Wedding Party

A lovely lady called Ilisandra who works in the office at the children´s project invited us to her wedding to Rafael. We were very pleased to accept and had a lovely time at the ceremony which was at the Padre´s church. From there we went to their brand new house that they are due to move in to. It was great meeting the family and friends and celebrating with them. We felt very lucky to be able to join in with something like this which as a tourist you would never get the chance to do. The party started with fizzy wine, photos and dancing a wedding dance with the bride and groom. There were tables on the street and everyone sat chatting and enjoying the rum and coke laid on. We danced to local music and had a tasty meal too, eventually getting a lift home after one o´clock. All in all, a fantastic evening.

Farewell El Olivar

After more than two weeks for me and a week for Rachel it was time to leave the Olivar family in peace. We had a lovely last few days which included me cooking a curry for everyone, a traditional meal eaten outside off banana leaves, photos at the children´s project, a local wedding and Rachel finishing all her Dominican Republic work. Our last night was the first night of the Catholic Novenas where we were the guests of honour and Eduardo sang with his guitar. Rachel and I then had to embarrassingly sing Silent Night which everyone said they liked but not as much as my solo of away in a manger (cringe). Hopefully we will meet up with the family again either in Colombia or England.

Simon on the Farm

El Olivar is a small farm near to the village of Turbaco, about 10km from the big colonial tourist city of Cartagena. Rachel’s friend Andrea’s father, Eduardo, a retired vet, lives here with his mother and two sisters. The house is a lovely single story building with lots of windows looking out onto the surrounding countryside.

There is a small swimming pool here which is great for cooling down- I’ve made good use of it after my late afternoon runs to Turbaco and back. Despite the heat there are lots of lovely trees, palms and flowering shrubs around. There is also a family who live in a smaller house on the farm and work here preparing meals, cleaning and doing farm work.

The farm has hens, ducks, about ten cows, a couple of pigs and horses. Lots of the food I’m enjoying here is produced of the farm- fruit, eggs, chicken, milk, yucca and other vegetables. Luckily for me everyone is very keen for me to try local speciality foods. It has all been delicious but of special note was the tomale- potato, pork, vegetables all cooked wrapped in banana leaves which give a fantastic flavour.

Granny (Abuelita) is lovely and is very patient with me as I struggle to understand and be understood. She’s very excited that Rachel and I are going to be married, wants to come if she can or at least get lots of photos and also for us to honeymoon in Colombia. The latter would be great except that we’ll only just be back from South America and were thinking England would be nice. Eduardo is friendly, kind and generous and is being very helpful with my slow learning of the Spanish language. He loves the countryside and is also passionate about politics. Colombia has many problems following fifty years of mismanagement and American meddling. There is a huge disparity between the wealthy few and the very poor minority with virtually no state provision for health, education or welfare. In the area around the preschool welfare project I was visiting there is no running water, sewers or access to healthcare and the electricity is cut on certain days. The cost of living here is maybe a quarter of that in the UK so an average wage of around one hundred and fifty pounds a month doesn’t go far for a family of five. The very poor levels of education in deprived areas combined with the state controlled media help to maintain the situation. Eduardo is one of a growing number trying to achieve change despite the considerable obstacles. Lots of the people he knows are involved in projects to help relieve poverty. Like the Padre at the preschool project who is an amazing character making a real difference in the community in which he lives.

The village of Turbaco (a big sprawling village of anything from 50 to 90 thousand people) is a great place for me to be. At first I was a little worried about walking around because the streets are so chaotic. The traffic, of which there are more motorbikes than anything else, is totally random with vehicles beeping, swerving and stop-starting all over the road. Along the busy streets stalls and shacks with booming music sell anything from live animals and entrails on hooks to old bikes and curious fried food. But having spent time walking, jogging and travelling on the back of motorbikes the village feels a lot safer than London. People are friendly, they know each other; nobody has tried to rip me off. It’s an exciting place with so much life to see. People don’t stay in their houses behind gates; it’s all doors and windows open to the street, sitting out front, chatting to neighbours.

