Colombia 2009

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. wanted us to learn all about the city, its history, and all it had been through so we did not just ignorantly start our service work without any idea why this part of the world needed our help. Riding in the bus from where our hotel was located in the nicer, more wealthy area of Cartagena to the very poor area of La María the first day, would have been completely different had we not learned anything about the city the day before. There is so much more to a city when you know its history. You actually understand the city and it also gives you a deeper understanding of the country in which the city is located. So, for the research component of my credit workshop, I am going to use different pictures as illustrations for my writing. My writing will be about what I learned while spending time in Cartagena as well as from additional research conducted after the trip. I will relate this research to what I observed while I was there and try to find connections between the city's history and the city's conditions now.