tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52565503724286125352024-03-05T02:10:13.760-06:00Coffee, Calculations and Colombia!A summary of life abroad as a middle school math teacher at an international school in Cali, Colombia from 2009 - 2012.Kristinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12911733801400560580noreply@blogger.comBlogger397125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5256550372428612535.post-25633020637048538142013-02-05T14:07:00.001-06:002013-02-05T14:07:52.575-06:00Signing Off & Moving OnFor those of you still reading or checking in here, despite my lack of posting in six months, thank you! When I first started blogging in April 2009, I was a college senior at the University of Wisconsin - La Crosse about to embark on a journey of living and teaching abroad in Cali, Colombia for three years. That experience led to many adventures, great friends, incredible travel experiences and invaluable life lessons - all of which you can read about on this blog.<br /><br />However, upon returning home to Minnesota in June 2012, I needed to find a new home for my writing. After a semester of re-adjusting to life back in the United States, it's time I finally created that new online space. Friends and readers alike have been asking me about the future of my blog/writing over the last few months, so after several conversations, I decided to create <a href="http://krads-outsidethelines.blogspot.com/">Outside the Lines</a>.<br /><br />The nature of the blog - what I will write about, how often I will write, etc. are still kind of up in the air. However, I don't want to get caught in the trap of "I don't have anything to say" and/or the (very real) feeling that the longer I put something off, the harder it is to begin again. So without knowing all the answers up front, I am just going to start. I hope you will join me there as I continue to blog about transitioning back to life as a 20-something high school math teacher in Minnesota. This blog will continue to exist for the sake of the many people who still find it and use it as a resource for relocating, teaching abroad, moving or traveling to Colombia. <div>
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Whether you are joining me for the next part of this journey, thanks for reading along for the last three years. Here's to many, many more big, bold adventures in our futures. </div>
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Kristinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12911733801400560580noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5256550372428612535.post-86047740094665864382012-07-31T11:50:00.003-05:002012-07-31T11:51:42.647-05:00Back Home in Minnesota...now what?"What's happening with your blog now that you are in Minnesota?"<br />
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This is the question that seems to be on everyone's minds (including my own) since returning to the United States five weeks ago. In truth, I still haven't figured it out exactly. I am not sure if I will want to continue blogging here or if I will need to be more anonymous because of my profession. Although, apparently several of my 8th grade students this past year read my blog the entire school year without my knowledge... so there can't be that much I shouldn't be saying. Anyway, the point is this blog will have to evolve with me as I try to make a life for myself here in Minnesota.<br />
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<b>Oh wait,</b> you thought I had a life for myself back here in Minnesota?<br />
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Weird, so did I.<br />
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<b>"You take a snapshot of your life the last time you leave someplace,</b></div>
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<b>and, I don't know, it's dumb, </b></div>
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<b>but you think it's never gonna change."</b></div>
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<b>[party of five]</b></div>
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What I am in fact learning is that I have a whole lot happening in Minnesota that involves things I would typically do on vacation. I travel around - including a long weekend in Milwaukee for Summerfest concerts, a week-long family vacation to Colorado and a bachelorette weekend in my old college town of La Crosse. I go to happy hours and out to eat to re-connect with friends and family. People come into town to visit me - HI KELSI. Turns out for the past three years, and really the last seven including college, <b>Minnesota has been a place I come home to visit, not a place I live</b>.<br />
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Now, I live here. <a href="http://www.coffeecalculationsandcolombia.blogspot.com/2012/05/accepted.html">I work here</a> (or at least I will come August 27th!). And I am 100% in love with that...but I need to make it livable. I need routines. My friends have work out routines. They volunteer. They have people to watch Monday night TV shows with come September. They have made new friends. They play on summer kickball or softball teams. In essence they have whole lives here that haven't really had much to do with me for the last three years. As exciting and fabulous as it is to come back and re-connect with them and realize our friendship is still just as important to both of us, they have other things to do than follow me around while I try to make this place my home.<br />
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Much of this routine-building will come more naturally once the school year begins and I am back to being working. As terrified as I am of teaching three types of math, two of them for the first time, at a brand new school with new colleagues and new students, the routine will be nice. And honestly, the idea of creating new memories, new friends, new teams, and new routines is exciting, thrilling and exactly what I was looking for when I made the decision to come back to Minnesota. Now I just need to make it happen! And until then... I guess living the vacation life enjoying this Minnesota summer isn't quite so bad. ;)<br />
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<a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54488/269/91C7387434EA98CDA6A1115396052F68.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0 !important;" /></a>Kristinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12911733801400560580noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5256550372428612535.post-35681585521550535522012-06-21T21:29:00.004-05:002012-07-31T11:51:56.433-05:00Only One Thing Left To Do ...When I started this blog back in April 2009 I talked about following your <a href="http://www.coffeecalculationsandcolombia.blogspot.com/2009/04/dreams.html">dreams</a>... At the time mine had led me to accepting a job teaching internationally in Cali, Colombia for two years. As you know, those two years turned into three years that passed all too quickly and now it is my last night in Colombia.<br />
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In a few short hours I will be on a school bus (yeah, that's right) bound for the Cali airport, crossing my fingers that my bags are all under 23 kilograms and then spending a full seven hours decompressing with Stetson in the Miami airport before arriving in Minnesota tomorrow night. Most of the last few weeks, days and hours have been spent saying goodbye to people or things that have made these last three years unforgettable. But, really, how do you say goodbye to a place that will always feel more like a second home than a vacation spot and people who are more than colleagues and have become some of my best friends?<br />
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In the end, we say our goodbyes, hug for longer than usual, write notes to say things we should say everyday, and try to do everything "one last time". In reality, my time in Colombia won't be shaped by my goodbyes in these last few weeks, but rather the moments and people who have shaped my daily life for the last three years.<br />
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<b>San Fernando</b><br />
Yeah, you are just a neighborhood, and yeah, sometimes you have your <s>flaws</s> water shortages, but I cannot imagine living anywhere else in Cali. I love your grocery store and its employees who now know to ask for our reusable bags at checkout. I love your gym and the instructors in our spinning and kick boxing classes who have become more than just gym mates, but instead friends. I love the community you helped me build here - from the neighborhood "Boo Radley" to Carlos, the dog walker, who always has a nice word for Kelsi and I. I love your afternoon breezes, the energy of the Parque del Perro and the tranquility of the streets on Sunday mornings.<br />
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<b>Tara & Hana</b></div>
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I don't know if I could name two people's lives who have changed more in the last three years and you both have gone through those changes with grace and beauty. I love our travel memories - especially in the Amazons although I still do not support kayaking to Peru...I did appreciate Romolo as well as our random adventures crossing into and leaving Brazil. I love our Cali memories - at Platillos, dancing at La Fuente, or just riding to school together for a year. You were both constants in my life here at a time when I missed the community aspect of college and even our small group of girlfriends made the biggest impact on my lasting happiness here in Cali.</div>
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Hana, me, Kelsi and Tara during a much needed getaway from the city life in Cali to the smaller town of Popayan. </div>
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Kelsi, Hana and I at the going away party!</div>
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<b>Fruits & Food in Colombia (or lack thereof)</b><br />
Before moving to Colombia my cooking skills, while existent, were limited to lots of gluten - think bread, pasta, potatoes, etc. and not much flavor. Thanks to living with a lactose/gluten-intolerant roomie and the lack of availability of processed foods from the United States, living here has taught me a thing or two about the food I eat. I love flavors. I love making REAL fruit juices with guanabana, lulo, mango, pineapple, and mora. I love that I know how to roast a whole pumpkin in the oven. I love making all kinds of hummus. I love that I can whip up a mean guacamole and salsa in no time. I love that I make a killer quinoa salad, delicious avocado toast, and oat squares.<br />
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<b>Stetson & Rob</b><br />
In a profession that is typically female dominated, you two have been my best guy friends here. Stetson - I love that we can talk forever about music and Minnesota summers. I love that you became our third roomie, even if just for a little while. I love that you go along with our shenanigans and join in along the way. Rob - I couldn't have asked for a better teaching neighbor. You have always been there for me to run next door and discuss whatever freak-out moment I am having regarding my students or school. You have a calming presence and a contagious happy-go-lucky personality. Can't wait for our Argentina reunion! :)<br />
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Rob, Stetson, Kelsi & I at the going away party!</div>
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Rob sending me off with some lovely words at the end-of-the-year party.</div>
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Stetson, Rob and me at the Recognition Ceremony on the last day of school for teachers! (and Octavio being awesome in the background)</div>
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<b>My Students & School</b><br />
<b></b>I cannot think of another place where I could have spent my first three years as a teacher as happy as the ones I spent here. Teaching is a hard profession full of late nights, early mornings and students who sometimes don't make you feel like it's worth it. However, after three years here I am in love with being a math teacher and the relationships I have built with my students here are a testament to that. The graduating 8th grade class just gave me a Faculty Recognition award and I could not feel more honored. Having students get up in front of other teachers, faculty, parents and their peers to make a speech about how you affected them is one of the best moments ever. Like Hana said at the Primary end-of-the-year party, where else will I work where staff parties dissolve into salsa dancing with your colleagues?<br />
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Receiving the Faculty Recognition award at 8th Grade graduation.</div>
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Former students who stopped by graduation to say goodbye. These boys taught me some of the best lessons about making time for building relationships in the classroom.</div>
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8th Graders at graduation!</div>
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8th Grade Teachers at the Middle School end-of-the-year party - THANK YOU for being such a smart, talented, creative, caring and dedicated group of people to work with!!!</div>
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<b>Daniel</b><br />
In a bicultural, bilingual community where people are constantly coming and going, making friends with Colombians is sometimes difficult. However, being friends with Daniel was never hard. He has become the older brother I always wanted as he taught me things about school, Spanish and Colombia in general. He has been a listening ear for all my transportation complaints, valid or just ridiculous, and he always makes me laugh. Talking with him made me a better Spanish speaker and it made the experience of living abroad so much richer. He is an invaluable asset to my school and probably the most selfless person I have ever met.<br />
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Daniel and I at the going away dinner at Platillos!</div>
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<b>Mandi & Sam</b><br />
Nothing beats amazingly supportive girlfriends. We might not ever agree on The Universal Man, but we do agree on so many other things...like the awesomeness of Chuck Bass and brunch :) I am so incredibly glad we had two years to spend together here in Cali and traveling around - from Cartagena to Bogota. You are both so incredibly passionate about life and talented beyond belief and I am so proud to call you my friends. The Gossip Girl tour of NYC awaits us...<br />
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Smizing - not sure when this became a thing we do, but I love it.</div>
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Mandi, Sam and I sending Kelsi off in (Gossip Girl) style reading a poem/letter I wrote in the same tone & with the same vocabulary as the show for the Primary end-of-the-year party.</div>
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<b>Kelsi</b></div>
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This morning you left at 4 AM and afterwards I found myself laying awake in bed wondering what life would been like if I had never met you in this place at this time in my life. Later today, a friend walked into the nail place, looked around, and stopped just short of asking "Where's Kelsi?" when she saw Stetson and I there without you. It's no surprise that our colleagues make fun of us for the way we are attached at the hip and do everything/go everywhere together. What's funny is that we never planned that, we never discussed it and we probably couldn't point to the one moment when it began, but here we are three years later and damn right, I go everywhere/do everything with you. Because if I didn't - life would here would have been so much less fun. </div>
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I love that you have an incredibly beautiful and unique taste in fashion/jewelry that I admire, idolize and balk at (i.e. the owls) all at the same time. Thank you for finding the recipe for oat squares and cooking entire pans of them for dinner with me on Friday nights in El Ingenio. Thank you for motivating me to learn salsa and go to classes together, even though you have more rhythm and dance moves than I could dream of. Thank you for waiting for me to get down to the cab every single morning because you are always ready before me no matter what. Thank you for being my gym buddy and celebrating with me when we both had to have a million pairs of pants taken in this year.</div>
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I hope I am every bit as fun, generous, patient, giving, loving, happy, creative, and amazing as you are at 29 and every year thereafter. While our 5-year age difference has never really been noticeable in our friendship, you have always been someone for me to look up and model my actions after. While our next adventures together might be a bit more spaced out, they will be every bit as wonderful as the last three years. You are my forever friend. </div>
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Saying goodbye to school for the last time there.</div>