I have also been able to start getting stuck into the Spanish language. There is a big difference between learning in a classroom or from a book and actually speaking to people. What I learnt in England was of no use until I got here and into a position where I have no choice to get by. So little by little I’m tuning in to what people are saying whilst managing to say more and more myself. I’m still rubbish at Spanish but I’m up and running and that’s the biggest hurdle crossed. I was impressed with myself having managed to get local buses and taxis to Cartagena, bought drinks, ordered a lovely cheap lunch (pictured) in a busy restaurant frequented by locals and arranged to be picked up by the family telling them where I was over the phone (all in broken sentences and a poor accent obviously but successfully and without incident).

So here I am, lucky to be relaxing and learning in a beautiful place with a lovely family.

l-r: Betty, Me, Abuelita, Eduardo, El Padre, Mauro.

Santo Domingo

The island was the first place in the Americas to be 'discovered' by Colombus in 1492 (I think!)



The colonial centre of Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, is so beautiful,I  thought I should definitely take a few photos before I head off this afternoon. I'm back in Colombia with Simon tonight. Yippee. 

The quest for football

The aim to watch live football in South America is not going well thus far. In Venezuela we never stopped anywhere for long enough until we went to Merida and Maricaibo by which time the elections had called a stop to everything including live sport. Here in Colombia the twice yearly top division is in its final stages where the top eight teams play in two leagues of four and the top of each mini-league plays in a two-leg final. This will all be over by the time we get to Bogota. Cartagena has recently won the second division which is now over for the year. We did see some local women´s and men´s football in Santa Marta along with about eighty other people but it was definitely very amateur.

Luckily I can still follow the premier league by the magic of cable TV. In fact I´ve watched about eight live games this week including Burnley beating Arsenal in the cup. The commentary however, is fabulously different. My favourite commentator follows every goal by saying gol loudly then shouting gol for about ten seconds then taking breath and shouting gol for another ten seconds or much longer for a good goal and he then makes up a different song for each goal. Some are too complicated for me to follow but all involve the player and or team name to a well-known tune. One about Gerrard to the tune of Que Sera Sera for example or, to the tune of Volare and following straight on from the gol shouts: de Xavi oaoh, Alonso o-o-oaoh. His favourite player appears to be Benny McCarthey because Benny sounds very good when repeated quickly about ten times. Try this with a Spanish accent and you´ll see what I mean. I think of Clive Tyldsley trying this singing concept and it makes me shudder. Nor would I like to hear Lawro or Pleaty dropping in how masculine Nivea For Men makes you feel or how they are Lovin´ It at McDonalds as the co-commentators here do.

www.useful.org.uk

This is the Hunger Project in Turbaco, Colombia that Simon has been visiting this week. It used to be able to feed 500 children but at the moment it is down to 117 since it had its funding cut.  Our friends Andrea (whose family we are staying with) and Charlie have set up a charity to support the project - visit www.useful.org.uk. I'm hoping to visit later this week when I'm back in Colombia and see the children open their Christmas presents.

Photo from the Useful website

Rural communities and fair trade in Dom Rep

I'm nearing the end of a pretty long day in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic. I'm writing up interviews from my trip last week to see banana farmers in the northwest of the country. I'm sure I'll receive little sympathy as it's about time I did some work!

The last few days have been really inspiring and moving - a group of fair trade banana farmers with small plots of land in the north west of the country are able to keep farming and are investing in their communities.  They're keeping schools going that otherwise would have been closed or fallen down. 

The little girl on the right in this photo, Nana, is 11 years old. She was found in the road by people who work at Banelino. She wasn't given any milk as a baby so her bones didn't develop and she couldn't walk. She now goes to school every day and is fed and is improving slowly. 

