The Hotel Caribe Files

I decided to start a new post because the last one was getting pretty long. So the group of Peace Corps volunteers are staying at the Hotel Caribe from Thursday night to Sunday afternoon for a variety of presentations about Peace Corps policies, what to expect, Spanish diagnostic sessions, and more. The hotel was not anything to sneeze at. They fed us three square meals a day. Breakfast was some form of eggs with bread; just ok. But lunch and dinner consisted of some meat, chicken or beef or one night ham wrapped in chicken, smothered in gravy or sweet fruity sauce, really tasty rice, mashed potatoes, and some kind of vegetable side. Plus they gave you a glass of quality fruit juice that could be guava, passion fruit, or some other flavor that belongs in a pack of tropical starburst. I approved. There were a few vegetarians in the group and since everyone got the same thing, they usually offered their meat to someone else. I got a few of these extra portions, but Chance "The Garbage Disposal" usually sought out these people immediately at each meal to strike some sort of deal for their meat. One dinner, I swear, he must have had four portions of meat. I must say I was impressed.

One thing I'll always remember is how almost all of the Peace Corps staff are very distinct characters that make for hilarious impressions. Adam does the best impressions of them, but everyone has their own take on each staff member.
There's Oscar, who is native to South America. He has a soothing and hypnotizing Latin American accent and always has an extra button on his shirt undone just for good measure. He could definitely be in a local old spice commercial. Once he met with me to talk about my host family and what things, if anything, I would need them to know. We were sitting on a balcony because it is always hot here and the balcony had a nice breeze. As he was talking to me, the wind was blowing his hair ever so gently and his gratuitously unbuttoned shirt was billowing in the wind. It was like I was in a dream. For a second, I think he was on a white horse, but I'm not entirely sure.
There's Bill, who is the Bert to Oscar's Ernie. He has two voice tones. Monotone and Super monotone. I'm pretty sure Oscar must dislike Bill because often during Oscar's presentations, Bill would but in with, "what Oscar is trying to say is..." when usually we all understand. Once Oscar was talking about the local tiendas and Bill interjects, "By the way, tienda means store." Thank you Bill, for the Spanish 0 refresher course.
The yin to Bill's yang is Danny. He is this spunky older man from Fort Worth that is always upbeat and seems to refuse to pick up any kind of local accent. Its really funny hearing him speak Spanish. I don't really know much about Danny except that he loves pancakes and has an awesome straw hat.
And finally there's Frank, the security coordinator. No matter how dangerous Colombia is, I'll always feel safe if Frank has my back. He looks like an ex-marine that's done some stuff that normal people only see in movies. He gave us crime stats for the area, which were much higher than I expected, especially murders. He says that contract killings are the 2nd highest form of crime overall. And he says these things so matter-of-factly, so i feel like I shouldn't worry, but then I see the figures and I do worry a bit, but I know Frank will "take care" of anyone that gives us trouble.

On Saturday, Mike, Nolan, Samantha and I recorded a podcast with Chance. We talked about some of the things we are going through in the training. Chance has been making and will be making podcasts, so thats something you should check out at http://peacecorpspodcast.com/