt and juice of a lime, boiled down in water with honey, topped with granola and yogurt. Amazing.)

4. I am turning orange. Slightly. Nothing to match another PCV who is incredibly, noticeably orange. You know that whole eat-too-many-carrots-you-turn-orange myth? Not such a myth. Have to say, I'm pretty proud of my slightly orange-shaded palms. Turns out subsidizing one's diet with carrots, tomatoes, papaya, and squash has a henna-ish effect...

5. I've consumed ridiculous amounts of guanabana, which has recently come into season. It's bigger and much heavier than a football, and resembles something like a headless, tail-less, wingless dragon. Its flesh is white, sort of like a fish but more fibrous, and has these giant black seeds you have to work out with your teeth. It's flavored something like a mixed-fruit smoothie, all on its own. ...In short, it's terrifying and delicious. Check it out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soursop

6. I am also becoming cat-like. Sadly, only in the virtue of hating to get my feet wet. We're entering the second rainy season. Today the streets had turned into a grid of arroyos between my house and school, but from rain from the north that never actually reached us, in the coming-from-the-sky version Which meant that in order to not wet my feet/splash through nasty arroyo water, I walked about 30 minutes out of my way in weather that had not cooled post-rain...because all the rain had stayed on the northern (read: heavens-favored in all ways) part of the city.

7. Going on a month, now, I have listened exclusively to Modest Mouse. Colombia, you are changing my musical tastes.

8. I haven't progressed further in learning to play guitar, but I do own one now. And can play a few songs. I'll keep you posted on progress once I get back into practicing. Nothing like strumming kumbayah, however, to make one feel like a genuine PCV, that's for sure.

9. Turns out, soy milk is great for cooking veggies in, for curry-like mixtures. Also turns out, cooking tomatoes in real milk causes it to curdle. (Science, you win yet again!) Fortunately, that just makes everything taste sort of cheesey...but soy milk is a great substitute. Albeit a bit expensive.

10. I found out my favorite (northern-located) panaderia has free wireless. This is going to wreak massive havoc on my (already carb-high) daily diet! They have FOCACCIA. With rosemary, garlic, tomatoes and onions. Focaccia, I say! Don't even get me started on the chocolate cake...