They're also providing mobile health clinics to people who otherwise wouldn't have any access to medicine - preventative or treatment. They're giving talks and tests for HIV, vaccinating, training local facilitators to work in the communities and providing free prescriptions.

The communities are called 'bateys' - they were built by the United Fruit Company/Chiquita when they operated in the region before heading off in the '50s. All the houses are crumbling now, there are no sewerage works or services of any kind (the electricity is no longer connected). The water is dirty so people are ill. 

 

This a man called Manuel heading to the mobile clinic. What a character!

This toddlers are queuing up to go in for lunch at a day centre where they're looked after and fed three meals a day, without it most of them wouldn't be fed properly. This photo makes me want to cry. They live in a really poor rural area with lots of social problems and many are neglected by their parents. On a lighter note, lots of women spend the day with their hair in rollers here!

Worms in the organic compost they're producing for the farms

The colonial part of Santo Domingo is beautiful - squares with gorgeous old stone churches and streets filled with colourful art for sale. The photo below is the view from my hotel room window! Don't like to risk heading out with my camera as I need it for work tomorrow and I attract so much attention here. 'Hey, lady, you want taxi' or hissing at me like a cat - not a lot of fun. It seems to be better when I wear sunglasses though I've discovered today! 

Off to visit more banana farmers in another part of the island tomorrow. 

A couple of jungle moments

Could he get any grubbier?

Dominican Republic – fruit, raison and rum heaven

I’ve arrived in Santiago, in the northwest of the Dominican Republic. So far, it seems much more developed than I expected – I was met by Blanco, who works for the banana cooperative, and we travelled across the country on motorways and dual carriageways – something we haven’t yet done in Venezuela or Colombia. By our recent standards, the hotel is great – I’ve just had a complimentary rum punch and I’m eating pineapple, watermelon and melon with freshly squeezed lime and raisons on top. Yummy.

Cartagena and El Olivar farm

Back from our trek, we spent a couple of days in a beach resort, Taganga, near to Santa Marta completely surrounded by other travellers excited by spending their evenings watching films in the hostel TV room – we were not in our element. By contrast, after a 4 hour bus journey we arrived in the beautiful walled, colonial city of Cartagena, overlooking the Caribbean. We feel so lucky to be staying with Andrea’s family (my Colombian friend from work) on their gorgeous farm in the countryside near to Cartagena. Andrea’s dad has had to go to Bogotá until Friday, we were met instead by his lovely friend Jairo, who I think is determined that we should leave Cartagena with a much greater awareness of the social and economic problems of the majority, and not exist in a bubble of privilege. We’re thrilled to be learning more. Instead of taking the main roads, he has been driving us through the poor suburbs and talking about the problems facing the communities. He has plans to take us to a community in a sugar-cane growing area.

Simon is spending the next 10 days with Andrea’s family and I’m in the Dominican Republic visiting banana cooperatives.

The Olivar family are lovely, Andrea’s granny, ‘Abuelita’, the most glamorous and youthful 81 year old lady imaginable, made us so welcome.  I think Simon’s going to have a fantastic time – volunteering at a project near to the farm run by a local priest to provide meals and activities for local children each day. Andrea and her husband Charlie are setting up a charity in the UK to help support it and have raised money this year and bought Christmas presents so that they can all receive something from Santa. I’ll ask Andrea for details of the charity and post them on the blog.

Andrea’s Abuelita is also keen that Simon milks cows and rides a horse – I can’t wait to hear how he gets on. It should be great for him learning Spanish too. He has no mobile phone signal or internet access I don’t think over the next couple of weeks, so that’s why you won’t be hearing from him. I could write anything! 

 I’m so glad mum and dad have always been so hospitable to absolutely everybody over the years, it makes me feel a bit more comfortable about accepting it from other people now.  It definitely makes us determined to do the same when we eventually have our own home. Staying with a friend’s family compared with a backpacker hostel is a world apart and the former is so much more interesting and lovely.