Aviary

Yesterday, we called our taxi driver and went to an aviary about 45 minutes outside of Cartagena. It was a really neat place, and we have a bunch of bird pictures for anyone who’s interested. I spent three hours talking in Spanish to our taxi driver then another three hours in class. By the end of the day, I was completely wiped out! Salsa class was yesterday instead of today, but I just didn’t have energy to go. I came home to swim in the pool instead, which was lovely. Bill had more time to write, so his post is below and the pictures follow that. He had people ask what was in his Cuban sandwich, so that’s part of his description.

24 July 2019 16:52

My Cuban sandwich was thin sliced pork, slice of ham, mozzarella, pickles (sweet) tomato, lettuce, onion and mustard. The bread was a light airy bread. It reminds of the bread Sub City used to get from Wedeking bakery back home. A soft crust, light and airy inside. They then pressed it either on a flattop with a weight or using a panini press. It was served hot and delicious! Tracy knows what I’m talking about! A little messy to eat. 

I did get a response from the school to an email that I sent yesterday. They did offer a classroom and Emily says they told her they could get a teacher who speaks English. I declined. I’m not sure what that would actually do to other students at the school. “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few” (Spock). 

Plus I have found myself keeping occupied, today laundry and a nap! Last night was towels. I have a system for drying in the humid environment, A/C and a fan blowing the length of the drying rack. The fans here are loud so it is best to do when you are not trying to talk. The white noise isn’t so bad for sleeping as the city can be loud. Emily was jealous since we took a tour this morning. She had already spent 3 hours doing Spanish with our guide / driver before going to class. I do recommend our taxi driver if you are here and speak Spanish. One of the pictures has his information and the tours he does. 

21:14
Our tour this morning was to Aviario Baru, there may have been a misspelling yesterday that was related to the texts I received were done while he was driving. 
He explained all the things we passed on the way out to Baru island. It is connected to the mainland by bridge. We had to go though the industrial area and past the ports. The port is huge and they have a large industrial area as well, including a petroleum plant. 

It was a nice morning to be out side of the city. So much more green space along the roads. Still kind of junky looking closer to town and in the small towns we passed through. Aley says they do have a stop littering initiative but the primary initiative to build is bigger and faster. 

The aviary was very neat! The colors of the birds here are so bright for the most part. The aviary itself was really nice and they are continually improving it. They have been working on it for ten years. It was humid but the breeze was nice and the trees made for very nice shade. It’s always humid here. 

After Emily got back from class we went for a swim. It wasn’t a bad evening for a swim. The water was a bit warmer feeling than yesterday. 

For something easy we had pizza from the place next to our building. It reminds of New York style pizza, flat, thin, not a lot of sauce. The crust wasn’t bad and it’s probably real cheese, it wasn’t super flavorful though. We dipped in some pasta sauce we had left over. It did feed us, probably a step up from gas station pizza or maybe a tie with Casey’s pizza when it’s fresh. It may be good if you like New York style pizza, I’ve had it in New York and I’m not a fan. I prefer Chicago style pizza. 

Like in Peru they use the mortar and broken glass bottle system to keep people from climbing of their walls. You have to wonder do they drink a bottle of something the save the bottles until they get enough or do they finish a bottle break it in half and bust out the mortar so they get some coverage right away? It is a city of a million people so there will be crime and it has to be somewhat cheap. I would think razor wire would be better to deal with. 

Just a couple more days here in Colombia. Time has gone by pretty fast. We have had a lot of good experiences here. Even though it is a big city it hasn’t been overwhelming. The area we are in is a good one if you want to avoid crowds. It’s easy to get around walking or by taxi to the things worth going to. Taxis are cheap, 7 mil (7000 pesos or about $2.50 depending on the exchange rate) during the day and 8 mil at night. Some will get the 8 during the day as well. $400 will get you around 1.2 million pesos if you want to feel like a millionaire for a bit. 

Food at some of the better places run 80-130 thousand pesos. The good chicken place by us though, 30 thousand, like $10 for both of us with drinks. 

There are not as many dogs here roaming around, they do have some animal control, I seen a truck one day that had dogs loaded in crates. 

That’s Bill’s post. In the pictures, notice the new tattoo I’m trying out. It’s a dragonfly. I really like it! I’m thinking about a permanent one of a hummingbird or something like that.