12-24-05

Merry Christmas . Merry Christmas!

12-22-05

Un Techo Para Mi Pais. This translates to "A roof for my country". It all started in 1997 when a group of young students from Chile noticed that voluntary efforts could help those 220 million poor people living across South America. In joint efforts they managed to raise the money and volunteers in order to start building new homes for people living between cardboard sheets. Only recently, in 2003, Colombia joined Chile, Ecuador, Argentina, El Salvador, Guatemala, Peru and Uruguay in this quest to make a difference.

My mother works with a TV Channel in Colombia (Caracol TV)which decided to make a 6 hour story on the project I just mentioned. They way it works is the following: people or companies donate 2.7 million pesos (1,200USD) and the 'Un Techo Para Mi Pais' organization goes out and looks for the most needy families in the poorest neighborhoods. Then with the effort of 7 young (or old I guess) volunteers, a new concrete house with a nice roof is built for them. The one condition is that the family must pay for 10% of the house. As it is said in Colombia "we wont give you the fish, but we'll teach how to fish". The idea is to never give things away for free but to make people realize that there's a price for everything and that others are still willing to help. They may pay their quota in 12 payments in the time span of a year.

Today my mother, two little sisters and myself spent the morning in 'Barrio el Progreso' down in the Southern part of Bogota (Ciudad Bolivar) and witnessed the construction of two of these houses. There wasn't too much work for us to do since it was a large event being streamed live to the entire nation. Volunteers in this case consisted of famous artists, super models and other big local names. All this with the purpose of showing the entire country of what was being done and accepting donations or volunteers.

It was rather moving to watch these people go from a house that didn't resemble a house at all, to a small place where they will be able to actually be warm and not be exposed to the water that leaked though an old roof during those rainy days. It is just amazing how such a simple idea can start making a difference in these countries. At such a low cost and so many people with so much money in South America, it's nice to see that it is going in the right direction sometimes.

Anyhow, here are some pictures and a video of the event. For more information about 'Un Techo Para Mi Pais' go to the following website: www.untechoparamipais.org or www.untechoparamipaiscolombia.org

12-16-05

'Never-miss-a-flight 101'. It all started last Monday in Beijing when I misread the time on my plane ticket. My flight was already taking off when I was getting on the cab on my way to the airport. It is not very typical of me to undergo such unfortunate miss happenings but then again, there's always a first time. What comes next is a little adventure that happened to me during the past four days all because I confused 13.00 with 15.00 hours, hence missing my plane Beijing-NYC and then all other connections to Bogota, Colombia, my final destination.

Leaving Ecuador on my way to Pasto's airport with Javier

-Monday 13:06 (beijing time): I am in Huang Chun Ping's car on my way to the airport when I realize that my flight to New York is already in the air. I still make it to the airport, talk to the airline and after paying a penalty I get my ticket changed to Wednesday.

-Wednesday 13:06 (beijing time): I am sitting in a 10-year-old 747 China Airlines Boeing. For those Colombians out there, 'cebollero' is the best way to describe this plane.

-Wednesday 13:46 (new york time): After 13 hours of flight, we land in JFK where I get on a cab to my sister's place in Manhattan. We eat, talk and sleep.

-Thursday 10:45 (new york time): I am leaving the offices of Harper Collins where my sister works at, running late for my flight from La Guardia to Miami. I barely make it through checking and security. The plane leaves at 12:30. So far so good.

-Thursday 15:45 (miami time): This is where it really starts. Once landed in Miami, I make it out of the gate as quickly as possible. Since my reservation from Miami to Bogota was nonexistent I had to pick up my luggage, re-check in and pray for the airplane to wait for me. Little I knew it wasn't going to be that easy. Flights were completely booked until the December 25th. Yes, herds of Colombians living in Miami were all going to Bogota for x-mass. I spoke to the supervisor and tried to convince him that American Airlines had told me I did have a reservation to Bogota (which was obviously untrue). Turning the table and putting the fault on their side did very little, just to avoid saying it was useless. I called the 1-800 number and spoke to Fabiola, a cool Mexican lady that was on the shift at that point. As nice as I could be on the phone, I explained to her the entire situation, telling her that AA in Beijing had confirmed my reservation to Bogota. After much sweet-talking I got her to convince her supervisor to get me a flight from Miami straight to Quito, Ecuador. I think they had to kick out some AA employee that was flying that night and put me in there instead. When they first offered me the option of going to Quito I was kind of dubious but after going over the situation, I came to the conclusion that I had to do anything in order to get out of the US or else I was going to find myself stuck there til' after christmas. The plan at that point was to get to Quito and then find a straight flight to Bogota as soon as I got there.

