Hello, happy Saturday to all who celebrate.
Today was Hulking Saturday at my CrossFit gym—a long partner workout, taking group pictures in sweaty workout attire, kicking a soccer ball around with the youngest members, and then eating a smorgasbord of shared food. Also, tomorrow is the end of Ramadan, which reminds me that I haven’t been as consistent this year in using this month of Muslim prayer and fasting to pray for my Muslim friends and the global Muslim community (better late than never!)
If you wonder what I have been up to lately, well … a lot. I have earned myself a bit of a reputation among people who know me well in Villavicencio.
“Emily siempre dice que sí, sí a todo”.
“Emily always says yes, yes to everything.”
I do tend to keep my Google Calendar colorful and will almost always prioritize a fun plan with friends over rest or cleaning my house. Funny how my first days in Colombia started out slow enough that I used to spend almost an hour every morning cutting up fresh fruits and vegetables. These days, life is a little fuller (awesome!) and I eat a few less vegetables (not as awesome!). While I don’t believe that all of my habits or daily and weekly activities are sustainable over the long run—it has been quite the fun & full ride since I landed here last August.
Waterfalls galore
One of my favorite weekend activities, particularly since 2025 began, is going on group hiking and waterfall excursions—and the latest one on March 9 did not disappoint! I joined my fifth (!) group plan with local Villavicencio influencer (and now a dear friend) Thanya and nearly forty other people on an early Sunday morning. We all piled into a chiva bus up to La Cumbre on the way to Acacías, about a 45-minute drive away. Our hike up into the mountains took us to three different waterfalls, each with rocks and pools where we could swim. In my experience, a Villavicencio hike isn’t complete without a random farm dog tagging along for the day, and this particular Sunday, we were joined by two!
I have gone on enough plans organized by Thanya that I know quite a few other ‘regulars’ and never find myself without a familiar face or friend, like Sebastián (below), who can always be counted on for amazing drone footage, shared snacks, great conversation while hiking, and help ordering arepas and chorizo when one is sunburnt and has used up all her Spanish words on the trail. Also, there are few places better for meeting new people than around wooden finca tables, along jungle paths or on sunny rocks underneath a waterfall!
My first visitor from the USA!
Welcome, Gloria! My dear friend of four years came to visit me, all the way from Waco, Texas, over spring break. I made sure her first visit to Colombia included as many delicious foods as possible, introduced her to several friends, showed her my favorite places, and took her to explore nature (at least when it wasn’t pouring rain). We also wore matching Camilo shirts to the mall … turns out I had forgotten how much people stare until we arrived at Viva, two gringas in nearly identical outfits.
As I unfortunately was not on spring break during her visit, Gloria came to my university conversation clubs and classes for three days—my students loved her! “Eres una chica súper guau” was the most notable compliment from one of my most enthusiastic students! I was so grateful to have a visitor from home and get to spend many hours catching up and processing life with this particular chica súper guau. We spent one night in Bogotá when Gloria arrived, took the bus to Villavicencio on a Monday morning, and said farewell at 4:00 am at the bus station on a very early Friday morning.
A short but oh-so-sweet visit, indeed!
First time getting sick
(a.k.a. maybe all those vegetables I used to eat were actually doing something)
Only a few days after Gloria left, semi-conveniently on a Sunday evening after a full weekend of fun-and-friends … I came down with the weirdest fever-and-stomach virus I have had in a while. Check “get sick in Colombia” off the to-do list, I suppose! Thankfully the illness only lasted two days, and by Tuesday I was well enough to put together an entire LEGO Botanical wildflowers set (shout out to Adam for the Christmas gift!) while finishing the last book of the Eragon series! I was also grateful for many friends reaching out and sharing either medication or advice on how to feel well again. I didn’t get around to putting a lime or onion on my feet (!), but it was suggested and I’ll keep them in mind for the next illness.
To the beach!
Praise the LORD, I was well enough by Friday morning to hop on a bus and then an airplane to Santa Marta in the coastal Magdalena department with Morgan, a good friend and fellow Fulbrighter. We spent a blissful (albeit exhausting) long weekend exploring the centro histórico in Santa Marta and the nearby national Parque Tayrona and mountain pueblo of Minca. Much seafood was eaten, much sand was shaken out of our shoes, many fly bites were acquired, and much sunscreen was needed! Also, the costeño Spanish we heard and interacted with was fun! Being in this area reminded me of the trip to Cuba, just with a Colombian twist, more personal vehicles, and a slightly more developed or diverse economy.
I really loved this region and hope to return soon! Santa Marta is known for its beautiful beaches and mountains that line the coast. If you’re reading this blog, Fulbright Colombia, please send me to teach in Santa Marta next year!
