Short story: none of this happened.
Long story:
There's some interesting stuff happening in Colombia these days. If you follow international news, you've probably seen it--protests by farmers and truckers and miners throughout the interior. They're striking over lack of benefit pay and the fact that the free trade agreement with US and Canada makes the market untenable for things like milk and potatoes. The strikes have become violent in the interior--a few dead and hundreds injured, with SWAT-like teams in with tanks and water canons and rubber bullets, and the campesinos attacking police with rocks, and looting, etc. They've been going on now for almost two weeks, exacerbated by things like President Santos at first trying to claim there was no strike... and the fact that everyone is striking at once. They sent in troops to the capital on Saturday. An indefinite teachers strike scheduled to happen in a week and a half.
As for the current strikes, you can view some excellent pictures, videos and stories at these links, although all tell a slightly different story:
- http://www.vanguardia.com/actualidad/colombia/222201-el-tal-paro-agrario-no-existe-presidente-santos (in Spanish, but the headline says, President says the agriculture strike doesn't exist)
- http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/08/30/217350446/colombia-deploys-troops-to-quell-protests
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-23903099
- http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/30/world/americas/colombia-protests/
- http://www.eltiempo.com/noticias/protestas-y-manifestaciones (from the capital's newspaper)
As for how this has affected daily life, it's not too present other than rising ag product prices. We've seen some small disturbances on the roads with transportation protests and a few very small protests in Cartagena, but nothing else close to us. Still, Peace Corps has forbidden us from traveling between the cities on the coast.
On an Emily-level, this was disheartening because I'd planned out my LAST vacation this coming week. Since we're strongly encouraged not to take vacation after our COS conference (which is in TWO weeks), and because of my upcoming work schedule (more on that later), I'd scheduled a week in the woods in my very favorite easily-reachable locale, Minca. No such luck. So, no woodland cures will be had by yours truly for the insanity that city living visits on me. Sigh.
What to do when bffs are stranded in other cities and Minca is unreachable?? Get cats castrated! My kittycat Zany and his brother were long overdue for ball-removal. I picked Diego, Zany's brother up from his house and we went to the vet. Except, Zany had managed to get diarrhea. So, only Diego has been stripped of his manhood so far. He's behaving very well considering I have to shove meds down his throat twice a day and slather his not-balls in antibiotic cream!
More on cat castration and vet stuff in general later, in case you, too have a cat to take care of abroad!
More on cat castration and vet stuff in general later, in case you, too have a cat to take care of abroad!
So finally, I turn to my last resort of sanity-inducers: making easy but delicious food. Friend Kendra came over to help with the kitties and we did a curry carrot soup last night, and I made peach french toast this morning. What's that, you want the recipes? Sure, included below!
Curried Carrot Soup
Ingredients:
-medium white onion
-red bell pepper
-chipotle pepper
-4 big ole carrots
-2 cubes bullion
-1/2-1 c milk (depending on how creamy you like it)
-2 inches ginger
-4 cloves garlic
-1-3 tsps of: black pepper, chili powder, red curry powder, garam masala (adjust according to how intense you like your spices)
-1 tsp turmeric
Directions: chop onion, peppers, ginger and garlic and sautee together. Cut up carrots into coins. When onion and peppers are soft, add carrots and spices. Cover with water, add bullion and bring to a boil. boil until the carrots are soft, about 15-20 minutes. Blend with immersion blender if you're awesome enough to have one...a regular one if not :P. Add milk to taste, and mix. Serve - really tasty with bread and mozzarella cheese side!
Peach french toast to share:
-6 slices brown bread
-1 cup peach yogurt
-2 eggs
-pinch of salt, a shake of nutmeg, cloves, chili powder
-honey and powdered sugar
-beat together yogurt, eggs, and spices. Soak the bread in the mix. Fry, then sprinkle with a bit of sugar and drizzle with honey. Enjoy!
Oh, what a good-looking cat. Meow.
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