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Kelsi and I at the going away party this year.</div>
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When all is said and done, the goodbyes have been said, the apartment cleaned, the bags packed, the fridge emptied (weirdest dinner of leftovers ever), there's only one thing left to do...</div>
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Ciao for now, Colombia.</div>
<a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54488/269/91C7387434EA98CDA6A1115396052F68.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0 !important;" /></a>Kristinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12911733801400560580noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5256550372428612535.post-37242379716465575802012-06-13T10:37:00.000-05:002012-06-13T10:37:04.139-05:00Paz y SalvoColombia has this thing called a Paz y Salvo (in English: Peace and Safe) that is basically a piece of paper that indicates you have done everything you said you were going to at some point in time. For example, after cancelling our Direct TV subscription, they had to come to our apartment to pick up the cable box and then the guy wrote me a Paz y Salvo indicating they had done just that. Kelsi and I signed a Paz y Salvo with our landlord indicating we left the place in good condition, paid our current bills, etc. In order to get paid for the final time, we have an academic Paz y Salvo to complete which is really more like a scavenger hunt around campus looking for signatures. The department head, principal, curriculum coordinator, librarians, etc. all need to sign it. As much as this whole Paz y Salvo business seems like just another hoop to jump through (and in some ways it is), I actually think it is a good idea for holding people accountable when all I really want to do is daydream about summer vacation.<br />
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That being said here are the things on my self-created "Paz y Salvo" before leaving Colombia in just nine (NINE!!!!) short days:<br />
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<li>Attend <a href="http://www.coffeecalculationsandcolombia.blogspot.com/2011/06/end-of-school-year.html">another fabulous Despedida (goodbye) Party</a> at Rita & Sam's apartment this weekend! Dance the night away and hang out with all my friends :)</li>
<li>Pack epic amounts of things in what I am hoping will end up being just 4 (FOUR!) checked bags. Remember when I moved my whole life home in four bags? It's happening. Never mind that Anna and I once filled up my Dad's entire Ford Explorer after just three weeks home from college during Christmas vacation...</li>
<li>GIVE AWAY even more epic amounts of things because I might be frugal about Tupperware and want to keep the IKEA bowls I bought before moving to college in August 2005, but I am more frugal about not paying obscene overweight baggage fees with American Airlines.</li>
<li>Spend a few hours<a href="http://www.coffeecalculationsandcolombia.blogspot.com/2010/06/hammocking-what-what.html"> reading in my hammock and appreciating our balcony</a>.</li>
<li>Drink fresh fruit juice at all possible opportunities.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.coffeecalculationsandcolombia.blogspot.com/2010/06/were-regulars.html">Sit around at Juan Valdez in Unicentro</a> with Kelsi and talk about nothing and everything all at the same time.</li>
<li>Organize and attend a goodbye dinner the night before Kelsi leaves for California (and two nights before Stetson and I leave for Minnesota) at our favorite Cali restaurant, Platillos Voladores.</li>
<li>Finish watching the rest of this season of TV so that Kelsi and I are all caught up for next season...when I will be needing new TV buddies and/or having weekly Skype dates with her during our favorite shows.</li>
<li>Say goodbye to all my current students at 8th Grade Graduation on Friday and all my past students throughout the day on Thursday and Friday. Most likely cry during no less than 15 of these goodbyes.</li>
<li>Drink one more coffee malteada at Macondo Coffee Shop in San Antonio.</li>
<li>Go on one last weekend movie date with Kelsi, Stetson and friends.</li>
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...what else am I missing?!?!?<br />
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Cheers to the next 9 days of enjoying all the wonderful things I love about Cali, Colombia!<br />
<a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54488/269/91C7387434EA98CDA6A1115396052F68.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0 !important;" /></a>Kristinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12911733801400560580noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5256550372428612535.post-18571420588229405602012-05-26T17:58:00.000-05:002012-07-31T11:51:56.431-05:00A Friendly Despedida in BogotaWith just four weeks left until I am northbound to Minnesota, things are wrapping up very quickly here in Colombia. Final exams are just around the corner and I have an apartment full of things to give away or pack, so I feel like I will be on that American Airlines flight before I know it.<br />
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Based on the past two years on experience, Kelsi and I knew things at the end of the year would get crazy so we decided to plan a weekend getaway with some of our closest friends here before the insanity hit. The weekend following our celebration of Teacher's Day at school, we treated ourselves to a little weekend fun in the capital of Bogota. While I have been to Bogota a few times before, this was my first trip there in over a year and I remembered all the reasons I fell in love with the city the first time!<br />
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Sitting much higher in the mountains, Bogota has a colder climate than Cali, so the trip warranted both jeans and sweatshirts AKA my favorite things to wear. We basically just spent the weekend hanging out, going back to some of our favorite places and enjoying time with friends. The whole weekend was a great break before the end-of-the-year stuff and reminded me just how much I will miss seeing Kelsi, Stetson, Sam, Mandi and Rob on a daily basis next year. They have been wonderful, amazing friends and I am so grateful for the time I spent with them here in Colombia.<br />
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First stop - a brewery tour at Bogota Beer Company. Good beer in Colombia is practically non-existent as most people just embrace the idea of cheap, light beer that tastes like unfiltered water... so when I saw the link for a tour on the BBC website I knew we had to do it! For $60,000 COP (about $30 USD) each it is an awesome deal because they take you to the brewery, where you drink for free, then 3 BBC locations of your choice in Bogota with VIP service & 1 one free drink at each one, a t-shirt, souvenir glass, official certificate of participation and a tour guide/DD for the night.<br />
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Award winning beer - yes, it's that good. </div>
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Bogotá Beer Company - "The biggest small brewery in Bogota"<br />
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Me, Stetson, Sam, Mandi, Rob and Kelsi at the first BBC location of the night in Usaquen. </div>
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Smizing aka smiling with my eyes with my favorite four Gossip Girls at BBC #2 in Parque 93. </div>
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In the BBC tour van with my ROOMIES. (Did I mention that Stetson's lease ended in May and he is now our third roomie? Oh yeah, that happened.)<br />
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The next day we got a lazy start, enjoyed some Juan Valdez in the Zona Rosa neighborhood of Bogota and then made our way to the suburb town of Zipaquira to see the Salt Cathedral. Located about an hour from Bogota, only Stetson had been here before, but we had all heard enough to want to check it out. Basically it is a cathedral built in an old salt mine about 180 feet underground and then lit up with LED lights. Pretty cool to see and worth the trip from Bogota!</div>
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A little blurry, but the group inside the Salt Cathedral.<br />
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Overlooking the main nave of the cathedral.<br />
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Lit up Nativity.<br />
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Later that night we made it one of Bogota's most famous restaurants - Andres Carne del Res. We went to the original location in Chia, which was enormous. Making our way from the bar where we waited before getting a table literally took us on a winding 5 minute walk through the restaurant and I still never saw the end of it! The food was amazing and the decor is kitschy and full of crazy things. After dinner there is a dance floor that gets pretty crowded. </div>
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With Stetson and Sam at Andres Carne del Res.<br />
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Our last day we found ourselves at Crepes & Waffles for brunch, because we are just that obsessed with their brunch menu :) From there we walked around a bit, saw the market in Usaquen and made our way back to the airport. Happy, well-fed, and content with an awesome weekend! </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioNt-zYIwGAzJds_TeJZdbDYfzEnz7batvd8dC7pwThIPjzJM6lyt1RdlqeLjkYKZFihzmx0mrAirRGAaaXYS4Zk8xPsLBjNvPdzneKx95tZYsV3FURxthXoo39iBKwHvxbL0_e3-5R266/s1600/IMG_0844.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioNt-zYIwGAzJds_TeJZdbDYfzEnz7batvd8dC7pwThIPjzJM6lyt1RdlqeLjkYKZFihzmx0mrAirRGAaaXYS4Zk8xPsLBjNvPdzneKx95tZYsV3FURxthXoo39iBKwHvxbL0_e3-5R266/s320/IMG_0844.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div>
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Good morning to you Crepes y Waffles.</div>
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Brunch buddies!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMV7xuVGdA4ZkCjDUknqF7KxNHhvTqoCmaH9MDA-wJ_3sTBXG1axa92kLggSLZl_kRNnKB06e3olGpuopKiIdnZXs5jM4MkYXFdLGJJAVrx-PTaJdcwdbAonv01BRz8rI52b0iX_3HMrsO/s1600/IMG_0853.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMV7xuVGdA4ZkCjDUknqF7KxNHhvTqoCmaH9MDA-wJ_3sTBXG1axa92kLggSLZl_kRNnKB06e3olGpuopKiIdnZXs5jM4MkYXFdLGJJAVrx-PTaJdcwdbAonv01BRz8rI52b0iX_3HMrsO/s320/IMG_0853.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div>
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...we watch a lot of Gossip Girl together, so this was our version of a photo on the steps on the MET....or a random bank building in Bogota.</div>
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<a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54488/269/91C7387434EA98CDA6A1115396052F68.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0 !important;" /></a>Kristinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12911733801400560580noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5256550372428612535.post-27256650722476853472012-05-24T12:13:00.001-05:002012-07-31T11:52:12.348-05:00Job Offer Accepted!After a long job search that basically involved me typing all the same information that is in my resume, references, letter of recommendation, transcript, and license into many, many electronic databases I have <b>a plan for next year</b>!!! Hooray!<br />
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One of the most frustrating parts of the job search was just never hearing back from people about what was going on. Most districts and principals never responded to say they received my application and they would be reviewing them in a certain amount of time. In fact, I think there are still schools out there who haven't even started their interview process yet.<br />
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Anyway, after two interviews and two job offers, I decided to accept the one closer to home. After all, if I am leaving a job that I like right now for the main reason of being closer to home, then I should actually BE closer to home. Starting in the fall I will be working at a private, international school located in downtown St. Paul, Minnesota. The school is international because only about 20% of the students come from Minnesota while the other 80% are exchange students who come to study abroad for 1-2 years.<br />
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I am thrilled about the international aspect of the job, since that is something I have really appreciated about teaching in Colombia. I do think the smaller school (only about 200 students total in grades 9-12 versus about 1,300 in my current K-12 school) will take a bit of getting used to, but I am excited about the chance to know other teachers and students well. I will most likely be teaching AP Statistics, Geometry and Algebra I, which is a big change from just teaching five sections of Algebra I for the past three years. I think I am ready for the challenge professionally, and my school is already investing in some professional development to help me out by sending me to a one week summer course on teaching AP Statistics. <br />
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Teaching in downtown St. Paul, being closer to friends and family, and still getting to work with students from all over the world is pretty much my dream job...so I cannot wait to see how it all works out in the fall!<br />
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Now...who has a good game plan for me not to spend all my money at the <i>many</i> downtown locations of both Caribou and Starbucks???<br />
<a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54488/269/91C7387434EA98CDA6A1115396052F68.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0 !important;" /></a>Kristinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12911733801400560580noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5256550372428612535.post-61211405087639349462012-05-06T18:37:00.000-05:002012-05-06T18:37:57.481-05:00What I've Been Up To Lately<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
After a wonderful week of no school, no students and no planning during Semana Santa, reality sunk in pretty hard immediately thereafter. And by reality, I mean the notion of there are only two months left until I leave Colombia...so I should probably figure out "what comes next" pretty darn quick.</div>
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Ideally I would like to be teaching middle or high school math somewhere in the Twin Cities with coworkers I enjoy, some ability to use my Spanish and a commute that doesn't make me curse snow/MN drivers/MNDOT on a daily basis. In an effort to obtain this I have been applying to jobs non-stop since Spring Break. Applying to teaching jobs basically means entering all the EXACT SAME information that is already in my resume/cover letter/letters of recommendation/transcripts/teaching license into whatever database the school has chosen to use. Luckily, many public schools in Minnesota use the same database, which has been extremely helpful...and made me start cursing the ones who don't. I have had one interview so far, which resulted in a job offer almost immediately following...but I turned it down in favor of (hopefully) finding something closer to the Twin Cities. Fingers crossed!!!</div>
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Besides spending countless hours of prep time/weeknights/Fridays at the kitchen table applying for jobs, I have been trying to make the most of my last weeks in Colombia! This place has been my home for three years now and I definitely want to really appreciate all the wonderful things about this place and the people here before I leave it. Here's what I have been up to:</div>
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<li>Our water company (EmCali) appears to have gotten in together in regards to our water situation AKA it stopped being turned off at random, inconvenient times and (<i>knock on wood</i>) I haven't had to take a shower with a bucket in weeks. Hooray! One particular intense storm on a Wednesday night did however knock out all of our power. We spent the night reading by headlamp, eating a candlelit dinner, and watching TV on our computers until the batteries died. I wouldn't say I would like it to happen again soon, but it was kind of nice for one night...</li>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibtKLNWfpagC6tPUyPFHvzFh_gYLY3OEyqcWyiEp6y5g7dOzDtr29itNSgcvJ7RfNWDMvHX2Z5rTlQ4EnUr7l2xnLgnnBN7py3YFhYKdVsXwCkWzPuMzif2-ScQwSQk1wfrFz1zNBO7fQ4/s1600/IMG_0663.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibtKLNWfpagC6tPUyPFHvzFh_gYLY3OEyqcWyiEp6y5g7dOzDtr29itNSgcvJ7RfNWDMvHX2Z5rTlQ4EnUr7l2xnLgnnBN7py3YFhYKdVsXwCkWzPuMzif2-ScQwSQk1wfrFz1zNBO7fQ4/s320/IMG_0663.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div>
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<li>The spring musical at school featured some very talented students and teachers, included one of my 8th graders who absolutely rocked the role of Cha Cha. We went to see the play with some friends one Saturday night and I remembered how cool it is to see my students succeeding at things they love outside the classroom.</li>
