Highs Lows and Bozos

We have officially said goodbye to Colombia and Hello to Ecuador.  But before I start telling you all about Ecuador I thought I would share some Highs Lows and Bozos with you.  If you are unsure what that means, let me explain, a high is typically something that brought joy, laughter, or was just a cool moment.  A Low is something that was hard, trying, or sad. A bozo is something embarrassing, or a mistake that could be played off as a joke. It is typically one of those moments that you do not live down.  All of these moments to follow were compiled by my teammates. So not all of them happened to me, but I was present for a majority of them.

So here we go:

Highs:

• Getting to hold colombian children

• Crazy teammates who make me belly laugh

• Seeing people come to Christ

• Mama Christina’s cooking

• The view from our balcony

• Street Food: Fried Cheese, Empanadas, and Coconut balls

• Finding real coffee after drinking instant for 20 days straight

• Hearing people’s stories

• Community that is real with each other

• Chokies (aka South American Cookies)

• Going to the restaurant and befriending Carlos one of the owners  

• Getting braids to look more like a local

• Going into people’s homes to pray for them

• Singing and dancing with kids and allowing kids to feel like kids

• Spending time with the local church congregations, praying for them and loving on them

• Two surprise birthday parties for a teammate

• Benefiting from the hospitality of each person we met.  Colombians are so welcoming

• Arepas – a thick corn (tortilla like) food that we ate for most meals (so good)

• Getting to go to different Neighborhoods and districts and meeting the colorful people who live in each one.  

Lows:

• Sharing one bathroom with 13 other people

• Paper thin walls and living next door to a bar

• Living with people who Vlog constantly (this really isn’t a low but I like giving them a hard time)

• Freezing cold showers

• Wearing a wet rain jacket and being cold for hours

• Most people getting sick for over two weeks straight

• When pulling cash out of an ATM you never seem to pull out enough pesos because the exchange rate is crazy

• Being asked questions in Spanish that you understand but don’t know how to answer

• When your braids that you love end up giving you a rash because you are allergic to everything 🙁

• Having to finish all the food that is given to you.  Great Hospitality but SO MUCH FOOD.

• Having to learn to be flexible in every aspect of life

• Trying to find alone time when living with 13 other people

Bozos:

• Falling in a mud hole and getting stuck on the way to the waterfall

• Tripping up the stairs and scrapping your elbow

• Forgetting what language you are translating to

• When introducing yourself you say soy de (I’m from) instead of yo soy (I am)

• When you think that you are taking Antibiotics but really you are just taking congestion medicine

• Teammates who usually walk and talk in their sleep who are constrained by their sleeping bag and start taking in Spanish.  (always talking about loving Mama Christina)

• Being the loud Americans on the bus who everyone stares at

• When walking with any blond teammate and locals stare and call her a baby doll in Spanish or offer to marry her.

• Being called muy grande because I am a foot taller than a majority of locals

• Being asked to pray for communion and eating the bread as soon as it is blessed like an American instead of blessing both the bread and cup before partaking.  (Trying to pray with bread in your mouth without laughing)