-Thursday 19:37 (miami time): Destination: Quito. Flight time: 4 hours and some change. At this point I was already pretty exhausted. I had been awake for more than 30 hours and slept about four at my sister's place. Then again, the day will never come when I can sleep in an airplane, bus or car.

-Thursday 23:56 (quito time): My entry to Ecuador was stamped on my US passport. My hopes of getting out of Ecuador that same night all crumbled down when they told me the next flight left on Friday at 6am. The airline counters were all closed needless to say and opened at 4am. I waited around the airport for a while, opened my laptop and wrote a few things here and there that were due. After 45 minutes or so, the lack of sleep really starts to catch up with me and I did not want to fall asleep in the airport with my laptop, camera, clothes and last but not least, my paraglider. I then decided to find a place where I could sleep or at least rest for a few hours before coming back to counters and try to get my ticket to Bogota. I walked out of the airport and saw a hotel for 35US a night. I told the guy I was only going to be there for 3 hours at most, and begged him to let me in for a 10 dollar fee. No response. I proceeded to the hostel 100 meters west of the first hotel, woke up the angry and sleepy boss. 'Can I please stay here for 3 hours? I'm exhausted an only have 12 dollars on me.' - No, it's 15 a night here.- Gee, thanks a lot! (I said to myself as I walked away to an even cheaper hostel). About a 10-minute walk away from the airport I finally found a 10 dollar hostel where I literally crashed in for a couple of hours. I wasn't able to sleep for there were a bunch of drunk dudes out on the street going on about soccer all night long. 'El Barcelona es el mejor equipo de Ecuador chucha!' he kept saying.

-Friday 03:37 (quito time): After two hours of intermittent napping (I never even bothered to take my shoes off), I got up again, grabbed my 18kg paraglider, 11kg suitcase, 10kg back-back and walked back to the airport.

-Friday 04:01 (still in quito): Passengers of the non-stop flight 066 destination Bogota were quickly snaking up behind the counter. 'Come back at 5.30 when all the passengers have checked in and if there are any available spots I'll put you in' said to me one of the staff members. At this point I wasn't being too optimistic about the whole deal. At 05:00 the flight was already FULL and people that had reservations weren't able to get on the plane. I faced the facts, I am going to Bogota by land.

-Friday 05:22 (quito time): I managed to get 50 dollars out of my US account and was pretty much relying on that to get back to Bogota. A cab dropped me off at the local Bus Terminal. There, at around 05:45 I was on my way to Tulcan, the nearest city by the Ecuadorian-Colombian border. Once in the 'not-most-comfortable' bus I've been on, I laid back against my paraglider and simply enjoyed a sunrise in a country I had never visited before. I felt very much in Colombia, the topography and general scenery was extremely similar. Passing through some snowy peaks and immense valleys I slowly but surely started getting closer to Colombia.

-Friday 08:16 (ibarra time): The bus stopped at Ibarra, a small town (or moderate size city, whichever), right by a restaurant called "Las Delicias de Colombia". They gave us an hour to eat, go to the bathroom and do whatever we had to do. Without thinking about it for too long, I ordered myself the best plate I could think of to enjoy a breakfast and eat for the first time in 16 hours. 'Me regala una Bandejita Paisa por favor?' I told the owner who indeed was Colombian. -Claro hermano, pero los frijoles se le demoran un poquito-. While the frijoles were ready I talked to the guy and asked him a little bit about where I was, how far from Colombia and how far from Bogota. He told me I was about 1,200 km away from Bogota, and some 200km away from the borderline. He brought to my attention that there was a flight to Bogota from the city of Pasto in the province of Narino in Colombia. The flight was bound to take off at 15:00 sharp which meant I had a little over 6 hours to make it to the airport in Pasto, about 150km away from the border. With 42 US dollars left in my pocket and some Chinese Renminbi there was no way I could afford that ticket, so I spoiled myself and called mom in order to get out of this one. My lovely mother quickly got me a reservation and bought me the ticket Pasto-Bogota and warned me that the flight left at 15:00. Sweet, I'm there I thought, it's over. After finishing my Bandeja Paisa, I get back on the bus when....