<li>We went to the <a href="http://delirio.com.co/">Delirio</a> salsa show with some coworkers. <a href="http://www.coffeecalculationsandcolombia.blogspot.com/2009/09/weekend-recap-delirio-salsa-show-lago.html">I had been once before</a>, but wanted to see it again. Salsa is such an integral part of Colombian culture and the constant infusion of salsa music and dancing into EVERYTHING is definitely a trademark of this country.</li>
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<li>Math Olympics 2012! A joint middle and high school event, this contest has 8th & 9th graders paired together in teams of four working on problems in a variety of Jeopardy-style categories to earn points. The winning team earns bragging rights (math nerds for the win!) and t-shirts designed by yours truly which say "Mathlete CB 2012" on the front and simply, "show your work" on the back. And they are purple, of course. Teams from 6th & 7th grade also compete as well as 10th/11th/12th grade teams together. </li>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXpIh3bCD1YuS0yoLZtV4Vtjacdy4anKjoZB5KA8E1V1LoE7vpVp_46sPHmIg-IXXb7cjbJZCYgRbYIyTp1sN0ZL6MjZyLqYP-O1OEDZlolQ9YJtvJURv600kcp0QMP9DtCWgO0hhN5BVx/s1600/IMG_0699.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXpIh3bCD1YuS0yoLZtV4Vtjacdy4anKjoZB5KA8E1V1LoE7vpVp_46sPHmIg-IXXb7cjbJZCYgRbYIyTp1sN0ZL6MjZyLqYP-O1OEDZlolQ9YJtvJURv600kcp0QMP9DtCWgO0hhN5BVx/s320/IMG_0699.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<li>Kelsi and some other coworkers ran in La Carrera de La Mujer, a women-only 8K run here in Cali. Stetson and I went to cheer her on and take lots of pictures along the way. The day was sunny, albeit a little hot for running and I remembered once again that even though I'm not a runner myself, there is something so energizing about cheering on others while they run!</li>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZzpvXLI4ZdIueypnlucIAm4KFUx7iZSlilpxr9QR8crPE8RYQLSZNJrp51ndVrEm570dDqScJt7iPDFxOvQx5q9ZXTyGNfcUOIzJYQuGosSsGqBdZJsh3s9L4Sgt9VQ27fkO9w_2P0NlX/s1600/401706_10100950415975594_3301164_59107899_122485140_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZzpvXLI4ZdIueypnlucIAm4KFUx7iZSlilpxr9QR8crPE8RYQLSZNJrp51ndVrEm570dDqScJt7iPDFxOvQx5q9ZXTyGNfcUOIzJYQuGosSsGqBdZJsh3s9L4Sgt9VQ27fkO9w_2P0NlX/s320/401706_10100950415975594_3301164_59107899_122485140_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Go Kelsi!!! </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHkdlFIv7B2lM3-JSKue6LwRxMlMcBzQva-MkQer6UL9KIHUczRSw-kiADTOOawf8jnryQAo9KKU_R867QMQlDS-bISCuZ6tFYEtN5k6rdQPCNqKZBEq4LQ-zZWoQeI1L1XEdzD_O4Ukoe/s1600/525868_10100950418959614_3301164_59107924_1087855320_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHkdlFIv7B2lM3-JSKue6LwRxMlMcBzQva-MkQer6UL9KIHUczRSw-kiADTOOawf8jnryQAo9KKU_R867QMQlDS-bISCuZ6tFYEtN5k6rdQPCNqKZBEq4LQ-zZWoQeI1L1XEdzD_O4Ukoe/s320/525868_10100950418959614_3301164_59107924_1087855320_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Obvio I'm #1 in her fan club.</div>
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...so that's the update from Colombia. Now to focus on planning the rest of the school year, applying to more jobs, and moving my life and all the things it contains back to Minnesota. Yikes.<br />
<a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54488/269/91C7387434EA98CDA6A1115396052F68.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0 !important;" /></a>Kristinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12911733801400560580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5256550372428612535.post-2052200182704157432012-04-21T14:39:00.000-05:002012-04-21T14:39:13.979-05:00Spring Break in Parque Nacional Tayrona<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
After <a href="http://www.coffeecalculationsandcolombia.blogspot.com/2012/04/how-to-spend-amazing-spring-break-with.html">my Spring Break visitor</a> arrived in Colombia, we were off to the Caribbean Coast to one of my favorite places in Colombia! Despite only spending <a href="http://www.coffeecalculationsandcolombia.blogspot.com/2010/01/parque-nacional-tayrona-national-park.html">one night there in early 2010</a>, I knew that I had to return to Parque Nacional Tayrona before <a href="http://www.coffeecalculationsandcolombia.blogspot.com/2012/01/bye-misis.html">leaving Colombia</a>. Spring Break provided us with ample time to fly to the coastal city of Santa Marta and spend some time in the city before heading to the park for two nights.</div>
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Michael and I traveled with Kelsi and our friend Lauren, who also teaches third grade with Kelsi, and I think everyone enjoyed the week of beach time together! Even Kelsi, who before this time had not found anything comparison-worthy to the beaches of her Southern California home <a href="http://kelsi-nohabloespanol.blogspot.com/2012/04/parque-tayrona.html">admitted that it was impressive</a>.</div>
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On Monday we flew to Santa Marta, via a layover <s>in Bogota</s> at Juan Valdez in the Bogota airport, and spent the night there. Kelsi led us to an amazing coffee/juice cafe appropriately named Lulo after one of Colombia's most unique fruits. We also enjoyed a delicious dinner at Bistro that involved dos por uno (2 x 1) copas de vino (glasses of wine). Overall several wins for a city that doesn't always look as cute as its more famous coastal neighbor of Cartagena.</div>
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Oh Lulo, how I wish you existed in Cali.</div>
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On Tuesday we headed back to Lulo for breakfast (it's that good!) then took a cab out to Parque Nacional Tayrona. We could have taken a public bus, but with four of us to split cab fare we figured it was worth the time saved. Once in Tayrona the check-in process went super fast since we had purchased our park entrance fees and paid for our reserved hammocks in advance.</div>
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Since Tayrona is one of Colombia's most famous and beautiful national parks, we knew it would be super busy during Semana Santa (Holy Week) and we weren't about to wait in line to get to the beach. After checking in, we trekked into the park (about one hour hiking) with our all our possessions for three days (essentially swimsuits and snacks) in our backpacks. The trail had been remodeled since my last time there and about 30 minutes in we were greeted with stunning views of the beaches I remembered. THIS was what I came back for.</div>
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Happy (and apparently hydrated) hikers. </div>
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First sights of the beaches, which extend one after another as far as the eye can see.</div>
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We finally arrived at our campsite at Arrecifes Beach and had no trouble checking into the <a href="http://concesionesparquesnaturales.com/index.php/colombia/parques-naturales/parque-nacional-natural-tayrona">Aviatur campsite</a>. Thanks to tips from some friends who went last year, we knew this site had the most comfortable hammocks, individual lockers, and its own restaurant/bathrooms. This became super important as the week continued and Colombians seemed to be pouring into the park from all directions. We dropped our stuff in lockers and headed for the beach! </div>
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Michael walking along the beach in front of our campsite - gorgeous but not for swimming due to the strong riptide. Signs everywhere warned people not to go swimming and become "part of the statistic" of people who have died here. </div>
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Michael, Kelsi and Lauren headed down the beach. </div>
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Happy to be in Tayrona! </div>
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The first day we didn't get too far since it was a bit cloudy and we left all the snacks at the campsite, so we only made it one beach past our camp. However, after a night spent sleeping in hammocks and a typical breakfast of eggs & arepas, we armed ourselves with (not enough) sunscreen, books, and snacks for a full day of beaching. We ended up exploring four beaches during the day and running into a variety of friends who also happened to be in Tayrona along the way. We even spotted our friend Hana swimming at Cabo San Juan.<br />
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La Piscina, the first swimmable beach in Tayrona. </div>
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Sunburnt by late afternoon - oops. </div>
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Group photo at Cabo San Juan beach. </div>
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At the end of the day we realized we all got a little bit pinker than intended and back the trek back to our campsite to find dinner...and aloe. One more night in the hammocks and some early morning beach time the next day were in order before we made the hike out of the park. The steady stream of people headed into the park made us very glad to be leaving, despite our sadness at saying goodbye to the beach. Back in Santa Marta, we enjoyed some (real) food at the Mexican restaurant, Agave Azul before heading back to Cali the following day.</div>
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Kelsi in her hammock withe the mosquito netting cover.</div>
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One last morning on the beach... </div>
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Obligatory jump shot - it wouldn't be a vacation without it :)</div>
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Out for Mexican food at Agave Azul. </div>
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One last group shot - sunburnt and happy. </div>
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I loved this vacation so much, mostly because of the excellent company, but also because it was my last long vacation in Colombia. As the weeks are starting to tick by fairly quickly in anticipation of my move back to Minnesota, I am growing very aware of how difficult it will be to leave a place I have called home for three years. I am extremely happy and excited to be back in Minnesota, but there is always something sad about leaving a place that has been so important to one's life. While there are still things I don't love about Colombia, for me it will always be a place of beautiful landscapes, friendly people and some of my very best friends.</div>
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<a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54488/269/91C7387434EA98CDA6A1115396052F68.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0 !important;" /></a>Kristinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12911733801400560580noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5256550372428612535.post-52788398215103805162012-03-20T20:31:00.001-05:002012-03-20T20:31:36.899-05:00A Wee Bit O' Irish in Colombia<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
On Monday of this week I had the day off from school for the Feast Day of St. Joseph, observed by Christians around the world, in celebration of the Virgin Mary's husband. While I am not really sure what Colombians do to commemorate this national holiday besides go to mass, it was a holiday nonetheless.</div>
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On Saturday night, we celebrated a different saint here in our apartment with less Christian-observation and more green-beer-drinking. It all started when our friend Sam suggested via a Facebook message to Kelsi and I that "someone" host a St. Patrick's Day party. We got the hint and decided to step up, despite both of us having to be at school by 7:00 AM on Sunday morning for the Destination Imagination tournament. I sent out this adorbs picture of Neil Patrick Harris' (AKA Barney Stinson's) twin babies dressed up for St. Patrick's Day to get our friends in the spirit and we went about brainstorming green foods and drinks.</div>
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Thankfully Sam stepped up and helped with some DIY green shirts and of course we invited Cassie because she looks up awesome themed treats online, makes them, and then shares. In the end we ended up with a sampler platter of green tortilla espanola, rainbow cupcakes, a rainbow fruit platter, chocolate wrapped as gold coins, guacamole, green beer and grasshoppers. Yum!</div>
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The evening ended up being mostly relaxing girl-talk and eating while we waited for the boys to show up two hours later. Once they got here, projector in hand we spent about an hour watching March Madness games projected on a wall of our apartment. In the end we headed out to an English pub in Cali, only to find it CLOSED! so we pretty much called it a night and prepared for our 6:30 wake up call. Overall, a relaxing, fun, green-filled St. Patrick's Day!<br />
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Jess, Sam, Kelsi, me & Cassie in our newly painted shirts!</div>
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<a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54488/269/91C7387434EA98CDA6A1115396052F68.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0 !important;" /></a>Kristinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12911733801400560580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5256550372428612535.post-30266658880009630992012-03-19T09:43:00.003-05:002012-03-19T09:44:15.773-05:00On Solo Dates: Finding Balance Between Busy & LonelyI said in March I would fulfill my <a href="https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_KNxaNruZW9MDJhNmY0OGQtODU1Mi00ZDBhLWI4YzAtMzY5NWQ0YjIyMTE4/edit?pli=1#">2012 goal</a> to go on a solo date by myself, so this past Saturday I did just that. I woke up on Saturday morning to an empty apartment, as Kelsi had already left for the Destination Imagination tournament at school, made my breakfast and waited for the time to leave for yoga.<br />
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Here's the thing though. I'm not very good at waiting. Patience might be a virtue, but it isn't really one of mine. <i>Hashtag understatement. </i>I'm hopelessly always <s>five</s> <s>ten</s> fifteen minutes late for things because I don't want to waste my time by showing up early with nothing to do. I'm always trying to squeeze in one more thing before I get there/leave the house. In college, I was totally <i>that </i>girl biking furiously to class, narrowly missing casual walkers on the sidewalks of La Crosse, Wisconsin because once again I took too long to get out of the house/stayed talking to someone at work/stopped to say to a friend/just was late.<br />
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On Saturday I learned a new reason why I don't like waiting - it makes me nervous. I thought to myself: I could just stay here and do yoga in my apartment. What if the class is cancelled for whatever reason and I go all the way there just to turn around? What if I feel awkward being the only English speaker without Kelsi and Mandi there with me? What if I cannot figure out how to walk to the restaurant I want to go to for lunch without getting lost in between the twists and turns of Cali neighborhoods?<br />
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THIS IS RIDICULOUS. Here I am claiming to be this honest, independent, free-willed, 24-year-old woman and I can't even go to yoga and lunch by myself. That's it. I have to go now. If only to prove to myself that I can. (Patience might not be one of my virtues, but you bet that determination damn well is.)<br />
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And so I went. I showed at 10:00 AM for a 10:15 class to find a locked door and no lights on in the studio. I knew it!! Why did I convince myself that this was a good idea? Then a woman in her car on her cell phone asks if I am there for class. I say yes and she explains the teacher is on her way. Minutes later the teacher shows up, we all go inside, and enjoy a wonderful yoga class with only the five of us. Afterward, the teacher asks how long I have been in Cali, what I do here, etc. Since there are only five of us, we exchange names and stories before parting ways. <i>(Note to self: Introduce yourself to the people you are going to be sweating next to for the next two hours and it makes yoga class much more personal.)</i><br />
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Then I walk myself straight out the door and through the streets of Cali - two blocks uphill and one very giant staircase later and I have reached the next neighborhood without having to go the long way around via the river. Success! Now for some lunch....<br />
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The time is 12:30 PM now. Turns out the <a href="http://www.librerianacional.com/es/">Liberia Nacional</a>, my lunch spot of choice because we have all been wanting to try it, does not open until 1:00 PM on Saturdays. Awesome. I consider just throwing in the towel and walking to the Subway on the river road. And I almost do. But can you really count it as a solo date if you take yourself to Subway? I think not, so here I am waiting again. I took out my iPod and caught up on the blogs I read - namely the latest headlines from MLB and Twins blogs.<br />
<br />
