Carmen de Apicala

It has been a few days since my last entry but it feels like months. Over the last couple days, I initiated my first project in the Opportunity International office, experienced my first Colombia futbol game, adventured across Colombia to Carmen de Apicala, endured an attack by bugs and a frog that was possessed by the devil, acquired amazing friends, and ran out of gas on the side of a mountain while it was raining. Deep breath. Most importantly, my beautiful sister, Kelly, and her fiance, Greg, welcomed her first child, Cadance Jean Howell, to this world. Let me start from the beginning...

That is all I have to say

It took me about a week to really get my feet on the ground in the office. Being an overacheiver, a worry wart, and a bit of perfectionist, I felt very unproductive in the beginning because I am accustom to pumping out work, eating lunch at my desk, and tackling projects as quickly as possible. That is not the speed here in Colombia. Abeit productive and growing (they have grown from 8 employees to 50+ in the past year), the office is also very relaxed. When reviewing my first project, the manager gave me a soft deadline. Employees enjoy long lunches followed by coffee. They welcome eachother in the morning and trade stories throughout the day. Apart from this new business environment, there is the language barrier. Although I speak Spanish, many of the business terms are new. After a short internal struggle, I decided I would spend the first week reading and translating as many processes, procedures, and forms as possible. I am glad I did so. The needs of the office became apparent and I was able to make a list of minor observations to improve their internal operations. Furthermore, yesterday, I had a breakthrough. I decided they need single point of reference, documenting of all of their controls for each product and corresponding process. The controls exist but they are not explicitly identified. Being the Excel nerd that I am, I built a spreadsheet identifying each control, linking it to the corresponding process, and, when applicable, embedded the form used to document each control. I showed the manager of operations and we are going to do a similar document for each product they sell. These include: credit to trusted groups (groups within the community that form together and act as a sort of guarantee to one another), credit to individuals, savings accounts, and term deposits. I am excited that I have and will make an impact during my time here at the office. I am determined. Now, on to more important things....

Jajajajajaj

Colombia played Paraguay on Friday. I first learned of the game at the crack of dawn when Juan Carlos, my transportation to/from the office, arrived in his jersey. He informed me that the game began at 3:30 pm and the office would vacate as soon as it started. Although the company blocked external websites, nearly everyone in the office had a personal radio at their desk to listen to the first half of the game and as soon as the clock struck 5 pm, every manager entered the large conference room to watch the game. With the CEO's permission, I sneaked in to snap a picture (left). As you can tell, they immediately looked down at their laptops and appeared to work. I assured them I was not a spy of the Superintendency of Colombia. Colombia won 2-0. I saw a man cry in the office. It was everything I imagined my first futbol game in South America would be....

  




Myself, Sebas, Ana

Route to Carmen de Apicala

I spent Friday night with my very dear new friend, Ana Cristina. We went to the store to purchase groceries for the weekend, wrapped in plastic bags (an umbrella was at the top of my shopping list). Saturday morning we were picked up by Ana's boyfriend, Sebas; his brother, Carlos; and Carlos's girlfriend, Denise, at 7 am early. I guess my previous trips to Latin American countries should have prepared me for what I was in for, but really, nothing compares. For any of you that have been to Bogota, you'd understand when I say that the traffic and the roads are seriously challenged (those are not mutually exclusive issues). I literally thought I was going to die about six times. Nearly everyone in Bogota leaves during the weekend to go to pueblos located at lower altitudes in order to soak in the heat. Since Monday was a national holiday, the roads were extremely congested with Colombians taking advantage of the three day weekend. In fact, the roads only flow in one direction. In other words, it would be literally impossible to head into Bogota from outside. There is not way to do so. Carmen de Apicala is about 90 kilometers from Bogota which translates to 55 miles. It took us over 5 hours. Enough said. On our way we stopped for food at a spot called La Vaca Que Rie and had chorizo with rice and eggs (to die for). That small break refueled us for the remainder of our drive. We arrived to Carmen de Apicala at about 12 pm.   



