Into the light...

It has been a great first week in Colombia for me. This weekend wewent to the museum in downtown Medellin. Fernando Botero is oneColombia's famous artists and he has donated many paintings (about adozen rooms worth) and about 20 bigger than life sculptures to themuseum. He is well known for sculptures and paintings of people andanimals and things that are rotund, for lack of a better word. Fatworks but there is an unnatural squatness to the figures. Like whenyou configure a photo to fit across your screen and everyone's legsget shorter and their bodies wider. In his figures the faces areunusually small as well. We were not allowed to take photos insideand it was pouring rain out in the plaza where the sculptures were soI cannot share. You will either have to use your imagination orgoogle him to see what I am talking about. In addition to donating hisown works, he has donated his whole collection to the museum. Thesewere more interesting to me as there were a wide variety of styles inhis collection.

Downtown Medellin is crazy crowded and I am convinced that if I couldbe comfortable driving in this town, I could drive anywhere. I haveno plans to get comfortable driving here! Our time downtown was cutshort because the skies decided to open up and wash the cityextensively!

Medellin is also known for the lights at Christmas. The publicutilities sponsor a christmas light display that is impressive to saythe least. ( I posted the pictures on facebook using my iPhone and theFB app, but have not yet figured out how to move the pictures into myblog with my current technology set up. I have my iPhone, a cameraand the use of borrowed computers. If anyone has a simple explanationI am open to learning. ) Anyhow the lights were incredible. They areset up along the river and they put the disney electric light paradeto shame. In addition there are several water features that areup-lit (?) by lights in the ground that change colors. The effect israinbow colored fountains that are designed to run through with achance of staying dry or not. I managed to stay mostly dry. Spanningthe river are pipes with about 10 fountains per pipe (going every tenfeet for about 1/2 a mile) and colored lights in these as well. Thewater is captured and recycled as the river water is too polluted tobe used. It is simply indescribable really. In downtown there aremore lights in the town center but we did not go there as Medellin hadjust won the futbol championships and we decided to escape the hordesthat would soon be descending. Apparently a common form of celebrationis "flour bombing" which is exactly what you are thinking so peopleand the streets are covered in flour.

Tonight, I am making dinner for the family who has taken me in sokindly as tomorrow I will move to an apartment with a woman who seemsvery nice but speaks no English. I have learned a lot of spanish thisweek from direct and indirect objects to the past preterite tense butI have not practiced much. The time is now, apparently and while I ama little apprehensive I am also happy for the opportunity as she seemswilling to help me stutter through my sentences! I also want toreiterate that learning spanish from Claudia has been the mostpositive experience I could imagine. If you should decide to come toColombia to learn Spanish-and why wouldn't you want to?- I recommendtime with her. It is affordable and she is fabulous!

It is the shortest day of the year and while I am really enjoyingbeing here I have to admit that there is something special about thisday when it is dark at 4 pm. I simply love knowing that we are nowmoving into the light. I love that we "went to the lights last night"and tomorrow we begin to return to the light. I am happy to be here inSouth America for this day because this trip is about self discoveryand finding new ways to bring light into our world. What anappropriate time to be here.

in joy my friends...aly

baby steps

So, for a girl who has never traveled before, I am probably taking on a fairly large endeavor with this trip.  I am so lucky that upon landing in Colombia and after navigating customs with very little Spanish I was met outside by the Ochoa Tejada family.  I so appreciate being connected to people who are looking out for me.  They have invited me into their home and have given me the softest landing imaginable.  I had hoped to meet a friend here in Colombia as a transition to a whole new world and when he could not come he delivered me to this family.  So Lucky!

This week and part of next week I am studying Spanish with a private tutor I found through the Black Sheep Hostel in Medellin.  It is helping but I have to admit that I am unable to envision myself speaking well anytime soon. For those of you who speak spanish I can tell you that today I spend my time wrestling with the verb gustar.  I am pretty sure that "no me gusta gustar." The Black Sheep hostel is one of the older hostels here and it is busy with people coming and going. My much talked about, little acknowledged introverted side is having a hard time starting conversations with people.  I am looking forward to becoming more comfortable in a strange place and having the confidence to just talk with strangers. Having a better grasp on Spanish will help as will the passing of some time out of my normal place.

I cannot promise my friends that everything I write here will be interesting.  I can only say that I will continue to let you know what is going on in my experience down here.  Since this first week is really about learning Spanish I have nothing really interesting to report.  I expect that things are only going to get more interesting and probably less comfortable over the next few weeks.  Here in the house my assumptions and boundaries of comfort are not challenged, but next week I hope to stay further south in the town of Sabaneta, hanging out with a friend of a friend of a friend, there is a visit to a farm coming up for Christmas, and some festivals to attend. For now, know that I am here, am comfortable, safe and just starting to unfold. 

ciao.

not yet in wonderland

Well, I am sitting in the corner of my couch with my laptop balanced on one leg, tea cup near by. By all accounts it is like almost every other day of my life, except that today I am transitioning from a life of 14 years in Portland to an unknown path along the spine of the earth. Six months of wandering and pondering in South America. Six months to unfold in to the next iteration of Aly... hopefully always exploring the furthest edge of who "optimal Aly" is and can be.

I land in Medellin, Colombia tomorrow. There are lovely people picking me up. The softest entry imaginable in one of the harder countries. I am looking forward to new foods of course, adjusting my eyes to a different concept of what reality is, filling my soul with connections to beauty in the natural world. On January 1 I start the new year in Quito. Intensive language school for a few weeks and then adventure and exploration!

The pack weighs in at 37 pounds and I have compressed my pillow into a downy block. A girl needs her comforts and a squishy pillow has helped in my recent years of nomadic lifestyle!