At 1:00 PM I went in, feeling quite awkward that they literally just opened and here I am for lunch 30 seconds later. I proceed to browse the shelves for 10 minutes before my hunger won out, and I sat down to lunch at a table for two. I totally wanted to sit in one of the four person comfy-looking booths but felt as though that might draw more attention to my solo-ness. Maybe next time. So I sat there, ate my chicken/apple/candied walnut/blue cheese salad and drank my frappucino. I read a bit of my book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Im-Stranger-Here-Myself-Returning/dp/076790382X">I'm A Stranger Here Myself</a>, about a man returning to live in the United States after spending 20 years in England. I laughed out loud to myself at the funny parts. I reflected on what it will be like for me to live back in the United States after three full years of just visiting. I people-watched and made up stories in my head about what their lives are like. I didn't check my email. I didn't text anyone. I didn't make conversation with anyone besides the waiter. I didn't try to fit in my bites of food around the flow of conversation.<br />
<br />
At home later that day I told Kelsi all about my solo date - how I almost didn't go and then realized how silly that was because it was awesome! I realized that while I love to spend time with the people I love and care about, I also love spending time with me. I realized that I don't do that as often as I need to because I am scared of feeling lonely. In a world of constant connectedness and communication, I am still scared of feeling lonely without another person there in the flesh.<br />
<br />
Now I get it. This is why I am so busy. This is why I go to bed every night <s>an hour</s> two hours later than I should. This is why I never say no when a friend asks me for help with something. This is why I have Skype dates that start at 9:00 PM on weeknights. This is why I say "yes" to 99% of the things that are asked of me. This is why I take on responsibilities at school and refuse to delegate, even though I could. This why everyday I feel like I can barely catch my breath as I run from place to place. This is why I leave my door open for students to come talk to me during break and lunch, even though technically it is my break and lunch time as much as it is theirs. This is why I usually work through my lunch hour even when students don't come in to ask me questions. This is why I have a Google calendar that syncs to my iPod, so I don't forget any of the commitments I have made. This is why I have a constant to do list - separated into "life" things and school things, inside my school agenda at all times.<br />
<br />
It's 2012 and we're all busy people. We like being busy. The busy is what helps us lead full, happy, successful lives. The busy comforts us and reminds us that we are needed and cared for. That people love us and want to spend time with us.<br />
<br />
But the busy is always what makes us stressed out, tired, exhausted, rundown, frustrated, impatient, worried, etc. And at 24 years old, I am not ready to make a commitment to a life that looks like that more often than not. I do not ever plan to list "frantically busy" amongst my best qualities, but instead I would like to say I arrive as a whole, rested, relaxed person to each new endeavor. That transition is probably going to take a million little baby steps, but it is one I feel 100% committed to for my life. In order to be the best me I can be, the best friend, daughter, sister, teacher, girlfriend, granddaughter, cousin, and godmother I can be - something's gotta give, you know? So for me, in 2012 that thing that's gotta give, or in this case gotta go, is my habit to be busy all the time and thus spread myself so thin that each thing or each person gets a second-rate version of me.<br />
<br />
Cause I just spent a day with the first-rate version of me, and she's pretty awesome. :)<br />
<br />
Now, excuse me while I go on a lunch/movie date with Kelsi - because every good solo date/solo day/solo time leads to a better adventure with the people we love.<br />
<br />
Happy Monday!<br />
<a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54488/269/91C7387434EA98CDA6A1115396052F68.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0 !important;" /></a>Kristinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12911733801400560580noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5256550372428612535.post-64716250095903531672012-02-29T08:00:00.000-06:002012-03-02T08:07:38.679-06:002012 Goals: 2 months down, 10 to go!For those of you just catching up now, here are my <a href="https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_KNxaNruZW9MDJhNmY0OGQtODU1Mi00ZDBhLWI4YzAtMzY5NWQ0YjIyMTE4/edit?pli=1#">2012 goals</a> broken up into 8 categories of the 24 things I am going to (HAVE!) done in 2012.<br />
<br />
In February, I:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Went to Saturday morning yoga on two more occasions with future plans to continue this.</li>
<li>Discussed with Kelsi her options for an awesome <a href="http://kelsi-nohabloespanol.blogspot.com/2012/02/i-currently-have-no-plan-b-and-thats.html">plan B</a> (AKA suggested that she move to a variety of locations, all of which I happen to want to visit!)</li>
<li>Only went on two coffee dates! Hooray saving money!</li>
<li>Updated my Professional Development Plan that I need to complete in order to keep my Wisconsin teacher licensure updated. While I do not have any plans to teach in the state of Wisconsin right this moment, I would like to keep up with the things I need to do to renew the license in two years in case I need a plan b.</li>
<li>Updated my resume in preparation for applying for jobs soon! I also <strike>completed all the paperwork</strike> jumped through all the hoops set up by the Minnesota Department of Education in order to obtain my licensure in the state of Minnesota. </li>
<li>Tried <a href="http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/240/913">Murphy's Red</a> (yes, weird that I have never had it before) & <a href="http://www.bogotabeercompany.com/index.php/cerveceria-bbc/cervezas-de-la-casa/30-zipaquira-abadia-r.html">Bogota Beer Company's Zipaquirá AbadÃa</a> (LOVED this one - fruity, spicy, unfiltered & based on a Belgian recipe)</li>
<li>Revisited my monthly goals! </li>
</ul>
<br />
In March:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>There is one Saturday when both my yoga buddies have to be at school for the Destination Imagination tournament - what better day to take myself on a solo date/force myself to go to yoga even without someone to go with.</li>
<li>I will figure out what I can do with some of my savings to actually invest it in things and not just have it sit in my account. Because apparently, this is what adults do. Even though it terrifies me in an irrational way since really, I am good with numbers. I know it's weird. </li>
<li>Summer plans!!! There is absolutely nothing I love more than planning to go back home for a Minnesota summer and this one promises to be absolutely fantastic!! <i>Already on the calendar:</i> a family vacation to Colorado (AKA my birthplace and home of mountains/happiness), <a href="https://tickets.kennychesney.com/">Brothers in the Sun (Kenny Chesney & Tim McGraw) stadium concert</a> at Target Field with the boy & the brother, a bachelorette party/college friends reunion weekend in La Crosse, and a <a href="http://www.pedalpub.com/twincities/index.htm">Pedal Pub</a> for my quarter century birthday</li>
</ul>
<div>
Stick around, friends - 2012 is already shaping up to be quite the fabulous year... and there is so much yet to come! </div>
<br />
<a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54488/269/91C7387434EA98CDA6A1115396052F68.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0 !important;" /></a>Kristinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12911733801400560580noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5256550372428612535.post-32794875936346924292012-02-26T13:13:00.003-06:002012-02-26T13:17:24.507-06:00How to (not) Find Your Lost/Stolen Wallet in 40 Steps<i>Alternatively titled: How LAN Colombia came to be on my never fly with them again list, right next to Aerolineas Argentina.</i><br />
<i><br /></i><br />
We were just getting out of the cab at our hotel in <a href="http://www.coffeecalculationsandcolombia.blogspot.com/2012/02/carnaval-de-barranquilla-quien-lo-vive.html">Barranquilla</a>. After being up since 5:30 AM, teaching a full day, and two flights, I felt more than ready for a solid night of sleep.<br />
<br />
Then came that sinking moment when I dug my hand into my purse to come up empty handed, no wallet to be found. I calmly search again, thinking it was just stuck somewhere between my phone, book, snacks, iPod, etc. No, it definitely isn't here I told Kelsi and Cassie as we got out. The cab driver helped us search in case it had just fallen out in the cab, but no such luck.<br />
<br />
As the ten of us in town for Carnaval de Barranquilla congregated in the hotel lobby, I shared the news that somewhere between taking out my boarding pass as we boarded our connecting flight in Bogota and arriving at the hotel, I had lost my wallet. I then proceeded to do what anyone who has lost their wallet knows all too well - attempt to find it. Here's how it went down:<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>Call the HR representative from my school, knowing that she will easily be able to call the bank and get my card put on hold much faster than I will be able to do so in Spanish.</li>
<li>Remember that she isn't actually very helpful with anything HR related, and is actually just the Queen of Delegation.</li>
<li>Call the guy she delegates to.</li>
<li>Get him to answer on the second ring and say he will call the bank immediately.</li>
<li>Have helpful front desk man at the hotel help me call the Bogota airport. Get re-connected three times before a man tells me no one has reported a blue leather wallet missing to them so far.</li>
<li>Look up number for LAN Colombia customer service online and attempt repeatedly to call them. No one ever answers.</li>
<li>Hear back from HR guy who says my debit card is now on hold, which is good, however in the mean time my friends have reminded me that it is impossible to use a Colombian debit card in person or online without knowing the PIN number. Good call, Banco de Occidente.</li>
<li>Decide that since LAN Colombia nor the Barranquilla airport seem to have someone answering the phones at 11:30 PM on a Thursday night, the best thing I can do is go back to the airport to look for it tonight.</li>
<li>Ride 30 minutes one-way back to the Barranquilla airport, thanking Kelsi and our original cab driver from the airport many, many times for coming back with me.</li>
<li>Speak to the only LAN Colombia representative at the Barranquilla airport. She explains that the plane turned right around and went back to Bogota. No, no one can get in touch with the plane. (What???) No, she cannot call anyone in Bogota to check the plane when it lands. No, she doesn't have a phone number for LAN Lost & Found. No, the phone number posted on the LAN website for customer service is not correct (in fact that one is for LAN Chile), the actual phone number is not posted anywhere, but she can give it to me. No, I cannot fly with a copy of my passport, but must get an official report from DAS, the Colombian authorities to return to Cali on Sunday. Thanks for nothing, lady.</li>
<li>Spend all 30 minutes of the return trip to the hotel on hold with LAN customer service - no one ever answers.</li>
<li>Call HR guy back. He completes the official report with DAS online and emails it to me by the time I get back to the hotel.</li>
<li>Have helpful front desk guy print me a copy of my passport and the official report. Thank God that I listened to some travel advice years ago and saved a scanned copy of my passport as a Google Doc so at least I have some form of ID for the weekend. (NOTE - everyone who travels a lot should do this <i>right now</i>)</li>
<li>Go to bed.</li>
<li>Wake up in the middle of the night to check my purse - my wallet still isn't there. That really did happen. </li>
<li>Wake up the next morning with (foolishly) renewed faith in customer service people. Call the Bogota airport Lost & Found - no one has reported my wallet missing. Call LAN Customer Service - get someone to answer (!) and give me the phone number of the Lost & Found department (!). No one answers the phone at Lost & Found.</li>
<li>Go out to the hotel pool and try to forget about it. Thank God that I emptied my wallet and therefore only lost my Colombian ID (cedula), debit card and the equivalent of about $50 USD.</li>
<li>Borrow money from Kelsi and spend Friday and Saturday <a href="http://www.coffeecalculationsandcolombia.blogspot.com/2012/02/carnaval-de-barranquilla-quien-lo-vive.html">rocking Carnaval de Barranquilla</a> anyway.</li>
<li>Return to the airport on Sunday afternoon to fly back to Cali. Note that the LAN representative from Thursday night AKA most unhelpful woman in Barranquilla is one of people checking in passengers. Initially dislike this until Kelsi reminds me she is the one who told me I could fly with this DAS report, so at least they will have to let me fly.</li>
<li>Check in with the help of a Colombian military man who was needed to "validate" my DAS report AKA give it a glance.</li>
<li>Get escorted through security by said military man.</li>
<li>Sit at the gate for our flight to Bogota for two additional hours waiting for the plane to arrive from Bogota, where all air traffic controllers have gone on strike.</li>
<li>Fly to Bogota. Realize we missed our connecting flight to Cali by three minutes and LAN didn't think to hold the flight for TEN passengers. Don't worry though, they will give us $18,000 pesos ($9 USD) to spend at McDonald's. Gross. No gracias, LAN.</li>
<li>Tempt fate and exit security in search of food and the Lost & Found office near baggage claim. Feel slightly nervous that Bogota will be more strict about letting me fly back without ID and I will be spending the night in Bogota by myself, but decide I am not spending this impromptu five hour layover by myself.</li>
<li>Find Lost & Found office for LAN airlines - music is blaring, lights are on, but no one is there.</li>
<li>Understand a hell of a lot better why no one ever answered their phones.</li>
<li>Find some men at the baggage claim desk. Explain to them what happened. Yell at them in broken Spanish/English/jibberish when they tell me the only woman with the key to the locked security box where all valuable lost items are kept is not at the airport and will not be there until 8:00 AM the next morning. Stomp up the stairs to Crepes & Waffles restaurant in the midst of a very epic "I hate Colombia" moment.</li>
<li>Attempt to explain what just happened to Kelsi, Cassie and Mandi. Get one sentence in before I am crying at a Crepes & Waffles in the Bogota airport. Feel like a giant social pariah and overall, pretty awesome about myself.</li>
<li>Eat a delicious crepe, drink a Chai tea and pray that I will be let back through security.</li>
<li>Stop by McDonald's. Feel immediately nauseated by the smell. Decide LAN Colombia already has my wallet, they might as well keep my $18,000 pity pesos too.</li>
<li>Get let back through security with no problems (!).</li>
<li>Speak with super lovely woman working at the Bogota Beer Company in the airport. Confirm with her that my wallet was not left there on Thursday night, which I didn't think it was, but just covering all the bases. Explain to her what the LAN Colombia people said - she confirms it makes no sense to her either. Wonder aloud why everyone who doesn't <i>need </i>to be helpful in this situation (hotel front desk guys, cab driver, Kelsi, Bogota Beer Company lady, Colombian military men, security people, etc.) has gone out of their way for me, but the people who I actually need to help me (anyone from LAN Colombia) have done nothing.</li>
<li>Return to Cali at 1:00 AM - five hours later than we were supposed to.</li>
<li>Sleep for 4 hours.</li>
<li>Go to school on Monday morning. Wait until 8:30 AM to call Lost & Found in Bogota. A man answers and tells me that the supervisor with the key to the lock box will be in "around mid-day". ON A MONDAY.</li>
<li>Call back at 1:00 PM. Speak with Diana, supervisor of lost items and baggage for LAN Colombia. Describe my wallet. Get cut off mid-sentence when she tells me it isn't there. I ask how she knows that when there is no way she has opened the lock box within the last 5 seconds. She says nothing has been turned into the office in over a week.</li>
<li>Feel incredulous at the idea that I am the only person who has lost anything on a NATIONAL airline in over a week. Know there is no way that is true. Either people know better and aren't even attempting to locate lost thing because they know there is no point, or someone who works for LAN Colombia now has my lovely leather blue wallet and the cedula of a foreigner named Kristin.</li>
<li>Say gracias and just hang up. Realize it took me four days of wasted efforts just to end up without a wallet.</li>
<li>Email HR guy to say thanks for all his help. </li>
<li>Receive email back from him saying my new debit card will be ready for pick-up on Friday.</li>
</ol>
<div>
