Another month, another video of adventures in Barranquilla.
Living Abroad Round Two
Long-term travel caught my attention when I studied and interned in Madrid for a year. One semester didn’t satiate my abroad appetite even before I left. After finishing two semesters, I still wasn’t satisfied. Fast forward to now: I’m living in Barranquilla, Colombia for, yes, another year.
It’s living abroad round two, but at the same time, each round is an isolated experience. They are completely different. This time, I’m truly independent. Your girl’s got a job, an apartment, and bills here in B’quilla. This independence is what I wanted; it’s what I’ve been craving. And it really has been liberating.
Each day I wake up and decide how I’d like to organize my day. So far, my days involve teaching (that’s a given); they’ve also been focused on practicing yoga/pilates, writing, cooking meals, and eating ice cream.
I’ve learned a lot about what affects my happiness, and what things affect my daily happiness. I absolutely love where I live. It has lots of light, greenery and space – plus we’ve got a hammock! Where you are does affect your happiness. Moving into my first apartment abroad has truly made me happy.
I thrive on the energy around me. Some days I’m super tired and teaching is the last thing I want to do. But then I show up to class, and the energy in the room wakes me up. My students really are animated and fun. They help me to become my animated and fun self.
I love to cook. It’s my passion. My days revolve around meal times, and around prepping for meal times. There is no better way for me to de-stress than to come home from teaching and prepare dinner for myself. It’s therapeutic. And by the time I sit down to eat, I’m relaxed and content.
I love walking. I believe this stems from my European adventures, and my walkable university campus back in New York. I’ve become used to walking everywhere, though Barranquilleros are absolutely jaw-dropped when I tell them I walked to my destination from my apartment. I think this is due to the unbearable heat, but depending on the time of day, it is actually quite pleasant to not take busses everywhere.
I need green space and/or beaches. I enjoy cosmopolitan cities, but I’ve also noticed that I need a balance between nature and concrete. There are not as many green spaces in Barranquilla as I would’ve liked. Fortunately, our apartment is right next to a luscious park. And the B’quilla beaches aren’t too far. Being geographically equidistant from both Cartagena and Santa Marta is a refreshing reminder that beautiful beaches are relatively close.
I require lots of ice cream. Barranquilla is scorching hot. Thus, ice cream is crucial. Come to think of it: It doesn’t have to be hot for me to require ice cream. You won’t understand how happy ice cream makes me until you’re waiting in line with me listening to me anxiously decide which flavors and toppings to order.
I need to stretch. Since moving here, I’ve tried to make yoga a habit. I usually stretch when I wake up anyways, so why not turn it into an elongated stretching/breathing session? I feel healthier when I wake up and stretch. There’s a peaceful, content state of mind that follows moments of stillness.
I reflect through writing. For this reason, I have so too many journals. But can one really have too many journals? Nahhh. Here in B’quilla I have a gratitude journal, a happiness journal, a travel journal, and three undesignated journals. The trick is to set aside time to write, reflect and document. My dear friend Christine O’Dea writes for at least ten minutes before going to bed. Pretty good idea, eh?
I really feel like I’m coming into my own here in Barranquilla. By distancing myself from the familiar, I am learning more and more about what it is that makes me happy. And I must say: I am happy.
The First Things I Bought in Colombia
Being a practical packer is a skill you develop after learning to take just what you need. Moving abroad meant packing for ten months, and being reasonable with what I think I’ll need to bring and what I’ll be able to buy in country. Upon my arrival, I actively sought out these necessary items on my shopping list:
A Colombian phone. Aside from using my iPhone on WiFi to stay in touch with those back home and those with me in Barranquilla, I knew I needed the most basic Colombian phone. Cheap is key, and I ended up with a Nokia equipped with the game Snake. Finally! I bought a cheap Nokia phone in Madrid that, to my disappointment, didn’t have Snake. We’re throwing it back to T9 Word texting and playing simple games.
A fútbol jersey. No stay in Colombia would be complete without getting involved in fútbol. Step one: Wear Colombia’s national team jersey. This was an adamant request by a Colombian friend, and I can’t wait to go to a game wearing it.
A yoga mat. Finding this baby was more difficult than I anticipated. I felt that bringing my own yoga mat from home would’ve taken up too much space, so I decided to buy it in Colombia. I checked out plenty of stores – some sold yoga mats in a bundled box for an exorbitant amount of money and others had other types of mats that wouldn’t work – and finally found a bunch of sports stores selling yoga mats for a price I would pay.
