I've been in Colombia for six months now and it continues to fascinate me--I feel like I've just scratched the surface. just when I think I got things figured out, or start to feel like I'm fitting in, something that's totally at odds with my "Leave it To Beaver Seattle suburb upbringing" happens and I'm put back in my place as the "Gringo Outsider". I call these my "HUH??? WTF" moments.
A quote from "Paul Theroux"book I just hammered out - "What was so strange about a man wearing bunches of garlic around his neck? Perhaps nothing, except the he would have not done it if he were not a Mexican and I would have not noticed if I hadn't been American."
NOW it's time to take a vacay from Colombia, go back to the US, visit friends, take care of personal biz, enjoy the end of summer in the PNW. take a rest, let my eyes reset so they can continue to notice the details--before the Salsa loses its sexiness...
So in what has continued to be life of contrasts, i'm leaving Colombia tomorrow--having spent the past few days working a story that's taking place 560 meters down a 1 meter diameter coal mine shaft w/ some of the most incredible people working in the toughest conditions i could imagine--make the jump from here into a tin can continental airplane and out the other end to the comforts of familiarity, friends and family in San Francisco and Seattle!
See you there!
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