Surrounded by Water

In Colombia it rains year round, but especially at this time. Right now people are raising money to help the people with flooded homes. The storms have been so bad this year that there are over 2 million flood victims.

pictures of flooding

Yesterday it rained for about 5 minutes at our house but the rain came down so fast and so hard that half of the patio flooded. IT WAS AWESOME!! I looked out the window and saw water rushing down the front steps. After that, the back yard drain clogged up with flower leaves and stuff. My grandma just walked into the water and swept the leaves away - which was great because otherwise water would come into the house. It was surprisingly dry after that brief storm.

Bye,

Coco

The Fair

Bogota, Colombia has a huge fair every year around Christmas. This fair has about 4 buildings that are each as big as the school! When you go to the fair you have to go all day in order to see everything. All the things at the fair are hand made. There were baskets weaved with designs such as people or zig-zags. There were also many wooden toys at many sections. I think that most of the stands sold hammocks. We bought two chair hammocks.

My dad gave me $50,000 Colombian pesos (about $28.00 US dollars) to spend. With this money I got a troll that is said to be good luck. I also bought a miniature nativity set made out of tagua. Tagua is the seed of a South American river palm tree. The last thing I picked out was a wooden bird that flaps in the wind. This bird is made out of pure wood. I was so tired at the end of the fair!

Saludos,
Coco

A Stay in Bogota

For a few days I stayed in the oldest part of Bogota, the capital of Colombia. This place has roads made out of rocks and the business places are houses. Less than a block away from where I was staying was the absolute oldest house in Bogota, built in 1538.

The place where I was staying was called the Chorro de Quevedo, it was a bed and breakfast. The inside looked exactly like a house. In the bed and breakfast there were tourists from different parts of the world. I met people from New Zealand, Peru, South Africa, the Netherlands, Sweden, the US and Italy.

While I stayed in Bogota I went to el Museo de Oro, or the Museum of Gold. There I saw many things for it had 7 floors. I am going to tell you about my top 3 favorite pieces of the museum.

1) La Balsa Muisca.  Muiscan political and religious leaders with other men used a raft to offer gold to the gods as the way to make things better. They would paddle out to the middle of a lake or lagoon and drop in gold, emeralds and other offerings.  The people wore masks that looked like animals. (These offerings gave rise to the legend of El Dorado, or the search for a place of piles of gold by the conquistadores).

2) There were these miniature clay replicas of some of the types of work the Indians did.

3) In the museum there was this room with some of the gold offerings that they found. This room only had gold things. The art of the gold looked like jewelry. At first the room was completely dark and you could hear the priests chanting and the paddling in the water. Then you could hear the dropping of the offerings into the water and the lights reflected the gold.  It was like being at the bottom of the lagoon with the gold.

These three things really interested me.

This day in Bogota was very educational.


Peace,
 Coco

The Scouts of Colombia

Today I went to my cousin Samuel's scout meeting. There are differences and similarities between the scouts in Colombia and those in Long Beach. First of all they always hold the meeting outside, not inside, even though it is usually cold here. Second, there are boys and girls mixed. Also, the scouts are separated by age, not grade. Kids from 6-12 years of age are in one group, the pack. You have to be 12 to join the second group or level, which is called the troop. All of the age groups meet at the same time, in the same place: the Plaza de Bolivar (central town square).

One of the similarities is the uniform. The boy scouts of Long Beach and the scouts of Colombia both wear a blue shirt and a bandana and have similar patches. The law of the boy scouts is the same, but of course in Spanish.

Today at the scout meeting we made paper Christmas trees for a night stand and then decorated them with glitter. It was fun, but not as fun as the girl scout troop I'm in.

Bye folks!
Coco

TEMPLO DEL SOL- Temple of the Sun

TEMPLO DEL SOL, Sogamoso, Boyaca, Colombia
In Colombia there are about 80 different Indian nations, who make up less than 5% of the population. Today I shall tell you about the Indians called the Chibchas. The Chibchas lived high in the Andes mountains, where I am visiting. Yesterday I went to visit a place where the Chibchas lived.  The Chibchas spoke a language called Muisca. This language was spoken throughout Boyaca (the state I am visiting).  The Templo del Sol was a very sacred place to the Chibchas. This temple was basically their church or ceremony place. The Templo del Sol that I saw was a replica of the real one because the Spanish came and burned down the real one. The Chibchas, before building a house or a temple would get the prettiest girl or woman and kill her with a rock.  So girls, it was better to be uglier than prettier. The reason they did this is because in their beliefs to kill the prettiest girl with a rock made their house strong. The girl or woman that they killed would be buried under the house. Now guess what!? Also the Chibchas had an interesting belief of beauty. When you were born, or about one week after, you would be put on a board and have another piece of flat wood tied to the top of your head to form a sort of egg shape. Depending on your importance you would have your head squished more. So the most important people had pointy heads. Finally, there used to be lots of deer in Colombia when the Chibchas lived here but now they are extinct. Miss you guys!

Bye,
Coco

 Video: Templo del Sol
Picture 1: Choza or house
Picture 2: Rocks for grinding corn and quinoa
Pictures 3 & 4 :  Remains of adult mummies. (The Chibchas mummified their dead and buried them in ceramic jars).

Noche de las Velitas, Throughout the Day

Colombia is the one and only place where you celebrate Noche de las Velitas (Night of the Little Candles) on December 7.  During the day, first I went to buy a Christmas tree. It took a forever to find one. You see, there are no places to buy them, unlike in California. Finally we found a plump live pine tree at a nursery. On the way home everyone was looking and laughing at the tree sticking out of the car trunk. Next we put on the lights and then left to go to a mass for my grandpa Luis, who passed away four months ago. We had to wait around for an hour due to a party that was taking place outside the chapel. After that, all the people in the mass came to our house to celebrate Noche de las Velitas.

We put out paper lanterns and stuck candles on the fence and the steps outside. The neighbors, like most people in the country, all put out paper lanterns and candles too. The city lit all the Christmas lights for the first time and there was music in the park by our house. I stayed up until 1:30am.  I was exhausted. It was a long day.
Chao,

Coco
 

Phenomal Food

Colombia has some of the best food in the world. I am going to tell you about two. Today I had empanadas and chocolate-covered strawberries. I had an empanada with egg, meat, rice, carrots, onions, spinach and peas.  An empanada is a pastry stuffed wth a savory filling that is deep-fried or baked. You can have different kinds of fillings like chicken instead of beef, or plain rice.  I also had chocolate-covered strawberries with rainbow sprinkles. Chocolate-covered strawberries are basically strawberries on a stick covered in chocolate with a topping such as nuts, coconut, sprinkles or cookie crumbs. You could probably make the strawberries at home if you hve a chocolate fountain or buy fudge, then microwave it and pour it on the strawberries. Guys, you should really try this at home, it's awesome!

Saludos,
Coco

I'M SO SLEEPY!

It is almost 6 A.M. and I can't believe I'm already up -- but not awake! We are waiting for the car to take us to the airport. We are traveling with Delta in a direct flight Los Angeles - Bogotá. It takes 7 hours and 15 minutes to get there. It's enough time for sleeping but I prefer to read and play games in the airplane.
My next post will be from Colombia.
Bye.

TEST

I'm at a coffe house (to get use to the idea of being on the move) creating my first blog to share my travel experiences with my classmates and Ms. Durazzo. My goal is to update the blog daily and post pictures, music and video. It all would depend on internet connection availability, and of course, my energy level. I'm looking forward to your comments and you joining the blog.
Peace out folks.