Colombian Update

At the mall in Bucaramanga with Laura, enjoying the view of the city and the nice weather for Xmas.


Some of the super awesome public Christmas illumination that I talked about in my last post. This is still in Cucuta (from a while back)


Preparing the hayacas, the traiditional Colombian dish that I spoke about in my last post. This is turning into the Rothe Amundson Xmas Letter, calling people up to quiz them on previous posts so that they can understand what is going on!

To start things off today I think I will mention that I love Colombia, and there is a 0% change that this will be the only time I visit this country. Any family members should take note of the fact that Lauras parents have offered an open invitation to come back and arrange a trip for my family and their family to go to the coast, and let me tell you, the Colombian coast is most definitely worth going to Colombia for. I have so far only been in the interior of the country so I cant vouch for the coast from first hand experience but Colombia is amazing. For those of you who recieve the Rothe Amundson Xmas Letter, note the misspelling of Colombia (Columbia). Now to the updates on what I have been doing...

Since my last entry I spent a few more days in Cucuta, Lauras hometown. We celebrated her moms (Carolinas) birthday on the 19th and we spent a lot of time hanging out with her friends and immediate family. I quickly snagged a Colombian boyfriend, hes pretty cute but only really lives up to 3 week boyfriend standards, although he did gift me a pretty dandy beaded bracelet of the Colombian flag. Other than that, we continued praying La Novena every day and on the 23rd at about 5AM Lauras parents woke us up and we drove with a incredibly packed sedan to Bucaramanga. Both sides of Lauras family live in Bucaramanga, another Colombian city of about 700,000. In order to get here we had to traverse a 5 hour long mountain roadway that was recently cleared from the horrible mud slides that have been plaguing Colombia. There have been really heavy rains all over the country for pretty much all of December and they had led to a lot of flooding and mud slides. One whole town, Gramalote, in the northern part of the province (Norte de Santander) where Laura lives, completely disappeared. The rains caused the whole mountain that the town sat on to shift and it is now a disaster zone. There have also been floods show on the news that are very reminiscent of the scenes shown after Katrina hit New Orleans. And what most amazes me about all of these disasters and the images shown daily on the Colombian news is the fact that I read bbc.co.uk and I am seriously disappointed in the fact that they have 2 articles from December that mention Colombia and the rains/flooding but they have incorrect facts and dont even mention the worst disasters. However, airport closures across Europe and the USA are definitely front page news.


Above the clouds during the drive from Cucuta to Bucaramanga.

During the drive from Cucuta to Bucaramanga there were so many mud slides that had been cleared from the roadway that I lost count. Also, newly formed pot holes and parts of the road that had litterally fallen down the mountain side and left 1 lane where there a few weeks ago were 2 lanes. We did make it to Bucaramanga with minimal problems as far as the road blockage goes (the one road between the two cities had been closed for the few days prior to our trip) but when we were entering the city we got stopped for almost an hour as two houses had just collapsed down the mountain at the entrance to the city and they were bulldozing them off the road.

We spent the 24th with both sides of Lauras family and we started out the evening with her Moms family. Every family buys a present for every other family member, so there were a LOT of presents to unwrap. Lauras parents even bought me presents, which was divine of them. They gave me a very cute pajama pant and tshirt set, a beach towel with matching flip flops, two Colombian soccer jerseys, an adorable tank top and a plain jane blue tshirt that will be easy to wear any day. And then on the 25th they even prepared me a stocking full of the watermelon flavored blowpop knock offs that I love so much! Continuing with the 24th, after we left her grandmothers apartment we headed to her great aunt and uncles from her dads side of the family around midnight. The first thing we did there was head outside while her Dad hid a figuring of baby Jesus that was wrapped in 140,000 pesos (about $70). After baby Jesus was well hidden we all were allowed to enter and rampage around looking for him, in order to claim the cash. Laura found him within about two minutes, so it was kinda a let down, as I was 1. looking to win, and 2. enjoying the whole weird traiditon of it. And the 25th was quite relaxed, they mostly finish celebrating on the 24th since that is when everyone exchanges presents and eats together, but we did spend the whole 25th with family as well.

