Colombia is the land of Arepas, Vallenato, sun and beautiful sites and amazing human beings. There is no place like it which is why it makes so much sense that two of my close friends, Diana and Jason decided to go back there and get married.
I am warning you in advance...these pictures are totally out of order and I'm just going to tell you about them as they come...
I can't go to Colombia without eating an arepa or an empanada. Arepas are made of cornmeal and are grilled or baked and if you're lucky are filled with huevo (egg) or they are filled with chicken, meat or garnished with that fresh white cheese that only tastes good in Colombia.
Every time I go on "vacation" to Colombia (I say vacation because usually I'm there hanging out as part of the family) I try to stay in cute little boutique hotels and actually feel like I'm somewhere unfamiliar. This time I found a cute place to stay called the Delirio Hotel in the old city. It was very Miami-ish but Nancy and I enjoyed our desayuno (breakfast) prepared by the cute hotel guys every morning. Arepa everyday, with fruit and omelets. This is breakfast with a flowery twist!
So the reason Nancy and I (one of my closest friends who I've known since 5th grade) headed to Colombia was for these two cuties. Jason, a friend I made when I lived in Colombia was fortunate enough to be introduced to one of the most amazing Colombian women I know, Diana. After years apart, Jason in the U.S. and Diana in Colombia they decided to take the plunge and like Keith Sweat said...Make it Last Forever. We went to Colombia to celebrate their nuptials. Even though they were already married last year in the U.S. to make it official and have friends and family there...they celebrated their love and marital bliss in the only place one should even think about saying vows of love...Cartagena Colombia!
No trip to Colombia would be complete without a horse carriage ride around la cuidad vieja (the old city). My trip was not complete because I didn't feel the need to go on a carriage ride with Nancy. I love her but no thanks. Next trip, someone is riding in a carriage with me!
The first few nights before the big event everyone was waiting for, we met all of Jason's friends. It was nice to finally meet all these people I've heard about for years. I thought he just made up his friends and that Diana and I were the only ones who liked him until I met these guys. They truly love their friend and I learned how much over lots and lots of beer and piña coladas.
these two crazy guys brought nothing but smiles and great dancing partners.
Here she is folks! Ms. Truong. One of my lifelong friends and traveling buddies. Nancy was introduced (by me of course) to some of the best drinks that Colombian pesos can buy...and here she is showing how much she loves condensed milk mixed with alcohol.
This character is one of my favorite Colombians and my Ethiopian brother, Hugo. This was taken on the Chiva which is basically a party bus where people get really trashed, and dance until their legs give out, all while being serenaded by chubby men with accordions. It's lots of fun!
see what did I say?!
Ronald McNair Elementary's finest :)
Okay so, while we were on this Chiva we were taken to some touristy spot where we were introduced to Mr. Perezoso. This guy was a rockstar. People couldn't get enough of him. I think Diana and I are the only people who didn't want to hold him. He felt weird but he was really cute minus the extremely long claws he had. Nancy cuddled up with señor perezoso for a cool 5,000 Colombian pesos, U.S. value...$2. For this picture...I get it was worth it. Aren't they cute together!?
There are lots of young street performers that dance the traditional dances of Colombia. they are talented and show you just a small piece of Colombian culture and beauty. Not just anybody can move their hips like that. Shakira told you...their hips don't lie.
This started out as so much fun. As most of you that know me know, I am a big kid and if there is a ride...I'm on it! This swing was at the club that we went to. Of course I couldn't resist getting on it. What I didn't expect is what was to come...
Joel and Abner or Dumb and Dumber (i say that jokingly) came to ride me on the dolphin swing. It was traumatizing but I'm getting help for it. I still can't be sure if I was laughing so hard I was crying or if I was just so traumatized that I couldn't muster up a cry for help so I just looked like a baby deer caught in headlights.I didn't want to post anymore pictures than necessary but these are two pictures from our series of three.
Ryan and I had an even more amazing series of three but I figured I'd cut down the embarrassment and just post the normal one.
Ale. This AGAIN is for you. El sombrero vueltiao que todavia no te he mandado porque no tengo plata...pero es tuyo!!! While I was in Spain I met this guy. To me, he's kind of awesome, and he's even more awesome because he hasn't even been to Colombia yet and a little tiny piece of him knows already that he loves it. So that I could share a little bit of one of my greatest loves with him I wanted to get him a sombrero vueltiao which is a typical and traditional hat of Colombia. It's one of the symbols of Colombia and is made of a material called caña flecha. It should really be pronounced and spelled volteado which is basically what is done with the hat, it's turned up on the sides (voltear is to turn in Spanish) but on the Coast...it's vueltiao no one would EVER call it volteado...that's too much articulation. Anyway...this amazing hat was one of the only things I was on a search for when I went to Colombia. I found one and I bargained for quite a while to get a really great one. When I got back to the hotel I thought...I really want him to have one that is super typical and this one just wont do. I kept running out of time to get one somewhere else before the trip was over and then came the wedding reception night. At the reception the beautiful flower arrangements were placed inside of sombrero vueltiao's and I planned on stealing one! I didn't really want to STEAL it so I asked Diana, the bride thus the head woman in charge, and she told me that people could take them home. Apparently, I'm not the first person she told that to because everyone wanted to take a hat home with them. After failed attempts at thievery, trickery (trying to take them from little old ladies) I managed to sneak one off of a table! THE GLORY WAS MINE!!!! This is how I celebrated confiscating a hat for my friend.
