Tag Archives: life

Birthday in Boyaca, part 1

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Been catching up on my writing.. Haven’t written as much as I would like to recently but for good reasons.. After a difficult year – last year, I had vowed to enjoy myself and embrace life again. I’ve always been someone with “ganas a vivir” and I had lost that joyful spirit. This year, I have been doing my best to reclaim that spirit and my sense of who I am. One of the things that had really hurt me last year when I turned 50 – in the midst of all this turmoil was the lack of celebration. Not of me, per se, but the celebration of life, of living, of exploring, of the great privilege of being able to experience joy, wonder, pleasure and laughter.. I have that back – and I am going to hold on to it fiercely.. Whether that means embracing my “epoca de estupidezes, boadas y locuras” by doing all the things I want to – putting myself and my wants first for a while, or just by lighting fireworks – and being true to my redneck rural roots, then that’s what I am going to do.

For my birthday, we decided to take a three day trip through Boyaca. it’s nothing life shattering, but Boyaca is one of my favorite states in Colombia. It’s green, green, green and the rolling hills remind me of my beloved Virginias.. Most of the places we went, I have been to before – but this time, it wasn;t on a tour bus. It was the two of us trying to re-connect and remember the love and friendship we had before it all went so very, very wrong. It’s not a reconciliation, because some things can’t be undone – but it’s a re-definition of our relationship. Maybe it seems weird that we would go on this journey together after everything – but my life isn’t tradicional in any sense of the word, anyway. I mean, I am an American living in Colombia, so my life isn’t going to look like most people’s anyway.

We work together, we lunch together most afternoons. I bring special supplements back in my suitcase when I come back home from my trips back to the USA, and I accompany him to most of his medical appointments. I am the one that interprets what the doctors say into something resembling common dialect for the family. I sit with him during the long chemotherapy sessions and I like to think that we have developed a deep friendship. I am probably deluding myself, but that’s how it is.

So we set off from Pacho for our first destination: Raquiria.

Raquiria is a tourist town known for it’s ceramics and craft work. Raquiria is one of my favorite places for silly reasons, I suppose. It’s a town filled with light and color, so it’s a place I like to photograph.

We stayed at a cute little airbnb, and he indulged me in one of my pet hobbies – portrait photography. I love taking photographs of just about anything, nature, architecture, events, but taking photographs of people is what I really really love. I love the challenge of trying to capture the essence of the person in a still photograph. Years ago, he used to patiently sit and pose for hours while I practiced. He was one of my favorite models. Today, he indulges me for 30 minutes. It’s just the start of a great day.

This is my favorite of all the photos.. He looks a little older than the Andres I know, but he looks good.

Here’s one of me..

We drove thru Sudamarchan – so of course, we stopped for the famous sausages..

Villa de Leyva

On our way to Villa de Leyva, he stopped the car suddenly at a dusty looking road, with a big grin on his face. Soon, I had one too! Go-karts!

We started out clean – he drove – carefully avoiding mud and small puddles after recent rains.. But of course, as soon as he turned over the wheel to me – into every puddle I could find! Very quickly, the go-kart was covered in filth, and so were we! It was a lot of fun..

Villa de Leyva is one of those heritage towns – a colonial Spanish town with a large central plaza.. People don’t come to Villa de Leyva for Go-Karts.. They go there for the history and the charm. So we did those things too.. There was a wedding at the church in the central plaza, with the bride arriving in a horse drawn carriage.

This is going to be a two part post – with all the pictures and such.. Next post – Mongui (home of the soccer ball).

Hello, my long lost friends..

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Dear, dear friends and readers.. The last we talked – life had gotten a little messy..

I was in a dark place. I am sure that most of you remember, as I vomited all my pain and sorrow here. I ended up compiling all those painful, tortured writings into a personal diary of heartbreak and betrayal (now available here) as I made my way back to the surface.. It was devastating, a truly devastating and destructive experience..

But I’m like the unsinkable Molly Brown, I can’t stay down for long.. I am so fortunate to have an unbreakable, resilient spirit that always whispers, “You’ll be fine,” in my ears just when I need it. So, I’m back and doing okay. I bought a new motorcycle, got a new tattoo and I am making my way out in the world again.

People are going to hurt my feelings and do terrible things. That doesn’t reflect on me. But if I let these experiences change who I am, that does. So I won’t become hard or bitter – and I will certainly be hurt again. In the meantime, I am practicing riding my motorcycle – so I can start planning some new motorcycle trips around Colombia. (I had previously written about a motorcycle trip to Muzo, Colombia – but since it was during all of this drama – and involved some painful incidents, I deleted it.) I wish I hadn’t. Despite the unfortunate circumstances of the trip – the ride was breathtakingly beautiful – and challenging because the “road” is little more than a rock studded trail..

I’ve been spending more time out at Finca Ecklandia.. That’s the name of the finca that I am building up in the mountains.. Every time I go, the scenery takes my breath away..

I didn’t think that at 50 years of age, I’d ever post a picture of me in a swimsuit again – but anyway..

In the meantime, some random and wonderful things have happened too.. I had to work in the United States for a week – and as we were in line to board the flight – I recognized someone in the line. It was just after Avianca upgraded me to first-class.. So I ended up sitting only a few seats away from someone I have long desired to meet.

Of course, I didn’t want to be rude or gauche so I didn’t say anything other than a greeting as I took my seat.. But my delightful seatmate wouldn’t let my obvious fandom go – so when we were leaving, she took a picture of me with President Juan Manuel Santos..

He was delightful, charming and extremely gracious as I babbled to him, like a complete fool. I don’t care what folks think about him or his presidency – I’ve always been a fan.

So, I still struggle some days. This week was kind of rough for several reasons. But I am making my way – and I haven’t given up on my dreams – even if some of the biggest ones, like getting my citizenship was delayed. (I had hoped to get it this spring – but due to these particular circumstances, I am now not eligible for several years – and that’s one of the things that hurts the most out of all of this.) People will be selfish, hateful, and cruel but I will just keep on being me.

Site merge

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Notice of site merge:  since much of the content tends to run parallel – from medical tourism to medical information about medical conditions and treatment options – I am merging Cartagena Surgery content with Latin American surgery.

For my readers here at Latin American Surgery, this means that the tone of the blog will change with the addition of my more personal posts on photography, student life (during various internships), travels and road trips within the USA and other posts.  I hope that this give readers a better sense of the person behind the posts.

I debated for several months before initiating the large-scale move – (hundreds of posts), and it will take time to organize and arrange all of the new additions.  Hopefully, the addition of the posts is welcome to all of my long-term followers  – who can now find information on medical conditions  (aortic stenosis) and the doctors (cardiac surgeons) to treat it at the same place.