So....I'm pretending to be in Colombia still but in reality we are in Spain, shhh.....I tried writing one last update before leaving but the computer froze on me and messed me over royally, it was a good update too, much better than this one will turn out to be.
So, what did we do? I can hardly even remember, maybe it's the jet-lag or maybe it's the excitement of being in a new continent. Let me see. On Saturday we were taken outside of the city for the first time and into the breathtaking mist covered mountains to a rehab house for 7-12 year olds. Think about that last sentance for a second...rehab home for 7-12 year olds. These are children who are coming off drugs of all kinds, the kinds that only the really far gone homeless people do in North America. Once we arrived we knew straight away that it was going to be a different kind of day. The kids greeted us with such joy and happiness. They were the most fun yet mature and behaved kids I've ever met. We hung out with them for a while before getting into our 'routine' consisting of dramas, songs, skits etc. Then came the fun part, I got the kids dancing and before long they were going into full fledged choreographed dances consisting of breakdancing and all. They were amazing. We spent a couple of hours just hanging out, they did skits they made up, we'd laugh, they'd do more, we'd laugh more, it was so fun. I must say the saddest part is that the place we visited had the resources to house about 60 kids but could only handle 14 because of staff. So here it comes, my pitch:
Anyone with a passion for children and seeks to get out of the ordinary day-to-day routine of Western society living, go to Colombia. There is such a need for help and so many kids out there. Trust me, you would love it, it isn't like what you hear in the stories about drugs, muggings, blah blah blah...and no, I didn't get mugged. It's a good thing. Oh and we had fantastic Colombian coffee...whoa whoa whoa slow down cowboy, I'm getting ahead of myself.
Yesterday, our last day in South America, we were locked up in the house because of Presidential elections which generally cause massive riots. Ever since we've been here there have been machine gun savvy army guys everywhere. We saw no threat but apparently there have been a few car bombs. Oh yeah, on the way to the rehab place on Saturday we were stopped by a bunch of army guys who took us out of our bus and searched all of our stuff. Once they realized we were only armed with hand sanitizer and Bibles they put smiles on their faces and posed for pictures. Unfortunately they didn't point their guns at us to make the photos a little more...fun.
So, back to my point, we were locked up and were in the middle of debrief (a long laborious time where we talk as a team about how the time went in that particular country) when Alex (the guy from the Oasis, another house I may have mentioned) invited us over for lunch. So we go over for lunch around 2:30 and it was the best meal we had in Colombia, actually, one of 2 best meals, the other one was also made by Alex the previous week when he made us lasagna, remember that story? So we went over there, at mammoth sized meals and then went to the park to play soccer with the kids. We had such a great time. After that we came back and relaxed and were about to start debrief again when our hosts brought us downstairs in the big room for a surprize goodbye. A few of our friends from our time there had come to say goodbye and have a little salsa party. The night was filled with Cake, coffee and coke....a cola.
So...yeah, let me finish this up and get on with SPAIN! Muahaha!
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