Out of town

Yesterday Cecy and I had to attend a parent teacher day for Juan Filipe at his school in Manaure, a village near to Valledupar. The school has an outstanding reputation. It is a church run school from which students graduate with professional standard qualifications, they can enter professions here with the same regard as graduates from university. However, the kids do leave for school at 5 o'clock in the morning and return home with homework. It is kind of refreshing to see the kids sit down with their homework and tackle it with enthusiasm. Cecy and I returned home after the football yesterday (and a few drinks in town) and Vanesa was still working on her homework!

En route to Manaure from Valledupar by taxi. In the background of this picture is part of tha Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain range.

Taxi rides are a real experience here. There appear to be only two speeds in cars, stop and flat out. I took a short video of the return trip yesterday, quite a thrill ride! Cecy has said to me that we will die together one day, for a moment there I thought yesterday was the day!


Below are a few pictures taken in the school grounds.

How's your luck?

I couldn't believe my luck when two fillings I'd had in my front teeth since I was thirteen years old both fell out within two weeks of travelling here to be with Cecy. She soon put my concerns to rest. Let's go to the odontologist, no appointment required and the cost for the replacements plus a descale, clean and polish were less than the cost of one filling in the UK. Result!!

Is this your bike?

How's this for an idea? Very common here. Bike riders wear jackets and helmets displaying the bike registration. Give's the police a chance for a little stop and search if there is a mismatch.

Enough for today, El Mundial mañana

I might come back with more food talk later but from tomorrow it's the  World Cup, so for now it's good night from us both. We're off to bed now.

These can be eaten all day but this picture was taken at breakfast. This is a single meal cut into quarters. This a called an "Arepa", "Arepas" in plural. They are made from a maize flour mix, in this case filled with cheese. I have had them made toast style with toppings rather than fillings. They are simple and quick but tasty. This version is "una arepa delgada" cooked on a grill pan but they are also made "gruesa", thicker and smaller in diameter "al horno" (in the oven).

Again at breakfast, these are "empanadas de pollo (chicken)", a sort of crispy battered chicken pasty. I do like these. As a rule the Colombians are not inclined to spicy foods, they prefer meals consisting mainly of beans and rice. However, Cecy's mother likes spicy food so I get a little bit of a kick in anything that she cooks.
I have had more fruit juice here than I have previously in my life, but then there are three mango trees in the garden and other fruits freely available here too. There are guys that walk around the neighbourhoods selling goods from trolleys they call vendedores ambulantes. This drink is "mora con leche" (blackberry). I often have mango, obviously, "la guayaba" (guava) and "tomate de árbol" (mangosteen - had to look this up in a dictionary...I still don't know what it is in English but it is lovely).

A street vendor selling "coco con miel", little pots of honey covered coconut. I did sample a pot just for the sake of research. Actually, I was surprised to find I liked it. Probably a good idea to put it into small pots though, I think more than that could prove a little sickly.
Enough for today, I have a wonderful woman calling me. Nos vemos amigos.

Late Visitor..........STOP PRESS

Had to include this. Just as I was winding up my last post we had a friend visit the house with his monkey. Seeing is believing. Also I have made a few typos in this post, correct spelling of this town is on the t-shirt, Valledupar.

Las Comidas

Apologies for the delay. I have been out and about in town and was kind of busy getting engaged to Cecy! Here are a few examples of the culinary fare on offer here........so, for example.

Obviously Colombia is famous for it's coffee worldwide but in Colombia the gold standard for coffee, so I'm told, is served up in Juan Valdez's outlets. This here is my first cup in Juan Valdez and is a Latte Arequipa. I have to say that it is a great cup, slightly sweet even with no sugar with a hint of toffee...oh, my God. I'm starting to sound like the ponsy woman on tv describing the wines!

OK, as for the beers. I am a real ale drinker so my choice is limited whenever I travel overseas to versions of lager. This is perhaps the most popular "beer" in Colombia, Aguila (Eagle). As far as lagers go it is most definitely a lager. I managed two and that was enough for one day. One thing that did surprise me is how fast everyone drinks beer here, my other half finished her bottle in two swigs. It did give me pause for thought as I pondered that I could be out of my depth even drinking with the missus. All was well in the end though when I learned that this is only because they want to drink their beers very cold and don't want to give them to warm up.

This is my favourite beer so far, as you can see called Redd's. It has a distinctly citrus flavour, for me a great change from the bog standard lager taste. I can manage a few more of these, no chance of over-indulging here though. I'm thoroughly enjoying my time here and don't want to get drunk at any point, four bottles maximum of this beer........although I did buy a crate to take back to the house. They're still in the fridge though a week later.

The final beer I have sampled was at dinner with Cecy. The beer here is Club Colombia, I don't care what the officianados of Colombian beer have to say on this point...I can't tell the difference between this and Aguila.
The meal is called La Parillada and consists of Carne de res (cow), pollo (chicken), chuleta de cerdo (pork chop), chorizo (spicy sausage) and ubre...........I'll tell you more about this in a mo. Cecy ordered: I asked to try everything Colombiano so I left it to her, she said she'd tell me about it after. She did much to my regret! The vegetables are Yukka and a little salad. The yukka surprised me as it is quite palatable. I really enjoyed the meats bar one which was a little too rubbery for me. Cecy asked me what I though of the meal after calling the mecera (waitress) to the table. They giggled between themselves while I answered her so I had an inkling that something was adrift. Luckily I didn't force myself to eat the rubbery meat.......it was a cow's udder!!!!!

Last thing before I sign off, more meals to follow. I just found this funny. My meal is at the top of this page of the menu but take a look further down the page..............as it stands, after the experience with the cow's udder I have no plans to order the Baby en salsa (Baby in sauce)!!!!!! Maybe someone else out there is a little more adventurous than me and can let me know what it is like!!!