An old beginning

Like with most tasks that have been put on hold for a while, I’m having a hard time finding a place to start. So why not start in, uhm, southern Italy, in June 2019. Back then I was on vacation, camping and surfing with some good friends. The weather was incredible, our camping site was located right by the ocean and the wind was strong. Shortly before, I had just started my first job in a rehabilitation hospital after finishing university for a degree in psychology. My original wish was to travel the world before starting my career, but that’s kind of difficult when you don’t have any money saved up for it. So I did what my parents urged me to do: I took the path of flawless CV’s and least resistance, leading straight into the world of full-time-work. I searched for a job to begin my therapy program, found one, and eventually started helping people get their life back together while mine was not really where I wanted it to be.

Objectively, Italy was an amazing vacation, but there was a dark cloud hanging over me. The fear of having missed out on a big life opportunity, paired with the dreading feeling of being an unskilled idiot who doesn’t know what the fuck he’s doing (ever heard of “imposter syndrome”?) made me take a long, lone walk by the beach one day and re-evaluate my life from a further distance. Although I was thousands of kilometers away from home, I still somehow felt trapped. I knew that I wanted to work with people in the long run, but the timing felt wrong, like I was rushing it against my own will. So I did the maths: Since my parents were paying for my education, I could probably save up fast enough to go backpacking in a few months, even if they didn’t agree - which they didn’t. Then again, most people don’t have that kind of financial support, need to pay their bills and can’t just say “Fuck it, I’m going”, right? It felt like, instead of doing what was expected from me, I would simply be abusing my privilege - just a spoiled little brat who was burnt out after merely two and a half months of working a real job, wanting to get the fuck out.

You might ask yourself, why am I telling you this? Well, partly because I love talking about myself, partly because that walk led up to me eventually staying here in beautiful San Carlos for two months. Because when I came back to the camping site that evening, I had not only gotten a proper sunburn, but had also made the decision of “Life experience over job experience”. I will spare you the details of my year working in rehab and the following months of being pissed off about the cancellation of the trip due to Corona - all that matters is that after a brief waiting period of 18 months, I finally made it here.

Before I continue, let me introduce myself real quick. My name is Florian, 26 years old, from Germany. I don’t really have any outstanding skills, except for being able to have breakfast up to four times in the morning, mood swings that can change faster than travel restrictions during the pandemic and the muscle-ability to scroll through social media on the phone for hours at a time while laying on the couch instead of being out there living my best life. Therefore, I wanted to expand my limited skill set by learning a new language, one that actually gets you places. Places like beautiful South America. After a good amount of research I eventually figured out that, in fact, Spanish would be my language of choice. After all, Spanish is the mother’s tongue to more than 400 million people around the globe, making it the second most commonly spoken native language worldwide and the one predominantly spoken in South America. Since I had never taken any Spanish classes before, all there was left was to decide on where to start my journey from zero to hero.

You know, since Colombia is known for its armed robberies and cheap cocaine, I just had to go for the thrill… I’m just kidding, but according to my parents, that’s what my thought process must have looked like when I told them about my plans. If you are reading this blog article, you probably know that this is not true anymore and Colombia has in fact become a safe country to travel if you use your brain and common sense. In reality, my decision process looked like this: I decided to talk to a few friends who had been to South America before, in order to learn from their experience. They provided me with a lot of useful information that I’m very thankful for and can now agree to (“I really liked Colombia: the people are great, the nature is amazing… You should start your journey there. It’s a great country on the rise, they also speak clear Spanish”), but also some misleading statements (“Spanish is sooo easy dude, you’re totally gonna be fluent in a few weeks''). And just like that, I had a country to begin with. In case you didn’t know, speaking a little bit of the language actually is necessary here, because once you leave the tourist areas of major cities, your English isn’t going to get you very far with the locals, which I painfully experienced in my first few days in Medellín.

Finding an actual place to lay the bricks of language foundation wasn’t such a difficult journey after all. To keep a short story short: I found out about Workaway, made an account, put in “Language School”, basically set the filter to ”Show me the best you have” and smashed that search button.

