La Unión, part 2 🇬🇧

Week 11 – September 21, 2025:

On Friday, at the school, I go through French classes with 4 or 5 groups. We cover the basics: hello, good evening, goodbye, thank you, please, I love you… I also taught them to say hello in Japanese and Arabic, and they repeat it at the top of their lungs. Or even « hey baby » or « Hi my friend. » It was funny to teach them that. On Saturday, since the internet is back, I take the opportunity to respond to messages and start looking at buses and the rest of the trip in Ecuador. I also have a crêpes workshop with 2 teachers in the morning, delighted to be able to cook crêpes for breakfast. I set out under the sun, with no animals other than the birds to accompany me, and I arrive 2 hours later. There is nobody at home, so I take the chance to take a shower and tidy up my mess. In fact, they thought I was only coming back on Sunday. The son, seeing the light, came in to make me food, but I had already cooked myself some eggs and bananas. We spend the evening chatting. He is a soldier in the army. I ask him questions about the army, conflict zones, and he asks me questions about Europe and France.

During my second to last week of volunteering, I moved around quite a bit. And mainly on foot. On Monday, I went to the last school that was unknown to me: Goyabal, half an hour’s walk from the house. The teacher from the Union left at the beginning of the week, so instead of staying at home doing nothing, I took the opportunity to go see the children at the school. And on Monday, there were only 2 of them! 3 were absent, helping their parents harvest coffee in the fields. It’s not a problem; we still managed to work, play, and chat. I returned to the school on Wednesday, and everyone was present. We made pancakes! After that, we had a tasting, and then we moved on to a French lesson with greetings and basic everyday words. It’s a very laid-back school, the only one where the teacher lives on-site. Between my two visits to Goyabal, I went with Juan, Doña Hermelinda’s son, into the jungle in search of Zambos! A musical style, a plant? Nope, by its other name, the spider monkey, it is an endemic species of the region that is endangered due to habitat destruction, among other reasons, for fields for cows or for plantations. It is also the symbol of the ABC association project here.

We set off into the jungle, with our boots and machetes, and began our ascent because the monkeys live higher up in the mountains. Sweat drips down, but the beauty of the jungle is captivating. Juan, who spent his childhood here, knows the sounds of the animals, and they are numerous around here! We encounter squirrels, wild chickens, and catch a glimpse of a couple of corn-eating monkeys (common in this area). We continue our adventure: 1 hour, 2 hours, 4 hours of walking, and still no Zambos in sight. Juan shows me the track of a bear, but we don’t see it all day. Finally, we take the path back down, freestyle with the machete, when suddenly Juan signals me to stop. We hear what sounds like dog barking. Then we see shapes moving in the trees. Juan explains to me that it’s the Zambos! They make cries similar to dog barking. We move forward a bit to observe them better, and then here they are! A family of spider monkeys is swinging from branch to branch, from tree to tree at the treetops. They are very high up, and we have to crane our necks to see them. They are big babies! I would say about a meter tall and with a beautiful wingspan thanks to their long tails. Their fur is black and white on the upper body. They make cries partly against our presence but also because another family approaches them. They try to throw projectiles at us, but from this distance, they miss their targets. We spend a good while watching them, then we take the road back to the casa (there’s still no road, you know). It took us 6 hours of non-stop walking and a bit of luck to see such elusive animals.