Almost bought a smaller bikini bottom. After visiting a few beaches and scanning the cheekless crowds, I’m thinking this may be my next purchase …
B’quilla Take One
Two weeks in Barranquilla spent killing it at Carnaval, nearby beaches and Santa Marta.
“Alone” in Barranquilla
Loneliness is about learning to be alone with yourself. It’s an art, really. Discovering what makes you happy when you’re by yourself is beautiful. I needed to be reminded of this after being in Barranquilla for a few days. There are few, simple things that I need: Yoga, music and cooking. I need to stretch and breath. I need to listen to my favorite songs. I need to cook meals for myself.
I know that I am most definitely not alone in this volunteaching program, but there is a form of loneliness that accompanies picking up and moving to a foreign country. It’s starting over again. It’s introducing yourself constantly. It’s meeting new people and seeing new faces every day. It’s discovering who you are outside of what is familiar. It’s choosing who you want to be. It’s spending your time doing things that make you happy.
For the first month in Barranquilla, I am living with a host family courtesy of Volunteers Colombia. On February 12th, I was dropped off at my host family’s house in the barrio of Las Mercedes in B’quilla. They are very kind, generous and helpful – I’ve been treated like family after having lived there for such a short time. I already learned how to make patacones and my host mom made me arepas con queso. It’s taken some adapting. I do enjoy it, but I feel I need to take another step towards independence. After March 15th, I have the freedom to choose to stay or go. I came to Colombia yearning for independence and personal freedom, so I’m searching for an apartment.
Getting your bearings in a new city requires a lot of effort, patience and observance. I’ve had time to just be in Barranquilla: taking my time at the grocery store to learn new words and wait in long lines; catching buses hoping for the right direction; sitting in malls people watching; walking the city alone. I’m in a constant state of discovery and awareness, outward and inward. After a week, I’ve begun to smile at the small successes of my days and laugh at the cultural differences. Yes, cat callers are inevitable. Yes, schedules are nonexistent. Yes, heat is pretty much unbearable. The fact is, I’m living in their city. I’m adapting to their culture. The process of learning to be happy in Colombia has already begun, and I know that I can’t expect anything to be similar to what I’m used to back in the states. If I want to thrive, I must adapt and believe me, I’ve already been taking it Colombian slow.
Advice for the Road
Look back and smile. Appreciate the butterflies. Cherish the coming and going. Be okay with leaving. Feel your emotions. And then let them out into the world. Write things down. Scream when you want to. Sing out loud. Cry when you need to. Bounce around when you just have to.
Look up. Take deep breaths. Close your eyes to pause, open them to admire. Remember how you got here. Be grateful for the path that has led you to now. Keep your eyes forward. Treasure new beginnings. Lower your expectations. Be gentle to your soul. Let your mind wander, and let your feet follow. Practice gratitude. Smile often. Recognize beauty. Interrupt routine with spontaneity. Say ‘yes’ to things, people, ideas that you normally wouldn’t. Do the things you’re supposed to do in the places you’re supposed to do them.
Keep your ears open to others. Genuinely listen to their stories. Share your own. Collaborate collectively. Trust in timing. Be calm in uncertainty. Just go with it. Adapt. Follow your intuition. Absorb everything. Open your senses. Digest your surroundings. Be where you are. Face the fact that you’re really doing it. “If you want something in life you’ve never had, you have to do something you’ve never done.” Be confident in yourself. Thrive in the unknown. Pick it up as you go. Go.
I’ll Always Be the Girl Who Adventures
In anticipation of my move to Colombia and my success in making it to the final round of Fulbright to teach English in Brazil, one of my closest friends told me that I’m still the girl who adventures. She told me to trust that life has something amazing coming. I believe it does.
Today, February 1st, has been my launch date since last fall: The day I fly to Colombia. It has been everything I’ve been looking forward to, but I didn’t think about how it would actually feel to leave again.
In 2012, I left for Madrid for roughly the same amount of time, nine months. I didn’t think past that launch date either, and it didn’t hit me until I was flying in limbo between New Jersey and Spain.
Here I am between New Jersey and Colombia feeling the same kind of way. I’m actually doing it: I’m going to Barranquilla to teach English. Wow.
The thing about coming and going is you end up only talking about coming and going. Pre-Colombia conversations have been focused around when I leave, what I’ll be doing, where I’ll be going, so much so that I never truly put thought into how it would actually feel, how today would go, how arriving would be. I find it sad that everyone dwells on the ending and the leaving when I’d much rather think about the beginning and the going.
