Three stories about Motorcycles

“I am a traveler on the way to a sacred place where God holds me in the palm of his hand.” 

-Henri Nouwen

Motorcycles are the main source of transportation here in Libertad. Well, motorcycles and donkeys. But I’m not as good on a donkey as on a motorcycle. 

Throughout my time in here, I’ve had some pretty interesting experiences on the motorcycle. Here are three examples:

1) The time I tried to carry two cakes for three hours on a motorcycle

My friend Aleja celebrated her birthday in September and threw a big party for the whole community where she lives. As she was making food for over 100 people, she decided that she wouldn’t be able to also have cake. However, she also told me that a birthday is not a birthday without cake.

So I decided to bring her cake to celebrate her birthday.

But she lives three hours from where I live…

So, being a person that thoroughly thinks through everything (note sarcasm), I had my friend in Libertad make two cakes, as big as possible, since we needed enough cake for over 100 people. My idea was to leave them in the pans and just decorate the top so that they wouldn’t be destroyed in the journey (I was thinking a little bit). However, as things often don’t go as planned, one of the cakes didn’t turn out well so my friend had to use the same pan for both cakes. So I had two beautifully decorated cakes to bring to Aleja for her birthday.

We set out early, because we also had to run some errands around Sincelejo beforehand (an extra hour with two massive cakes on my lap). I started out alright, the cakes in boxes, the boxes in a bag, and the bag on my leg.

Ten minutes in, I knew it was a bad idea. But all we could do was continue.

When we finally arrived at Aleja’s, I was afraid to open the boxes and find two completely smashed cakes. However, I was surprised to find that although the decorations were completely destroyed, the cakes themselves were fine!

Ruined cake

With a little fix up work (well, a completely new frosting job), they looked just like new!

Fixed cake!

And Aleja was very excited to have cake. As was the community. And it was delicious!

But never again will I carry cake on a moto.

2) The time we paid 1000 pesos to carry the motorcycle across an arroyo

It has been a very dry year this year, but the other day it rained. And I mean it rained.

I was supposed to head out of town to meet people from the office in Mampujan early in the morning, but since it was raining, we couldn’t leave. It began raining at 6 am and didn’t let up until 11. At noon, we decided it would be okay to try to go.

The road one takes to enter and leave Libertad is not paved, therefore when it rains like this day, it is quite spectacularly filled with mud. I absolutely trust my driver, so I had no doubt that we’d make it okay, but it certainly was an adventure.

Then we arrived at the arroyo…

There is a spot just a little bit after the next town where, on a normal day, there is just a little trickle of water over the rocks, but after a rain the water rushes quite strongly. And this day it was rushing.

Waiting for the arroyo to calm down.

We spent about twenty minutes watching it with the others, waiting for it to go down a little bit. The young men kept offering to carry the moto across for us for 1000 pesos (about 50 cents). Finally we accepted.

See them carrying the moto?

After the moto was safely across, we all wadded through, holding hands in a line as not to be swept away. The water reached up to my thighs.

We paid the 1000 pesos and continued on our way through the mud. By the time we reached our destination, the wind had already dried us out.

3) The time I fell off the motorcycle into the same arroyo to protect fish

The other day, the director of Sembrandopaz asked me to do him the favor of bringing him some fish from Libertad to Sincelejo since the fish is cheaper here (and fresher- they catch them right here!)

Not a problem.

But… then the Styrofoam cooler cracked and the handle broke, so before we started out to Sincelejo (at 4:30 in the morning, mind you), we put the cooler in a sack. This made it very difficult to grab on to (also, realize that this cooler is quite large and filled with ten kilos of fish and ice on top of that).

It was very similar to my experience with the cakes… Ten minutes in and I knew it was going to be a very long morning.

Then we reached the same arroyo that we paid to cross the moto. This morning there was no rushing water, just some water pooled between the rocks. However, a combination of the darkness (remember it was 4:30 am), the rocks, and the way the cooler made balance difficult… we lost control a little bit.

No, really, it was just me that lost control a little. The driver was fine. He was super surprised to look back and see me, flat on my back, clutching the cooler, in the water pooled between the rocks.

“Lani! Cómo te caiste!?” “Lani, how did you fall!?”

Let’s just say, I am very faithful to the director of Sembrandopaz and I was not going to let those fish fall! So, when they started to go, I went with them.

“Lani, te mojaste?” “Lani, did you get wet?”

