ULTIMATE!

It has been a long time since I have posted and a lot has happened including a trip to Cali, a city near the Pacific coast known for Salsa; lots of work; more play; and I have joined a frisbee team.

(The team)

One of my friends, Jota, started a team this year at his university and he invited me to play. We practice on the beach and it is beautiful. I love it! The people are the team are hilarious and a ton of fun. Some know how to play really well and others are just beginning, but we are improving rapidly. It is the perfect mix.

This past weekend we had a tournament in Barranquilla, another coastal city about an hour away. It was fabulous. We slept on the beach under the stars, woke up to the waves and the sunrise, and the first thing I did was go swimming in the sea. So beautiful. We played a pickup game of ultimate before breakfast. Then frisbee all day long. There were 6 teams of 7 or 8 people each and everyone was just so passionate about frisbee. It was such a cool atmosphere. And you could always just take a swim whenever you got too hot. Fantastic.

Anyway, this is how I'm spending a lot of my time now: running around the beach with really cool people chasing frisbees. I love it!

(Barranquilla!)

Manneqphobia

This is my new word for the phobia I am diagnosing myself with. Some of you may be familiar with my fear of mannequins (alright, probably just my sister knows about it), but I have the urge to publicize this fear now because here in Cartagena it is only growing. I mean, the mannequins here are terrifying! Walking down the street to the university I have to pass by many clothing stores whose windows are jam-packed with as many mannequins as they can fit. And they are scary! Take a look:

Here you can see the facial features and elvish appearance that the general mannequin here always has. I mean, what is they guy doing with his mouth? And the poor woman desperately needs a haircut, or at least a wig straightening. But they all have faces and hair like this. Since I walk this street nearly everyday, I am getting used to their penetrating stares and confusing facial expressions, but it still makes me uncomfortable.

Another strange thing I have noticed is the breast size. There are many mannequins here with boobs larger than I have ever seen on a mannequin (or most women for that matter) in my life. I have to question how they do not topple over... I mean really:
There are many other interesting mannequins I have seen wandering the streets of Cartagena including one dressed in a joutfit (sorry Justine and Leigh, I did not have my camera with me for that one) and this pregnant mannequin. (I think she needs a birth control lesson because it looks like she already has two little mannequin children. Plus the straps to her top are falling off and it makes her look a little like a garden tool... Maybe I should talk to someone in the store about it. It is not sending a very good message.)
So anyway, I just want to put it out there that if you have a fear of mannequins like I do, the best way to overcome it, is to make fun of the dumb things until they stop spooking you. Every once in a while I still turn a corner and my heart jumps because some creeper is staring right at me, wearing studded jeans and a tight shirt with his arm pointing at me, but then I realize that I can push him over with one finger and I laugh at him.

No Hay Agua

Last week the water went out in the whole city; no one in Cartagena had water to bathe with, to wash the dishes, to flush the toilet, to drink... Apparently the main water pipe broke that brings water into the city. The water was out for 3 days and everything basically shut down. At first I thought it was funny that students didn't come to school because they had no water, but on the second day, the school was actually closed, and when I went near the bathroom, I learned why. What a smell! It was funny because daily conversation always started with, "Do you have water?" Luckily, the hotel provided me with some water to shower and wash dishes, but farther out in the city they just had to suffer through it. Wilson actually stayed over in the hotel because his mom told him just to stay where there was water. But, no worries, the water has returned, and though there have been rumors of a recurrence of its disappearance, so far, it has been here to stay.