In a few days I will be heading to Bogota to catch a flight back to the U.S. But this is just another step in my retirement plan as I have decided to make the leap and rent a small casa here in Barichara for a year to see how I like being a Colombiana.
I have met some wonderful, strong, creative women here who are very supportive of my choices and have helped me to find a safe place to park myself and my stuff. One of them is a Colombian Gestalt art teacher, another is a British medical doctor/archeologist/artist, another is an Austrian creative chef and instructor, one more is a French woman who started her own furniture business years ago here. And there are more who are part of the fabric of life in this vedeta (area). What is the thread between us all is our 'art.' And what I loved about Barichara at the first was the powerful creative energy that pulls us to this place to share and support each other.
I will always be grateful to Jey-hu for being the catalyst that brought me here. And for all the wonderful people at Corasoma who have been, and will continue to be, a part of the journey as well. (Click on the link for the English version, if you like.)
Jey-hu is returning to the U.S., but if he returns to Colombia, he will have his own choices to make about where to live. The trip to the northern coast with him was friendly, but reaffirmed that the gap has only widened between us. He is unwilling to invest himself in the local community and language, he really only wants to "see" it, take pictures of it, tell stories of it, but he is not a part of the picture or the story.
My desire is to immerse myself in this life... I have joined the local chorus, will be taking art classes when I return, am fully investing in learning the language so that I am truly conversant in Spanish the way I used to be in French. Making the choice to find a place to live and to move forward with my "pensioner visa" (retirement visa) paperwork is part of the process required to enjoy this new 'home'.
I tried to post a photo of the casa, but the uplink is too slow, so when I return to the U.S. I will share several photos of it and more of my plans.
Oh gosh! this sounds VERY exciting and I wish you so much good luck with all these new plans. I must say you are totally amazing and you have my unreserved admiration. It sounds like you have found and made some very worthwhile friends, such precious diamonds in life's rich pattern and to me seem almost more important at this time of life. I shall so look forward to reading about this new way of life X
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