Yesterday I couldn’t decide what to do with myself. My new friends Cyrill & Vero, a French/Madagascarian couple had left Busintana a couple days before me and the Mamo left for a US tour, so I was all alone except for the security man, his wife, and lovely toddler (who is a rather poor sleeper and pees on my floor). The people of Pueblo Bello were wonderful: abuelas stopping me on the street to help with the muchilla I’m knitting, the Mamo’s daughters helping me practice Spanish, and the 14-year old waitress & mother, Adriana, wanting to chat over pineapple juice. However, despite being busy with these duties of a new resident I felt I needed more focus, especially with learning Spanish, so that I could actually offer these people something when I return in the coming months and years.

After a few minutes of deliberation I booked a cheap plane ticket from Valledupar across the country to Pereira, stopping in Bogota. The plan had been to go to either Manizales or Salento for Spanish school, however when I got to Bogota I completely changed my mind. I mean, I’m used to all this spontaneous (non)planning stuff, but even I am surprised at myself here. In the 45 minute layover at El Dorado International, I cancelled my connection to Pereira, retrieved my luggage, booked a flight to Guatemala, and found several Spanish courses to pick from. Some would people call this indecisiveness. I’ve decided to call it resourcefulness.

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Bogotan Artisans (The one in the middle is a wannabe. The guy on my left is the real deal)

For the rest of the day I did errands and had a nice evening in Bogotá visiting an artisan friend (we worked on our muchillas together!). I leave first thing tomorrow for Guatemala City where I plan to take a shuttle straight from the airport to Antigua for the weekend then leave for whichever Spanish school I choose. I am waiting for the one in Flores to get back to me. I’m hoping they have space as it is close to Tikal and has an amazing lake to swim in. I still haven’t been able to run due to the fat ankle, but have my eyes set on a 6km island swim in Italy this October so I need to get training. I’ve never swam 6km, especially not open water, and definitely not after a year+ of sabbatical living. Let’s see how resourceful I am in the Mediterranean with Bergeggi seagull-vultures circling overhead…

(Sorry Mom & Dad that you’re finding this out through my blog. I’m surprised too.)