A little about Lauras family, her mom has 2 sisters and 1 brother. Her oldest sister lives near Bogota and has 2 sons, Nico aged 19 and Daniel aged 6. They are both great fun and I really enjoyed their company. Her other sister has 3 kids, 2 daughters Gabriela 10 and Mariana 8. She also has a son, Jorge Mauricio aged 13 and I also enjoyed all of these cousins and aunts and uncles. This sister with 3 kids live in a town called Ruetoque, which is one of the top 4 compounds to live in if you are in South America. It is a 10 minute drive minimum up to the house from the front gate where you have to show an ID and have the guard call up to the house you are visiting before they will even open the gate. Her moms brother is younger, hes only 32 and he is recently married. On the 24th they announced that they are 1 month pregnant so that was pretty exciting. On her dads side her dad has 2 older brothers (just like me!!!!!) Walter and Amparo have 2 kids, Daniel 14 and Maria Paola (Mapa, yes that means map in spanish) 19. Their family is very nice and welcoming. This family also has a kick ass apartment and today we went to their cabin that is about an hour away, where we rode the two 4wheelers and the gokart around all afternoon. The other brother is weird, had 3 sons, two of whom are obese, aged 23 and 14 and the third who is SUPER SKINNY and aged 19. Anyway, moving on, we went to Lauras cousin (Mapas) friends house the other day and got there around noon. We spent the whole day in the pool and drinking the local liquor, Aguardiente (buring water or fire water, however you want to interpret the name). It is an anise based liquor and it is absolutely horrible, but all of the Colombians insisted that I drink it and I did, which led to an inevitably raucous and fun time, see Facebook photos.


Hanging out in the pool
(http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2070331&id=1280460131) is my first album that corresponds with my last post and (http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2071629&id=1280460131) is an album full of newer photos and there is another soon to come.

Today we took a day trip to La Mesa, a town an hour away from Bucaramanga where there is a Gondola that takes you across an impressive gorge into a national park where you can hike around a little bit, take pictures, and zip line (which I did obviously). These are the pictures soon to come and as I am currently too exhausted I will add more details in the near future. Have a great New Years Eve EVERBODY!

Colombia

I am currently in Cucuta, Colombia. I dont really know how to work the punctuation on this computer so I will write a very grammatically incorrect blog entry. I left my apartment in Buenos Aires at 315AM on Sunday, the 12th (also know as Gail Amundsons birthday) and my cab driver was falling asleep during the 30 or 45 minute drive to the airport. I had to keep asking him weird questions or making awkward small talk to make sure he was still awake because I saw his eyes drooping in the rear view mirror. Once I got to the airport around 4AM I tried to check in but they ended up telling me that I needed a reservation number for my onward flight out of Colombia because you cant enter a foreign country without proof of onward travel. I then went to the internet cafe at the airport in order to access my email and my reservation number but the whole server was down so I had to call my host sister, Candelaria at 4AM and ask her to go into my email and text message me all of my flight information. Luckily she did it more than willingly and quickly, so there were no real problems. I was ready to board the plane and head through customs before they even opened the security zone at 5AM. I ended up waiting in the airport until 640AM when they boarded my flight to Bogota, Colombia. The whole time I was sitting across from a Nun in her full nun wear and trying to not fall asleep, as I did not sleep at all.

I made it to Bogota without any further complications and then had a ridiculously long layover before my flight left for Cucuta, my final destination. While I was waiting in the airport I was amused by the presence of a Dunkin Donuts and the fact that all of the Colombians bought big boxes of donuts to bring to their hometowns because I think the Dunkin Donuts in the airport may be the only one in Colombia. I also met a really nice family from Bogota ~ they were waiting for the flight for their two daughters to go visit family in Santa Marta, a beautiful coast town that I am going to have to come back to visit. Laura and her family were waiting for me in the airport when around 7 or 8PM I finalllllly made it to Cucuta. We went out to dinner and I was more than ready to go to sleep when we got home and I had gotten settled into my room.

