Weeks 8/9 - In Serach of adventure, the big day pproaches, & giving speeches in Spanish!

Hi Everybody...

Well I'm hoping that this won't be a long blog today, and well to be honest, my daily life hasn't changed one bit in weeks, so it's not like I have a long list of adventure to share. I do however have some fab wildlife animal shots and some reflections of a different kind of adventure: my upcoming wedding and a continuation of life in a remote tiny mining compound. 

Having felt a bit claustrophobic and noticing that I was going a little bit stir-crazy whilst spending most of my days at home alone, cooking and doing house stuff, we took a little walk out of the compound for to do 'something different' and throughout the 'lush' desert known as 'The Cactus Track'....

As you can see from the photo - it was actually called the Cactus Track and not surprisingly there were a few Cacti along the walk. I was rather surprised at just how high they grew though. I guess I haven't really lived anywhere (before here) where there many cacti around to compare to! As you can see the land is pretty dry and lacking any real green colour. That's not surprising either as in the 6 weeks I have lived here so far, it hasn't rained properly once!

 I'm always on the lookout for different wildlife and through the trees (with my camera's zoom) I was able to pick out this little birdie, who looked like it had just flew through a rainbow - making it a little more easy to spot.

The next part of the walk is what I really wanted to share as I was told I had to be careful because there were ALLIGATORS around. Now being someone who grew up in a big UK city, seeing an Alligator is not an everyday experience, so I was getting quite excited about this. I did not imagine I'd get to see 5 Alligators of varying sizes just lounging about on the bank of a little man-made pond. The first one was quite a big one and I could see that it was a little photo shy - he was definitely keeping an eye on me though.....

 I love my camera (thanks mum & dad) and the zoom lets me get some great shots, but this is perhaps one of my favourite photos below - as this alligator was very aware of my presence by this point and keeping an eye on me!

 The next alligator was a far more willing model, and as you can see was posing nicely for a full-body shot!

 Another reasonably big one was also keeping a close eye on us as we tried to get a decent shot.

 This final alligator even took some direction (below) as I was instructing it  to ''show me some teeth'' and he was quick to oblige on the second shot!

After the excitement of alligator spotting we returned to the compound where I turned my attention to some of the less dangerous wildlife - the local cat population. You still need patience with this lot as they are quick to run anytime you get close.

PRE-WEDDING PARTY:

I don't want to use the blog to go on too much about weddings etc, but with my own being just 3 weeks away, it's an event that's having quite a big impact on my life at the moment as you can imagine! The highlights of last weekend was a wonderful fiesta (party) thrown by some of Vibi's friends and colleagues. I had been told it was a dinner at one of the 2 places to eat. I can honestly say I was pretty surprised to find a whole room of people, fancy dress, a poem/reading, gift, dancing and a quiz. Oh and a very nice meal too of course! 

What I really loved was the wedding 'photo-frame' and the "I Do" sign on the wall (see below)

 The photo frame was well used, for lots of photos, but for the sake of the blog it's easier to just show a couple of photos including the group one below. Probably my personal highlight was a crossword challenge made by one friend that had clues including the name of family members, the site of the proposal and place where we first met. -This was a lovely touch. A poem reading - in both Spanish and English was really touching too.

I was beginning to realize that I was going to need to give a speech of some description during the night, and this prospect was not one I was looking forward to. Whilst I have improved my Spanish speaking ability a little, trying to speak to a group of Vibi's close friends (many of whom not only speak good English but also are teachers) was making me feel pretty nervous. I was desperately trying to think of any jokes I could make out of my simple vocabulary - and prayed it would not be lost in translation and lead me to inadvertently offending anybody! 

Fortunately, people laughed in the right places and seemed to understand my sentiment, so I must have done a reasonable job. With the speech over I was happy to enjoy the remainder of the evening until the moment that I dread here most of all - dancing salsa in front of Colombians. This is a country where people are born dancing, knowing about 10 different styles of Latin music (of which I can only recognize three varieties). I like dancing, and luckily I like salsa (plus I can dance a little salsa too), but still dancing in front of a small group of Colombian's with everyone else watching is a nightmare I've had on a few occasions. (It'd be different in a club where people aren't all staring).
I've seen the video - which to my horror someone posted on fb - but I look much better than I thought I would, and my confidence shot up after being complimented on my salsa moves by said Colombians.

We were given a beautiful book of comments and quotes, plus this beautiful wine bottle/glass holder - in the style of Colombian artists. 

Wedding gift from Vibi's colleagues.

Regards from Colombia,

Dan