Today was five weeks to the day since I last went to the Macarena to help feed the homeless people, and I decided to head back to help the Hermanas Misioneras de La Caridad nuns for my last Friday in Bogotá.
Last time I thought I was peeling leeks, but this time I found out they were actually onions, when I asked a local woman what the Spanish word for leek was. Perhaps I should have known better when my eyes started watering, but then again, Colombian fruits and vegetables can be extremely confusing. Earlier in the week, my mouth hung open when I accompanied a friend to a local fruit and veg shop, as I stared incredulously at the sheer variety of fruit and veg on offer, all with weird and wonderful names such as maracuya, tomate de arbol, balues, lulo-naranjilla, golupa, guatila, mamey, yacon, papaya, guanabana, chontadura, noni, higos, curuba, badea, nispero, chirimoya, carambola, papayuela, guayava, mama-Sapote, cimarrón-culantro, granadilla and pithaya.
As I helped serve plates of rice, corn on the cob casserole and a boiled egg to the waiting homeless people, I reflected quietly to myself that in many ways the last five weeks of volunteer work have gone really quickly, whilst in other respects, it seems like I have been living in Bogota for a life-time. Its fair to say that I dont think my eyes were only wet from the onions as I enjoyed my last Friday in Bogotà.
