Hasta siempre!!!

My my, how sad and neglected this blog must feel! Well, finally I found the time for a final update before signing off for good.
So what has the last month offered? Well, I wrapped up work at UniBoyaca. We had a goodbye bbq with all the other profes in Paipa on a farm of a friend of a friend, a guy whio has travelled all over the world and has a remarkable resemblance in appearance and mannerisms to Captain Barbossa from"Pirates of the Carribean", who keeps horses and has a lovely little farm house. So that was a good time- lots of roasted chicken and plantains and potatoes and avocados. Then Mile and I went to Duitama to visit our wonderful friend Connie, who gave us acupuncture treatment in her clinic.
So let´s see, I wrapped up classes at the end of May, and went to San Gil for a couple of days, where I stayed with a couchsurfing contact, Andres, a really nice professor of electrical engineering who lives in a little cabin in the country surrounded by mango and orange trees and the most noble little black lab I´ve ever met who accompanied me every time I arrived or went to town. Of course, San Gil is lovely as always. i went on a tour of Cueva del Indio, a giant cave with vampire bats and a 5 meter jump at the end into a river where you swim out of the cave. I served as traslator to a vacationing family from Austin, TX. Then off to spend as many hours as possible at the waterfall of Juan Curi, which remains for me the most beautiful place on earth, swimming in clear pools surrounded by huge trees and orchids.
Then back to Tunja and quickly off again with Milena to the llanos. A great four days, although lots of time spent in buses. We enjoyed the heat, the humidity, the vast expansive views (finally a break from mountains- you can even see the sunset!!), and the most delicious grass fed beef you can imagine. We also ate amazing pinapples and learned that they don´t come from trees, but from a cactus-like plant on the ground. Who´d have thought? The only complaint- it has rained a lot the last night and the return bus ride to Tunja passed through some zones with lots of washed out highways way up in the mountains, which meant over 4 hours of extra delay waiting for them to repair and let us pass. But, small price to pay.
Then it was back to Tunja to clean up my apartment, pack up my things, say my last goodbyes, and off to Bogota for Milena´s visa date at the embassy. We were really nervous, but she got it!! Which means we can spend the summer together in Missouri. Hooray!
Then the final session with my wonderful Irish music friends in Bogota. And I wastesd two afternoons running around every corner of Bogota looking for an open Citibank to transfer my money to my US account. After a ridiculously complicated process, I finally finished, and then recieved a call two days later that the transaction was cancelled because we put one piece of information wrong. Ugggh!! F""king banks!! Oh well, I´ll figure that out when I get back to Bogota.
But where am I now??
Well, I just finished my first week on a farm in Manizales, in the coffee growing region of the country. It´s been nice. The farm is run by Cecilia, an older lady with lots of chutspa (no idea if that´s spelled right), her sister, and a few other campesinos who help out. It´s located way up in the mountains with a nice view of the city. They about 2 acres planted with coffee and bananas (all the bananas i can eat), along with other veggies, mandioca, corn, and animals. My main job has been taking care of the two goats (=delicious cheese!), and chickens, and other odd jobs like harvesting coffee, digging trenches so the rain doesn´t wash out the crops (there´s been several strong downpours), and climbing up the orange trees to pull off moss, orchids, bromelias, and other parasitic plants. That also meant destroying the housing on ants who like to build their nests there, and who have an amazingly strong bite for their size. That was entertaining, haha! Legs covered with little bites is a small price to pay, though, for fresh air, amazing views, delicious food, and lots of time in the afternoon to read in a hammock and play guitar.
So yeah, I could say a lot more, but you get the idea. Looking forward to another week in the mountains eating lots of bananas, and then the return jouney to Bogota and to the US. I can´t believe that 2 weeks from today I´ll be at my brother´s wedding in San Fransico. So soon! I can´t wait.
So, be well all! My blessings from this wonderful country Colombia, but also excitement to be back and see everyone soon!!
Until then...
(PS- all the typos are due to a crappy keyboard and spellcheck in Spanish).