Back in Yooperland!

We made it back after a few long, long connections & the snow has melted a little bit but not much. : )

Overview of last couple days:

After I ventured into town I had the taxi drop me off at EXITO (which is sort like a super walmart)....some merchandise was made in China but a lot of it came from South America too. It was fun to look around at the many different clothes (beautiful designs like Jennifer Lopez or Shakira would wear-she is from Colombia) a lot were very Alluring.
After browsing for an hour or so I met Chris & Marie at Jorge Washington School & waited for them to finish up. Marie had meetings most of the afternoon w/ the Principal & other faculty discussing future employment. In fact, they hired her & she accepted a very PT position until she retires here in 2 years. She will work as a one on one reading specialist like here in the Title One Program...She is very excited! This expensive private school really wants to hire very good English speaking instructors to teach in a form so the pronunciation is clear & correct when speaking to their students....Although the children may end up talking like little Colombian Yoopers! (Eh, Hola!) :)
After school we headed to the grocery to buy our Columbian Rum & Juan Valdez coffee to bring home....Went back to Chris's to freshen up for church & dinner reservations for 8pm at La Vitrola Resaurante in Old town. The church we went to (Saint Padres, the one w/the big DOME) didn't have Mass but a holy hour of Rosary which we sat in for a bit. The inside construction was unbelievable! It actually was by far the most Beautiful church I have seen...We then proceeded to a rooftop terrace of a friend of Chris's (who happened to be in Bogata for the wknd), there we watched the sunset over the ocean & viewed the clay topped roofs over the city . St. Padres was literally one building away & the dome was magnificent at eye level! From the terrace we could here some African drums playing so we decided to ck it out....Over in the park a block or so away an African dance/drumming group were performing... This was really Awesome too! What a way to spend the last evening!! I did record some of the performance & will post the link to You tube in a day or so on this blog.
Our dinner at La Vitrolas was very good w/ a small live group playing~ "Pitty Duenas" a Cuban Swing band. Some of the music here is like Zydeco which is very fun! I ended up buying a cd of the Cuban Swing band as a momento of the occasion.
After dropping Marie off at the apt. Chris & I went back to town to a really cool night club to dance Salsa... the place was small & narrow with all brick & arched doorways throughout & probably built 500 years ago as a hideout. The strobe lights looked neat flashing against the old brick walls! We stayed until close which was about 4am! We had a lot of fun but getting up at 6am was not fun... although I endured the flights on the way home with a long layover in Miami spent at Bay Side outdoor park/marina (which we ate lots of Cuban food!).

All in All, Cartagena Colombia is a very safe place to visit & I would HIGHLY recommend this jewel of South America to anyone!!!
Adios! Amy

YouTube Video in Old Town:
Cartagena Colombia -African Dance