Volunteering and learning Spanish at Spanish Adventure

Like with any new major step you take, I didn’t quite know what to expect at first. I was kind of surprised to arrive at a beautiful finca outside of San Carlos, which is only a bumpy bus ride away from Medellin, rather than a small school inside the city centre. Because who would double check the information before they arrive at a Workaway? I certainly didn’t, and therefore wasn’t aware that the school had upgraded from a cozy city apartment to a luxury home with a panoramic view in the midst of green rolling hills. Also, I appeared to be one of the first volunteers to arrive since the school had to shut down in March 2020, which was great because in this way, there were a lot of possibilities to help shape the direction in which everything was going. I helped out in the general housing area, which meant that we worked on everything in and around the house: We planted vegetable beds, set up a little compost, dug out flower beds (which have yet to be protected by the hungry, ruthless donkeys), and many more projects that require two hands and sometimes a bit of a brain as well.

The gardening work is usually done in the mornings, before or after Spanish classes. If you time it well, it is definitely possible to cramp in a few breakfasts between both, so that you have sufficient energy levels throughout the morning. All I can really say about the classes is that they are hands down the best Spanish classes I’ve ever taken and I’ve heard others with some actual experience on their learning journey say the same. Camilo and Daniel are both great teachers with a good energy who know what they’re doing while at the same time making it as fun as possible. I must admit that I had not used the time that led up to my journey for practicing, because when I had a lot of free time in lockdown I didn’t even know whether my travel plans would be possible anytime soon, let alone if I would be able to go to South America. So, I came here with literally zero previous knowledge. It’s crazy, once you get through the basics, it feels like a whole new world is slowly opening up to you, waiting to be explored. With that said, in the beginning there was also a lot of frustration involved on my part. Dealing with this frustration turned out to be more of a primary challenge than the language itself. If you’re anything like me - which means you have high expectations on yourself, paired with a high need for efficient progress - you will get frustrated at times. But sob no more: This is completely normal. It happens to most at some point, which also means that there’s always someone to talk to. Additionally, Camilo and Daniel are not only great teachers, but great humans with some experience on their hands, who have seen struggling students before and know to take your issues seriously while at the same time putting them into perspective from a calm and easy going point of view. 

For me, I have taken seven weeks of classes in total and have made great progress - doesn’t take much if you start from rock bottom. My Spanish is still fucking broken at times, so the more important progress was building up the acceptance that you don’t become perfectly fluent in a new language in a few weeks. It took me a while to figure out that my Spanish journey wouldn’t just be finished at some imaginary point and I’d hit” checkpoint fluent”, but rather that this is a side journey that will keep me company during this whole time of travelling. Today, I’m rather amazed that after just a few weeks of learning and practice, I am able to get my way around if I need to, understand the locals if I ask them to speak slowly and have a conversation on a basic level. Plus it gets better every single day.

The San Carlos experience

Apart from the Spanish classes, there’s definitely more to the experience. To be honest, especially the nature and adventure aspect is what sold me right away. Back home, I love spending time exploring my outdoor surroundings anytime I feel that the ceiling is falling on my head. In my experience, being outside and moving makes the thoughts change their appearance from closed circles to branches that extend in all kinds of directions. The same applies when you’re living on the other side of the globe. Anytime I was feeling down and frustrated with myself, there was a place to explore, a river to swim in or a waterfall to jump from, either together with the other students or by myself. I found my own little sacred place of peace in a river that is located about a 20 minute walk uphill from the school. In order to get there, you kind of have to walk through another finca’s land property, but although I have come across people there quite a few times, a friendly greeting has always helped me not get chased off or shot. In order to get away and find a moment of solitude, going there has always helped me sort my mind out and return with a much clearer headspace. 

But getting away from people all the time is not really the point, right? Well, I’m glad to tell you that there’s always a possibility to throw yourself out there in order to get in touch with people, whether that be locals or other students. I do want to mention that since the school is now outside the town, sometimes you have to put in a minimal effort in order to fully immerse yourself - you won’t just step foot out the front door and automatically get sucked up into the next bar until midnight. Then again, there’s always other students to motivate you to get your ass out of bed. Apart from planned school activities like dance classes, hikes in nature or bar nights as a language exchange, the main square of San Carlos is always only a 10 minute Tuk-Tuk-Ride away and offers all the things that you would expect a hidden gem near Medellin to offer. This means that you can find plenty of bars, clubs, restaurants, pharmacies, supermarkets, vegetable & fruit markets, barbers, clothing & electronic stores, you name it. I found it interesting that instead of being spread out, everything is located right by the town square, so you will have an easy time finding your way around very fast. Also, you will start recognizing some faces and eventually making friends with locals, because almost every time you sit down for a coffee or a beer, you will see someone that you’ve bumped into before. Overall, this is a fun Spanish immersion experience that is much richer than taking classes in a big city where you will probably be staying at a hostel, only speaking English with other travellers.

