Colombia 2009

As our bus drove down the beach, just 50 feet from the ocean's waves lapping on the shore, I was baffled at where we were. I knew we were on our way to spend the day at a school called Villa Gloria, but as we neared little shacks and houses on the beach, right near the water, I could not understand why their village was situated there. By then we were not quite as close to the water as we had been, but as we got off the bus I realized that the ground was still a muddy sand, big puddles of water filled with garbage were all over.

Not only did the Spanish conquerors bring with them their architecture influence, but they also brought their religion, Catholicism. Before the big Spaniard movement, there were many Spaniards that came to Cartagena attracted by the gold. These were all different kinds of people, so at first many different religious orders settled in Colombia wanting to spread their religion. One conqueror, Pedro de Heredia Fernández arrived with a group of Franciscans and Dominicans. It was the Franciscan monk in this group that held the first Christian mass.

The Spanish colonization of Cartagena is reflected in so much of their culture, but especially their art and architecture. When the Spaniards colonized the city, they wanted to exert their influence in all ways possible. They thought that their wealth and power gave them the right to do everything their way, and this is definitely shown all throughout the city. The arches in this photo remind me so much of arches I have seen in my travels of Spain. The green wooden rail along the balcony above the arches is also very traditional of Spanish architecture.

Our afternoon arrival in Cartagena on Saturday was perfect because as we were welcomed by all the Colombian people at the airport, the sun was low on the horizon and would be setting in the next few hours. Excitement as well as exhaustion from a long day of traveling took over, and on the ten minute drive to the hotel, I did not take much in of the city. My first realization of the beauty of Cartagena was Sunday morning as our little bus approached the historic district.

Sunday was our first full day in Cartagena and the sunny day was spent touring the beautiful city that we were all so excited to be in. At first I thought it was probably just a fluke that we toured the city that day. I thought that because it was a Sunday, there probably was not much service opportunities or much else for us to do at all. However, looking back on the day-long introduction we got to the city we would become so passionate about over the next few days, I knew that J.R. meant for it to be that way. There was no doubt in my mind that J.R.

Today we visited a small village on the south side of the city called La María. As we did the fifteen minute drive through Cartagena, I gradually began to notice the huge change in surroundings. The wide, paved roads of the nicer area our hotel is in, turn into steep, bumpy dirt roads. With my traveling and service experience as well as J.R. and the leaders warnings, I knew that La María was going to be very different from the other areas of Cartagena we had seen so far so I was prepared.