Friday, my last full day in Miami for a while. Up nice and early for a beach day. The weather was glorious, blue skies, no wind and very warm. Jesus is organized, he has chairs, umbrellas, tables to attach to the umbrellas, food and drinks on ice and a buggy to transport it all from the car to the beach!lSouth Beach is about a 30 minute drive from Hialeah and we arrive around 10 am and find a carpark.
We set up about 4 metres from the waters edge, and not far from the W hotel, a nice spot. All the big hotels have an area that is set up with sun lounges and umbrellas , for their guests. They have valet and food service and take care of the guests every need ( within reason) ! We had Jesus (pronounced hesus in Spanish). We were comfortable! That is until the 4 mothers and 11 children arrived and plonked them selves in front of us! I want, gimme gimme, scream scream!!! Peace shattered. Then the dark clouds loomed, the thunder and lightning struck and we all cleared the beach in pretty smart time. It was another tropical storm and remained that way for the rest of the day but we got in a couple of hours in the sun and water and managed to down our lunch.
Yara and Jesus have a large friendship group and one of them own a Spanish Tapas restaurant 5 minutes from their place. Thrown in is Karaoke!!! The food was very good, we won the door prize of a bottle of wine and then the Karaoke started. It was a fight for the microphone, no mucking around or drunken revelry, this was the real thing. An opportunity to showcase your hidden talents. I was amazed. As we all know and the Latinos will proudly agree, they are show ponies and give them a microphone and they will perform.
Early morning flight to Colombia but that didn't stop Yara and I sitting up until 2 am talking!
My flight time was changed to a later departure but American Airlines didn't inform me. On top of that we were slightly delayed in boarding and then sat in the plane for over an hour because the coffee machine was leaking. Why not just turn off the water and forgo the coffee?
Arrived in Bogota and was still trying to get through immigration and get my luggage when the boarding time for my next flight was due! I have to say that I was as anxious about these flights as I have been about any! Nothing written in English , minimal English spoken and poor directions in the airport. Once I got my luggage I then had to go through another 2 checkpoints and board a bus to another terminal. Got there with 5 minutes to spare when my tickets had me with 3 hours between flights! So late that I couldn't get money changed to pesos and still having trouble with that!
Flying into Santa Marta is beautiful, mountains one side of the runway and coast the other. very pretty.Had to negotiate to use U.S. dollars for the cab fare 1800 pesos to the dollar.Arrived at the house where my apartment is and Sven and Elsa were waiting for me. Really nice people and so helpful.
Sven is Swedish and Elsa Colombian from the coffee region, she suffers in the heat here and prefers the mountain coolness.
Anyway, the apartment is rustic but fine. Very clean, bed feels like it is stuffed with straw and have actually gone out and bought another pillow! No aircon but several fans and I can manage the heat but the noise outside is a different thing! Saturday night, party night! I strolled to the local plaza and found a little restaurant and had a nice seafood brochettes and salad and watched the passing parade. Saturday night is when everyone gets dressed in their best and parades around the square with their love of the moment. The girls in clothes so tight and short that they can hardly breathe and heels so high that I can't believe they don't get altitude sickness.
Came back to my place around 10.30 and was still awake at 3 am. Night club over the road!!! Couldn't shut the window as it was stifling hot so had to bear it! Sven was worried that Sunday may be the same as tomorrow is a fiesta and there could be a lot of people around making noise. He installed another wall fan in the room for me so I was cool enough but I am just not used to the noises found in Latino countries!
By Sunday I am getting very anxious because I still haven't had any word from the volunteer group and have no idea where to go or what I am doing! messed around in the morning, ,did some food shopping and decided to get the bus to the beach for the afternoon. The beach at Santa Marta is a shocker, advised not to swim here as there is a lot of pollution from poor sanitation plus there seems to be a storage or refinery at the end of the bay and the sand is black and the water murky. I didn't need advise actually, no way that I would go into the water here. Such a pity as the photos looked great and somebody I spoke to today said they were shocked as it used to be so beautiful here. Plus it is only a 2 minute walk from my front door!!!! Bummer.
Didn't get to the beach as the heavens opened and a massive rain storm hit. I got so restless that I ended up going out for a walk in the rain to discover that it takes more than rain to get the locals off the beach, it was jam packed!
My photos all look a bit dull due to the weather but they will give an idea of the surrounds.
Still no word from the volunteer group so I went in search of them. Followed the website that said they were supported by a local hostal. Found the hostal who informed me that the group were to meet at 12 midday today. Headed back there after an early lunch and found everyone. Trouble was that the contact girl who is a co director and her boyfriend who is the director of Mariposas Amarillas have gone on holiday and not left any contact details for me but they were hoping that I would find them!
The volunteers who funnily enough are mainly Australian and from Melbourne decided to go for lunch first so I tagged along. I am so glad that I ate before because there is no way that I would eat what they did! It was a cheap Colombian cafe, $2.50 meal which was soup, a main meal and a cordial dMrink.
it looked awful but they all tucked in, all on a budget so eat as cheaply as they can. I would like to spend less on food but I just couldn't eat what they did. Maybe I haven't been hungry enough!!!!!!
I have bought fruit, yogurt and cereal that I have for brekkie, some salad and cheese and bread for lunch and dry biscuits for when I want to nibble.
Eating out in a restaurant here is expensive for what is offered and am not very excited by what I have seen overall. Plus I don't want to eat out every night for 4 weeks!!
Anyway, after lunch we head back to the Hostal to arrange what everyone is doing for the day when another big storm hits and we are told that if it is raining then nobody will turn up for classes anyway!! Suzanne and I decide that we will go to an Internet cafe then head over to the school by bus because she wants to show me around. We step out of the door and the deluge hits. I was saturated and there is no way that I am staying in these clothes and going to teach looking like I am in a wet T shirt competition. So back to my place and I still don't really know what to do with myself.
I am finding it a challenge here as no English is spoken and I don't actually find the locals very helpful or friendly. I try to use my bit of Spanish but they look at me like I am crazy and then I get tongue tied and absolutely lost for words. I can't find a money exchange and have to use my CC all the time. Tomorrow is another fiesta day and so no teaching and I have no idea what to do with myself! I think I will have to get brave and try the bus to the beach again!
I started my Spanish lessons today and after 2 hours left cross eyed. I am going to have lessons 2 hours a day for 2 weeks so hopefully there will be some improvement!
Still not sure what is happening teaching wise, I may be starting fresh with a new class of beginners or I may be taking over an existing one, all up in the air a bit.
Seems only time will tell!
Adios y hasta luego amigos .
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