In Morcote, it’s youth week! On Wednesday and Thursday evenings, films are being shown: The Wave and Soul (Disney Pixar). Very good films! On Thursday, I went back to Altamira to do a crepe workshop. It’s inexpensive, easy to cook, and delicious, so why not enjoy it! I demonstrate the recipe and then it’s time to cook! We flip the crepes, and during the 10 AM break, everyone can eat their crepe! We then write the recipe in the notebooks, in French, English, and Spanish. On Friday, I’m at the college with Diego, and we continue working on pronunciation with the students. But today is a special day because there’s a fiesta! We could call it a party at home, except it’s not in the evening but at 1 PM. DJ, foam bombs, colored powder jets, gifts… We had to motivate the middle schoolers to come dance, but in the end, everyone participated and danced to the different music styles. The DJ quickly forgot the electro classics we listen to in Europe to play the classics of the countryside: Janera, cumbia, merengue, Carengue, and others… Everyone is dancing, having a great time, then the party ends, and I leave to make a few phone calls. Then I’m invited by some teachers to play Tejo (pronounced tay-ro). It’s a game where you throw disks (shaped differently than those we have in France) and aim at an inclined clay surface. In short, we play a few rounds, chat, then as the rain is coming quickly, I run back home, but I can’t escape it. Saturday morning will be spent chatting and snacking with 2 teachers before I take the return journey in the early afternoon. I’m starting to get used to this route by now.

Then on Sunday, I set off again for a visit to Milagros to see the little family again. Another two-hour walk, accompanied by toucans and a multitude of other birds. We catch up on news from the valleys and the people, and I see Jaimito (the baby monkey) again. The procedures to send him to a refuge are underway, but it’s taking time. We take advantage of the sunshine to go swimming in the river and play with stones. The afternoon passes quickly with coffee, a nap, Kems, and homework help, then it’s time for me to set off back to La Unión. As I’m leaving, a street vendor’s car arrives in the valley. So I ride back in the back of the pickup truck with a guy who works in the area, and we also pick up some children from school who were working in the fields. We arrive in the rain, but at least I didn’t have to walk! Juan has left for Yopal because he was stung by a wasp in the eye. Half of his face was swollen and his eye had changed color (blue/transparent). It wasn’t a pretty sight. I hope he doesn’t lose his sight, but in any case, he left for the hospital (about a 3.5-hour motorcycle ride from the house).

Week 12 – September 28, 2025

Here we are at the end of my volunteering journey! Just under 3 months living in the countryside, learning about Colombian life, teaching, and so much more! Departure is scheduled for Friday afternoon. Until then, I’m finishing my classes at the Uníon, we’re doing quite a bit of dancing, choreography, and drawing… I hope they have learned something from me and that they will be happy! Doña Hermelinda left for a trip on Monday; I thanked her for her hospitality and her cooking, then I did my laundry, packed my things, and stuffed everything into my backpack. I have a lot of stuff, as always it’s too much. Before I leave, I plan to leave my boots, some t-shirts, and other items with the teacher from Altamira so she can give them to the children in need.

On Thursday, I’m going back to Niskota to see the kids and let them taste the crêpes! I really did some crêpe promotion. Two hours in the kitchen cooking, but it was worth it. In the end, every school I visited tasted the crêpes, and now they have the recipe. We watched the movie Ratatouille with the little ones and again in the evening in the village. I managed to download a version in Spanish. I’m going to say goodbye to the teachers in the village, the children, and on Friday, after lunch, Diego will take me to Nunchia, a small town two hours away from Yopal. One hour by motorcycle to get there, on a bumpy road, then two hours by bus to Yopal, followed by nine hours to Bogotá. Four hours of waiting from 3 AM to 7 AM, shivering on a chair in the terminal, then I get on the bus heading to Ipiales, a border town with Ecuador. It’s going to be a long trip: 26 hours by bus with only one break for food. But honestly, I was mentally prepared, so it went by relatively quickly. A total of 38 hours by bus is a lot, but I needed to move fast because my stay ends on September 30, and I didn’t want to get a fine at customs. Anyway, it worked out.

In any case, this is a volunteer experience that I will remember for the rest of my life; I leave with a lifelong lesson, my head filled with memories, and my backpack full. This kind of experience brings you back down to earth. Life is tough for everyone, but some people face more essential problems, let’s say. Not all children have access to education, to healthy and varied food, do not receive medical care when they need it, and do not receive love from their parents and families. It has been a life-changing experience that I invite everyone to undertake at least once in their lives. Let’s be humble, appreciate what we have, and share with others: materially, spiritually, our knowledge, and hey, don’t worry, be happy!

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