La piscina

We stayed at a rental house outside of the pueblo. It was absolutely breathtaking. It cost less than $40 per person for three days and two  nights, as we ultimately had a group of about 16 friends that arrived in various cars. I was the first one in the pool. After spending about four hours in the pool, the ladies of the house went into town to purchase food for the house. We also picked up a cake for the birthday boy (whose name is escaping me). Later that evening, we sang 'happy birthday', swam, played poker, grilled food, and I eventually got thrown into the pool. Also, my Spanish speaking skills came in handy when I realized that 'Coco' was explaining to the group that he fell in love with a gringa (me). The look on his face when I explained that I understood everything he said was...absolutely...priceless. He was harmless and the jokes continued the rest of the weekend.

Pictures of the villa:

 

Interior of the Villa

External of the Villa





Devil frog

Finally caught

On contrary, the far less comical moments of the weekend involved a spider that was the size of my hand, as well as a frog that was possessed by the devil. For safety (and sanity) reasons, the spider is not pictured. It ever so cleverly choose to present itself while Ana was showering. I kid you not, it was the scariest living creature that ever existed. I hate it. Its long, black legs were thicker than a toothpick and longer than my index finger. Its body was the size of a quarter. After Ana jumped out of the bathroom, I decided it was a good idea to confirm its existence. Girly screams followed shortly there after, alerting the men of the traumatic encounter. Sebas, our ever so calm savior, removed the spider from the room, although, it continues to live in my dreams, climb on my arms, and play tricks on on my mind. Furthermore, that very same night, a frog leaped across the floor of our room. At first, I thought it was really cute. That is, until I took the picture of its glowing, devil eyes. The demon-frog was impossible to catch and as soon as one of the men got close enough to do so, it leaped directly at Ana or I, while we barely peaked in the room to see where it was. It was out to get us. We didn't capture the creature until Sunday night. It too haunted/haunts my dreams.

I had such a wonderful time in Carmen de Apicala. I made friends. I felt included despite being a world away from home. I ate amazing food. I saw new places. I experienced new things. I lost at poker. I won at swimming races (plural). I laughed. I got proposed to. I tanned. I spoke Spanish. I played pool. I told an underaged waiter he was cute, just to make him blush. I got thrown in the pool with my clothes on. I didn't wear make up. I took pictures. I learned new words. I observed how loving and nurturing Colombians woman are to their men. I learned how proud and caring Colombian men are to their woman. I drew pictures. I played rap music to my new friends. I ate more. I lived.

On our way out of town

Regarding the ride home, I am going to keep this as short as possible. I would elaborate but I don't think words, limited by my writing ability, can accurately describe the adventure. We left the house on Monday late afternoon, in order to avoid traffic. Turns out, traffic would be the least of our worries. In the US, there are many things we take for granted. For instance, road signs, freeways, detours, and AAA insurance. We are doing something right. After this experience, I can honestly say, I don't mind paying state taxes at all. On our way home, we had to ask for directions from at least 25 people. There are no signs. At no point in time did we know how far Bogota was or what direction. Also, as I mentioned, both lanes of the freeway flow in the same direction (towards Bogota). As a result, the police hold one side of the road while the other side is free to drive. Sounds like a great plan, right? Wrong. Colombia drivers plunged across the central dividers (mind you, this requires the car to literally drive off a 8 foot incline of rocks...something I have only seen in action films). I saw about 15 accidents per hour. Furthermore, about 2 hours into the drive, or 10 km with the rate of traffic, the police (who make a thumbs up if they are 'good cops') made us detour from the usual road. This detour took us up the face of a mountain on a road with no dividers, no street lights, miles of traffic, and no signs. As a result, we got very low on gas. We called a roadside service to bring us gas and waited in the rain, in a full car, for about 2 hours. We finally realized that help was not coming and decided to take a risk and climb the mountain with the remaining gas we had. Luckily, we made it to the top and my experiences in California prepared me for long mountain declines with little gas. I told Carlos, the driver, to put the car in neutral and we cruised down the mountian. We made it to the gas station at about 12 pm. I made it safely to Bogota on Monday night/morning after eight hours in the car.   

My new boyfriend

 

My personal heaven