Since then I have mostly just hung out with Laura and her family and friends. They are members of a much hugers version of the Saint Paul Tennis Club, it has 7 clay tennis courts, 2 connected pools and a golf course. Laura and I have played tennis three times and one day we even played doubles with some of her friends that we ran into while we were there. Swimming has also been nice too, but I am scared for my white person skin and getting any more sun as it is already bronzed to perfection and I am peeling in places that I didnt even get sunburnt. The food here is amazing and Lauras family has a housekeeper that cleans every day and makes our breakfast and lunch for us, so I have definitely been eating well. On Tuesday we made Hayacas, a Colombian tradition. They are like tamales wrapped in plantain leaves and filled with saffron rice, raisins, olives, capers, chicken, beef, and juicy sauces. They are something that everyone prepares together for Christmas adn then eats together.

Some interesting things that I have noticed... I am one of two natural blondes that I have seen in Colombia this week. Also, all of the motorcyclists wear reflective vests that have their license plate numbers on them in order to deter drive bys. Cucuta, where I am staying with Laura is really close to Venezuela, like I mentioned before. On Wednesday afternoon Laura, her mom Carolina and I all went to San Antonio, a town in Venezuela right across the border. We didnt need to show papers or anything to enter, we just had to drive on through. Not too much happened while we were there, we just went grocery shopping and bought some toiletries. Later that evening when I was with Laura and her friends driving around they just casually mentioned to me, oh hey, we are in Venezuela again, and it really surprised me how lax the border control is. I guess its really easy to cross unless Hugo Chavez goes on a whim and decides to close the border, and then all of the Colombians are stuck in Venezuela until he decides that they can leave again.

As far as the holidays go it is La Novena here right now, a celebration of the nine days before Christmas. It stated on Thursday and we sit downstairs by the lit up Nativity Scene, read from a little booklet (prayers) and then sing a song inviting Jesus into our souls. Its not taken too seriously in Lauras house but everyone does need to be present to pray. Ill leave it here for now and put up some pictures in the near future, although I havent taken too many. Un beso!

Heading out

So now I am starting my South American summer adventure. Up until now I've only made it to Uruguay and done a wee bit of traveling around Argentina. This Sunday at 7AM I am flying out of Ezeiza International Airport to Bogota, Colombia and from there I have a connection to Cúcuta, Colombia. Cúcuta is a border city with Venezuela and it is also where my friend Laura Jaramillo lives with her family. I doubt that I will actually enter Venezuela even though you could technically walk there from Laura's house because of the whole dangerous blonde American aspect of entering a country controlled by someone as INSANE as Hugo Chavez and the complications involved with procuring a Visa last minute and from outside of the good ol' USA.



This is a map of Colombia that has the cities that I am going to be in on it. You can see here that Cúcuta really is a border city and for Xmas and New Year's Eve I will be in Bucaramanga, in between Cúcuta and Bógota with Laura and her extended family. I am pretty excited for the whole Colombia adventure so I will try to keep you all updated more than I have recently, as it's something more noteworthy that is happening in my life.

I'm in a pretty weird place as far as self-identification goes right now. Most of you probably know my uncle Jonathan Rothe, my Dad's youngest brother, was in Buenos Aires last weekend with his work as he often has done business trips throughout South America in the past. He traded me some American dollars for pesos and it was a shock to see American money after 5 months without $1US to my name. His visiting also helped me realize that 1. I am not ready to move back the United States permanently so I am really happy that I elected to do my study abroad for a full year and 2. That it will most likely be a BIGGER culture shock for me moving back to the states than it was to come here. I think this because coming to Argentina I was 100% prepared and pre-talked about the dangers of culture shock and I knew that I didn't know the place at all, so I came in with basically zero serious expectations as well as an open mind. When I go back to the states I already have pre-conceived notions about how things should be in my life because I've only lived there for 20 years of my life. Updates to come in about 7 months when I actually am packing to head back to MN.

