Maya and I started work Monday (8/29) at that British school (St. George's of England). So far, so good--though things have been a bit disorganized. Seems as though most jobs tend to begin that way (at least in my experience). The campus is really beautiful: almost all brick and built into a steep hillside. Walking around to our different sessions provides quite a work-out, especially at Bogota's height (around 8000 ft.). The teachers I've worked with so far have been extrordinarily friendly and enthusiastic about learning, making things (obviously) much easier. Right now Maya and I are working on our laptops in a nearby mall, the only place we've found so far with free wireless access. Definitely a far cry from the dime a dozen coffee shops with free wireless in the states, but with its' own special benefits, such as the fact that I can order a beer--or rather just have (or any other booze, though my current budget prevents me)--and hang around pretty much anywhere I want. Feel free to post any and all comments or questions you have on the blog, and let me know, via e-mail, if you have any problems doing do.

A pic of me--showing off the dirty dreds--looking into the kitche of my aunt's house in Santa Marta where Maya and I stayed for a week.

A picture of Maya near dusk our second night in Tayrona. Probably one of the best pictures I´ve ever taken which is actually saying alot considering I´m very much photography challenged.

Here´s a shot of one of the beaches we visited in Parque Tayrona called San Juan de Guia´s. We stayed 3 days and 2 nights and could easily have stayed a week, if we´d had more time.

I´m in the first week of my TEFL course, which is going well. Maya and I also had an interview on the 22nd at a British school called San Jorge de Inglaterra (St. George of England) which resulted in us both getting part-time jobs starting on Monday (8/28/06) which works out just about perfect as I´ll switch to a night class and Maya begins an evening class in Anthropology at the Universidad Nacional in September. Not too much else to report right now. I´ve been reading lots of different books, The Portable Nietzche, Kafka´s Amerika, some short stories by Marquez (in Spanish) and El Beso de La Mujer Arana (The Kiss of the Spider Woman) by Manuel Puig (Spanish). My Spanish is slowly but surely improving to a level that generally prevents me from making a complete ass out of myself, and I´m getting to know Bogota better as well. I´m writing from Mays´s sister´s apartment and it´s raining slightly outside. We now have several rolls of photos developed from recent travels the highlights of which I promise to post soon.

Here's one of Obregon's paintings entitled Estudiante Muerto.

Got back to Bogota a few days ago. The coast trip was fantastic. Maya and I stayed with my aunt Denis in Santa Marta and saw many uncles, cousins, nephews and nieces; also a great-aunt (Ana) and great-uncle (Raphael). From Santa Marta we do a couple days at the beach at Taganga, where there is much time by me spent drinking Club Colombia and smoking Lucky Strikes, between forays to the water swim laps, and much time by both Maya and I eating excellent seafood. I ate a cazuela de mariscos (basically a stew of fish, shrimp, squid, octopus, lobster) served with fried plantains and coconut-flavored rice that was stunningly good.

We also spend a few days in Parque Tayrona, a Colombian National Park on the northern Colombian coast, hiking and taking in the spectacular Jungle and coastal scenery. Despite being ravaged by insects the first night (I woke with over 200 bites, no exaggeration) we had a blast. We saw all kinds of wildlife (from monkeys, to pelicans, to lizards, toads, frogs, and leaf-cutter ants) as well as swimming every day in some of the clearest ocean waters I’ve ever encountered.

We conclude the trip with 3 days in Cartagena seeing the sites in the beautiful old part of the city. Much of the old walls and forts are still standing, as well as many narrow streets with colonial Spanish architecture. We check out the museum of modern art (small but with some amazing painting and sculpture by both Obregon and Grau) as well as the restored building of the Inquisition with many interesting and some gruesome displays on the history of Cartagena. Other highlights include one night in the Plaza de Bolivar watching a traditional dance performance, and the guy we met outside a café the day we left: a huge German getting off his yellow BMW motorcycle who’d had his bike shipped to Peru, had traveled from there through Bolivia and Ecuador to Colombia, and was heading to Panama—something like a cross between Arnold Scwarzenegger and Che Guevarra. Getting back to Bogota via bus is a bit of an ordeal as a washed-out bridge forces us onto an alternate route taking just under 24 hours. Pictures from the trip to be published soon.