Puentes are a blessing
and I’m running away.
To a town
not very far from here
with a family that calls me their own.
To walk and sleep
and ride on horses.
To write more stories
and dream more dreams
and share them all with you.

Back on Monday, friends.

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I woke up at 5:00 a.m. like always, put my feet on the cold tile floor, shuffled to the bathroom.  Washed my face, brushed my teeth, pulled my hair into a ponytail.  A “cheer pony” for Sisser.
Running shoes, jacket, keys, watch.
Good morning to the doorman, then out onto the street.
And try as I might I [...]

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I still remember the day that Lindsay left for India.  She was all nerves and excitement and living her dream and leaving her love behind- even if she didn’t know he was her love just yet.
She’s all fierce and gentle like that and I prayed for her heart while she was gone and for the [...]

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Two friends and I spent the weekend down the mountain where the sun shines without fail.  We layed underneath it and let our skin turn pink as we drank juice and listened to music from the finca next door.
Late this afternoon as we pulled back into Manizales and the familiar cloudy sky, Celeste said, “This [...]

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Sometimes I totally nerd out as a teacher.
Last night in my PTA adult English class, we were working on life maps.  Each person was to use bubble letters (woot! woot! throw back to high school!) to write their name and then use pictures or words inside the bubbles to show the most important events of [...]

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We’re sitting in her living room, the smell of peanut butter and marshmallows hanging in the air like day-old birthday balloons.  The heat of a Mississippi summer and the buzz of an oscillating fan are lulling me to sleep and Gran is rocking in her blue chair.
She’s humming a song she’s made up as she [...]

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“Sebas, I know that you think third graders are no good at soccer and I know that you get frustrated with them and I realize that all the other boys use those words, but gentleman do not behave that way!  Do you understand me?!  Gentleman. do. not. behave. that. way!”
“Yes, Mees.  But, Mees, it’s just [...]

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Day 3
We were warned that today would be the toughest day of the hike, so we got up early to hide from some of the jungle heat and to make our way to the City before lunch.
The walking was precarious and more than once my feet slipped on rocks that weren’t meant to be walked [...]

Posted in colombia, travel 5 Comments »

Below are entries from my journal.  The rest to follow.  I promise.
Day 1, end
Dear Jesus,
Please help me not to do bodily harm to my friend, Jill.  This torture is all her fault.  Amen.
Got up early, met the crew and guide.  Jill and I volunteered to ride los motos to the pueblo as there wasn’t enough [...]

Posted in colombia, travel 5 Comments »

Con mi amiga Jill
Braving the last flight out of Manizales
on an ever cloudy Friday.
To get to a hostel
I don’t know the name of
So we can leave at sun up.
For
Six days of hiking through the jungle.
And five nights sleeping in hammocks.
Across two rivers
Climbing 1200 stone steps.
All to see a city
that the world says is lost.
La Ciudad [...]

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