There’s a butterflies-in-my-stomach feeling I get in airports. I even enjoy how familiar flying is now, though I’ve become accustomed to quick one-day or week-long trips. Today was different. It was weighted with much more nervousness, excitement and anxiety. I usually have a return ticket. I normally know the return date. This time, I don’t. The next time I expect to be stateside is in December. I find it so interesting that people want to know concrete dates – when do you leave? …when do you come back? Ten months is a long time, they say. But I feel ten months is not enough. Putting a stamp on the day I return allows my mind to think through ten months, to fast forward an entire year in my mind, to zoom through 300 days. Imagine how much can happen in ten months.
I know nine months wasn’t enough for me in Spain, and I know how much everything changed during that short amount of time. My experiences in Madrid influenced everything I did upon my return: I got involved in international education at Marist College and with Academic Programs International (API), I devoted my time to Spanish and Portuguese language acquisition, I was passionate about creating a travel-minded community with other study abroaders, and I became health conscious of my mind and body. I felt more confident about where I was headed, and I’m happy that my path has led me to here.
I am so excited to see how Colombia will change me and how I will grow as a person, a traveller and a teacher. I want to be open to new opportunities. I want to let life happen in these next ten months and see where it takes me. I want to welcome this next adventure without focusing on a time limit, a return flight.
I’m taking this ten-month, do-something-I’ve-never-done risk for me. I need to do it. I get this feeing that this is what I’m meant to do. I’m meant to go. There’s something that pulls me away from home and pushes me into the the world. It’s a terrifyingly exciting feeling to crave immersion and experiences in other places. Saying goodbye does not get easier, but welcoming newness becomes more thrilling.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned since returning from Spain and losing my dad, it is that how you spend your time is a reflection of you and your capacity to grasp how fleeting it is. Time is everything, and we have the power to decide how we spend it, where we spend it, and who we spend it with. I’m going to Colombia to spend my time doing new things, meeting new people, and learning as much as I can about myself and others. What I do now affects the rest of my life, and my life is worth my time.
Death, Movement and Stillness
This is the last month in which I can say “My dad died last year.” Yup, I’ve thought about that. Usually we count down towards the future in anticipation of something, but I know it has been eighteen months or a year and a half since my dad unexpectedly died; and in one month, it will be farther in my life’s rearview. 
Isn’t it strange how we keep track of things according to time? I think so. Only when I stop to count do I realize how long it has actually been. Seriously…think about everything that’s happened in your life in the past year and a half. Pretty crazy, right? I’m utterly amazed at how far I’ve come. I could not have guessed that a year and a half later, I’d be sitting here, on a bus from Puerto Viejo to San José, Costa Rica. I couldn’t have told you that I’d continue moving forward – I mean, of course my only direction would be forward, but in that moment of death on June 7, 2013, my world stood still. I couldn’t have told you that my life of movement was just beginning.
Constant movement is my thing. My job requires it. My personal life requires it. I require it. And it is during this movement that I am reminded of my dad. I see him in the sunsets, I see him in the stars, I see him in the passing landscape, I see him in fellow travelers, and I see him in my adventures.
One can never anticipate death’s effects. It simply affects you – any time, any place, and while doing absolutely anything. You know what I thought of before bungee jumping 470 feet into the lush, green mountains of Monteverde? My dad. I blocked out everything else, even Christine shouting “I love you, man” and the guys counting down 5-4-3-2-1. It was Monteverde, my dad and me.
This makes me wonder if I chase that adventure high to feel him or, if in doing so, I am honoring him. I guess it could be both. In experiencing death, I realized I needed to be experiencing life. Again and again, I talk about time. Do we have enough? Or are we not using it wisely? My dad’s life being cut short jolted me alive. I could always be doing more.
I’ve been recognized for my energy – I multitask and am constantly moving. It’s been good and bad in dealing with death. A year and a half later, I am still moving forward and, consequently, am still shocked at how fast I do so. These moments of reflection make time stand still again – I’m back at the hospital, standing next to my dad. And losing him creeps back into my mind again. So I keep moving. Healthy? Ehhhh, not necessarily. Working? Yeah, pretty much.
I keep moving until I’m standing at the edge of a cable car platform, staring down upon the greenery below. And then I jump, spiraling downwards and rebounding upwards. My world literally turned upside down and when I was pulled upright, I was breathing deep because I felt so deeply. I was overwhelmed with emotion. When the cable car returned to solid ground, a fellow bungee jumper noticed that I looked more alive, and damn did I feel more alive.
