TCS Hail Storm

So here are some beautiful, tranquil pictures of my wonderful campus, The Columbus School (apx. 7-8,000 ft above sea level).

Somedays we get weird, low hanging clouds.....

And every once in a blue moon, you get a crazy hail storm! (The kids here think it's snow! Lol)

I have a video of the storm, but unable to load (checkout my Facebook for it)....

Capurgana Vacation

For my first overnight adventure in Colombia I decided to venture out of the state of Antioquia into a small city in the Choco region called Capurganá.

Capurganá is surrounded by jungles (I was hoping to see a monkey, but I wasn't as fortunate as one of my friends was). The small city borders with Panama (Yes, I ventured into Central America for a short amount of time). 

But first, you must get there. While several different options were given to us, we opted for the flight into Acandi and 45 min boat ride as opposed to the flight to Turbo and 3 hour boat ride.

We left Saturday morning from Medellins local airport (running into a few students along the way) in our "private" plane. We happened to be the only 3 passengers!! (Eeks, we thought "hope were not being kidnapped").

1 hour later we arrived at the Acandi "International" (as our future Burro driver would call it) airport!

Security

Checking our documents, making sure we are legit

Just chillin' at the airport with their machete!

The "Burro Taxi Service" was busy, so these guys were "called" to take us to our boat.....

We had a little time to kill before our boat took off so we enjoyed a meal and watching kids catch and beat up some catfish. This little guy asked to have his picture taken....

I will spare you the video of the massacre, but these little fish were still moving around a bit for the picture!

Lunch in Acandi

Sight seeing

More sight seeing

Photo opp

The "boat" or "launcha" to Capurganá.

Once we arrived in Capurganá we took advantage of the beach and meeting some locals (after all this was home for the next 7 days). 

The next few days we spent sightseeing other beaches, relaxing, hiking (well sort of, if you can call jungle walking in flip flops- hiking), crossing the border into Panama, and visiting the Kuna (an indigenous group located in San Blas, Panama).

Crabs

Entering Panama

Our gymnast

Waterfalls

Beaches

And more beaches

Arriving in San Blas.... The Kuna

Beach on a San Blas Island

Freshly caught Tuna

Our trip back to Medellin was not as easy as our trip to Capurgana. After arriving back in Acandi, we got stranded for several hours at the airport (with no electricity or running water) which was a 20 minute burro ride away from anything. The airlines insisted an airplane was coming for us, but never arrived. We stayed over night and flew out the next morning. Was never so excited to take a hot shower!!!

So, there you have it!! About a month late posting.... But better late than never!!