Valledupar

We have been in Valledupar for almost a full week and it has already made quite an impression on us.  The environment is so rich.  Valledupar is an agricultural city which is a blend of three different cultures, the Amerindians, European settlers and Africans imported as slaves to the colonies.  The mixture of these cultures led to the musical style called vallenato that is is famous in this region. The vallenato music is representative of the Colombian culture and features an accordion, drums and the guacharaca (an Indican percussion instrument).  There is a large Vallenato Music Festival in the city every April that draws massive crowds. You can hear the music playing throughout the city at all times of the day. It is festive and distinctive.

The city is definitely poor.  But the people are proud and industrious.  Everyone does something to earn a living.  Some are food vendors, some lend their cell phone on the street corner for so many pesos a minute, some pick mangoes from the trees of the public plaza and sell them on the street, and an endless number drive small motorcycles as "taxis".  Yesterday I saw the motorcycle driver, a mother, her toddler and her sleeping baby (who was nursing at the time) all riding on ONE motorcycle.  No helmets laws or car seat laws here!  And no one yields to pedestrians.  You are on your own. The honking of the motorcycles and regular taxis is endless.  They honk if they approach an intersection or another vehicle or a person standing on the sidewalk.  They always honk. If the honking stopped today I think I couldn't sleep I have grown so accustomed to it!  One of our windows in the hotel does not shut all the way, so the honking is almost obnoxious in that room.  Not to mention the store across the street from us starts playing very loud music at 9:00 am along with a man who stays on the microphone announcing specials on the sidewalk all day long.  I think he and the music stop around 10 or 11:00 pm.  I barely notice it anymore, but it was overwhelming the first couple of days!

Street full of vendors

The overcrowded street

Every corner is full of parked motorcycles.  They even sell the motorcycles in the grocery store.

They even drive on the sidewalks.  No where is safe for the pedestrian :)

Amazing fruit.  All the time!!!

Besides motorcycles, the city is also overrun with stray dogs and shoe stores.  They are equally plentiful.  Gavin has already begged for us to take "un perro" home with us.  I'm sure you can guess the answer to that one.  The presence of all the dogs does not help with the cleanliness of the city streets.  The garbage collection system consists of the shop owners bagging up the trash and placing it on the sidewalk.  The dogs of course tear the bags open before they ever get picked up.  The pickup is not done by truck, but by a person pushing a large rolling trash can down the street.  I have no idea why there are so many shoe stores.  I do not exaggerate when I say there may be 15 shoes stores on one city block. It is almost every other store.  Unlike the dog, we may take some of the shoes home with us.

You can even shop for shoes outside!!!

Some people still use good old-fashioned horsepower

One of many shopping trips 

The food is wonderful.  Our breakfast is typically cantaloupe, watermelon, orange juice, eggs, many different delicious breads, meats that vary daily and arepas.  The children have learned the Spanish names for all the foods we typically eat and order for themselves in Spanish.  The past two days, Reese has begun talking gibberish.  We thought at first he was trying to get attention since Jude has started "speaking" more, but yesterday I noticed some Spanglish in there.  I asked him if he was speaking Spanish and he said yes :)  He is singing to us in his "Spanish" too.

We grocery shop every day across the street from the hotel.  We purchase our daily 5 liters of bottled water since the water here is not safe for us to drink or even brush our teeth with.  We also pick up whatever fruit or bread we might want for the day.  Those are both very inexpensive and so delicious.  Cereal is ridiculous although we purchase a box every few days just as easy dry snacks for the kids.  A box of Fruit Loops is over $5.  All the milk is either boxed and not refrigerated or sold cold in bags with no spout.  We finally figured out we could keep one of our empty 5 liter water containers and pour the bagged milk into it for easier pouring.  The eggs are also stored at room temperature.  Diapers and wipes are more expensive as are clothing and household items.  I'm sure there are better deals to be had, but my Spanish is not good enough yet to haggle much in the markets or on the streets.  Even in the actual stores, sales people follow us around showing me items and asking me questions.  There is no such thing as browsing.  I always feel bad not purchasing something so I just don't go in much!  Plus every time someone talks to Brant and he doesn't understand them, he sends them to me so I can tell them that I don't understand either :)

The hotel has begun decorating for Christmas.  Yes, it is in the 90s here.

Feliz Navidad! 

How Jude's face looks after every walk.  He is so hot!!  The ladies who work in the drugstores we pass keep trying to sell me sunscreen!  All the other people in town keep notifying me that he is hot (calor).  I guess they think I can't tell :)

More than anything, the people here are happy.  Joyous almost.  They greet you with exuberance, truly want to help you and love on our children.  They play peekaboo in the aisle, rub their heads and say lindo or hermosa to them.  Many of the people here have enjoyed trying out their very limited English on us.  Their English is just as bad as our Spanish.  But they want to learn.  Every day when we head to breakfast, the wait staff have different English phrases to try out on us.  Today was "my pleasure".  It is very sweet for them to try and make us feel more at home. I have enjoyed the challenge of navigating the unknowns here.  I am certain that when we leave I will miss our Little One's home.  I am already hoping to return here one day to show her around our old stomping grounds!!

I have some more pictures to post of some city shots, but I am having some uploading problems because of the wifi.  I will try to add them later.