To continue with my travels.... after three gloriously HOT HOT HOT weeks in Colombia I have a flight to Guayaquil, Ecuador.



Here is a map that shows where Guayaquil, a coastal town and the largest in Ecuador currently, is located. You can also see the Galapagos Islands on this map which was a purposeful addition. I am going to spend 8 of my 9 or 10 days that I am in Ecuador doing a cruise of the Galapagos, and I keep talking about it non-stop because I am ridiculously excited and I can't wait to get there and see how amazing it is. The Ecuador trip will be a 100% solo trip, I won't know anyone that I am going with nor will I be visiting anyone I know while I am there, which I am excited for. My Spanish at this point I have been told is quite good, although I obviously still struggle with limited vocabulary and grammar at times. I find that when I compare how I can understand, joke around, and express myself at this point I am impressed with how far I have come from my interactions during my first taxi ride.

I'll take this opportunity to gloat just a little bit and throw in a picture of the boat that I will be on and the deck plan....





After 10 amazing days in Ecuador (where the official currency is the USD) I will fly to Lima, Peru and spend 9ish hours in the airport waiting for my DAD!!!!! I am sooo excited for this. I am a little sad now that I didn't choose to go home for Christmas but then I think of myself as having a more true exchange experience for it. Going home is nice but barring any epic tragedy home will be 99% the same whether I come home in December for Christmas or July for the fourth or even in August for Door County. (This way I get to fully skip one whole winter cycle, which is throwing off my internal clock). My Dad and I are meeting up in Lima and flying to Cuzco, Peru together. Note: I am having a, let me check this up to be accurate..... 8 hour and 45 minute layover in Lima just so that Peter didn't have to take a flight by himself in Latin America. But it's okay, he paid for the more expensive plane ticket, I will eat at the Pizza Hut at the Lima airport and I will be happy to see him a few hours earlier than if we were to met up in Cuzco. We are going to then spend two days in Cuzco checking out local Inca ruins and acclimating to the elevation before we do the Inca Trail to Machu Pichuu, which is a 4 day rather strenuous hike. Last night a Colombian friend told me how she was crying during one day of the hiking and her group was with 2 obese women and she has NO idea how they were physically capable of doing it if it were so bad for her, a thin rather in shape, young Colombian. I guess we will have to wait and see, but it is comforting to know that even if it takes me 9 hours to hike a section that takes really in shape, seasoned trekkers 2 hours I WILL MAKE IT!



One final picture of Peru. You can see in the north there is the city Iquitos, where I was in Peru 2 and a half years ago right after graduating from high school. I went into the rainforest then and now I am going into the mountains so I am pretty excited to have the opportunity to explore another aspect of Peru. (which was awesome last time I was there, so it better not let me down.)

Anywhoo, I have been writing this rather than packing which is probably not a good thing. A few last minute updates about what I have been doing in Buenos Aires. I am on summer break and Wednesday this week was a national holiday, so I decided to go out Tuesday night until 6AM, get picked up at 9:30AM to go to a friends pool and soccer club type place and spend the whole day there. My friend Dan Rubenstein from the United States is visiting and it just so happened that I am here. He is on vacation so he got in Wednesday morning and I immediately went to pick him up and bring him to the club with me. It was basically a really lower class version of a Country Club in the states. We then had a really delicious $1.25 each homemade dinner that consisted of dried mushrooms that were rehydrated with $1 white wine, sauteed chopped onions and garlic, rice and some vegetable stock and butter as well as some spices. It was delicious, filling, and SUPER CHEAP. He and I also spent most of yesterday together where I brought him to the Stakeholder's Gala for AIESEC and then we went to a bar for the after party and since it was Thursday, almost all of the AIESEC people went home around 12:30AM and we went out to a gay dance club which turned out to be prettty fun. Today I am just packing and attempting to get my room in order so that I can go out two final times tonight and tomorrow night.