Turns out, everything is replaceable. Lose a debit card, get a new one. Lose faith in an airline, get a new one.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Avianca Airlines - you better have it together for spring break 2012 because I am counting on you.</div>
<br />
<a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54488/269/91C7387434EA98CDA6A1115396052F68.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0 !important;" /></a><br />
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P.S. Who wants to go buy a new <a href="http://www.mubags.net/bags.php?menu=bags">Mu wallet</a> with me?</div>Kristinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12911733801400560580noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5256550372428612535.post-29013603629584392812012-02-26T12:21:00.001-06:002012-02-26T12:24:07.766-06:00Carnaval de Barranquilla: Quien lo vive, es quien lo goza!When Kelsi and I made a list last spring break of the ten things we wanted to do before leaving Colombia, attending <b>Carnaval de Barranquilla</b> was definitely on the list. In fact, all we wrote was #6 - Carnaval. It's happening. Basically, after missing the celebration our first year due to lack of awareness that it was happening and missing the second year due to lack of awareness in how far in advance we needed to plan, there was no way we were letting this slip by for a third year!<br />
<br />
The Carnaval de Barranquilla is Colombia's most important folklore festival and essentially shuts down all other activities in the city of Barranquilla for the four days before Ash Wednesday. The carnival begins on Saturday with La Batalla de Flores (the Battle of the Flowers), a six hour (!) float parade and the biggest of carnival. On Sunday, La Gran Parada (the Great Parade) features lots of dancing and costumes (even more than the day before!). Monday is El Festival de Orquestas (the Orchestra Festival) which is basically one long concert of various Colombian music groups. Finally, on Tuesday the carnival culminates with the symbolic burial of Joselito Carnaval.<br />
<br />
Throughout the four days of celebration the theme is: <b>Quien lo vive, es quien lo goza! </b>(Who lives it, is who enjoys it!)<br />
<br />
Who doesn't want to attend a giant festival with a slogan like that???<br />
<br />
Therefore, this year we got things started early and by the middle of September we had convinced eight friends to join us, bought plane tickets and put down a 50% deposit at <a href="http://www.hotelprado72.com/">Hotel Prado 72</a>. With our trip mostly paid for six months in advance we had nothing to do but wait for the fun to arrive! In the weeks leading up to Carnaval we also purchased tickets for assigned seating at mini-palcos during the main parade on Saturday. Thanks to some inside tips from coworkers we learned that this was the way to go at Carnaval. The parade is the beginning of the party, so you definitely want a good seat!<br />
<br />
We arrived in Barranquilla late on Thursday night and easily found our way to the hotel which is located in the central neighborhood of El Prado. That night we pretty much just went to bed in order to prepare for the weekend festivities.<br />
<br />
Friday we spent some time relaxing by the hotel pool and searching for costumes to wear to the parade. We hadn't exactly been aware of the costume aspect for parade watchers before arriving in Barranquilla so we had some catching up to do! Friday night we found our way to a cumbia (a style of music native to Colombia's Caribbean coast) concert in a giant field, and yes, it was about as random as it sounds. However, the whole atmosphere just felt electric with excitement as people prepared for the official start of carnival the next day. Groups of foreigners and Colombians alike were spread throughout the field, dancing, drinking beer and aguardiente, and listening to the music.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVSIvtfXh3TgG9lKQKmTGuE2LVPklvdMKCY8Xa9dbxxtHTfSPRGFTelseSKS_QTlUGLsG4S3v1jLU2HNW6p-Sw2G5dgQp24VydzI0xi7MW6xD45lfvXMQsMUDJeMOspRBuAjJdhYP7mVyL/s1600/Market.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVSIvtfXh3TgG9lKQKmTGuE2LVPklvdMKCY8Xa9dbxxtHTfSPRGFTelseSKS_QTlUGLsG4S3v1jLU2HNW6p-Sw2G5dgQp24VydzI0xi7MW6xD45lfvXMQsMUDJeMOspRBuAjJdhYP7mVyL/s320/Market.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="240" /></a></div>
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One of many market stalls we encountered on Friday while searching for costumes. </div>
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The next day we woke up to the stunning blue sky of Barranquilla and excitement everywhere. We got things started early - getting breakfast, coffee, and costumes on by 10 AM. Errr at least the girls did this. The boys were still sitting around the hotel room not dressed and drinking, so finally we left them behind. We had been warned to get to the parade early and we had about a 15-20 minute walk to get there.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheT-FpqLBpt6HNJ8wMpa2_ZUUb-fJdBxbkr0pFYi8ZItzXX-aN6pg0NQnY7sTpjEAUGnJwkJ5JiEu2DvRzWKw5Yu37hUfpmuRcuAWjHUr7NFgxRDwkBTKzXkrx3E74KaKvQohUnvnmLTrn/s1600/IMG_0216.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheT-FpqLBpt6HNJ8wMpa2_ZUUb-fJdBxbkr0pFYi8ZItzXX-aN6pg0NQnY7sTpjEAUGnJwkJ5JiEu2DvRzWKw5Yu37hUfpmuRcuAWjHUr7NFgxRDwkBTKzXkrx3E74KaKvQohUnvnmLTrn/s320/IMG_0216.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div>
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Kelsi and I ready to go in Carnaval t-shirts and beads! </div>
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The walk ended up being an adventure in itself. My friends Rita and Sam had chosen traditional Colombian costumes to wear to the parade so several people gawked at the two <i>gringas</i> along the way. Also, for reasons I still do not know, children at Carnaval paint themselves all black and charge at walkers with long sticks asking for money in exchange for letting people pass. The whole thing was a bit odd and un-settling.<br />
<br />
Finally at the gates to the enter the parade route I purchased myself a Panama hat to protect from the already brutal Caribbean sun and we found our way inside. Here, the trouble really began as soon as we discovered that the cross streets printed on our tickets were not actually the streets were our seats were located. Unfortunately, no one else at Carnaval seemed to be able to locate our seats either. After walking many blocks and speaking with numerous un-helpful Colombian policemen, we had had enough. At this point we happened upon quite possibly the tallest, largest, Afro-Colombian military man I have ever seen. Dressed in fatigues and sporting a jet black Camelbak that somehow made him look more intimidating, our new best friend took about 30 seconds to find us a less-impressive man who held a very impressive Carnaval badge. With the help of this man and his magic badge we were soon leaving the un-helpful policemen behind and walking down the middle of the parade route in order to avoid the crowds on the way to our seats. Based on the crowd response, I think everyone really enjoyed the spectacle of 7 <i>gringas</i> in costumes walking down the middle of parade route. I know I did.<br />
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Just a couple gringas trying to find their seats at Carnaval. Note the not super imposing man with his special badge in the red shirt...I wish I had a photo of the Colombian military man.</div>
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Finally in our seats at mini-palco number 47, the boys arrived a mere ten minutes later, also having been escorted (but via the sidewalk!) in order to find our seats. Then the craziness began. Led by one of the first floats which featured dancing street cleaners with neon green brooms and including a variety of brightly colored costumes and floats, the parade was awesome!! We danced and sang along with various floats and cheered on any parade member who posed for pictures or danced near our group.<br />
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Finally in our seats for the parade and only a few minutes before the start! </div>
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The boys showed up wearing t-shirts they had made which feature a picture of them in ridiculous costumes, naturally. </div>
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Street cleaners of Barranquilla, unite! </div>
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The marimonda - one of the typical costumes/characters of Carnaval. </div>
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One of so many brightly colored floats! </div>
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...so enjoy it! </div>
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Cassie and I....and David.</div>
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Getting our Carnaval on!</div>
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Six hours later our group of ten was down to five since some people hopped the fence to join the end of the parade, so Jessica, Cassie and I decided to locate ourselves some food and lots of water. We happened upon a deliciously random combo restaurant serving Italian and sushi. A fabulous end to a great day of celebration.<br />
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Sunday we enjoyed more (recovery) time at the pool, Kelsi and I led ourselves on a self-guided tour of Barranquilla AKA walked to the nearest Juan Valdez for coffee and we headed back to Cali. A little sunburnt, exhausted, most likely dehydrated, and with new costumes for future shenanigans we certainly lived it and we most definitely enjoyed it!<br />
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#6 - check.<br />
<a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54488/269/91C7387434EA98CDA6A1115396052F68.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0 !important;" /></a>Kristinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12911733801400560580noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5256550372428612535.post-82487442105357498482012-02-10T22:13:00.001-06:002012-02-10T22:13:21.212-06:00Why not Colombia? - 30 Travel Bloggers Jump On Board for Colombian Tourism"Why Colombia?"<br />
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"How did you choose Colombia?"<br />
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"Is it safe there?"<br />
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"Are there still a lot of drugs?"<br />
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Here I am three years into expatriate living and yet, every time I tell a new person about where I live, they ask me all the stereotypical questions. Questions that relate back to the international image that Colombia had, however well deserved, about 20 years ago.<br />
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Now? That image is outdated. Yes, there are still things Colombia as a country can do to improve, but overall everyone I talk to seems to think it is a much different and much improved place. I couldn't agree more, and as much as I have loved having the wonderful tourism opportunities here be off the well-paved gringo backpacking trail, it's high time people truly discovered all this place has to offer.<br />
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Turns out other people think this too - <a href="http://www.coffeecalculationsandcolombia.blogspot.com/2011/01/you-should-probably-book-plane-ticket.html">Cali was one of New York Times' 41 Places to Go in 2011</a> and <a href="http://www.coffeecalculationsandcolombia.blogspot.com/2010/01/colombia-one-of-ny-times-top-31-places.html">Colombia was one of New York Times' Top 31 Places to Go in 2010</a>. Now, Colombia is taking this moment to seize some of the positive press that has been building in recent years and really remake the international image of the country. Leading the charge in this is a company named <a href="http://www.proexport.com.co/">Proexport</a>. Since November 1992, Proexport has been in charge of promoting exports, foreign investments, and international tourism within Colombia - and for 2012, they are stepping up their game in a big way.<br />
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Pairing up with 30 expatriate and/or travel bloggers, Proexport aims to provide potential tourists with a complete, updated look at a country with so much opportunity for growth in the tourism industry. As one of these chosen travel bloggers, I am so excited to be working with this talented group of people to promote a country that will always have a big place in my heart. The <a href="http://www.colombia.travel/en/new-official-bloggers">Official Travel Blogger program</a> will feature English, Spanish, German, Portuguese, and French bloggers writing about travels and experiences within Colombia. Check out my page <a href="http://www.colombia.travel/en/official-bloggers/blogger/listings/krisra">here</a>!<br />
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While the details still seem to be in process, as this is very much a new thing for Colombia and Proexport, I think the benefits of seeing a place like Colombia flourish will be well worth my time spent writing a bit more about this place I call home! The program officially began this week in Bogota, and while I was unable to attend due to school, I am excited for the February 20th kick-off of posted articles as well as getting to know some of the other bloggers. In the mean time I will be busy pondering my first blog post...turns out three years has given me a lot of material to pull from!<br />
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<a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54488/269/91C7387434EA98CDA6A1115396052F68.png" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px !important; border-color: initial !important; border-left-width: 0px !important; border-right-width: 0px !important; border-style: initial !important; border-top-width: 0px !important;" /></a>Kristinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12911733801400560580noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5256550372428612535.post-19452813653263291652012-02-01T08:00:00.000-06:002012-02-10T20:22:41.925-06:002012 Goals: 1 month down, 11 to go!Remember how<a href="http://www.coffeecalculationsandcolombia.blogspot.com/2012/01/new-year-new-goals-new-word.html"> I have this list of 24 things</a> I'm going to do this year? After one month, I have accomplished a few <a href="https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B_KNxaNruZW9MDJhNmY0OGQtODU1Mi00ZDBhLWI4YzAtMzY5NWQ0YjIyMTE4">2012 goals</a>, have plans for more, and need to wait on some others.<br />
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In January, I:<br />
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<li><a href="http://www.coffeecalculationsandcolombia.blogspot.com/2012/01/bye-misis.html"><b>Got a tattoo</b></a> - Hooray!</li>
<li>Kept up my routine of working out 3x per week. In January, I (re-)tried a new Saturday morning yoga class that I love. A new kick boxing teacher started at our gym. He knows our names and is very quick to call us out on being slackers, so that is helpful/the worst thing on the planet. Simultaneously, of course. Also, some of the teachers started getting together to play flag football a bit, which initially caused me a lot of pain due to the fact that football involves lots of running/changing directions, but is now much more fun.</li>
<li>Kept up 1x per week phone dates with friends. While I don't talk to all my friends every week, I do talk to several friends each week, thus being able to keep up with most of them every two weeks or so.</li>
<li>No more than 1x per week solo coffee date. I think this is the biggest accomplishment of January because it involved saying no (at least once!) to Starbucks AKA land of happiness, which has since been left behind in Argentina, not to return to my life until I get near gate D10 at Miami International in June. So, you know, <b>will power - for the win</b>! </li>
<li>Re-visited my goals.</li>
<li>Figured out how much money I need to save in the next six months to meet my goal of how much I wanted to save each year in Colombia.</li>
<li>Tried 1 new local beer - Quilmes in Argentina. Which is actually terrible, but hey, now I know.</li>
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In February:</div>
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<li>Kelsi is going to get accepted to grad school in Boston so that we can start planning my visit there to coincide with fall in New England/her 30th birthday. Obvio.</li>
<li>I'm going to treat myself to a lovely Valentine's date because <a href="http://www.coffeecalculationsandcolombia.blogspot.com/2011/09/girl-meets-boy.html">this boy</a> doesn't live here, so...self-love dinner date. </li>
<li>I will update my professional development plan to renew my Wisconsin teaching license (back-up plan if I cannot find a Minnesota teaching job....).</li>
<li>???? </li>
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How are your 2012 goals going? New Years resolutions? Do you still remember what they are??? ;)</div>
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<a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54488/269/91C7387434EA98CDA6A1115396052F68.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0 !important;" /></a>Kristinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12911733801400560580noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5256550372428612535.post-86000826029789108602012-01-29T21:00:00.001-06:002012-01-29T21:00:18.256-06:00Bye Misis<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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"Misis, are you staying next year?"</div>
