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So I thought with this blog I'd tell you a bit about a couple of places I have visited since being in Colombia. They are both places of beauty and I'm sure you will agree when you see the photos.
The first place is The Lagoon of Guatavita. This is situated about 1hour 30minutes to the north of Bogota and is in the area of Guatavita (what a surprise!). To get there I took two transmilenio's, a bus and then walked for an hour before taking another bus (bit of an adventure). I went here with two girls I met at the Spanish school and one of the girl's friends's who is English and lives in Bogota. The walk we did was all uphill, I personally quite enjoyed it as, well, I love a bit of exercise, and the view was just beautiful. When we arrived we were just in time for the tour which was cool, but I didn't actually have a clue what the guy was saying so actually it wasn't that cool at all! To get to the lagoon you have to walk quite a bit, and yes you've guessed it, more uphill walking! It's a beautiful walk though through trees, then you get to an opening and can see for miles. The countryside is very green, so a lot like the English countryside. You carry on walking up the path and then you get to the lagoon. It sparkles a greeny/ gold colour in the sunlight and I half expected mermaids to appear. Sadly you can't get down to it though but it is surrounded with beauty.
We had another adventure trying to get to the village of Guatavita…it's nowhere near the lagoon! We walked another while and then a bus driver told us where it was…miles! A Colombian couple who had a car were going to the village so they took us…4 of us in the back...it's quite normal here, as I am learning. The village is really cute and we had some food in an old woman's house turned restaurant. Stupidly cheap, only £2.30ish for soup, rice, meat, vegetable salad and potatoes. Then after exploring a tiny bit we took the bus back to Bogota.
As with a lot of the Colombian beauties there is a history behind it, however Google hasn't provided much in English, and I didn't understand what the guide was saying so once my Spanish is better I'll do some history stuff (or look it up yourself ).
Okay the second place is Suesca, which is an area of rocks that you can climb. Generally you can turn up and there will be people with climbing equipment. I went last Wednesday with my brother Juan, his girlfriend and his half brother (they have the same dad). When we turned up there were no people with equipment so we did a little bit of free climbing, then walked along tracks following the rocks. It was a sunny day and once again the scenery was astoundingly beautiful. We drove about an hour from Bogota to get there and it was well worth it. Being able to just relax in the sun after a morning of Spanish class was bliss. I also had a chance to practice my Spanish and managed to have a few conversations, which I think made sense! Hopefully we will return in the future for some proper climbing.
So another experience that I had on Friday with the school was a chance to play the Colombian national sport of Tejo! Basically it's an indoor game and you have these weights, a bit like pucs for ice hockey but smaller. You stand at one end of the 20m pitch, and at the opposite end is a 1x1 metre board covered with clay and set at a 45 degree angle. Inside the frame, there is a metal pipe strong enough to withstand the continuing impacts of the tejo. This pipe is the target where the tejo is meant to hit. The pipe is set in the same angle than the post's frame (45 degrees).
The tejo must be thrown from within the throwing area and the goal is to impact the inside of the target at the other extreme. A main characteristic of the sport is its use of small exploding targets that contain gunpowder, commonly known as "mechas". These usually triangle-shaped envelopes with explosive material inside are set on the edges of the pipe where on impact with the tejo explode loudly creating a sound similar to the one created by a small revolver upon firing (very loud!). I was pretty useless to be honest, but did manage to get it inside the metal pipe once. The great thing about this game is that it's a must to drink beer as you play. We played for a good few hours and it was just so funny! I'm not quite sure why but it really is taken very seriously. I hope I get to play again in the future!
In general things are going quite well and I know my Spanish is improving as is my understanding. I was reminded the other day of the importance of praying for things and asking God to help. I had a really tough day Tuesday and struggled with confidence. Tuesday night I prayed for boldness and did the same again Wednesday. God blessed me immensely and I had boldness like never before. I am trying to remember to pray for this daily and God is certainly answering this prayer.
In Church last Sunday I had a bit of a breakdown but the verses used for the Sermon were really powerful (Matthew 18:15-35).Verse 19 really stood out to me and I felt God was highlighting the importance of praying together, but also asking for prayer from others and not just praying yourself. So in light of that please pray that I will have continued boldness for my speaking and that my ears and brain will work together and my understanding of Spanish will increase rapidly. Also please pray I will have patience where I have limited freedom and I will know how to communicate properly to ensure I don't offend anyone.
Today (Sunday) in church I actually understood some of the sermon! It was on the same verses as above but focused on forgiving those who have sinned against us and doing so before praying for your own sins to be forgiven by God. A good reminder!
I know this is a journey, and it is a hard one. At least my sleep is a lot better. I am off to Ecuador on Tuesday for the Latin Link conference so will blog again on my return.
Love to all, hugs, and kisses,
Missing you all, my family, friends and brothers and sisters in Christ,
xxx
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