Month 1 - Fried food, beaches and Dinosaurs

It's hard to believe, but we have been in Colombia for one month. We are definitely feeling more confident as we order food, get directions, buy groceries and do our best to blend in to our new city. The reality is that we don't blend in...but we are having fun with it. We are getting used to the stares and learning to love the shouts of: "Hola gringos" and "Hello" (the equivalent of seeing a Hispanic person on the street and yelling "Hola!" to show off your skills, even though you don't know a lick of Spanish). The Colombians are awesome hosts and they truly care about relationships - they prioritize time with family and friends above all else, something these two Americans are learning to appreciate greatly.

Our Spanglish is slowly turning into more Spanish, but we still use "the nod and smile" on a daily basis and mess up often. Two recent mistakes: Bo telling someone in Spanish that he liked the "filete de Muro" that he had for lunch (muro means "wall"...rather than a type of fish that the Costenos call "Mero"). Also, while speaking about how long we've been married, Carrie got "cansado" and "casado" confused, implying that she was very tired after only 5 months of marriage.

Here are some pics from the last few days:

We helped lead the kids activities in Ciudadela last Sunday. It was hot and all we had was a dusty slab of concrete but we had a ton of fun playing some games and telling the story of David and Goliath.

Last week our good friends Carlos and Leed Echinique had us over for lunch and taught us to make one of the favorite Colombian dishes: Arepas. Here is Carrie showing off some of our freshly made dough. The next steps involved double deep-frying! The filling was an egg and meat...not the healthiest meal but SO good!

Like we've said before, everything is cheaper in bags. We stopped to hydrate on our way home from the gym...These small bags cost 200 pesos (about 10¢).

Tagonga - one of the two "nicer" beaches that bookend both sides of Santa Marta. Tagonga tends to be filled with foreigners, while the other nice beach, Rodedero, is a popular vacation spot for Colombians from "the interior".

After taking a quick bus ride to Tagonga, you can jump on a bus or make the 20-minute hike to Playa Grande - this has been our favorite spot thus far. The water isn't turquoise blue but it is amazingly clear.

Sometimes we struggle to find substitutes for common American pantry staples...Nonetheless, all is right with the world because even Colombians love Dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets!

Our Valentines Day gifts: Egg burritos, some American splurges and an amazing chocolate frozen yogurt pie.

It has truly been a great first month here. We feel very blessed to be in Santa Marta and look forward to seeing what God has in store for the next few months!