The adventure highs I experience when I travel help me to feel my grief. I think they provoke it. In feeling alive, I feel pain. Opposing emotions brought together in the stillness of these moments force me to feel, to grieve. It is because of him that I continue to move forward, to experience and to travel. I am seeing him, feeling him, and honoring him whether he is physically a year and a half away from me or he is spiritually in the very moment closest to me. For me, my dad’s death has cemented my pursuit of movement, travel and newness. What I didn’t realize, however, is that his death has also affected my gratitude for reflection in times of stillness, even when I’ve tried my hardest to propel myself through them.
-KB
The original version of this post appeared on December 15, 2014 on @codea‘s blog, Christine Meets Life.
From Brain To Mouth: KB & codea Edition
Being back from our Central America trip doesn’t mean we have to stop blogging about it right?! Here are some preeetty funny, insightful, silly, and ridiculous things that we said during our time abroad. We hope you laugh, think, wonder, and wander while reading them. Also, enjoy the picture below, for it is priceless.
KB: Do you ever go through Instagram and think, “Wow that’s awesome”?
On the last day of the trip
CO: Wait you have a bar of soap?
KB: I don’t even remember which knob is for hot water. Is it the left one?
KB: How do people live their life in one place?
CO: Let’s check if there’s hot water.
CO: I just spilled beer in my hammock. And my bathing suit is absorbing it.
KB: What are you doing for New Years?
CO: I don’t even know where I’m sleeping tonight.
Entering our hostel dorm:
KB: Is there a light?
CO: There’s a lizard.
KB sees an apple next to Christine, who is laying on her stomach. KB picks up the apple. KB puts the apple on Christine’s butt, and proclaims it: Apple bottom.
CO: I got chocolate all up in my garganta.
KB: I just wanna let you be and watch you burn.
While consuming chocolate drinks, KB and CO simultaneously say:
KB: We’re about to be so hyper.
CO: This isn’t as chocolatey as I wanted.
CO: My abs hurt so bad…I’ve never said those words before.
KB: What time is it?
CO: It’s almost happy hour.
CO: I never wanna be phased by travel.
KB: Travel matures you.
KB: We have to wake up at the asscrack of dawn.
CO: I love the asscrack of dawn. It’s my favorite asscrack.
CO: If you wanna go somewhere, ya fucking go.
CO: What’s your favorite thing from this meal?
KB: I’m eating friend plantains and a meatball on a stick right now.
KB: I’ve never brushed my teeth under the stars before!
When CO couldn’t finish her plantain:
KB: No plantain left behind.
CO: I feel like we’re crashing a party right now…
Hostess of restaurant: Do you guys mind sitting in the front of the restaurant? This is a private event.
CO: I wish I could Instagram what my leg feels like.
The original version of this post appeared on December 19, 2014 on @codea‘s blog, Christine Meets Life.
Nicaragua & Costa Rica: Top 10 Most Ridiculous Things That Really Happened
We miss being abroad. We’d re-live all of these moments in a hot sec:
1. The bus driving away with our backpacks and passports on it. And us engaging in a bus chase with a taxi.
2. Leaving our passports in the first hostel we stayed in in Nicaragua.
3. Christine chased a Nicaraguan kid down the street in attempt to get her camera back. It didn’t work, but she tried.
4. Getting dropped off in a dust cloud in the middle of a highway in Liberia. Bienvenidos a Costa Rica, ladies.
5. A woman breastfeeding next to Kerianne on the bus.
6. Our entire border crossing day. We thought that salted peanuts might be our last meal on this earth.
7. Our rafting guide throwing Christine in the river Balsa and dragging her along using her paddle.
8. Peeling and eating hard boiled eggs on the bus to Manuel Antonio. And on the bus to Puerto Viejo.
9. Being recognized at lunch by a bystander at the club the previous night. He told us things we didn’t know happened.
10. We ran into a couple from Washington, D.C. three times, in three different cities, in a span of five days.
Things that didn’t make the list, but are on the same level of ridiculous:
Christine packed two left flip flops for this trip.
We used bug spray as perfume.
When Kerianne wears 4 different neon colors of clothing at the same time.
The time the iCloud burst and none of our alarms went off.
When Kerianne put an apple on Christine’s butt and said, “Apple bottom.”
Evey single time we washed our clothes and hung them up to dry…they never dried. Ever.
Kerianne didn’t have a footstrap to do the superman zipline, and her legs had to be held in the air by one of the guides. All the way across the Cloud Forest.
Kerianne bought a water bottle at the airport right before boarding the plane, and then they asked her to throw it away before getting on the plane. She was not happy.
Our tent neighbor in Arenal asked us to “please stop laughing.” WHO SAYS THAT?
Lots of love and wonder,
KB & codea
The original version of this post appeared on December 22, 2014 on @codea‘s blog, Christine Meets Life.
Kerianne Baylor 