COLOMBIA: PART II

Already comes the end of our short jaunt to Colombia. We leave Nelson and Ruby’s for Quito tomorrow at 6am. In many ways I like it a lot better than Ecuador. For one, the food is way better. Yesterday Ruby took us to a large cafeteria where there were rows and rows of desserts, breads, cakes and cookies behind glass counters. I got tres leches and real Colombian coffee. Ruby made us beef over rice and veggies for lunch yesterday and the beef was much more tender than the skinny cows from Ecuador. I also enjoyed the arepas for breakfast-- corn pancakes quickly fried in a bit of butter served with cheese and scrambled eggs. What a treat!

I also like the people better here. They are much kinder to strangers, whereas Ecuadorians are only that nice after they get to know you a bit. The people in service jobs really go out of their way to make the customers happy, even thanking the customer profusely for letting them serve you. I told one waitress ”gracias” after she was done serving us. Then she basically said, in rough translation, “no, thank you, it was a pleasure to serve you.” That was such a nice thing for her to say, I said “gracias” again. Then she said “gracias” again. We could have been there all day exchanging thank-yous. Anyway, the people of Colombia are truly outstanding, albeit noisy. If it weren’t for the saving grace of my earplugs, I would have had to endure the karaoke party that was going on next door until 4am this morning. Each night around 11, the neighbors turn on loud music and then all the dogs start barking. Colombians love dancing and music even more than Ecuadorians. Who thought that was even humanly possible?

 The last thing I like better about Colombia is the landscape and ambiance. We drove through areas today that could have just as easily been parts of Europe complete with narrow streets filled with horse-drawn carts. In fact, we toured a village today about 35 minutes outside of Pasto that looked just like a village I have been to in Holland. The enchanting wooden houses with brightly colored shutters on the edge of a serene lake was something out of a story-book.

All in all we have had a wonderful visit here in Colombia, but there were two highlights in particular that I would like to recount. One was visiting the village at the famous Encanto Lake this morning and having panela tea by a pot of hot coals that a young boy brought to our table to warm our hands. The second highlight was having family worship night with Nelson, Ruby and another sister they invited over. It was even better since we had popcorn and toasted ham and cheese sandwiches. First we practiced singing the songs for the service meeting and then we went over the questions for the oral review. It was hilarious because we brought our computer and accessed the Watchtower CD rom to help us find the answers. But our CD rom is in English, so Joe and I took turns translating it to the group in Spanish. Imagine how it was, with our broken Spanish, trying to explain the deep aspects of Jeremiah and other things that are just as hard to explain in our own language. After we’d translate, Joe and I would ask them if they understood us. They sat there staring at us as if we had three heads. “Mas o menos,” (more or less) they answered and then made up their own version of our explanation.

We live about 15 hours away from dear Nelson and Ruby here in Pasto, Colombia, which is in the shadow of an active volcano. Who knows if we’ll ever make the long trip up here again to see them.  It might be in the paradise before we meet again. But we’ll never forget them for the love and Colombian hospitality they showed to us over the past two days and three nights. Tomorrow we start the long journey back to the steamy jungle where there is nothing to see, nothing to do, and nothing good to eat…and yet I miss it. “Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home.”