I was supposed to spend Friday night with Jennifer & Diego, my hiking buddies, but Armando & his friends had to reschedule our 'tejo' game that was supposed to happen on Sunday to Friday night, because the farm owner where were meant to play Sunday was sick. So, I had to postpone plans with Jennifer & Diego and go down to Salado, a town outside of Ibagué, to experience Colombia's national game: tejo.
Tejo is a bit like bowling, in that you hurl something heavy and potentially dangerous towards a target down a long lane. Unlike bowling, the hurling happens in the air - a disk-like stone that weighs probably 5 or 8 pounds is thrown at a clay target much like the "bean bag toss" goals. This target, however, has something in the middle, under a layer of clay, that if hit, explodes into a fiery, stinky spectacle for a few seconds. The aim is to get the explosion to happen. This game is played with heavy alcohol consumption (which, if you ask me, spells trouble - alcohol + heavy rocks flying through the air + fiery explosions....) Amalia & I arrived after the guys had been playing for a while, so they were already under the influence. They brought me up to the middle of the lane, where there is a line for women to throw from (which is lame, but I wasn't going to throw from the back with the guys! It was like 30 or 40 yards!), and I gave it a shot. Oh jeez, my tejo went flying into the lane next to ours. Good thing no one was standing there. See what I mean about danger? I wasn't even drinking! I ended up playing about 8 throws, and miraculously, my fourth throw caused the explosion that earns points, and all the men cheered for me! I don't think I'll play again though. Not really my style. Very alcohol-centric culture.
After we played, we sat around while the men all drank, and I just chatted with Christian. Unfortunately, a former co-worker of Amalia's had been playing with us, and he began to serenade me, microphone & all, for about 2 hours. In between songs he would proclaim his love for me. Very uncomfortable evening. What is more, some of the men got WAY too drunk, and someone began bawling, crying about how life was not turning out the way he had planned. Awkward. I wanted to leave. We spent at least another hour after that began...
Saturday I woke up and headed to the sports park with Christian, where we played 3 full sets of tennis, 3 hours in the sun running around, and by the end I was literally EMPTY of energy. We dragged our feet to the street, got a cab, and he dropped me off at my apartment, where I quickly ate some lunch, rinsed off, and laid down to conserve energy for the soccer game I had scheduled an hour later. When we got to the field, a bunch of men were drinking after their game (@ 2pm), and they saw my outfit & shoes, and asked, incredulous, if I was planning on playing. This kind of ticked me off, and so I was less than friendly in my reply: "sí" and then I walked away. We played 6-v-6, which was a bit crowded, but I had a goal. After an hour on the field, I was literally falling asleep in my chair as the men drank a crate full of beer. I spent the rest of Saturday in bed.
Yesterday I went out with Jennifer & Diego, we headed up to Iguaima, a spot on the way to Juntas, where we usually hike. It was really beautiful, very calm and removed from the hustle & bustle, plus the air was so cool and clean. We talked about all kinds of things, politics, philosophy, life... It was calm and tranquil. A nice afternoon. Then we headed down to Villarestrepo and ate strawberries & cream & almohabanas, which are cheesey buns with a yogurt-like drink. We headed back to Ibagué, and Diego invited us to eat pizza at a fairly hip restaurant that overlooks the main square in town, and we discussed plans for travels in the coming month. A trip to the National Park of the Nevados (glacier topped mountains) over a weekend, and a week long trip to the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta, home to the Kogi indigenous peoples. Surely these adventures will warrant pages & pages of blog.
For now, though, it is back to monotony & work.
Drunken man on the bus on the way to Iguaima. It was midday, and this man was not only slurring, but stumbling all over the place, and trying to talk to everyone that would make eye contact (and those that refused, too....): very uncomfortable situation. He was also being rather abusive (verbally) to his wife & 2 kids. Yuck.
Really random picture, but this is a shot of a waterfall + pond + garden complete with Koi fish that is located outside the movie theater entrance of the only mall in Ibagué. It seems ironic that in this mall there is a tribute, however shallow, to nature, while the city, located in the most majestic mountain range in the world, shows no respect for nature whatsoever. :(
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