Pues, today was INTENSITY to the max. Natasha, my field advisor and "manager?" picked me up at 9:30, and we traveled through perilous traffic jams (taxi drivers are VERY dangerous drivers...) to the office of Fundación Formula Sonrisa (Smile Formula Foundation?), an organization created by a famous NASCAR driver from Colombia that uses fútbol to incentivize school for vulnerable children. Natasha and I met with the director, a young woman who spoke rather quick Spanish, and we discussed the opportunity to collaborate in Ibagué (and by "we" of course I mean "they" discussed & I listened....)
The meeting there lasted until 11 or 11:30, at which point Natasha and I walked to a shopping center (apparently more appropriately called a lunch center, as it seems all of Colombia spends lunch time in a mall) to wait until Jorge, the President of the central Colombian Partners of the Americas chapter, and director of Colombianos Apoyando Colombianos (the organization I will be working with here), arrived from the bus station. Apparently the buses get to the entrance of Bogotá, and about an hour later actually release passengers.
Natasha, Jorge and I ate lunch at Club Colombia, a gorgeous colonial-house-turned-restaurant that is known for its typical Colombian cuisine and the famous Colombian chef/owner, Harry Sasson. I ate a few empenadas from different regions of Colombia, and then the exquisite Ajiaco, a typical stew of Bogotá with corn (the big fat choclo kind!!), chicken, potatoes, a quarter of an avodado, and rice in thick, delicious stew. It was..... my favorite thing so far (and that includes the scrumptious passionfruit ice cream). I had a glass of jugo de maracuya (passionfruit juice) to accompany this flavor explosion. YUM.
After lunch, we left for a café to wait out the hour before the board meeting of the central Colombian Partners chapter, at which Jorge would officially take over the role of President from the previous president, Oscar. I had an aromatíca, which I really am not sure what it is, but it was slightly fruity, very tart, and fairly tastey - served hot (on this rainy day, thank goodness!)
We walked a block to the building where the board meeting - junta, which seems strange coming from a land where it means military dictatorship - took place. It began at 4:00PM. Oscar, the exiting President, is also a member of a group of hikers here in Colombia, so Natasha introduced us with a note about my interest in finding hikes beyond the walls of the botanic garden.
People trickled in throughout the next 3 hours, though a summary of what had already been discussed was never given. Also, an agenda was passed out (paper copy) to 3 people. No agenda had been sent before hand (I subtly suggested to Natasha that it might be more organized with the agenda sent before the meeting - she acknowledged that of course they are addressing these issues). The meeting can be summarized in a few words: people yelling and talking over each other + long. A funny quote (translated):
"Americans don't read long emails. Well, I guess we don't read them long or short..."
At 4:40, with 4 members of the board present, Oscar suggested we proceed & vote without the other members.
Later, when a few additional members had arrived, someone answered his phone and spoke in the middle of someone's presentation of the program she was working on. She didn't seem phased.
At 6:30, 2.5 hours in, we got to the main point of the meeting: to vote on the act that officiated the new President & new "junta". At 7:00 Jorge, the new Pres, said "ok, now that that is settled, let us move to point 2 of the meeting" (3 hours in).
This is pretty much my first experience of a development organization functioning. YIKES.
Once everyone had kissed everyone goodbye, Natasha suggested that Jorge, Natasha, and I discuss the upcoming events of A Ganar and clarify the process a bit. We left at 8:30, got lost (how can a taxi driver get lost?!), and I arrived back at 9:00. Oooooooof.
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