How to stay in mediocre shape while travelling

One thing that has been really great for me is how easy it is to keep up with your workout routine while volunteering and staying in San Carlos. I am probably not alone in my need for physical activity in order to keep a mental balance, which became even more clear during the shitshow of the year 2020, when I was being forced to stay home. My limited possibilities consisted of running in nature or doing workout routines in my living room. I’m not a big fan of either one, the latter being because my carpet is so comfortable that I usually choose to simply remain lying down after two push-ups. So I started to go to the gym when they opened back up at home and was proud that, for the first time in my life, I actually stuck to a routine. At least... until they closed right back down. There went my gains, flushed down the drain, and with them my uprising aspirations of becoming an Instagram-model on the side. Luckily, shortly after arriving in Colombia, I discovered that it is really easy and, most importantly, not too expensive to find a gym that offers day-, week- or month-passes.

For some people at the school, the walks in nature, a nice run in the morning, or some yoga in the garden quenched their thirst for moving around. Others, including myself, were also keen for the adrenaline-fueled Saturday adventures. I’m talking about hiking up a mountain to camp with a 360* view, rope-climbing a 200 meter high monolith surrounded by a magnificent lake scenery or rappelling down roaring waterfalls while going canyoning. For those who feel the additional need to oil their rusty joints from time to time, there is also a nice family vibe gym in town - Atipico Cafe & Bar - which is owned by Manuel and Laura, friends of the school. The entry fee is 5.000 COP (about 1 €) for a day or 45.000 COP (about 10 €) for a month. Daniel and Camilo go almost every day, so it was always easy to find a ride or someone to workout with. If you workout three times a week (for example after the adventures during the week), the monthly subscription is definitely worth it. Not only is Atipico a good place to workout and get in touch with the local gym rats - at the same time it is also a bar, making it the address to host our weekly language exchange and meet even more people while having a drink or twelve. 

A new beginning

Going full circle from fitness recommendations back to the emotional beach walk that started this whole adventure - this is a tough one to bring home, isn't it. To be honest, I don't know how to do it. Just like I seem to know less and less what I'm really looking for on this trip. Other than feeling I needed to take a break from my academic career, I didn’t have a clear goal when I made the decision. Maybe master Spanish in two months while leaving all the bullshit behind? Well, you already know about how the Spanish mission turned out... Regarding the bullshit, I still catch myself being grumpy, quiet and stuck in my head at times, spending more time planning out my every next move than actually enjoying the paradise of possibilities I’m surrounded with. After all, it seems like nothing has changed except for my surroundings: I’m the same overthinker that I was back home when I was waiting for something to happen. 

But then one night, on the way back home from an incredibly long day of river-rafting, I got hit by an unexpected moment of pure bliss. In the afternoon, dashing through the currents, I felt closer to the pulse of life than I had felt in a long time. A few hours later, laying in the back of the van tired and exhausted, listening to the others chatter while Spanish music was playing in the background, all of a sudden I felt nothing but gratitude. There was a sense of deep appreciation for my company, my life, the whole world: Everything was falling in its right place. Before drifting off to sleep with a smile on my face, I asked myself if maybe this was what I’ve been looking for after all: not a perfect, polished photo book adventure, but a sometimes painful process with ups and downs, sprinkled with those kinds of moments. Those moments in which you realize that although we might live on different sides of the planet, we can make meaningful connections with people who had been strangers two months ago, work things out together, get an authentic insight into each other's lives… All the same things that intrigue me about my work, just on a very different scale. I’m thankful to have found this experience here in San Carlos and can wholeheartedly say that I’ll carry these memories with me forever. It does make me sad that I have to leave, but I’m slowly starting to feel the need to get moving. Although this place can easily make you want to stay forever, I can’t wait to carry on with my own adventure and see what the future holds in store.

Special thanks go out to Daniel and Camilo, who made this possible through being good humans and having a vision, to Sam, who became much more than just a roommate, to the rest of the Spanish Adventure family and of course to the wonderful Dobby, who would have deserved his own blog entry rather than being mentioned on a side note. Take care, chicos and chicas.