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When a class of 13-year-olds asks you a point blank question like that, you better answer them straight on. They dish out enough B.S. in their daily lives that they are pretty accustomed to detecting it in others, so I decided to tell them how it is. </div>
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I guess the same is now true for my blog.</div>
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The truth is, and has been since I decided in November, that I am officially leaving my job in Colombia at the end of this school year. For the purpose of being much closer to family and friends, come June 2012, I am Minnesota bound! </div>
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There will be plenty of blog posts to write about final to-dos, goodbyes, things I learned, things I will miss, things I won't miss, and somehow trying to capture the last three years, for now...here is what you need to know. </div>
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Shortly after telling some of my current 8th grade students that I am leaving in June, I knew I needed to tell some of the students in 9th grade who I am still close to after last year. I didn't want them to hear from the rumor mill, and I have always asked them to be straight with me, so I owe them that in return. Last week I told some of the girls and boys I still talk to on a regular basis about my decision. I will forever love them for their gracious response and exclamations of "You can't leave!" when in all reality, it's not like I am their teacher anymore anyway.</div>
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One student in particular, who I taught for two years in a row on account of his not passing 8th grade the first time around, came to my room later, just to chat as he often does. While there, we talked about 9th grade math, new student gossip (duh!) and his Christmas vacation. This student loves music, and while we chatted, he sat at my desk and played music on my speakers while I was helping a few other students who came for after school help. When he left, I found the following notes, in order, posted to my computer screen...</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb4OAHJ9_NDIwzSNxI3Bf923NYuuWouF_P8ERDq68Z69U7IojfEiPn645nCWoPMi1pqpExEgB8SKuMnh9pMnCEiJwldPzuaLNiNA4pnLj69-Wdg55mHrCMBsCD6EIfPLqPsbxuHPkrwvfT/s1600/IMG_0154.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb4OAHJ9_NDIwzSNxI3Bf923NYuuWouF_P8ERDq68Z69U7IojfEiPn645nCWoPMi1pqpExEgB8SKuMnh9pMnCEiJwldPzuaLNiNA4pnLj69-Wdg55mHrCMBsCD6EIfPLqPsbxuHPkrwvfT/s320/IMG_0154.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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{yes, they all call me misis...they call all their female teachers that}</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit92b3Bo6WCUDleJHGvIvqf80cm79SkwExnt0zlfPexFFgErFBuIx5BoH0qEgzwwzh2tiWRehtPLE-BMhfe7-pmrU7bC3Eh-Az23CO5T9pfK6kF5ShqoRRfTbf9yRx4g949sMWcerMDl5k/s1600/IMG_0155.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit92b3Bo6WCUDleJHGvIvqf80cm79SkwExnt0zlfPexFFgErFBuIx5BoH0qEgzwwzh2tiWRehtPLE-BMhfe7-pmrU7bC3Eh-Az23CO5T9pfK6kF5ShqoRRfTbf9yRx4g949sMWcerMDl5k/s320/IMG_0155.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcJeYvGwHERw9jYyEWTijsx7dcb4pKIxC-789rmBXmFyWpeOAHSU6aaiTMC3bbm1_miO1kmsgxH3S4ibrFfaWfGZ7BwZU5b7oz2X9QVITNg7ygY6cjrb3-3mpbZ38FO9OX6LqamWeqPEFk/s1600/IMG_0156.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcJeYvGwHERw9jYyEWTijsx7dcb4pKIxC-789rmBXmFyWpeOAHSU6aaiTMC3bbm1_miO1kmsgxH3S4ibrFfaWfGZ7BwZU5b7oz2X9QVITNg7ygY6cjrb3-3mpbZ38FO9OX6LqamWeqPEFk/s320/IMG_0156.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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{he only knows this because another 8th grade teacher is from Wisconsin}</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq8fUH3RWJJXWuOjNDr1TosDQ-vvSHCooChW7fGZhiPifcK7xVtmNhCi6nI30jIMRH-fl2BL3wDGKZRUrlIIZLdnmtSibW15HtVEL6C755gO3vVluG32BjXImntR9DdDMbUpevag55qvgH/s1600/IMG_0157.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq8fUH3RWJJXWuOjNDr1TosDQ-vvSHCooChW7fGZhiPifcK7xVtmNhCi6nI30jIMRH-fl2BL3wDGKZRUrlIIZLdnmtSibW15HtVEL6C755gO3vVluG32BjXImntR9DdDMbUpevag55qvgH/s320/IMG_0157.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
{yes, I also talk to them about Gossip Girl...I think this is a threat for what happens if I leave...}<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpfAUoTUcPJ4F2gbKJXYxXiM0gCwzPT7taxT8BTLVhkO7cbdO2Y6iTXdxhVR5h6kavbKNy0MLgEHtP8oSO7zxu8cF8NT7JlvDcsZee0vb4NgKQjM-G7-1Y2wwLeUF6ovHWFDrm0T9mBMMt/s1600/IMG_0158.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpfAUoTUcPJ4F2gbKJXYxXiM0gCwzPT7taxT8BTLVhkO7cbdO2Y6iTXdxhVR5h6kavbKNy0MLgEHtP8oSO7zxu8cF8NT7JlvDcsZee0vb4NgKQjM-G7-1Y2wwLeUF6ovHWFDrm0T9mBMMt/s320/IMG_0158.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo7Wq0grk77gY0GXRdnXxsgkJynDwvVBCTzFyJIcFo_qpnC-SqUsyOBwjbo0mYayY6d7ycBi5LcalvW4bbqfgN38TfKVjTFr74iJpZxKIJtu8bcEyVtk_Hpx5W6vYpNOPklOJyIWjjY943/s1600/IMG_0159.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo7Wq0grk77gY0GXRdnXxsgkJynDwvVBCTzFyJIcFo_qpnC-SqUsyOBwjbo0mYayY6d7ycBi5LcalvW4bbqfgN38TfKVjTFr74iJpZxKIJtu8bcEyVtk_Hpx5W6vYpNOPklOJyIWjjY943/s320/IMG_0159.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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While to just anyone, this isn't too much, but from a now 15-year-old boy, and this one in particular, this is A TON. He is someone who jokes around about 99% of the time in an effort to never show actual feelings, and these few post-its are a testament to the working relationship we spent two school years building. Yeah, I can't wait to be closer to family and friends in Minnesota, but Colombia and its people and my students will always have a very special place in my heart.<br />
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XOXO,<br />
<a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54488/269/91C7387434EA98CDA6A1115396052F68.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0 !important;" /></a>Kristinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12911733801400560580noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5256550372428612535.post-86306015481459534772012-01-28T15:59:00.001-06:002012-02-10T20:23:07.541-06:00Life List: Get an Imagine Tattoo<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
While getting a tattoo wasn't number one on my <a href="http://www.coffeecalculationsandcolombia.blogspot.com/p/life-list.html">Life List</a>, it very well could have been based on how long I have thought about it. Since about sophomore year of college I have thought about getting this word tattooed on my foot. I talked to some friends about it when it came up over time, but I really didn't mention it to too many people. In fact, I just recently informed my mother about it sometime in the past two months. Despite my desire to get the tattoo, I just never felt the urge to go out and get it done all by myself. The feeling of wanting it never really went away though, and actually increased over time, which everyone says is the true test of if you should actually get a tattoo or not. </div>
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So when <a href="http://sergioencolombia.blogspot.com/2012/01/twice-as-nice.html">Stetson wanted to get a tattoo around the time of his 30th birthday</a>, and Kelsi wanted one too, we decided to get together for moral support and make it happen. After some (failed) attempts to set the date, we finally did it <b>today</b>!!! Designs in hand (AKA my inspiration about <a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/206250857904441648/">font</a> and <a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/206250857904442081/">location</a> from Pinterest), Advil digested, and $60,000 pesos ($30 USD) ready to go, we met up with a colleague who showed us a lovely little tattoo place that appeared minimally sketchy as far as tattoo places go. The owner and our tattoo artists were all super friendly, helpful, and were great at answering our questions without making us feel any more nervous than we already were.</div>
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Kelsi went first, then me, and then Stetson. Kelsi and I held hands during each other's tattoos, naturally. Hers didn't seem to hurt so bad, but I will be the first to admit I felt ever curve of those letters on my foot. Specifically the curve at the bottom of my g. Here is what happened:</div>
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<ol>
<li>Owner, Julian, welcomed us and chatted with us about life in Cali.</li>
<li>Tattoo artist guy traced our designs onto vellum paper and made sure we liked them.</li>
<li>He then cleaned the tattoo location and applied both vaseline and men's deodorant to the spot. Yes, I thought this was super weird.</li>
<li>Then, he pressed the design from the paper onto the spot. Something about the vaseline plus deodorant combination made the ink from the paper show up on your skin. This was obviously not permanent, but enough for the tattoo artist to trace over with the real ink stuff and real enough that if you didn't like it, now was your last chance to back out.</li>
<li>Next, for 10-15 distinctly painful minutes I squeezed Kelsi's hand while chatting with her in an effort to distract myself. </li>
<li>DONE! Well, then tattoo guy made a few final touch-ups, but then he was actually done. He cleaned it up a bit, put on a bit more vaseline, gave us care instructions, wrapped it in saran wrap and sent us on our way!</li>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJVFNCPGS7NcPwXSzR1vAPEdKTGt-teWsSlyETNxM7UjUKFSccSUjT_OIFp-mcp7hmNEYwZonYIdaO7TYpIIL_awgMdF0uQWtCSkiJrAAp_5Fnr9dIXlfuihuXlJz7zXadRJgm1dYrzlTM/s1600/IMG_0129.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJVFNCPGS7NcPwXSzR1vAPEdKTGt-teWsSlyETNxM7UjUKFSccSUjT_OIFp-mcp7hmNEYwZonYIdaO7TYpIIL_awgMdF0uQWtCSkiJrAAp_5Fnr9dIXlfuihuXlJz7zXadRJgm1dYrzlTM/s320/IMG_0129.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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Nervous + excited = that face. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFtKI1hd1yVx5hbhZc-hrVJ7OVLlj6kg_y2Y1X2ce3v7z8yIIvCuGus0V_U9R9gU2hSYN1Q_Zj_uyXBsm8Q3Re-ruMjv4wQeu9Slj0PNcfvBtwplgW-4ovwuNXxvpOTODs1_BLw7WoMoW-/s1600/IMG_0135.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFtKI1hd1yVx5hbhZc-hrVJ7OVLlj6kg_y2Y1X2ce3v7z8yIIvCuGus0V_U9R9gU2hSYN1Q_Zj_uyXBsm8Q3Re-ruMjv4wQeu9Slj0PNcfvBtwplgW-4ovwuNXxvpOTODs1_BLw7WoMoW-/s320/IMG_0135.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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No turning back now...</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAeLInQRnIVPyvYjVPqDQ-VvC72VQRiIbROmRKoQ5m6PGVsIJBqGpctTozN8KY_MvcpsRTMKJ4H-YUO0-vYw4ge0uAMBuhOI_M1HF8VL8Bqda9hgF9Vu936HufaLP24JKRBEX7FNUEyi6R/s1600/IMG_0136.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAeLInQRnIVPyvYjVPqDQ-VvC72VQRiIbROmRKoQ5m6PGVsIJBqGpctTozN8KY_MvcpsRTMKJ4H-YUO0-vYw4ge0uAMBuhOI_M1HF8VL8Bqda9hgF9Vu936HufaLP24JKRBEX7FNUEyi6R/s320/IMG_0136.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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What are best friends for?</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIiKbJTQN1HhbUz-MVVu7Eci5kL5xiIbapxQ0Bh5l-WVqSOnybQ7wuIzUgl4S9cRBzdGcDdQsp4Ipc5JNO5kJ6X-4_fXcjDf03gHaBOCxrX0xrBSbVN9dJ-hjDFKtRxJjqrRPwWJPP31Z9/s1600/IMG_0146.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIiKbJTQN1HhbUz-MVVu7Eci5kL5xiIbapxQ0Bh5l-WVqSOnybQ7wuIzUgl4S9cRBzdGcDdQsp4Ipc5JNO5kJ6X-4_fXcjDf03gHaBOCxrX0xrBSbVN9dJ-hjDFKtRxJjqrRPwWJPP31Z9/s320/IMG_0146.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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I bet when John Lennon wrote "Imagine all the people living life in peace", he didn't envision this word getting tattooed on my foot at a tattoo place with confederate flags outside. Weird.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju0dpw7VDmpiaEs2oAuF9EE_KrJFFcuq7qC5Q8aFJ9ED6WoEEFmRHA5dCghFRT50VKo-v_eLNsUtmJuKBbLcwP-EUGs8sWWNzyJNOkkMiiwjERhkwcZLdQWq0bnofs8LTGtOaxl3Q-DkOc/s1600/IMG_0152.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju0dpw7VDmpiaEs2oAuF9EE_KrJFFcuq7qC5Q8aFJ9ED6WoEEFmRHA5dCghFRT50VKo-v_eLNsUtmJuKBbLcwP-EUGs8sWWNzyJNOkkMiiwjERhkwcZLdQWq0bnofs8LTGtOaxl3Q-DkOc/s320/IMG_0152.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Imagine {all the people living for today}</div>
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Imagine {all the people living life in peace}</div>
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Imagine {all the people sharing all the world}</div>
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I LOVE IT!!! Hope you do as well :)</div>
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Happy weekend-ing my loves! </div>
<a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54488/269/91C7387434EA98CDA6A1115396052F68.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0 !important;" /></a>Kristinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12911733801400560580noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5256550372428612535.post-67031208544563475022012-01-23T19:56:00.005-06:002012-01-23T19:56:48.227-06:00Argentina Round-UpAfter 21 days in Argentina, one sleepover in the Santiago, Chile airport and one last Starbuck's coffee at my gate, we all felt ready to get back to the real world, despite sadness at leaving the land of delicious vino and cheap steaks. On our last night there we went to dinner together and shared a variety of best and worst moments of the trip, as well as a word that we though described each one of our fellow travelers. It was fun to hear what everyone had to say and it felt like good closure to an unforgettable trip.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO6vhTjy9klYHzsYLZi6MtZRONgo6FaJWo-xbvqoLLcejOV7_iAF_i4kaaHtcJcdiTQuZnKHohLGOvYk8L73ki7gzhKfm1q7vq11XbyJeYeddDOzgTAzxTlfc7s9pVv7s_FnRDP6G_q34O/s1600/IMG_1248.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO6vhTjy9klYHzsYLZi6MtZRONgo6FaJWo-xbvqoLLcejOV7_iAF_i4kaaHtcJcdiTQuZnKHohLGOvYk8L73ki7gzhKfm1q7vq11XbyJeYeddDOzgTAzxTlfc7s9pVv7s_FnRDP6G_q34O/s320/IMG_1248.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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My travel buddies at a tango show in Buenos Aires! Rob, Narissa, Kelsi, me & Stetson</div>
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To summarize, here are the posts from our three weeks in Argentina:</div>
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<ul>
<li><a href="http://coffeecalculationsandcolombia.blogspot.com/2012/01/argentina-by-numbers.html">Argentina by the Numbers</a> (a somewhat realistic, somewhat humorous attempt to capture three weeks' time)</li>
<li>Week 1: <a href="http://coffeecalculationsandcolombia.blogspot.com/2012/01/iguazu-falls-vale-la-pena.html">Iguazu Falls - Vale La Pena</a>, <a href="http://coffeecalculationsandcolombia.blogspot.com/2012/01/celebrating-christmas-in-mendoza-with.html">Celebrating Christmas in Mendoza with (many) Malbecs</a></li>
<li>Week 2: <a href="http://coffeecalculationsandcolombia.blogspot.com/2012/01/salta-beautiful-and-salinas-grandes.html">Salta the Beautiful (and Salinas Grandes!)</a>, <a href="http://coffeecalculationsandcolombia.blogspot.com/2012/01/chillin-in-cafayate-with-canyons-wine.html">Chillin' in Cafayate with Canyons & Wine Flavored Ice Cream</a></li>
<li>Week 3: Exploring Buenos Aires - <a href="http://coffeecalculationsandcolombia.blogspot.com/2012/01/exploring-buenos-aires-artsy-san-telmo.html">Artsy San Telmo</a>, <a href="http://coffeecalculationsandcolombia.blogspot.com/2012/01/exploring-buenos-aires-colorful-la-boca.html">Colorful La Boca</a>, <a href="http://coffeecalculationsandcolombia.blogspot.com/2012/01/exploring-buenos-aires-up-coming-puerto.html">Up & Coming Puerto Madero</a>, <a href="http://coffeecalculationsandcolombia.blogspot.com/2012/01/exploring-buenos-aires-historic.html">Historic Congreso</a>, <a href="http://coffeecalculationsandcolombia.blogspot.com/2012/01/exploring-buenos-aires-evitas-recoleta.html">Evita's Recoleta & Upscale Palermo</a>, <a href="http://coffeecalculationsandcolombia.blogspot.com/2012/01/exploring-buenos-aires-central-downtown.html">Central Downtown (Microcentro)</a> </li>
</ul>
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Enjoy and thanks for reading! :)</div>
<br />
<a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54488/269/91C7387434EA98CDA6A1115396052F68.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0 !important;" /></a>Kristinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12911733801400560580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5256550372428612535.post-71954826920305870032012-01-23T17:51:00.002-06:002012-02-10T20:23:16.484-06:00Exploring Buenos Aires: Central Downtown (Microcentro)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I decided to save the best for last in describing the unique and profound history of Buenos Aires. This town has seen a lot of change over the years, and no part of town has been more a witness to those changes than the neighborhood of Microcentro, or downtown. Home to the famous Plaza de Mayo, where mothers of those who "disappeared" during Argentina's Dirty War still march every Thursday, and the adjoining Casa Rosada AKA the White House of Argentina, this is the starting and ending point for much of the historical action in Buenos Aires.</div>
