My first day

WOW! I have arrived in Medellin Colombia, South America - an entirely new continent, new culture and new language. I arrived Wed evening just as the sun was going down so I got a chance to see all the green lush mountains everywhere, with a few rainbows speckled in, from the airplane. The rainbows were quite apropro because I had just finished a chapter of Tales of a Female Nomad by Rita Golden Gelman where as she was descending into Guatemala with doubts and concerns over her new journey, she sees a bunch of rainbows and takes it as a good omen. Although I was not concerned about my decision and I was excited to start my journey, I still felt reassured and laughed at the serendiptous universe :-) Unfortunately, they lost my baggage so i left the airport with only my daypack in hand but with 2 wonderful hosts greeting me at the exit.

They drive me to their home which is a village of approximatley 40,000 people about 45 minutes away. They show me a wonderful guest house where I will be staying. It is wonderful to see Marcela again and to meet Dieter. [For those of you who do not know, Marcela was a former colleague of mine at EC CARES in Eugene and her and her husband left Eugene last September to move to Colombia where Marcela is originally from. They traveled for 3 months in their truck with a camper and arrived in Colombia just in time for Xmas last Dec 2008.] They showed me around their property and we got a chance to visit. During the evening, the airport called and said my backpack has arrived but we will need to pick it up the next day. We discussed options on how to do this - public transportation or drive there and decided to make a decision in the morning. It rained during the night and then much to the surprise of my hosts, it was cloudy and rainy during the day. It was the first day it has rained during the day in Colombia since they arrived last Dec. They say it rains at night but is typically sunny and warm by day. The rainy season here is typically in Oct and Nov.

We decide that Marcela and I will take the public transportation to the airport. Actually we have no choice because their road leading up to their house (which you need 4 wheel drive for) was closed for maintenance so was not passable by vehicle. So in the late morning, Dieter and I walk down to the village ( it takes about 15 min or so) and pick Marcela up after her class, have a quick bite to eat, and then we head off. WOW what an adventure - we traveled by bus, train and mini bus to get to the airport having to transfer 5 times (Gosh how grateful I was that Marcela was with me!!). 3 hours later after traveling through Medellin and the town of Rio Negro, we arrive and find my backpack ready to go with all my things in it :-) Luckily it only took 1 1/2 hours to get back and only 3 transfers. I was just so grateful that Marcela was there to help. Colombian public transportation is clean and tightly packed. They do not have a need for as much personal space as we Americans do. Sitting next to and touching complete strangers is common and expected. The train seemed timely and the buses/mini buses leave when the buses are full - not on a schedule. So sometimes you get on a bus and leave and other times, you wait for people to get on. The roads in the smaller towns of Girardota and Rio Negro are very narrow and busy. there are people walking, bicycling, animals about, buses, mini buses, collectivos (like a taxi for about 8 people) and motorcycles. The vehicles do not pay much attention to the people/animals so pedestrians need to be careful. The drivers will zoom on by and again do not attend much to personal space. Their side mirrors can clip you if you do not watch out. Very interesting!