Buenas from Cali, Colombia!
Jumping off of Shelby’s blog, I just wanted to let you guys know the good news- We passed our yoga teacher exams! We are now officially certified yoga teachers. Yay! We are both super excited to start teaching yoga at the ashram. It’s definitely going to be a great learning experience.
Shelby and I have been here a little over a month and the time has flown by! I’m absolutely loving it here. It is staring it feel like my second home. When we aren’t doing yoga, you can be sure to find us out and about. We have divided our time between eating arepas, going to museums, Spanish lessons, dancing Salsa, and venturing to Rio Pance. Pance has been one of my favorite places so far. It’s a very popular river where you can go to be in touch with nature. This is a very common destination for the people of Colombia.
The weekend before our yoga teacher training started, we had the opportunity to spend the weekend at Rio Pance. Sadly, Shelby was feeling under the weather, so she wasn’t able to go. With tears in my eyes, I gave Shelby a heartfelt farewell and ventured to Pance with some fellow Yogis. At the river, we went on a beautiful hike up to an abandoned farm house. What was supposed to be a four hour hike, turned into a 6 hour hike. It was very tiring, but definitely worth it. We spotted so many cool creatures and trees. We saw colorful beetles, lulo trees (my new favorite fruit), and butterflies with clear wings. We also crossed some pretty narrow suspension bridges. It turned into a balancing act seeing as we only had a thin wire to stabilize us. It was quite the experience.
A few days ago, Shelby and I went with some fellow Yogis to Kilometro dieciocho (Kilometer 18). We put our taste buds to the test and tried the famous chocolate con queso (hot chocolate with cheese). I had my doubts before trying it. Hot chocolate and cheese? That does not sound like it would be a good combination. But much to my surprise it was delicious! We might have to make a trip back there for more.
Along with the yoga, we are fortunate enough to participate in Thai massage and Acroyoga courses. Acroyoga has become my new obsession. Whenever I have a spare moment in the day, I try to find someone to fly or base with. It combines two of my favorite things- acrobatics and yoga. How had I not heard of this phenomenon before?
Two months might seem like a long time, but Shelby and I know that it will fly by with a blink of an eye. We still have so much more of Colombia to experience! I can’t wait to see what’s in store.
Ciao for now!
-Tia Johnson