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<a href="http://www.buenosaireshabitat.com/images/maps/map-buenos-aires.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="260" src="http://www.buenosaireshabitat.com/images/maps/map-buenos-aires.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
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Plaza de Mayo</div>
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The expansive Plaza de Mayo spreads out from the Casa Rosada to the town council and Metropolitan Cathedral on the other end. From there the tree-lined Avenida de Mayo runs north until the busy Avenida de Julio and <a href="http://www.coffeecalculationsandcolombia.blogspot.com/2012/01/exploring-buenos-aires-historic.html">Congreso</a>.</div>
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Casa Rosada </div>
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Statue of the guy who invented the Argentina flag.</div>
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We actually explored this neighborhood on a few different days because it was next to <a href="http://www.coffeecalculationsandcolombia.blogspot.com/2012/01/exploring-buenos-aires-artsy-san-telmo.html">our home base in San Telmo</a> and there was so much to see there. On one occasion we stopped for an afternoon snack at Cafe Tortoni, one of the most famous tango bars in the city and a delicious spot for afternoon coffee. Well worth the 30 minutes we waited in line to be seated!</div>
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Warm apple pie with ice cream & planning out the next adventure at Cafe Tortoni!</div>
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The inside of the Cafe Tortoni.</div>
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On a different day we stopped in at a museum that I had seen below the Casa Rosada. I had no idea what it was all about when I dragged Stetson and Rob there, but it just looked cool from the outside. After some initial confusion and realization that this building used to be a fort at the edge of the city, we were not disappointed in the many lessons on Argentina's history.</div>
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Perfecting the art of "blind museuming" - when you show up the museum because you read about it in the guide book, but don't actually know why you are there. Turns out, there is a lot to learn at the Casa Rosada museum! May 1810 - Buenos Aires declares their independence from Spain.</div>
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Juan & Eva Person - Juan is sort of the FDR of Argentina as he is their only president ever elected to three terms and he was known for fighting for the rights of workers.</div>
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Bet you didn't know that Argentina not only has a female president in Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, but that she was just sworn in for a second term in December 2011. Who did she succeed to become president? Her husband, Nestor Kircher, who held office for one term, and has since passed away due to a heart attack. Thanks Casa de Rosada museum for the history lesson :)</div>
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<a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54488/269/91C7387434EA98CDA6A1115396052F68.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0 !important;" /></a>Kristinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12911733801400560580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5256550372428612535.post-31323788737395520362012-01-21T16:59:00.001-06:002012-01-21T16:59:48.418-06:00Exploring Buenos Aires: Evita's Recoleta & Upscale Palermo<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
While I have been trying to go one by one through each of Buenos Aires' unique neighborhoods, this post in about both Recoleta and Palermo. For a few reasons actually, but mostly because they are geographically next to each other, very similar, and feature lots of museums. Which are awesome to see in person, but not via the internet. So less people pictures means less to blog about.</div>
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Anyway - to the north of downtown Buenos Aires are the fancy, high class neighborhoods of Recoleta and Palermo. We took the bus from San Telmo and spent an afternoon in each of them! They are both pretty accessible, although Palermo slightly more so since the Subte (metro) also goes there.</div>
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Our adventures in Recoleta took us to the Floralis Generalis, which is this cool sculpture with metal petals that open and close each day. The statue itself has become a well known icon of Buenos Aires, however we joked that they created it with all the coins in Argentina's currency because for some reasons we could never gather enough coins together to get on the bus...</div>
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The area between Palermo and Recoleta is filled with some of the cities most beautiful and spacious parks, including the Jardin Botanico, Jardin Zoologico and the Jardin Japones. We didn't spend a lot of time in them, but I liked the idea of having this very green part of the city to contrast with the area around downtown.</div>
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A pedestrian bridge over one of BA's many busy avenues.</div>
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The underside of the bridge - cool, huh?</div>
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Floralis Generalis - where all of Argentina's monedas (coins) have gone.</div>
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A Gossip Girl-esque shot on the steps on the Museo Nacional de Artes Latinoamericas.</div>
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The real star of the show in Recoleta is the cemetery - and not just the cemetery, but it's very well-known occupants. This cemetery is the resting place of some of Argentina's most famous people - including Evita. During our time in Argentina I learned a lot about Evita (Eva Peron). She is most famous for uniting the working classes of Argentina, together with her husband and president, Juan Peron. From what I gathered they must have been quite the power couple back in the day, and rightly so.</div>
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Wandering through Recoleta cemetery with Stetson.</div>
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The entrance to Recoleta cemetery.</div>
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One of many inscriptions covering Evita's gravesite. </div>
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Our last stop in Recoleta - the main store for Ateneo Bookstore. This giant bookstore is built in an old theater and features a coffee shop in the back on the old stage. So cool!!!</div>
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After enjoying all Recoleta had to offer us, we were off to Palermo the next day! This neighborhood further subdivides into area's named Palermo Soho, Palermo Chico and Palermo Hollywood...but I didn't really ever learn the difference. Basically if you are looking to go out to a place with lots of restaurants, bars and discos in the same place, then Palermo is the spot. It is also the spot for upscale shopping, and while all the transport in Argentina left me without the desire to spend many pesos, I did find a cute brown purse and just enjoyed wandering all the shops in general.</div>
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Our day in Palermo first began at <a href="http://www.malba.org.ar/">MALBA</a>, one of the cities most famous museums. Lucky for us, Stetson/Kelsi did their research and we went on a Wednesday and only paid half price for our otherwise $24 peso tickets. Win. We spent about an hour wandering the museum before making it to <a href="http://www.markspalermo.com/">Mark's Cafe</a> for one of our best lunches of the entire trip. A delicious deli/cafe/heaven in Palermo, Mark's cafe was a much welcome break from all the typical food of Argentina. My blue cheese salad with fresh fruit and toasted nuts was fantastic - you must go there if you ever find yourself in Buenos Aires. Sadly, there are no pictures of Mark's as we were all too busy enjoying the food and atmosphere!</div>
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MALBA - Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires</div>
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Inside the three level museum.</div>
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A snapshot at some of the art to see in MALBA!</div>
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Taking a break from shopping in Palermo.</div>
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...only one more Argentina post to go! Downtown BA, here we come...</div>
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<a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54488/269/91C7387434EA98CDA6A1115396052F68.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0 !important;" /></a></div>Kristinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12911733801400560580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5256550372428612535.post-20686991045995621362012-01-15T19:50:00.001-06:002012-02-10T20:23:30.364-06:00Exploring Buenos Aires: Historic Congreso<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Monday was our first day in Buenos Aires that was not dedicated to celebrating New Years, so we headed for one of the main tourist things we wanted to do in the city - explore the historic Teatro El Colon (El Colon Theater) in the Congreso neighborhood. Located just across the 14 (FOURTEEN!) lane Avenida de Julio from downtown, this neighborhood is home to some of Buenos Aires' most famous architecture. </div>
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<a href="http://www.buenosaireshabitat.com/images/maps/map-buenos-aires.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="260" src="http://www.buenosaireshabitat.com/images/maps/map-buenos-aires.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
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On the map you can see the busy Avenida de Julio with the obelisk in the center of it. Congreso is the neighborhood located above it on the map.</div>
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Starting things off with a coffee! </div>
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After our first metro experience in Buenos Aires (which was randomly free since no one was there to take our pesos), we arrived at the obelisk in the middle of Avendia de Julio. Built to commemorate the foundation of the city, this iconic BA statue and the surrounding Plaza de la Republica give this area a very "Times Square" feel. There are even giant billboards and a very large McDonald's for the full effect. The obelisk stands at 67.5 m and was completed in only 31 days time! <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obelisk_of_Buenos_Aires">The obelisk also stands in the exact location of the demolished Church of St. Nicolas, where the Argentina flag was first hoisted in Buenos Aires in 1812</a>. Pretty cool history, huh?<br />
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My friends admiring the obelisk of BA.</div>
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From the obelisk, we headed over to the <a href="http://www.teatrocolon.org.ar/es/">Teatro Colon</a>, just two blocks away. This newly restored theater turned 100 years old in 2008 and is well known for excellent acoustics and 20th century architecture. We paid for the expensive, but well worth the pesos, $110 ARS ($25 USD) tour in English and learned lots of other details about this fine place.<br />
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Teatro Colon</div>
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Inside the theater. Red velvet chairs on the main floor are spread out in the shape of a horseshoe in front of the stage.</div>
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Finishing our walk around Congreso we saw other notable buildings, like the Palacio Baralo, which was created to illustrate Dante's Inferno, the Palacio de Aguas Corrientes, and the Congress building in the Plaza Congreso (pictured below).</div>
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From Congreso, we were headed north to see the ritzy neighborhoods of Recoleta and Palermo! Stay tuned...<br />
<a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54488/269/91C7387434EA98CDA6A1115396052F68.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0 !important;" /></a>Kristinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12911733801400560580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5256550372428612535.post-66087026209926632882012-01-14T13:26:00.000-06:002012-01-14T13:26:29.602-06:00Exploring Buenos Aires: Up & Coming Puerto Madero<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
During the day in between <a href="http://www.coffeecalculationsandcolombia.blogspot.com/2012/01/iguazu-falls-vale-la-pena.html">Iguazu</a> and <a href="http://www.coffeecalculationsandcolombia.blogspot.com/2012/01/celebrating-christmas-in-mendoza-with.html">Mendoza</a>, we had some time in kill in Buenos Aires as a result of flying to Mendoza, not driving as originally planned. So, naturally Stetson led us on a little walking tour around Buenos Aires' newest neighborhood, Puerto Madero. </div>
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Set on the Rio de La Plata riverbank, this neighborhood spans the length of the San Telmo, Microcentro and Retiro neighborhoods. Home to lots of beautiful hotels, restaurants with an international flavor, and buildings by several well-known architects, this is one of the trendiest places in Buenos Aires. Also - fun fact - all the streets in the neighborhood are named for women, and the pedestrian bridge that connects Puerto Madero to the main city center is literally named Puente de la Mujer, or Bridge of the Woman.</div>
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Crossing over from the Microcentro neighborhood into Puerto Madero </div>
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Puente de la Mujer - Bridge of the Woman</div>
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Women, overlooking the bridge in the background - obvio.</div>
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Walking on the bridge. </div>
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Stetson captured this statue in Puerto Madero.</div>
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For me, Puerto Madero didn't exactly wow me as it seemed sort of a going out/touristy neighborhood lacking history and that authentic feel of downtown/San Telmo. However, my second experience in Puerto Madero was much different and I LOVED it. Thanks to some last minute blog reading on New Years Eve, I figured out that Puerto Madero is the location for all the fireworks on NYE in Buenos Aires. Setting off fireworks at midnight on NYE is not as you might imagine in the United States. Here every man, woman or child is setting off random fireworks along the street, on bridges, next to crowds, etc in celebration of the new year. Not exactly safe, but definitely exciting to witness as 2011 became 2012! As we ran the last few blocks to the riverfront from <a href="http://www.coffeecalculationsandcolombia.blogspot.com/2012/01/exploring-buenos-aires-artsy-san-telmo.html">our place in San Telmo</a>, we made it just in time to witness the epic fireworks show and feel a little bit of that festive air that comes from being with a big crowd of people on the brink of something as magical as a new year of possibilities.<br />
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Kelsi, Narissa, Rob and Stetson watch the fireworks!</div>
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Hooray 2012! </div>
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Crowds of people on the Bridge of the Woman.</div>
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A little dark... but all smiles as we head for 2012!</div>
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<a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54488/269/91C7387434EA98CDA6A1115396052F68.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0 !important;" /></a>Kristinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12911733801400560580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5256550372428612535.post-26823048301871757182012-01-12T08:00:00.000-06:002012-01-12T08:00:06.515-06:00Exploring Buenos Aires: Colorful La Boca<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Day one in Buenos Aires was New Years Eve day. After <a href="http://www.coffeecalculationsandcolombia.blogspot.com/2012/01/exploring-buenos-aires-artsy-san-telmo.html">getting settled in San Telmo</a>, we headed for a walk to stretch our bus weary legs. Our walk led us to the next neighborhood over, La Boca. Tourists are often warned against La Boca, saying that it is a sketchier neighborhood where you are not to wander from the main streets. Living in Colombia, we tend to take it pretty seriously when told to avoid something, so we tried to make our visit as safe as possible. We walked on the main streets from Parque Lezama, on the border of San Telmo and La Boca, and headed for the waterfront before making a right to end up at the famous Caminito. In addition to walking on main streets, Saturday was a great day to visit since there were tons of people around, especially in the area of Caminito. </div>
