Colombia

January 2008

Daily Blog from Colombia

Day 1

At 1am my alarm went off & I laughed. After finishing my packing and getting ready I headed across town to meet the group in Irmo. Thankfully we were all there on time & someone even gave me a self-heating hot chocolate from Wal-mart. It was so good & totally worked. There was the most beautiful sunrise ever from the plane- deep shades of red, purple, & orange. Also, some of my friends had given me cds to put on my iPod, so I thoroughly enjoyed those- good job guys : )

We hung out in the Miami airport for a while (I slept on the flo) & we finally made it to Cartagena in Colombia. We actually stayed in a "hotel" downtown & piled in the back of pick-up trucks each day to drive about 30 or 45 minutes to our work sites. We were told that it's way too dangerous to be at the sites after dark, so we were always out of there before nightfall.

After checking in at Hotel Bahia, we walked to a restaurant called Pollo Tropical for dinner. I ate a ½ pound chicken body that was on my plate. It was awesome. I speak no Spanish, so staring at the menu was funny. Also, I sat my purse on the floor beside me & immediately everyone said – "No! Mellie pick that up & put in on your lap!" I was thinking- ok, maybe it's dangerous & someone might steal it, but not so. Apparently, if you put your purse on the floor it means you're "available." I said- "Well guys, I AM single." And they said, "No, your purse on the floor means you're a prostitute & you're avaaaaailable." Ha! Oops. I picked that up real quick.

My roommate Allison was the jam & we really had a blast. Each night "party buses" would drive by & we could hear the out of control loud Spanish music from our window. My rule was- each time it went by you had to Spanish dance in your bed until you couldn't hear the music anymore, then you could go back to sleep.



Day2

We ate breakfast at the hotel each morning at 6:30am- yep. So good- fresh fruit (mangos, bananas, pineapple, watermelon, papayas, etc.), pancakes with honey & other goodies. Some TV was on & I squealed because I heard Sigur Ros "Untitled 1" from ( ) on some Spanish movie preview or show or something. It was cool.

We got in our trucks & headed to Belen for our 1st workday. I can't explain the fear of driving/riding on the streets of Cartagena- imagine NYC times 1 billion of scariness. There are taxis, motorcycles, bicycles, giant trucks, cars, donkey carts, etc. everywhere. No one yields- there pretty much aren't lanes & people weave in & out like nobody's business. They like that horn, too. I almost had 8 million heart attacks. People are only allowed to drive on certain days because there are so many on the road (like if you have such & such in your license plate you can drive your motorcycle Mon., Wed., Fri., & Sun. or whatever). Crazy. Apparently there are more than a few fatalities daily from wrecks. Around 1.5 million people live in Cartagena. Geez.

We met our translators for the week- who were completely rad. I loved them! Allison & I were in charge of the kids each day. We started off with boys & girls together- there were probably 100+ kids & they were wild, so we ended up splitting up the sexes. That was much better. We had the chicas & each day we did "exercises," played games, shared a Bible story, colored, talked about a Bible verse, face painted, played freeze dance, did bead necklaces, pretended like we knew how to make balloon animals, etc.

The kids were so awesome. The hardest part for me was what I expected before I left… the language barrier. They would come up to me & ask questions or say things in Spanish & I just stared at them- didn't have a clue. It was rough sometimes because I really wanted to know what they were saying, but the cool thing is that people love the same way everywhere. The language barrier wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. We still bonded & connected because a smile is a smile, a hug a hug, a kiss a kiss, a laugh a laugh, no matter where you are or what you speak. I did learn several words in Spanish & was proud of myself for that.

Each day we left everyone would say "Chao" and kiss me on the cheek. I got pretty used to that so if I see you around & accidentally do that to you, you'll know why. Haha. The heat index each day was around 100 degrees. We had to drink a bajillion water bottles on the daily. Of course we couldn't drink the tap water anywhere- that included brushing teeth with water bottles. We also couldn't flush toilet paper down any toilet. Sweet. We ate at some Italian restaurant near our hotel that night for dinner. The owner was there & spoke some English- thank goodness he helped me with a good find on the Spanish menu & I was happy.



Day 3

We drove by the bullfighting arena today on our way to the next site. It was really cool looking & they actually only have bullfights in January, so they were going on. We also drove through the fish market, but we had to keep our windows up & doors locked because those jokers on the street will reach in your window & rip off jewelry & grab cameras, etc. We arrived at Calle Colombia & got to work. Each day we'd set up a doctor's area & a pharmacy. Throughout our time there, we saw over 700 patients/families- it was awesome.

I met the coolest little girl on site today named Maira. She's the most awesome 10 year old I know & we hardcore bonded. At one point a pastor (Ramone) came & grabbed me to walk down the street with him. I found an interpreter because of course he didn't speak English & we ended up on a small front porch with some teenagers ages 14-18. He asked me to share my testimony & just talk with these boys so I did. I had to say one sentence at a time so Nohemi could interpret for me. Long story short, with the help of a Spanish/English tract & the pastor, some of the guys said the prayer & accepted Christ. That was probably the highlight of my trip.

We had 2 guys that made up our evangelism team who just walked around the villages & chatted with people, asked if they could pray for them about anything, etc. They said the people they talked to were so incredible receptive to everything they said & most of them ended up praying to accept Christ. So for all of you who prayed for receptive hearts for this trip, thank you!

