Iguaque and more!!

Well hello again all. Two more weeks passed and gone and many more things to tell. Classes are keeping me busy as always, especially now that the first round of exams and presentations are here and the students start to freak out. But we`ve been able to discuss a lot of interesting subjects- histroy of the British Empire, Free vs. Fair Trade, Foxconn and sweatshops, the US intervention in the Phillipines, etc. THe Cinema Club is going well- two weeks straight of good attendance. Last week I showed "Smoke Signals" and people really liked it. THis week: "Into the Wild", and other titles in the series are "Sicko" , "SUper Size Me", "DO the Right THing", "Milk", etc. So hyped about that.

But more importantly, things are really taking off with environmental projects. First, this week we start construction of the compost pile at Colegio Country, and the kids are excited to learn. There`s already another possible colegio where I could start another project, but for now, to do this well. Then, last week, there was a showing of the documentary "Rio Bogota" about contamination in said river (Jesus it`s bad- everything from heavy metals to raw sewage that goes into that poor river and every time there`s money to try and fix it, politicians rob it). But it was really inspiring first because a bunch of environmental activists came from Bogotá, and also because they show the lake up in the mountains where the river is born with its beautiful pure waters and mosses and misty air. Anyway, I made a lot of connections, including for an event- Canto al Agua- an international festival of music, indigenous rites, and activist workers related to protecting and honoring water- and I was inspired to visit and real páramo. A páramo is a high altitude ecosystem (above 2,800 metres) with swamps and unqie vegetation and an essential source of pure water that is threatened by the slow advance of mining and agriculture. Colombia happens to have over 50% of the páramos in the world.

Anyway, I set out this last sunday to visit one of the most beautiful in the National Park Iguaque, a couple hours from Tunja. I went with Milena and the new exchange students- who are really awesome people- two from Mendoza, a girl from Chiapas, 3 from Colima, Mexico, and a Bolivian that is the most good natured, quiet guy you could imagine. So, you take a truck up to the entrance and from there, it`s 3 to 4 hours climbing up the mountain (up to 3,600 metres!) through dense forest and then rocky cliffs up to the Laguna Iguaque, a sacred body of water that is wrapped up in mythology and named after a chief of the Muiscas who fled there from the conquistadores. The air is amazing, misty and fresh, and crystal streams with moss run down between huge trees with different types of orquids growing from their branches. BUt it`s a steep, rocky, muddy climb, and while I didn`t take it too hard, for some of the girls that just brought sneakers it was tough. Upon reaching the lake, you can feel the power of the site: we sat down to eat bread, cheese, crackers, oranges on the banks, watching huge clouds of mists come swirling down from the mountains. I brought some herbs to burn as an offering and played the low whistle, which was neat because it echoed just like you might imagine. On the way back, it started hailing just as we were climbing down the rockiest part, and that meant slipping and slidding and being completely soaked and muddy by the time we got back down, but well worth it, obviously. The pictures are from there.

And that`s the main adventure of the week. In the next days I will be working on compost, watching Colombia and Mexico spar in world cup qualifiers, planning a forum at the university about new laws that will allow more coal mining in the mountains near here (booo!) and various other projects.

Oh, and Milena and I are having our 6 month anniversary! Wow, those months have gone by fast! The idea is flowers, dinner, maybe a serenade. All is great with us, although she`s working 45 hours a weeks for shitty pay at an English instituute, but only for 2 more weeks- and the last day we`re going to both go and humuliate her uppity boss as a parting jab, hehe.

So, blessing to you all, and more soon!

and the update!!

So . . .

WHat have I been up to the last few weeks? Well, not too much. Back in classes of course. Working quite a few extra hours preparing stuff, but classes are good. I`ve been able able to introduce a lot more content about geography and history. Let`s say the students didn`t get much of that in high school, so a lot of catching up on the history of the British Empire, Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, good stuff like that. Talking Fair Trade and such in the upper level business classes. Of course, always frustrated wishing the students`level was higher; it`s tough to talk about those things when a regular newspaper article is full of unfamiliar words for them, but paso a paso. . .

But besides that, my projects are starting to come together. The band is back in full swing, out first show last week for the new class of freshmen was great, I sang `Mais que Nada` and wqe have a lot more percussionists this year- a drummer, great conga player, etc. I`ve been playing a lot of Brasilian tunes with them, ironically, seeing as how one might think it would be stuff in English.

Then there`s hope on the horizon for compost. Turns out a friend got hired at a small bilingual private school that has a lot of land and money and they want me to come and give classes and I proposed building a compost pile anbd using that as a base for English classes- nice and hands-on. SO, the possibilities are wide open there. This week I plan the first visit to see what`s feasible. And there`s a student group at UniBoyaca related to environmental stuff and we plan to help a small recycling company get a foothold in my neighborhood- getting people to separate class, cardboard, etc.

Then, there`s the pure satisfaction of having been here a while and slowly discovering good things like the fact that there`s a huge farmers`market a few blocks from my house every weekend where I can get all sorts of fruits and veggies (though the organic-ness varies and isn`t always certain since the farmer isn`t always the one selling the goods). But I can get basil there, which means pesto!!! I`ve already made 3 batches and got Milena addicted. Smear it on bread, pasta, your finger, whatever. I can also get real eggs there- from chickens that ranged free- since most eggs in stores here, while a bit better than US hormone-antibiotic caged slop, do come from large industrial chicken houses whre that kind of stuff is starting to catch on, sigh!! And a new exciting discovery- a farm one block from the university with free ranging cows (in that case Colombia is wonderful- all cows range free, the feedlot hasn`t made it here for large animals), and they sell jugs of milk every morning right fresh from the udder. Milena and I got a gallon jug and made delicious cheese (just simmer and add vinegar) with rosemary, and promptly ate the whole huge block. But nice to know I can get more whenever I want. Yogurt is next on the list.

Oh boy!! Cus the yogurt you get in stores here is watery and too much sugar always.

And that`s pretty much what`s new here. Enjoying music, thinking about travel plans for Semana Santa (spring break, effectively). Also taking a Colombian culture class at UniBOyaca, which is really good so far- learning a lot about indigenous groups in Colombia these first weeks. The Muiscas, the main group that inhabited the area of Tunja and Bogotá has a lot of archeological sites, but no direct descendents. However, there are new communties of mestizo who are reclaiming Muisca identity and relearning the language and rituals, so looking forward to visiting them.

Oh, and my brother Josh is getting married in July, so i looks like it`ll be straight to San Francisco and back to como by mid´July, hopefully with Milena, for a precious month before it`s of to North Carolina (come on and raise up!!- take your shirt off . . . oh, nevermind).

So, happy February. Hope winter goes gently in the states, though not looking forward to April and May here when the rains return. But can`t complain about early October temperatures year round.

Nooz and tatooz!!

Here's some photos of me, Mile, and my new tattoo. It's of the Irish peasant and land reform revolutionary Michael Davitt and reads "Tir ar son na ndaoine", which means roughly in Irish "The land is for the use of the people".
Tomorrow a full update!!