We finally landed in Colombia and had to wait for Passport inspection. I am sad to know that I already looked like a tourist because our host, whom we had never met, identified me immediately after we walked out of the baggage claim area. Imagine the horror that our driver experienced when he saw our luggage. An American woman, living here for 4 months, must have things. The problem was fitting these things into the trunk and back seat of a very small Chevrolet. Don Sendek (our host), Julian our driver (a graduate of the Bible Seminary and Pastor who lives on campus with his wife and children), Kailey and I departed in the very little, stick-shift, no dashboard lights Chevrolet. Moments later, we were stopped by the Policia for a headlight that was out. Julian and the police officer lifted the hood and then we started out once again. Not sure if the headlight was working, but he did not get a ticket. I quickly learned that Colombians do not drive well. In fact, I'm not at all certain they actually have drivers licenses. If they had to take a test, they must have cheated to pass. I have no idea what the speed limit is and they do not realize that those little dashed lines on the road are lane markers. At times we had three cars side by side, and it was a double lane highway. Oh, they moved over for buses approaching from the opposite directions....and kind of squished together when motor bikes whizzed in and out. I closed my eyes often and took in many deep breaths. There were families walking along the roadside, a cow and a white flash that I think was a goat and we somehow missed hitting it. There were many open-air restaurants along the way and huge pottery sheds. We are in a mountain range and started out at 6700 above sea level. Eventually, we moved down into the Medellin valley which is still 5700 feet up. There are 3 million people crammed into a very small area. I think I could see most of the houses as the zillions of lights dotted the mountain sides in all directions. Simply amazing. I am so glad our hosts are fluent in English. Don is from the states and has lived here for 45 years. His wife, Elizabeth, has been promoted to the president of the Bible Seminary, and she is from the Colombian coast. Her English is amazing, and she is quite the scholar. I distracted myself with questions during our hour drive to the college, and marveled at how little I knew about the world. I was happy to learn that I could put my toilet paper in the toilet and not in the little trash cans that are everywhere but in Medellin. My list of things to be grateful for grew from there.
We settled in at Don and Elizabeth's apartment home which is part of the Seminary Campus. The dorms and their apartment is on one side of the street and the gated campus is across the street. One must dart across the street, as those motor bikes, buses and taxis are everywhere, even on narrow roads like the one we have between the buildings. The living area is gated, as is the campus, and there are 24/7 doormen who let you in. Between 11pm and 4am, there are two ferocious dogs on the campus part, and they provide security along with the doorman. At least you feel safe on the other side of the gates. My first lesson in the apartment was that of the shower. There is this plug thing which runs up to the shower head and it heats the water. You can't turn the water on too hard, or it comes out cold. Hot showers are the staple of my life. Dan will be laughing at this, since he always comments on my long wasted-water events. I learned that they don't heat the water anywhere else in the house, and they don't have heat or air conditioning. There are no screens and birds are fed plantains because seed attracts rats. The year-round temperature is 80 in the day and 60's at night. There are fruit trees and flowering trees everywhere, but also lots of concrete and minimal grass.
We had ham and cheese (no Widmer brick, cheddar or Colby) and fresh mango and pear for dinner. Fruit is abundantly available and reasonably priced. Get this....when you think of Colombia you think of coffee, right? Well, they export the good stuff to places like the US, and the bad beans stay here. That is crazy. I will buy Colombian coffee when I return and savor a cup at home. Water is good here and I would probably give up my Diet Pepsi if I was here longer.
Kailey and I are sharing a room and she will tour the campus and see her dorm room tomorrow. I feel like Dan is here, as the sheets are untucked and she is bugging me to turn off the light and go to bed. Excited for daylight and more surprises.
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