So my year
of adventures is coming very close to its end. When I first got the email
confirming my flights back to Australia I cried. I have now gotten used to the
idea of coming home but I´m not so sure that it will be for very long.
In the last
few months I´ve passed a lot of time as a backpacker (well kind of cheating, as
I left a big suitcase at a friend´s house). In the absolutely spectacular
coffee region, I had a very interesting tour of a coffee farm, I learnt the
whole process involved and why Colombia is so famous for its coffee – the
picking process is all done by hand. I already knew the other reason – it is
really delicious. Towards the end, the lady separated the ready grains, grains
with defects and grains without. They were two very noticeably different piles.
She indicated the good pile and said ´this is what we export´ and the bad one
and said ´this is what we drink in Colombia´. The injustice and senseless of it
left a big impression on me.
When I
first came to South America, I knew there would be no way I would be leaving before
going to The Amazon. My desire to go came from a book I read as a teenager, an
account of a British woman who lived with a native tribe, who were living
without influence from civilisation. Even though I had been told where I was going, Leticia, is a touristy, expensive
town and visiting a native tribe would be almost impossible, I still couldn´t
leave without going.
So I flew
to Leticia and discovered, surprise, surprise, it is a touristy, expensive
town. But luckily I had a contact there who told me of a beautiful, peaceful
hostel, half an hour out of the town, where I passed a lot of time with other
tourists, surprisingly mostly from Australia and New Zealand; playing cards,
swimming in an amazingly beautiful river and walking in nature. I hadn´t spoken
so much English since I left Australia, it was funny to hear so many
expressions I had almost forgotten.
And then
finally I managed to go on a real camping adventure. A guide – a friend of a
friend of a friend, took me and another traveller from New Zealand camping for
a week in the jungle. The first day we walked for seven hours, a narrow path
covered in branches, with many rivers that could only be crossed by walking
across slippery fallen down tree trunks. There were many beautiful and
wonderful adventure things; spotting a snake right in front of my path, walking
at night time with glowing mushrooms as the only light (when we turned off the
torches), sleeping in hammocks, swimming in the river at night time without
light and canoeing on a river with the most spectacular scenery. The most
adventure was when I went swimming in a whirlpool, thinking I could swim back
and then having to get rescued in the canoe. The funniest thing was when we had
to walk for 3 hours in the pouring rain and I fell up to my neck in water. The
worst part was the mozzies. I never got to experience the life of untouched
tribes, but it was definitely worth going.
Then with
only weeks left in Colombia, for the first time since leaving Australia, I
returned to a kindergarten, to El Nido, the lovely little kindergarten in my
most favourite part of Colombia, El Carmen de Viboral, a rural part of Antioquia.
I was so happy to return to see the lovely teachers, who have all become good
friends and of course the beautiful children. I had a really happy time there,
working in the kindergarten and staying with one of the teachers and her
family. All the time I just felt completely apart of everything, in the
kindergarten and in her house, like an Australian in Colombia, but not at all
an outsider or even a guest. I was of course very sad to leave from this
beautiful part of the world with so many beautiful people, but I left with the
feeling that I won´t be gone forever.
I then came
to Quito, Ecuador for a week. Again I have been very fortunate to be received by
a friend of a friend, a Steiner kindergarten teacher, in her home with her
family. I have been so fortunate to be welcomed and to be made part of this
kind and fun family and a very lovely kindergarten.
The
kindergarten is another wonderful example of a dedicated teacher working with
few resources and an abundance of love. The kindergarten consists of a grass
space with bad traffic noise and about four metres square of inside space which
functions as play space, kitchen and bathroom. But rather than complaining, the
teacher works very creatively with what she has, making use of everything and
all the space and regularly takes the children to a local park.
For me
there are two big things to be experienced while travelling, one is adapting to
new situations; new people, culture, language, food, living standards, climate;
everything. Getting used to new ways, and most importantly building connections
and relationships. The other is leaving them all behind. For me the first part
is easy and I love it. The second part however is not easy. Sometimes I feel
like I am getting used to it, that each farewell is easier, and sometimes I
feel like travelling just sucks. But actually, it doesn´t, but it can be hard.
In the last
year I´ve been incredibly fortunate to meet so many amazing, different people,
who have welcomed me into and shared with me their lives, from whom I have
learnt so much and who have been incredibly generous and helpful. It has been
so wonderful to make many meaningful connections with many amazing people.
It has also
been very important to me to have made connections between my people in
Australia and my people here. In my last few days with El Nido in El Carmen,
the Glenaeon community held a fundraising night for El Nido and raised a
thousand dollars!! Thank you so much for everyone involved! Also wonderful news
from The Q´ewar Project in Peru; thank you very much to Jackie Rowlings who
made a donation for the purchase of fitted shoes and three pairs of socks for
each child in the kindergarten. With the cold winter and rainy summer, this
will make a wonderful difference to these children who pass most of their time
outside and a lot of time walking.
So now....
back to Australia.
Canoeing on the Amazon river |
Trying fish after nine years as a vegetarian - DISGUSTING!! |
Camping cooking |
El Carmen de Viboral - my favourite place in Colombia - walking back from a picnic with Diana, a teacher from El Nido and her two daughters. |
El Nido - making bread |
El Nido - Morning greeting |
New shoes at Wawa Munakuy |