In the Mix

In the Mix:

Pueblo Rico.  It’s a town 3-4 hours outside of Pereira of 11,000 people that almost teeters on the mountainside just under cerro Tatamá at about 1,300 meters.  The whole place is set at an angle that even a mathematician with a propensity for hiking would call steep, except for the city center which is only slightly tilted on the mountain’s slope.  Little houses that are no bigger than an average New York City apartment encircle this center of commerce and radiate for the better part of a kilometer in all directions.  There are no yards or patios or outdoor places that you could call your own.  Each and every house shares two walls with its neighbors, unless you happen to be situated on a corner and I cannot make more clear that everyone knows everyone.  The nearest town is called Apía and is located some 20 kilometers away across a valley on the slope of an adjacent mountain, which takes nearly an hour to reach by bus.  So isolation is a little bit of a thing here. 

            I have now been here about 36 hours and all I can say is that it has been some shit.  I love it, but man it is another world.  So far it seems to me that the resting level of intensity is simply higher than the norm.  Now I realize that it is a result of being the new gringo thrust into the center of a town that does not usually get visitors and I have not missed the fact that eyes and more importantly ears follow me constantly, but this place is not for the light of heart.  In the span of just a few hours, granted very late hours, I saw three fights, a whole bunch of drugs, a grown man cry, more salsa, machata, merengue, and regeton than I though possible, beautiful women, angry men, unbelievable dancing, and a whole bunch of complex “isms” that I can’t even begin to describe.  It’s nuts.  Anyways I came back at almost 5 in the morning due to inability to produce or understand Spanish at that point in the night and I was the first to go.  The thing is that nearly everybody is trying to test you in some way or another to see where your comfort zone ends and where theirs is still intact.  It’s a little overwhelming at first, but even after one night I realize that the most important thing is that I not lose my head.  To drop a little bit of semi confusinism on y’all I got to be like a blade of grass on the wind and a leaf on the current.  Or then again I could absolutely be overreacting.  It wouldn’t be the first time I suppose.  Regardless its an interesting dynamic I have to learn to put myself into.  With any luck I made a good impression on the people of Pueblo Rico, but we’ll see how everything goes over these next four months. 

Anyways, my job here has been described as something akin to a cultural liaison, which means that I am not supposed to teach so much, but to make English more interesting for the high school students so they develop an interest in the language and hopefully some inspiration to pursue higher education.  And that is a task.  Every person who I have talked to, young and old, has informed me that the students really don’t care about it and that they view it as a complete waste of time.  Looks like its my job to go into this place and change an entire culture, which will be something else.  I get to be the prophet so to speak, which means that I must have a flawless reputation here while being infinitely charismatic with just about everybody.  I guess a success rate of more than 0% here, meaning that if 1 kid out of the 300 I will be getting to know decides to go to college, will make this whole thing vale la pena as they say.  I guess the weird thing is for me is the fact that I kind of like to float through things in a more or less oblivious way.  It has never really mattered overwhelmingly to me what people think of me or what I am doing, but now I have to be extremely conscious of my every. 

Also the worst part of writing these things is the fact that I have to read them.  It always sounds melodramatic, but it’s my best shot at describing the what’s what here.  So enjoy yourselves.  Don’t forget to laugh, cry, live, and never forget to look up.  Until next time mis amigos.