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Map of Buenos Aires (north is to the right). La Boca is further south than the other neighborhoods, and located on the waterfront bordering San Telmo.</div>
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El Caminito is basically this two block stretch of colorful buildings that feels a bit touristy nowadays, but has legitimate roots. Way back when this (even then) poorer neighborhood was filled with people who wanted to take pride in their homes, so they painted their homes all sorts of bright, fun colors.<br />
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The start of the Caminito.</div>
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Soccer is never far away when you are in Latin America!</div>
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Laundry hangs between homes in colorful La Boca.</div>
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More homes & shops.</div>
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Even the paintings are vibrant! </div>
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This band of drummers wandered the tourists filled streets and filled the air with festive notes.</div>
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A few blocks from the Caminito is La Bombonera, the stadium where Buenos Aires' famous Boca Junior soccer team plays all of its home games. While we undoubtedly saved a ton of money by not attending a Boca Juniors soccer game (they are not in season), our trip to the outside of the stadium made me wish we had been inside. There is just something about the passion that people in Latin America have for soccer that is so catching!<br />
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Club Atletico Boca Juniors</div>
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A "Hollywood Walk of Fame" of sorts outside La Bombonera, the Boca Juniors stadium. This star is for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diego_Maradona">Diego Maradona</a>, Argentina's most famous soccer player (before the days of Messi) and arguably one of the best players to ever play the game. He is also a controversial sports hero, as he served a 15 month suspension for testing positive for cocaine in 1991, but is still highly regarded by the people of Argentina and known worldwide for <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0zjx4MAHzk&feature=related">his "Hand of God" goal in the 1986 World Cup</a>.</div>
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While even a short visit made it evident why guidebooks and tourism agencies tend to warn people away from this neighborhood, I think it remains one of my favorite places we visited in Buenos Aires. There is something to be said for the character that comes from a place like this - that feeling of pride in where you live and what that place represents.<br />
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<a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54488/269/91C7387434EA98CDA6A1115396052F68.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0 !important;" /></a>Kristinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12911733801400560580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5256550372428612535.post-37039123018486321372012-01-11T19:14:00.002-06:002012-01-11T19:52:09.613-06:00Exploring Buenos Aires: Artsy San TelmoAfter two weeks of planes, buses & bicycles, we were all feeling a bit worn down travel-wise. If we weren't quite ready to settle down a bit, then the final day of getting back to Buenos Aires, which included a 6 hour bus ride that started at 6 AM, seven hours in the Tucuman bus terminal, and then a 14 hour overnight bus definitely did us in.<br />
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Arriving early on December 31 our plan for the remaining week of our trip was to explore everything the capital city of Argentina has to offer. We based ourselves in the eclectic, artsy neighborhood of San Telmo - close to the city center, the Metro (called the Subte in BA), and the waterfront.<br />
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Map of the neighborhoods of Buenos Aires (north is to the right). San Telmo is located in the south of the city, next to downtown.</div>
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Stetson found us <a href="http://www.airbnb.com/rooms/194840">this awesome house</a> where you rent rooms, just like a hostel, but the owner Tomas is super hands off and we pretty much had the place to ourselves. We bought groceries, settled in, did laundry and enjoyed actually unpacking our bags completely. I would definitely stay there if I am ever back in BA again!<br />
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Girls' room in our BA house.</div>
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Kitchen in the house.</div>
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Enjoying homemade dinner on New Years Eve. Cheers to 2012!</div>
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Our neighborhood, San Telmo, is best known for their colorful and celebratory street fair every Sunday. Thankfully, this fair still happened on News Years Day, just starting a bit later. The fair begins in the Plaza Dorrego, a main square in San Telmo home to the <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Plaza-Dorrego-Bar/148238038575543">Plaza Dorrego Bar</a> and a Starbucks, which we may have gone to more than one. A host of other establishments also have tables and chairs in the plaza for a dining experience full of ambiance. Also, most times when we walked by the plaza there was a couple dancing tango in the square. From the plaza, the fair extends north on Defensa Street, towards the Microcentro neighborhood.<br />
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Starting things off with Starbucks in Plaza Dorrego. I commented later in the trip that as Americans, if we had gone straight from the US to Argentina, I would have found our number of Starbucks trips lame. However, coming from land of no Starbucks, Colombia, we more than enjoyed this little slice of home away from home!</div>
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Sunday street fair - Feria San Telmo </div>
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The Sunday crowd enjoying drinks and live music outside the Plaza Dorrego Bar.</div>
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Some Sunday afternoon tango!</div>
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The crowd inside Plaza Dorrego Bar.</div>
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Tourists and locals alike wander the streets looking for that special antique or a unique souvenir.</div>
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Rob & Narissa check out some belts - Argentina is well known for their leather production...I guess all that steak does come from somewhere.</div>
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An eclectic mix of antiques and crafts for sale all along Defensa Street.</div>
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Saw this at the fair - want to own one!!</div>
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Cobblestone Defensa Street.</div>
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Along the artsy street fair, the streets themselves are literally covered in art - in the form of graffiti. While we didn't feel like forking over the pesos for an actual graffiti art tour (yes, they exist), we did lead ourselves on a morning walk through San Telmo to make some discoveries of our own. Below is just one example of the meticulous artwork that awaits you at every turn of the corner in San Telmo.<br />
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Overall, I absolutely loved this neighborhood, the street fair and the general feel of things. San Telmo was the perfect base for a weeks in Buenos Aires!<br />
<img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54488/269/91C7387434EA98CDA6A1115396052F68.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0 !important;" />Kristinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12911733801400560580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5256550372428612535.post-84802497630825949082012-01-10T20:53:00.001-06:002012-01-11T12:29:13.646-06:00Chillin' in Cafayate with Canyons & Wine Flavored Ice Cream<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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As if <a href="http://www.coffeecalculationsandcolombia.blogspot.com/2012/01/salta-beautiful-and-salinas-grandes.html">the scenery in Salta</a> wasn't enough, we headed south into what is easily the most beautiful canyon I have ever seen in my life! Our 3.5 hour bus ride south from Salta to Cafayate took us through the Quebrada de Cafayate and I didn't have to spend more than five minutes looking out the bus windows before I knew I wanted to spend more time there. But first, some wine... (Obvio, it is Argentina)</div>
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Those are just the bodegas super close to town...there are hundreds in this region!</div>
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After arriving in the small town of Cafayate, we headed to the Museo de la Vid y el Vino (Museum of the Stem & the Wine). Since one of my <a href="http://www.coffeecalculationsandcolombia.blogspot.com/p/life-list.html">life list</a> items was and is to learn more about wine, this was an essential stop and I am so glad we went! This newly remodeled museum is gorgeously decorated, well presented, and photogenic in every aspect. I learned a lot about the wine made in Cafayate and wine-making in general. Also, thanks to the English and Spanish descriptions throughout the museum, I learned some new vocab words too!</div>
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Here is what I learned:</div>
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<li style="text-align: left;">Red wines are bottled in green glass and white wines in dark amber to protect them against contamination from light</li>
<li style="text-align: left;">The longer the cork, the nicer the bottle of wine is that it came from</li>
<li style="text-align: left;">Bigger bottles are better for long-term storage (and long-term enjoyment)</li>
<li style="text-align: left;">You should always store wine on its side so that the cork is constantly in contact with both wine and air</li>
<li style="text-align: left;">The vineyards in Argentina are the highest vineyards (altitude-wise) in the world</li>
<li style="text-align: left;">The local wine made in Cafayate is a white wine made from torrontes grapes</li>
<li style="text-align: left;">The types of grapes produced in Cafayate include: chardonnay, chenin, torrontes, sauvignon blanc, syrah, malbec, tannat, bonarda, merlot, temperanillo, cabernet sauvignon & cabernet franc</li>
<li style="text-align: left;">The Jesuits began the first vineyards in Cafayate, in order to make wine for church</li>
<li style="text-align: left;">viticultor = winemaker</li>
<li style="text-align: left;">mosto = must</li>
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And my favorite quote from the museum by a man named Eduardo Galeano:</div>
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A man from the vineyards spoke, in agony...before dying he revealed his secret: "the grape is made of wine, and I thought: if the grape is made of wine, maybe we are the words that tell what we are"</div>
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When we finished the wine museum we led ourselves on a little walking tour to three of the local bodegas right in Cafayate. They were all within blocks of each other and the museum!</div>
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<li style="text-align: left;">Bogeda Nanni - an old family-style bodega that makes the only organic wine in Cafayate and exports to the United States, here we tried torrontes, malbec, cabernet sauvignon & a dessert wine</li>
<li style="text-align: left;">El Transito - here we only tried free samples of malbec & cabernet (note - if the wine is free, it is most likely terrible...keep walking)</li>
<li style="text-align: left;">Bodega Salvador Figueroa - here we spoke with the owner's son at a small bodega where we tried a delicious, spicy & rich tasting malbec wine</li>
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After the vino, we made our way to the main plaza to sample some more local vino, and then ended our night with more vino at Helados Miranda, home of wine flavored sorbet. Yes, ice cream combined with wine, AKA happiness in a cone. The flavors were pretty intense on their own, but paired with dark chocolate - fabulous!</div>
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Dinner in Cafayate's main plaza at the restaurant La Estancia.</div>
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Helados Miranda!</div>
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Our second full day we made our way back to that gorgeous canyon! Renting bikes from our hostel and catching a bus back to the canyon, we got dropped off with our bikes about 50 kilometers from Cafayate, at a formation called the Devil's Throat. (Yes, same name as <a href="http://www.coffeecalculationsandcolombia.blogspot.com/2012/01/iguazu-falls-vale-la-pena.html">a waterfall in Iguazu</a>...not sure what the Argentinian obsession is with devil's throats) Despite the daunting task of biking back into town all 50 of those kilometers, the scenery was outstanding and the day could not have been nicer. So after some initial confusion about which tires went back on which bikes, we were on our way!</div>
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Quebrada de Cafayate - a nice place for a 50 km ride!</div>
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In the beginning there were 4...starting off at Devil's Throat.</div>
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View from the amphitheater, naturally carved in rocks, where we witnessed a few travelers playing guitar.</div>
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Just me, my trusty (???) bike, and the open road.</div>
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As gorgeous as the beginning was, it didn't last long for Kelsi, as her bike chain broke in half 2 km into the ride. Sadly, there was no fixing it and we (thankfully) were able to flag down a passing La Posada tour bus for her to ride back to town. We didn't realize at the time how lucky it was that we were able to get this bus to stop for her....</div>
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And then there were 3. Narissa, Rob and I enjoy our snacks/lunch under some much needed shade at mile 24.</div>
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Halfway done and refueled with our lunch time snacks, we headed out to complete the second half of the ride. Narissa and I started out in front, because we knew Rob could easily catch up at any moment. We got about 2 km into our post-lunch ride before a man came biking up behind us and explained in Spanish about our friend with the broken bicycle. After a lot of initial confusion when I thought he was talking about Kelsi, we figured out that Rob's bike had also broken. Note - rent bikes from bike companies, not your hostel.</div>
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So now Rob is 2 km and one giant hill behind us. Since it was so easy to get Kelsi on a bus back to town, we decided to press on, knowing that he would be find fending for himself. The last 22 km were pretty difficult, especially when we didn't see any markers from km 12 to 4 and in my head I imagined we were biking about five times faster than we were. The knowledge that our bike success rate was now at 50% and Rob had the tire pump was not helpful either, but we made it!! </div>
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HOORAY!! Now if only we didn't have two more km to go to get back to the hostel...</div>
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We arrived back in town smelly, tired and hungry, but happy with our accomplishment for the day. We spent the next hour showering, drinking lots of water and waiting not so patiently to hear from Rob. He walked into the hostel about an hour and a half later, after walking his bike (and coasting on the downhills) all 24 remaining kilometers. Turns out, not that many buses pass through the canyon, and the ones that do are not willing to stop for a young gringo man on the side of the road. Disaster. But he made it back all in one (sun-burnt) piece and we had excellent stories to tell at dinner that night!</div>
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Besides...what is there to worry about when you are city-bound??? Buenos Aires here we come....</div>
<a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54488/269/91C7387434EA98CDA6A1115396052F68.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0 !important;" /></a>Kristinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12911733801400560580noreply@blogger.com0