It Is hard to lay here due to my sunburn. It doesn't matter how much sunscreen I put on, apparently any sun South of the states overdoses me on Vitamin D. Last night I laid in bed trying not to move while I had an ice pack and cold towel on my head and body. I have to say I knew it was coming though.
Saturday afternoon I arrived at the volunteer guest house where I will be staying and volunteering with Emerging Voices, teaching English for two weeks. Basically it is like a college house; nine girls and four guys living under the same roof. And yes there is only one bathroom for the nine girls. Haha. It is going to be a long week.
Besides that though, it is cool to be with the same people for that long. We have more time to make memories and become friends rather than meet and run after a day or two while traveling.
So, to start out our time as a team, a sweet, talkative guy named Juan took us to a nearly "private" beach he calls the Emerging Voices beach. We rented a little tent for shade and spent the day hanging out, swimming, walking, but I mostly stayed in the shade... Until about an hour 1/2 before we were going to leave.
I headed out into the water for a last little swim, when an adorable curly head girl swam up and began asking me questions. A minute later, a little boy swam up. They wanted to know if I could swim, so they asked to see and I showed them. The adorable little boy then demonstrated his skills, and... Then two other girls, ages 6 and 7 swam up. THE CUTEST children ever. :'}
And after playing with them for a bit, I was suddenly surrounded by countless children of all ages, swarming around me, asking questions, touching my hair, telling me I need cream for my red face, and asking me how to say "rock" and "shell" and "ocean" and "love" in English. It was almost like pre-practice for my week. :)
One of my volunteer friends got out the camera and they all pressed in for photos, jumping on me and smiling while making peace signs with their little fingers. Day made.
Interesting notes...the people here are very dark and more similar to African American than Hispanic. When they talk it sounds African American as well, very different from the Spanish accent I was expecting after Central America. I have heard that it varies a lot throughout the country so we will see how people are different more inland.
The landscape so far has been a little dry, mostly flat, with scattered palm trees and tall grass; very few cows, but every so often a donkey or pig wanders across the road.
Cartagena area seems very industrial as well. Everywhere we have driven you see big factories, semi tucks, cranes, big metal structures, and holding tanks.
And I realize I have been awful at taking photos, probably due to my complete paranoia of getting my camera and iPod stolen again. I will work on that. Fear never does me any good. :)
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