Sincelejo - Home Base

3 May 2015 - Sunday

I arrived in Sincelejo last night. It is a small city of 250,000, medum-sized really but it doesn't feel that way. It has two or three big supermarkets (all one chain), one big plaza where people gather in the evenings, a tiny central market with temporary shops woven through the streets and walkways, a few small universities, and a new mall with a little movie theater. This means that the rest of the city is run like a huge series of small towns – tiny shops for food, clothing, motorcycle repair, and all the necessities of life dot the main roads far into the suburbs. By contrast, the Provo-Orem metro area has 300,000 people and is very different – 4-5 big movie theaters, 10-20 supermarkets (most bigger than those here), restaurants of every type, 2.5 large malls, two huge universities, the enormous University Parkway business center.

My room in Sincelejo. I'm there about half of my nights in Colombia.

But I'm not sure Sincelejo is worse off. I mean, sometimes I think so – part of me constantly pines for the states when I'm abroad – but I also realize much of the development I just mentioned is not very healthy. A simple life isn't so bad, though I don't think the simple life of the city is quite equal to that of the country. Simple city life often just feels like poverty. and perhaps it really is more "poor" in some sense of the word. So perhaps that's why Sincelejo is a little unattractive to me, in a way that the city of Bogotá or the tiny towns of Kenya and Mexico were not. But the issue of how I react to Sincelejo is probably more complicated even than that. No solving it tonight.

Sincelejo is also a very Latin/Hispanic city. Loud music in the evenings, motorcycles and taxis everywhere (read: 80% of vehicles on the road), a few bus lines, lots of people lounging outside their houses or shops or downtown, a surprising amount of staring (or maybe just because I'm a gringo), many small groups talking and laughing, a slower pace of life, a surprising amount of trash, awful driving, much honking of horns, tiny shops every 30 feet selling everything under the sun (including the same thing sometimes), a big Catholic Church, many pedestrians, warm nights, and no A/C. It's so different from home, and sometimes I love that.

Taxis and motorcycles. Everywhere.

Today I went to the LDS church in Sincelejo. It's part of the district, so no wards yet, but some of the branches are quite large. With fast and testimony meeting today, there were some sweet meetings. I went to two separate meetings, and in the smaller meeting almost everyone stood to bear testimony. While I don't generally love small units struggling to fill all the callings, this was a really nice experience – pure, good people. I think they will be excellent to spend time with.

Permit me two more descriptions. The people I have met with SembrandoPaz so far have been, quite simply, some of the most interesting and selfless people I have met in all my travels. This afternoon I spent a long time talking with a woman from Bogotá who graduated in social work. She later moved up here, just three months ago, to help however she could. She left a good job and many cultured friends in Bogotá and has been very lonely here, but she loves the work and is determined to stay at least a year. Then this evening I talked with a fascinating young man who lives in the mountains in a tiny village and it takes photographs of the people doing… everything. He has been there two years and loves the people dearly, and he thinks their slow integration into modernity (a new highway, clamors for electricity and cell service) is only going to hurt them. Perhaps he is right – sometimes I think the small towns are better off isolated. But with the lack of education and engagement with serious problems in the world around them, should they really live like that? We don't keep children eternally innocent; rather we teach them to be problem-solvers and serviceable to the world – should that change if people don't have to live in the world?

At any rate, Kristian (the photographer) is a character the likes of which I rarely meet. With no permanent salary, he has "considered the lilies of the field" and lived trusting in God to provide (as he told me), and provide God has. That's some faith! I'm looking forward to meeting the rest of the team soon.

The view from our roof in Sincelejo.