That night we ate at a restaurant called Crepes & Waffles- pretty darn good. I had a curried chicken & shrimp crepe. Sounds so weird, but it was awesome. Also, the best drink ever down there is a limonada. It's like a lime-aid type of drink. I had like a million.



Day 4

Today we went to Riaurte to work. We had to be extra careful because people got robbed on the trip here last year. This place was crazy- there was feces in the streets & a giant sewage canal these people live beside. I'll probably never forget that smell as long as I live. The kids were simply amazing here, though. We had the best time with them. For lunch one of the women in the village made us a typical Colombian meal- bone soup (yeah there's a huge bone in it- ha), coconut rice, fish (I think the name of the fish was Sierra), plantain, etc.

Two really cool 9 year old chicas got a translator to come over & asked Allison & I a bunch of questions about our lives & stuff. It was so fun. They asked us about our families, homes, boyfriends, interests, etc. Then they told us we were beautiful & thanked us for coming to their village to teach them about God. Nine year olds! Loved them. That was another highlight of the trip for me. There was also a little girl with Down's syndrome. It was cool to see the other girls accept her & let her play the games with them without question.



Day 5

We went to Pastor Ramone's church today. As we walked in & I heard the music & all the voices singing in Spanish I was overwhelmed with emotion. I had no idea what they were singing, but I knew it was praises to the same God that I sing to & it really touched me. The tears started streaming. It was an amazing experience.

Ramone asked Allison & I to share our testimonies for the youth Sunday school class so we did. Another one of our translators, Filipe, helped us with that. During the service we each had to introduce ourselves & tell what church we went to, etc. Ramone told the congregation how great of a job that Allison & I had been doing with the kids all week. Of course I didn't know because I can't understand anything anyone is saying, but afterwards one of the missionaries came up & told me that. It made me feel really good.

After church we went to lunch at San Pedro's. I ate some kind of teriyaki beef that was awesome, and like 50 limonadas, duh. There was definitely a Hard Rock Café Cartagena down the street- that was so weird to me. After lunch we went to this festival with a live band & a bunch of vendors set up everywhere. I bought some jewelry. It was fun.



Day 6

Today we went to Vista Hermosa to work. The first little boy I saw was 3 years old & had a shirt that said "Double Dater." I was like, oh snap, today should be fun. And it was…we saw pigs humping after our Bible story. I started singing LL Cool J's "Doin It" in my head. The kids ran at them & tried to shoo them away. Haha. It was outta control.

Ramone's wife cooked us arroz con pollo for lunch (chicken with rice). Deeeelicious. That night after dinner, we paid $1 and finally rode the party bus home. There's a live band on that thing & it's so friggin loud & fun. Everyone dances & claps. Loved it.



Day 7

Today was our sight seeing day. First we toured the Fort that was built in the 1600s to protect from pirates! It was super cool. There were cannons everywhere & all these secret passageways & mazes underground. It was so narrow & short & dark I about got a little claustrophobic…there may or may not have been bats in one.

We climbed to the top of the fort & there was a little gift shop area. We went in & some older man was trying to talk to me in Spanish. No clue what he was saying, but he pointed to my dress & said something about bonita (which I learned means pretty) & I was like- "Oh, si, gracias, me gusta this dress." Haha. Then one of the missionaries came over & told me he was trying to tell me I had nice legs. Haaaa. Oops. Thanks, amigo. So I said, "Oh, gracias" and everybody laughed at me.

We drove up to a monastery at the top of a mountain next. It's still active & we actually could hear the monks chanting/singing from one of the rooms. It was beautiful. At the other end of the building I definitely heard Phil Collins "Against All Odds" being sung by a choir of monks & got really confused. Apparently they were playing a cd through the sound system on that side. Haha.

Then I played with a sloth.

One of the cutest sweetest nurses ever in our group celebrated her 75th birthday today (her name is actually Millie) & we took her out to lunch at…where else…Hard Rock Café. She wanted more American type food- understandable. They all sang Happy Birthday to her in Spanish & brought her a dessert. After that we did some shopping & then about 4 of us walked down to the beach. I stood on the rocks for a little while just recapping the trip in my head & thanking God for how cool He is. During the course of this trip I learned a lot about Him, myself, others, love in any language, etc. It was incredible, just as I knew it would be. Thanks for all your prayers. After dinner we took a horse & carriage ride back to the hotel.



Day 8

The only thing there is to know about today is that we had to wake up at 5am & we hurried up & waited all day long. We finally landed in Charlotte tonite and it's cold as all get out. I did enjoy the plane rides- just looking out the window & doing a lot of thinking & praying & thanking. I hope you each get to do something like this at least once in your lifetime. Even if you aren't interested, I challenge you to try it just once. It'll change you. And I sure hope that when I get married one day my husband is passionate about this kind of stuff like me so we can go on trips together. I would love to go at least once a year, if not more. That would rock.



Day 9

Still not home- in Charlotte about to work at Fight Night for Kids 2008. http://www.charlottesports.org/fightnight/
This has nothing to do with the mission trip, but since I'm still gone, it'll go on this here blog. I have to be at the Charlotte Convention Center in a few hours to be a hostess for this event. I get assigned a table to serve all night. There's live music, a silent auction, a raffle for a 2008 Mercedes C300, a boxing match, etc. It's pretty fun, but a lot of work- painful on the feet!. All the proceeds go to children's charities, which is cool. Alright, I'm out. Let me go find my "evening gown." Lord have mercy. Be home tonight at 2:30am!