All the modes of transportation we used on this trip:
- large bus from Villavicencio to Bogotá and back
- airplane from Bogotá to Santa Marta and back
- taxi to and from our hotel and the airport
- city bus that we mistakenly took to the wrong place
- motorcycle taxis for one hour to the Parque Tayrona entrance and then all around the Minca waterfall areas
- shuttle bus into Parque Tayrona
- our own feet to hike 2 hours into the park
- lancha (large motorboat) in the ocean back to Santa Marta
- our own feet to hike 2 hours into the park
- large van up the mountain to Minca
Side note: our return trip from Santa Marta to Villavicencio was a record-breaking time of five hours, from the minute the airplane left Santa Marta for Bogotá to when our bus pulled into the Villavicencio terminal. Grateful for perfectly-aligned plane-and-bus schedules and a wonderful travel buddy like Morgan!
University life
Classes continue at a steady pace! I am now back to lesson planning in the office, following a short plan-from-home period while the university relocated. I once again enter the office at 3:00 pm, lead a conversation club at 5:00 pm, and co-teach or assist in various classes between 6:00-10:00 pm. A brand new sign just went up last week, so Fundación Universitaria Compensar is officially settled into its new campus!
The view from the fifth floor patio continues to amaze me, especially when a thunderstorm is rolling in. No air conditioning whatsoever at this new campus also makes the cool fifth floor breeze very welcome!
Using my laptop at work is often a complex process involving the power cord (otherwise the computer does not function), ethernet cable (unreliable or nearly unusable Wifi), phone charger, and occasionally a USB keyboard.
My favorite student, paws down, is the world’s softest and sweetest yellow Labrador who attends class occasionally with her owner.
Colombia’s national fútbol team lost to Brazil last week, much to the chagrin of our students gathered in the cafeteria, the taxi driver who had a full television screen installed in the dashboard, and the entire nation.
Everything else I have been up to
Eating my body weight in hamburgers during the local La Batalla del Presi hamburger competition. Celebrating a friend’s return from Chile with candy-filled, fruit-flavored granizado drinks. Enjoying the singular benefit of having ants in my house, which is “free overnight dead cockroach cleanup & disposal.” Seriously, those little guys do good work. A ride home from church on a friend’s motorcycle, this time with a helmet (!). Tutoring a neighbor and her cat in English. FRESH NAILS and they feels so good. Emotional & moral support with computer issues from my two favorite neighbor canines (home is where friendly dogs and strong Wifi connection are, which is unfortunately not my own house, as my landlord accidentally irrevocably cancelled the Internet contract three weeks ago). More English tutoring, this time over red velvet cake and coffee. Hulking Saturday at the gym!
What was in Emily’s backpack this week?
I love writing lists, and this one might give you a little snapshot into my life recently, especially now I have a taxi commute across the city to work and not just a short walk.
- my non-functional laptop & charger on the way to the repair shop (now repaired and functioning perfectly, gracias a Dios!)
- several large wads of cash to repay a friend, pay the monthly gym membership fee, and pay for my laptop to be repaired
- a large bag of Original Dot’s Pretzels (thank you Glo!) to share
- the ants that found the tiniest opening in the Dot’s Pretzels bag
- a cold bottle of maracuyá Electrolit to survive the heat
- one liter of orange juice & one liter of mandarin juice
- paper cups to share juice with my students and colleagues
- an apple, in a Ziploc bag, that went to-and-from work with me and then back into the refrigerator
- jeans and a sparkly top for going out on Friday night after work
- a Speedo swim cap I borrowed from and returned to Aliya
- three dry-erase markers and two whiteboard erasers, one accidentally ‘stolen’ from a classroom
- my wallet and housekeys
- several random bags of game pieces and colorful notecards for class activities
- a bag of alphabet letter dice and 10 regular six-sided dice
- two notebooks and a folder stuffed with miscellaneous class papers
- a Jet chocolate bar collectible sticker book and probably 100 stickers, gifted to me by a dear colleague!
- two foil-wrapped homemade empanadas, also gifted by a coworker
- both of my iPhones (the main one and the ‘burner’ one with a Colombian phone plan that serves as both my home internet router and portable hotspot)
- a tangled assortment of charging cords
- the trusty Epi-pen in case whatever mysterious bug that sent me to the hospital with hives in June 2023 reappears mid-English-lesson
- enough pills to get me through several common illnesses for a week, thanks to the medical kit my mother packed me
- an umbrella
- a pencil case, Bluetooth earbuds, and a wireless mouse
- one packet of lime-flavored lentils from a LATAM flight
- several small hand-carved turtles (gifts for friends as souvenirs from my Santa Marta trip last week)
- one partially-eaten bag of my favorite honey-lime salted peanuts, protein in case I get suddenly caught without other protein sources
- a one-liter Nalgene water bottle with a fading Profesor influencer sticker left over from a Fulbright seminar activity last month
Emily Explores 
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