Did I get wet!? Ha! I was soaking wet, backpack, pants, sweater… But hey! I wasn’t hurt! So I hopped back on the moto and we continued on safely to where I catch the bus, put the fish in the back, nabbed a seat, and promptly fell asleep (still sopping wet).

Now, it had still been dark when I got on the bus so I didn’t actually see myself until I woke up in Sincelejo and got off the bus.

And what a disaster I was! The water I fell in was super dirty and therefore I was super dirty. How embarrassing to try to get someone to stop to bring me on a motorcycle with a cooler full of fish in a bag, wet, dirty, and smelling disgusting. The guy who stopped looked at me like I was insane.

My coworkers also looked at me like I was insane when I arrived.

“It’s only 7:30 in the morning, Lani! What sort of trouble could you have possibly already gotten yourself into!?”

But the fish made it safe and sound! :)

Three stories about Yuca

“For me, I am driven by two main philosophies: know more today about the world than I knew yesterday and lessen the suffering of others. You'd be surprised how far that gets you.” 

― Neil deGrasse Tyson

Yuca is a common root starch that we eat here. I think that in English it is cassava… But I really had never heard of it before living here. Now it is something very common, eaten with breakfast, lunch, or dinner. It is a staple in every potluck the community has; I love helping peel the yuca at the olla comunitarias! They made fun of me at first because I was really bad at it, but I have definitely improved. 

Peeling yuca at an olla comunitaria

As I said, yuca is very common here and it is found in all aspects of life. Here are three yuca stories from my time in Libertad so far:

1) The time I tried not to eat yuca

When Aleja and I first arrived to the coast, we were inundated by yuca. We ate it all the time in the communities. The first time we left the communities to go back to Sincelejo, we decided to not eat any yuca. We ate bread, apples, good coffee… things we don’t have easy access to where we live.

That night, the office had a fancy dinner for all of us. One of our coworkers made a special juice to celebrate. We all drank it, commenting on its deliciousness, asking what type of juice it was. We guessed all sorts of fruits and vegetables; someone even guessed spaghetti… Finally we gave up and she told us: YUCA!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

So when we tried not to eat yuca, we drank yuca.

But now, we both love yuca and when we are traveling out of the communities, we miss the fresh yuca that we have access to here.

Yes... I even eat yuca with mac and cheese.

2) The time the kid came up with the best coping skill ever

One of the things I do in town is lead a psychosocial support group for some kids in the school. We cover all sorts of topics, from team work to affective education to self esteem to coping skills. When we were talking about coping skills I asked the kids to tell me what they do when they are feeling sad, frustrated, nervous, or scared. They said things like dance, play with friends, talk to a parent, walk, listen to music, pull yuca…

What?!

Pull yuca.

ABSOLUTELY! Pulling yuca takes force and strength and it would positively be a fantastic way to get out anger. It’s probably one of the best coping skills I have ever heard and it is something I would have never heard if I didn’t live here.

3) The time the kids taught me how to play The Yuca

I spend a lot of time with kids. We just get each other. And they always put me in a good mood.

The other night, I was just doing some stoop sitting when some kids surrounded me. After they read me a book and brushed my hair for a while, I asked them what we should play.

“Yuca!” they all screamed.

Interesting… yuca is a game the kids play? I was intrigued.

It begins with deciding who will be the seller and who will be the buyer; the rest of the kids are yuca. The kids who are yuca grab onto a nearby post and cling on for dear life. The buyer comes up to the seller says, “Sell me yuca.”

The seller says, “What happened to the yuca I sold you yesterday?”

“The mice ate it.”

“Why weren’t you paying attention?”

Here the kid makes up some excuse: “I was washing clothes,” “I was sweeping the patio,” “I was in the fields,” etc.

Then the seller gives the buyer the go ahead and he or she grabs a kid/yuca and pulls until the kid lets go of the group.

The process repeats: “Sell me yuca.” “What happened to the yuca from yesterday?” “The mice ate it.” “Why weren’t you paying attention?” Excuse. Pull up a yuca kid.

When all the yuca is pulled up, the game changes. Now the kids that were yuca become dogs. The buyer passes by where the seller is and the seller asks, “And the money?”

The buyer makes up an excuse: “I left it on the shelf,” “I left it in the laundry machine,” “I left it in the sink,” etc.

Finally the seller says, “The next time I will send the dogs after you!”

When the buyer passes by again, all the kids chase after the buyer until they catch him.

Spectacular.

Definitely my new favorite game.

Let's play The Yuca!