mikeShriver

We were halfway into breakfast this morning, when a truck backed up to the house and the house exploded with activity. The hammocks were taken down, and a stead stream of men started bringing five-gallon bottles of water into the room, and stacking them against the wall. It must have been a rude surprise for Raul’s father, who had stepped into the shower while the house was quiet with the sleepy pace of our breakfast routine, and emerged, wearing only his towel, to a house full of activity.

The delivery men, having now finished stacking their product, are engaged in a lively conversation with Juana, newly arrived, regarding what I can only assume to be payment issues (although, with my understanding of this place, it could be anything, including the negotiations for a glass of water for the parched deliverymen on their way out).

Our cinnamon rolls have now finished rising and are now in the final stages of baking, the crowd has dispersed, and Juana, busy with the concerns of the looming event, has been whisked away to deal with some other aspect of planning, or unexpected mishap.

The “Audience” is being watched with interest by human rights groups, the Colombian government, and other displaced communities as it is the first time anything like this has been attempted for a displaced community in Colombia. Depending on the success of the event, it will be a flagship for other communities who wish to repeat it’s significance, or it may be seen as a warning that these communities are not equipped to organize events of this magnitude and importance.

So far, planning and execution has gone far from smoothly. The community has spent a good deal of time cleaning up, clearing empty lots and attempting to make itself more presentable, but the logistics and planning present huge challenges for Mampujan and Sembrandopaz to overcome.

The event will host 1,000 people, and will have to provide one lunch and two snacks per person, per day, for a total of 30,000 meals served over the ten-day event. Sembrandopaz has decided to try to keep as much of the government’s grant money in the community as possible by hiring from the community as much as possible. This means that the women of Mampujan will be responsible for all of the food preparation for 1,000 people. Physical labor in setting up and running the event will also be pulled from the community here. Unfortunately, this means that a significant portion of the people that this event is intended to serve, may be unavailable for the actual video conferences, because they will be occupied serving the event.

The community has been given very little time to prepare for this event. I think that Sembrandopaz has known about it for a while, but Torin was informed it was happening in the time since I have gotten here, and the community has been feverishly making plans for about a week, now. With only a couple days to go, the project is facing miscommunications regarding money, and ill-conceived ideas regarding the mud control at the soccer field, which is the largest outdoor space the community has to set up tents in. Hoping to prevent the field from becoming a gigantic muddy mess, several tons of dirt have been trucked in and spread over the field. Everyone apparently failed to take note that one of the principal ingredients in mud is dirt. One good rainfall will hasten the mess that they sought to prevent. There has been much talk of changing the order of dirt to sand, but trucks of dirt keep arriving and pouring more on, and a storm is brewing on the horizon.

For more information on Mampujan and it’s displacement, see the video Torin has posted here. The video was made before his arrival in Mampujan. Torin has added English subtitles.

Tags: South America, Travel Journal.

So far on this visit, I have spent most of my days relatively leisurely. We usually go to bed before 10:00 and get up after 9:00. Many days have been spent without leaving the house, merely lying around in hammocks, reading or writing, sometimes waiting for Torin to return from some meeting or interview, sometimes with him as my accomplice in sloth.

Today, though, we got up early (7:00 AM, even) and headed out to a middle school where we acted as honorary judges in the “Festival of Sweets.” It was a lively affair, with middle schoolers everywhere, pushing their sweet concoctions upon us. The sun was hot as ever, and we took every opportunity for shade we could find, but were often crowded out by the children. The long day included a lengthy walk to and from the school, and I don’t think I have ever sweated so much in my life. As usual, I understood very little of what was happening around me most of the day.

Upon our departure we were passed by a group of seven or eight boys at a full run. We turned around to see children flooding from the schoolyard, and hurtling towards us. We just reached the corner that the first group of boys had rounded, when Juana, one of the teachers at the school, frantically beckoned us back that direction.

Somewhere in the space of our departure, and one-block walk, a fight had broken out between some of the school kids and a group of people that lives up the road. The wave of children over took us and reached the corner, all shouting and screaming with excitement. Occasionally the wave would reverse and run frantically back towards us, only to return to the site of the action a few seconds later. Juana advised us to leave by a different route, as fights here get out of hand pretty quickly. The teachers mostly stood around helpless, as the volume of children in the spectacle was far too large to even have a hope and controlling. As we walked the other way, we could see the kids starting to throw stones, some larger than baseballs.