Our last hours in Colombia, I realized that I hadn't taken Nancy to the Botero statue in Plaza de Santo Domingo and there was no way I was going to let her leave Colombia without either kissing or smacking the Botero statue's bodacious lady lumps...
I've seen it a million times and it still looks mighty big...JLo...you ain't got nothing on this here morena.
These are some of my favorite art pieces in Cartagena. they are all over this area heading towards the wall and in Plaza San Pedro Claver. This is one of the many. I would've taken other pictures had there not been a bunch of disgusting pigeons everywhere.
Every time we walked out of our hotel room this was our view and maybe it doesn't seem like much but I thought it was pretty beautiful. This makes a tin roof look like something more...The second day that we were in Colombia I had to make sure that I went to Barranquilla. I knew that I wouldn't have much time there and I didn't think that Nancy would fully be able to comprehend why I loved it there so much unless she visited my other home. Cartagena is my private escape, but Barranquilla has a piece of my heart. A big reason my heart is there is because I left my crazy kids there. In 2002, I left everything I knew and everyone I loved and headed to Colombia to be a 4th grade teacher...this is the end product! They survived me and I have proof. These are MY kids. I love them a lot and miss them more than I ever thought I would. They were crazy, bounced off the walls, and even made me cry once but I adore them.
Like I promised...high school graduation LBJ Miss Allison's 4th grade class, for you, I will be there. Stop getting bigger, and taller than me though!I will always be LA MISS!!!!! and you will always be my kids.
Here's my old street. This is also the street Shakira used to live on before she got all rich and famous but our old building was better...
My lovely Alina took me to have lunch at Las Flores which is located in Barranquilla on the Magdalena River. I always thought for some really stupid reason that Las Flores was the name of the restaurant we went to. I was wrong...it was the area where the restaurants are so when i told the taxi driver to take us to Las Flores that's what he did but this is where he dropped us off...
The first day we got to Cartagena we ate at one of the best restaurants in Cartagena and had this same dish but it was waaaay better than this meal but conceptually it was the same. patacones...aka...tostones, arroz con coco which is amazing and made best by my señora Eunice (the housemates will always love you and remember your cooking and that soggy cereal you made me that i poured in a bag right onto the floor) and róbalo which is a Colombian sea bass.
this my friends is called un waffle deleite de fresas and it is can only be made like this at the one and only Crepes & Waffles. If I don't do anything else when I go back to Colombia, I ALWAYS treat myself to this dessert. It just makes my heart glad. If you ever go there...eat this and you will thank me for it.
This is the salty to go with all of that sweetness above. This is known as pollo al curry...and let me tell you Colombians know how to make some curry chicken. If you don't believe me...try it for yourselves.So back in Cartagena, I took Nancy around to do the touristy stuff. Go to the castle and see the sights.
this is right as you enter the old city walls.
Nancy gave me a lot of crap for this picture but I personally enjoy the canon shots. Fire!!!
A view from the castle
the famous bronze botas viejas
Nancy loves the smell of old bronze feet!
Wandering around after lunch in the neighborhood of San Diego.
I'm not a mango person but if you're in Colombia you have to go up to the man on the street and get a bag of mangos and have them put the traditional lemon and salt on them...you won't regret it.
Here she is. La India Catalina. She is basically the Colombian equivalent of La Malinche. She was the native/indigenous woman who took part in the Spanish conquest of Colombia. I love Spain, but GOSH could they have chilled out on the destruction of the indigenous populations in pretty much...EVERYWHERE?!?!And I know...it seems strange that I preface this blog saying that I went to Colombia this time for my friend's wedding and have NO wedding pics. Well the reason there aren't many pics of the wedding is because I already posted most of those on Facebook to make sure that everyone that was in those photos got to see them so these are the pictures not found on Facebook.
Hidden behind this bird of paradise is the bride Diana and her groom Jason. The wedding was beautiful. Everyone wore white. Diana wasn't worried about our tradition of no one wearing white except the bride...she knew she was going to outshine everyone with her beauty and she did.
although there is a way cuter version of this picture I thought this one was way more entertaining. These are the future international cougars of the world. Give us a few years and you better beware.
Surprise, surprise...when the wedding reception seemed to be winding down we were all reminded that it was a Colombian celebration when Diana and Jason disappeared only to return to the party dressed in traditional Colombian carnival gear with an entire comparsa group of performers in tow. this was what is called in Latin America as "la hora loca" or the crazy hour, and it was exactly that. Party, party and more party.
this is my Colombian "howdy" Joel liked it...
Both Hugo and Jason were putting it down...she wasn't ready for their skills
There aren't enough words, or enough images I could put up that could tell the story of the Vauters wedding or what it feels like everytime I return to Colombia. When I lived there wanted to go home because I thought I was missing out on something...when I left I realized that it really had become my home and the people I met there changed me. I'm so glad that I got to share in Jason and Diana's wedding and go back to that world even if only for just a little while.
Colombia te amo y te llevo siempre conmigo!
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