Mi Ostra: patron

(funny, as i was typing the title of this post, someone was rapping about patron, the drink, on the radio.)

anyway, so just as i was thinking about how lucky i am living for free at a place as beautiful as playa koralia, savoring freshly harvested and sliced mangoes on one many humid afternoons in a hammock on the beach with my book (been reading the feast of the goat by mario vargas llosa), i’m interrupted by the office receptionist. she has the hotel cell phone in her hand ready to call patricia, who “wants to talk to you”.

so i take the phone and me and patricia talk. she basically tells me that in the coming weeks, the hotel will have little to no guests, so my help will not be needed. and it was true; i’d only been there a week and i’d seen the visitors dwindle from (an already low) ten people to only about 4. and, all i was doing the last couple days was cutting mangoes, crates and crates of mangoes. but still, i thought, i just got here! i’d just put all my toiletries in the bathroom cabinet and figured out how to get the cool air into my room while keeping the mosquitoes out. also, let’s not forget this detail: where in the hell was i gonna go?!

luckily, back at corie and santi’s in bogota, i met the very generous eugene. he not only sent a few of us a free online program to practice spanish, but also offered for anyone to come and visit his apartment up in santa marta as he didn’t know anyone up there. so, as i found myself yet again stranded in a foreign country, i hit him up to see if his offer was still good. it was.

and now, i’m here in a little beach town called rodadero, sitting at an internet cafe with a tall, cute, way-too-young-for-me waiter serving fresh squeezed oj.

(as you say abruptly when you need clarification, kettia) pause: is anyone sensing a pattern here? i go to a country to work on a farm, and for some reason or another the first place where i volunteer doesn’t work out. just as i’m thinking omg! everything has fallen apart. what am i gonna do? i realize that i just met a friend of a friend who happens to have some cushion for me, and that cushion happens to be really easy to access. it’s like i have to work through a crisis before the smooth sailing. i don’t know what this is about, and it’s difficult to be traveling alone and be caught off guard with an urgent emergency. still, it’s equally refreshing when things work out anyway.

mommy says it’s jesus. and maybe she’s right. but whether it’s him, the flying speghetti monster, plain randomness producing it’s usual coincidences, or all three, i’m grateful for saving grace!

yesterday, i went on a 1.5-hour hike through the parque nacional natural tayrona ending at a beautiful beach called cabo san jaun. sadly, i don’t have an photos, because i conveniently dropped my phone in the toilet 5 minutes before we left the apartment sunday morning. don’t worry, it still works just fine, it just needed the exact amount of time it took us to go to the beach and return in order to recover. i think eugene took plenty of pics though. check facebook, i guess.

on friday, we watched colombia smash greece in the soccer world cup. it's interesting being in south america when the world cup is also in south america. there are collectables and souvenirs everywhere!

on saturday, i finally had that job interview that i’ve been anticipating for about 4 months for a teaching job in bogota. (i don't think i've mentioned this on here before, but has been happening. lol.) the interview went quite well...and on sunday evening i was offered the job! eeeeee! omg, i have a job, something i haven’t been able to say in months! although it’s been nice working only 30 hours per week (only being able to call some of it work, as it was often fun, fun times!) traveling and chillaxing, living off savings ain’t fun. especially when you’re down to your last and you’ve got 3 more months of your trip left. :/

so i’m planning to accept the position, as a facilitator, teaching english and mentoring public school students of all ages. so now, it looks like i'll be in colombia until early december; ain't coming back 'til christmas.
it would be a dream come true if i can come home before that though. like, i'd like to come home now and stay until the program starts. but for now, that's only a dream, as i cannot afford such a trip. if you want to help me realize this, i am accepting donations! if you want to send me some cash, it is best to do it through my mother. contact me if you want details for that.

here are some photos i took over the last few days:

me and one of the kitchen staff members at playa koralia (don't remember his name, but he was super cool and insisted that we get a pic before i left).