Tags: South America, Travel Journal.

Suddenly, I have manifested my presence on this house as a plague of misfortune, my domain of destruction so far has been limited to the kitchen, but who knows how it will spread. In two days, I have already broken all the bowls in the house, and I just now spilled a half litre of milk across the entire counter surface and most of the kitchen floor. I have also nearly relieved the residents of all their useable glasses and both mugs.

Tags: South America, Travel Journal.

Torin has recently been informed of an upcoming event for the community he is living in. He will be helping organize and run an event he has been referring to as ‘The Audience’. The leaders of the paramilitary that displaced this community a decade ago are facing trial for the actions in Bogota, and as part of the proceedings, the community has been presented with an opportunity to confront these men face to face. Sembrandopaz is responsible for organizing the showing, which will happen over a video connection between the village and Bogota where the accused are located. Over 1.000 from this community and another are expected over the 10 day event. Facilities, means and workers will be provided by the government for this event. I am fortunate enough to see and probably assist with the setup and will get to witness first few days of the event.

The event is especially of note because it is the first time in Colombian history that a displaced community will be given a chance to confront the people that displaced it. Because of the uniqueness of this event I think I am going to try to push my departure back a week so that I can see more of it. I kind of doubt I will succeed, though, as my visa expires shortly after I am scheduled to leave, and if I pushed my stay back, I would be in the country illegally.

Tags: South America, Travel Journal.

The power was out most of the day so we hopped aboard a couple motos to Old Mampujan, the original village occupied by this community before their displacement by paramilitaries more than a decade ago. The community members were shooting a documentary re-enacting the event that pushed them from their homes.

Most of the day, a looming storm front kept the sky in a brooding darkness while the town was softly, but brightly lit. the lighting was unbeatable for photography, and I burned almost a whole roll of film up there.

Torin took me around to some oft he old locations in the town. I saw the old town square, the school and the cemetery. The town was far more spread out than the losts that the new town occupies, and it had enormous beauty in the way that nature had retaken much of it. The cemetery had been poorly kept, and many of the mausoleums were decaying and overtaken by the trees. In one case, a tree root had completely broken away a corner of a tomb, leaving the remains inside exposed and allowing honeybees to build a nest inside.

The storm, when it finally came upon us, did so almost all at once. We boarded a truck hastily to outrun the heaviest of the rain, which followed right behind us most of the way out of the mountains. It only caught up with us as we pulled into the neighborhood, and we still ended up soaked.

Tags: South America, Travel Journal.

Kyle and Yuki have let. Their visit only lasted about 10 days. We visited Tolu and Cartagena, and spent some quality time with the beaches, islands and Historical sites on the coast of Colombia. The time there was very enjoyable, and passed too quickly. Torin and I are back at his house, and the sweating, itching and burning are back in full force

I have got another two weeks here fending off the sun, bloodsucking bus, and energetic children with no-one else to bother. This will probably be the most relaxed part of this trip, though. Here, a lot of time is spent indoors, or swimming at the canal. and a significant amount of time will be spent just preparing food.

At this point in my trip I have broken both my primary and spare cameras, and had to send my beloved Fujica home with Kyle. The Canon backup has to be wound with pliers for now, because I have lost the crank. I can make do with it for now.

While we had internet at a hostel in Cartagena, I purchased a used Nikon F2 on Ebay. It will arrive in Seattle while I am here, but will likely be by photographic equipment for the next year or so. I have resolved to get a case for it so that it doesn’t share the same fate as my current equipment. I will probably also purchase a replacement for the ST-801 because I love that camera so much, and it’s glass is so good.

Tags: South America, Travel Journal.

Kyle and Yuki arrived today. Torin and I had a 5 hour bus ride from Sincelejo up to Cartagena to meet them. It was enormously unpleasant and I found myself despising everything about this country. I am severely sunburned, my legs have been aching for 3 days, and my hair is uncontrollable; constantly in my face and unwilling to be tied back. Somehow, settling into our place in Cartagena and eating a huge steak repaired almost all of my complaints (The sunburn still kills).

