Espanol y Familia Colombiano

We finished our time at the party hostel, and overall it was a good time. Kim and I went out to Cafe Havana one of our evenings and danced salsa for awhile. By 1:30 AM Kim was wiped out, so she went to bed. I wasn't quite ready to pass out, so I went back out - thinking I might find a place to dance for another hour or so. I ended up meeting a Chilean couple who were staying in our dorm room. Pablo spoke some English, and Carta helped me speak un poquito Espanol. We ended up chatting until 4:30 in the morning, with Pablo inviting us to stay with him if we end up in his part of Chile while on our trip.

Monday morning, we packed up and headed to our language school. The classes at Babel consist of 4 hours/ 5 days a week and are taught almost entirely in Spanish. Kim and I were entered into different classes (I think Kim is classified as intermediate, and I'm at the lowest level), but after just one week I already feel more confident in my ability to speak and understand - especially when the people realize I'm not a native speaker, slow down, and use simple vocabulary.

The classes are very helpful, but I think just as important for me has been the homestay and an easy opportunity to practice my Spanish after class. Our hosts are Jaime and Yaneth. They live on the same property as Jaime's three sisters and mother and often have their grown children and grandkids in the house. Needless to say, we have met a sizeable amount of their family in just one week. One boy of 12, Guillermo, is learning English in school and is probably at least a little fed up with constantly being called on as the translator. Overall, the family is incredibly welcoming and helpful, and though they do not speak English and our Spanish is poor, they make us feel like part of the family.

Yesterday our host family invited us to walk with them to walk to the "cerro de la popa" for sunset. I think it translates to "hill of the stern" referring to a large hill in Cartagena that is shaped like the back of  ship. At the top there is a convent, and a fantastic view of Cartagena and the Caribbean. We are pretty lucky that we're in Cartagena now because the path to the top is typically a dangerous place, especially for foreigners. However, this week precedes a Catholic festival with hundreds of people walking up the hill to the convent at all hours and so there is a strong police presence on the hill. Jaime has lived in the same house since he was 4 years old and is very well known and liked in the neighborhood. The entire walk to the top of the hill, he was greeting friends. I swear he knew every other person.

Jaime is also a huge fan of baseball. He started playing when he was two years old, and he has a laminated picture of himself in his wallet to prove it. He has also spent time coaching and managing Colombian teams and teaching baseball to kids. When I tried to explain that the Seattle Mariners were my team he started talking about Ichiro and Alex Rodriguez being with the Yankees now, and how Robinson Cano was traded from the Yankees to the Mariners. (As a side note, lots of people in Cartagena wear apparel of US sports teams. While walking around town this week I saw a guy wearing a hat with the Mariners "S" logo. When I looked closely at the hat as I passed him, the back of the hat read "Marines")

This morning, Jaime took us to watch the kids who he coaches play baseball. The first game was between two local teams commposed of 4-6 year olds (a few kids skipped bases and one just ran between 1st and 2nd about 10 times). There were also two matches for 13-16 year olds beween the local Cartageneros and a team from Panama. It was a lot of fun to watch, but also great to meet many of Yaneth and Jaime's friends. I belive we were invited to eat fish at one of thier friend's restaraunts next Sunday. Tonight, their family is having an asado (barbeque), and they invited us to come along. When we were in Argentina and Chile a few years back, the two asados we partook in were some of the best food we ate, so we're definitely excited to join them this evening.

For the Super Bowl tomorrow we found a place that has a New Orleans theme and we've been assured they will have the game on, so I think we will meet a few people from the language school who have never watched American football and watch the biggest US sporting event. Next week we finish up our Spanish classes, and I think we're going to try and take some salsa classes as well. There  are a few places we still want to go see in Cartagena, but we have an entire week and I'm not terribly concerned about running out of time to do the things we'd like to do. Hopefully next Monday we will take a short boat ride to Playa Blanca (white beach), and spend a day or two lounging on the beach before we leave Cartagena for a new destination. We've heard that Santa Marta is beautiful and that would keep us on the Caribbean. We've also had multiple people say their favorite part of Colombia is the coffee growing region, so perhaps we will head towards Medellin. If the people outside of Cartagena are half as kind and welcoming as Cartageneros, Kim and I are in good shape.