My Friend Wilson

I am supposed to be starting the English Conversation Club this week, but things work a bit slowly around here and we are still trying to figure out the advertising of the club, so, instead of teaching English today, my friend Wilson taught me how to cook chorizo and french fries. (And no, he is not a volleyball!)

Here he is with the finished product.

Wilson is a pretty funny guy. He is 16, in his second semester at the university, and studies history. He is super passionate about learning English, and fairly good at it, which is why I was so surprised when he told me he had taught himself all he knows. Sometimes, I have no idea what he is saying, but often he has no idea what I am saying in Spanish, so we end up just staring at each other or laughing.

Last weekend, Wilson took me to the beach with his friends. The beaches here are so beautiful, but splashing in the waves with 16 year old boys can get a bit awkward, especially when they are scared of you. I did get the chance to teach them the difference between beach and b****, a pronunciation problem I have encountered in all of my Latin American travels.

Wilson also took me to the Inquisition Museum where we played around with different torture instruments as well as a guillotine and a hangman's noose. We also found this cannon.

Most importantly, Wilson loves my glasses. And I must say, he looks pretty good in them too!

A Move... Not So Far

I have been searching for a place to live here in Cartagena for the last two weeks, and let me tell you, it has been rough. It is very expensive here and I would really like to have some money from my stipend left over to eat. But the people here are so friendly! I have so many people looking for places for me:

-the secretaries at the undergraduate school and the graduate school
-my friends Luis and Wilson
-my friend Vanessa

-a taxi driver
-a random lawyer that started talking to me on the street one day

-some random kid whose girlfriend's mom might have a place

People are just so eager to help here! It is amazing. Despite their eagerness, I was still left without a place two weeks after arriving in Cartagena. So, the owners of the hotel told me I should just stay here, in a small apartment. I took them up on the offer and moved all of my stuff (which has already multiplied significantly somehow) 20 feet to my new place.

(This is my front door... not like I have a back door or anything.)

It is great. I have the privacy I desire, but I still have a community here (other people live at the hotel as well, and the owners and doormen take very good care of me), I know how to catch the bus from here to everywhere I need to go, and it is right across the street from the ocean. Plus, they make my bed for me everyday and do a bit of tidying. Nice.

And I have a roommate. Well, he's a lizard, and I would actually rather he went away. He keeps turning up randomly right in front of my face or under my hand and it creeps me out. He needs a good name though...



Best, it has a tiny kitchen. I love to cook for myself. Today I went out and bought myself a pot and a pan and it made me so happy! BAD NEWS: No one here has an oven! I guess people just don't bake that much. It makes sense; it is so dang hot why would anyone want to turn on an oven? But, that means, I cannot make pizza. :( Or cookies or brownies or cakes or empanadas or milanesa.... if anyone has any suggestions, or easy recipes for one that require only a stove, I am all ears!
(Oh, how English has some funny phrases!)

PIZZA!

Okay, so I know my first entry should be about the city and my first impressions, or how I am feeling knowing that I will be living here for the next year... but no, it is about pizza. I love pizza! My dad taught me how to make his own specialty pizza; in Argentina I learned to put hard boiled eggs on pizza; in Mexico I found out that everyone puts ketchup on their pizza (although that still grosses me out).

So, besides getting my visa, getting my Colombian ID, opening a bank account, looking for a place to live, trying to make friends, and preparing for teaching, I have taken it upon myself to find the best pizza in Cartagena. So far I must admit I have been thoroughly disappointed, but then again, I have not been digging too deeply in my pockets.

On my first day exploring the city I realized I had not eaten all day - heat does that too you, have I mentioned it is so so so hot? - and so I stopped by a little window that said, "Pizza y Gaseosa (pop) 3.000 pesos." Conversion rate is approximately $1 to 2.000 pesos. I thought that would be a great deal, but the pizza was crap. Hawaiian though.

I left that place unsatisfied, and even though I still wasn't hungry I figured I should eat more since eating is important. So, I found another place with a similar deal. No good. Some type of meat.

Third place I tried had great crust, super think and fluffy. The toppings were pretty good too - peppers, onions, ham, more things than I can remember. But it just didn't taste very good.

Fourth place was the best yet: onions, broccoli, carrots, tomatoes, and green olives.

But I am still looking, because I just haven't found that one place that I am going to take everyone to that passes through Cartagena.