Torin’s place is surprisingly basic, merely a few cinderblock and concrete walls with fiberglass panels for the ceiling. The plumbing in s minimal, and requires an electric pump be switched on to use. The water is undrinkable, and they collect rainwater from the roof to consume. Electricity is pretty unstable and usually goes out about once a day for an hour or so. Torin’s place is about the most luxurious in the village he inhabits. There is a fridge, which makes it a watering hole for the local kids, at least two of whom seem to be around at all times.

It’s primitive living, although I guess you get used to it. Torin has been there for several months, after all. Three week of this living will be a challenge for me. I’m hoping I will at least pick up some Spanish while I’m here, though.

Tags: South America, Travel Journal.

I have been keeping this journal poorly so far on this trip. Now that I have a chance to sit in a B.A. Cafe, a few moments, I will scribble a few words. The basic overview of the last few days goes thus:

Three nights in a Mendoza hostel, we managed many cafe hours, a winery tour by bicycle, a directionless walk in an endless park, and countless conversations with strangers that never seem to go anywhere.

The days in Mendoza felt different from most of the other international trips I have taken so far. They were more relaxed, for certain, than the days I spent in India. Probably a lot of it has to do with hostel culture- which is inherently laid-back and friendly.

Since coming to Buenos Aires, though, it has gotten more frantic. There is much to see here, and so far we have spent much of our time walking or riding the bus.

Yesterday we stumbled upon a passover festival in Palermo, the neighborhood where Cash and Kristen’s apartment is located. There was a live demonstration of B.A.’s prominent street artists. B.A. is known for its street art scene, and I am going to try to take a tour of the street art here on Wednesday.

I realized in my last entry that I was boring myself, so I stopped writing. Since then I have found it difficult to pick my pen back up, and my journal has thinned out.

Tags: South America, Travel Journal.

Joe’s parents opened up their house and his mom made us a corned beef meal. Here I slept in the most comfortable bed of this trip so far.

Joe’s friend from high school threw a birthday party and it ended up being a lot less of a drunk fest than I was anticipating. We drank homebrews, talked food and gardening and completely blew my initial perception of Joe’s hometown friends into another plane.

Sunday was a day of close deadlines. we missed one Metra train into the city and that put me in a rush to catch my flight. I ended up alone halfway across town with 2 hours to my flight and only a vague working knowledge of the Chicago transit system. With a nearly constant sprint, I ended up making the flight with a few minutes to spare.

Once in Mexico City, I found that my connecting flight was delayed 7 hours and had to spend an uncomfortable night in that airport. I arrived in Buenos Aires after dark, and got a very limited idea of what the looked like only from the shuttle that took me from the airport. When I arrived at the shuttle terminal, I was immediately rushed to the bus terminal where Cash, Kristen and I boarded a 14 hour bus to the Argentine city of Mendoza.

Argentina is a beautiful country. It is more laid back, less hectic than India was. It is nearing Autumn here, and the weather is temperate and pleasant, with lot’s of sun. Once our bus had reached Mendoza in the morning, we settled into our hostel and spent a nice lazy day wandering the city square, drinking coffee and hanging around in the lovely cafes here.

Tags: South America, Travel Journal.

Yesterday we purchased used bikes and we have spent the last few days cycling around the fictional city of Chicago. It’s great to be on a bike, I’ve got to get as much quality cycle time in as I can before the 5 week bicycle famine of South America.

The weather has been unseasonably warm here. The last few days and today made it up into the 60′s, perfect for leisurely two-wheel tours of the city. So far we have hit a few of the major tourist spots, and Today we took the yellow line out to Skokee to check out a violin making school that Joe is interested in attending.

Cornelius’ sister lives in an apartment int he shadow of Wrigley field, directly on the Brown line. L trains roll directly past the windows all night long, casting every shifting geometric shapes on the plaster walls. It’s like something of a great American working-man’s play.

St. Patty’s day was relatively mild. We did get some green beer, but the expected partying never materializes as the major celebrations this city is famous for happened last weekend, just before my arrival here. The streets in this area contain a large number of Irish bars, though, and the streets at night have been pretty rowdy. Usually this happens after we have turned into bed, and is mostly drowned out by the trains.

Tags: South America, Travel Journal.