-Friday 09:06 (ibarra time): An 18-wheeler smashes into the front part of our bus after our driver decided to drive through a red light. The impact wasn't as severe as I thought it should have been. Fortunately the truck did not hit us on an 90 degree angle. Everyone got off the bus to observe the damage caused by the incident that had just taken place. After a taking a quick look (I was just as curious as anyone there), I realized I was in a race against the clock. I grabbed my glider, my bag and back-pack. Some guy was slowly passing by on a pick-up truck and I asked them where they were going. 'Colaboreme hasta Tulcan y yo le colaboro ahi como pueda' I said to the driver. -Regaleme ahi 10 dolaritos entonces mi senor- he replied. I didn't think twice and my capital was now down to 32US dollars and 110RMB (13 useless US dollars). I jumped into the back of the truck and shared the space with two other guys I never really spoke to during the entire trip. Through more beautiful landscapes, I started getting closer to Colombia, almost smelling victory.

-Friday 11:40 (tulcan time): After being pulled over on the road and searched in almost every way possible for drug smuggling, the Ecuadorian military released me and I finally got to the border. I immediately met three young guys from Pasto who wait at the border for people to hire them as transportation. They were nice indeed but I wasn't ready to fully trust them. I told them all I had were those 32US dollars and that I needed to be at Pasto's airport by 14:30. After some talking I managed to get the deal and we were on our way. Time was of the essence since Pasto was 2 hours away and the airport another half-hour from the city. Meaning, if we were going to leave at 12:00 it would just barely make it at 14:30.

-Friday 11:51 (ipiales time): After a short drive we make it to Ipiales, the nearest city to the border and I realize that neither one of my passports were stamped. I had entered Ecuador with my US passport and didn't get the exit stamp. I had entered Colombia with my Colombian passport but it never got stamped either. If I were to leave Colombia in January and they realize there is no entry stamp, I would basically go straight to jail. I made Javier (the driver) turn around and told him I absolutely HAD to get those two passports stamped. First I went to the Ecuadorian side and after standing in line for about 15 minutes I got my stamp and walked to the Colombian side to get my entry stamped on the Colombian passport. This is when I started getting worried, the line there was a least 2 hours long. 'I'm not making my flight at 15:00, no way' I thought to myself. Well, you gotta love these Colombians. Javier, the driver, knew the guy from the DAS (immigration office) and he told me the guy owed him some favors. We snuck into the office through the back door and he says 'Cabrera!! echeme una manito aqui con este pasajero que tiene un vuelo en tres horas desde pasto y necesita el sello'. Cabrera wasn't quite sure how to deal with the fact that I have dual citizen-ship and at first wasn't too convinced by that fact that I had no Ecuadorian stamp on my Colombian passport. At first he thought I was a gringo when he saw my US passport and wasn't too keen on helping me out. When he heard me speak to him in 'colombian', his attitude changed completely and started cooperating. 'Hagame el regalito de navidad Cabrera, ahi de bacan, pa la proxima lo hago bien' I said to him. -La ultima vez chino, ahi se la perdono-. He stamped my Colombian passport.

-Friday 12:32 (colombian-ecuadorian border time): We finally managed to get all documents done and left. Javier (see picture below) is a big fan of Juan Pablo Montoya as he told me along the way, and he sure tried to prove it as well. In a 1985 rusty beat-up Mazda 323 he took those turns as he pushed the machine to its limit.

-Friday 13: 35 (somewhere in between Ipiales and Pasto time): always time for a Pony Malta.

-Friday 14:50 (Aeropuerto de Narino en Pasto time): We made it to the airport, 10 minutes before take-off. At the counter, they told me my luggage was overweight, I had to leave one of the bags in Pasto or take a lot of stuff out of it. 'Mire senor, si quiere nos sentamos y le cuento en las que llevo los ultimos cuatro dias, estoy por llegar a mi casa ya en la recta final, se lo suplico que me deje meter estas dos maletas' I said to him with heavy pupils and red tired eyes. -Esta bien, ahi le hago el cruce-.

-Friday 15:03 (Aeropuerto de Narino en Pasto's runway time): Full throttle and we're off.

-Friday 16:34 (Bogota time): After about 80 hours of traveling and about 6 of sleep, I made it to my bed at 20:00 where I passed out.