Life is a Game we Play.

Post AIESEC Conference Withdrawal Syndrome…

So, last week was NatCo (Colombia’s national summer conference). We hosted it here in Cartagena, and it was a raging success. The actual conference started on Saturday, but people from all over the country came in early. The MCP stayed at our house for a few days which was pretty cool, and then we had a trainee from Brazil and some girls from Santa Marta stay with us for a while too. A huge group of us went to this really cool club the Sunday night before the conference. I’m definitely going to miss the way Colombians party when I go back to the US!! I may not be a salsa dancing expert, but it definitely beats a night of awkward conversation over loud music at the Gritty…

The conference kicked off with a massive Global Village in la Plaza de Proclamación. Global Villages are a little different when the host country’s main focus is ICX (incoming exchange)…I remember the Global Village at SC last summer inside the hotel in Chicago. There was a guy from Jordan, and a girl from Turkey…and then maybe an AIESECer from the US with Chinese roots. In Colombia, we had trainees representing Finland, Poland, China, Japan, France, Holland, Romania, Bulgaria, Canada, The United States, Italy, India, Slovakia, The UK, and Spain, among others. It was outside in one of the largest plazas in the city, and each country had its own tent. We had a live band and special shows. A bunch of us trainees cooked food for our stands-- I made M&M cookies and macaroni and cheese. Haha. It was so crowded between all of the AIESECers and locals that came. It was really fun.

The actual conference itself was very similar to the conferences we have in the US…everyone works really hard all day, and then parties all night, gets up early the next day and repeats for 5 days in a row. I will say that I was incredibly impressed with the energy of AIESEC members in Colombia. They put us to shame. Each committee has a battle cry that they yell when they’re introduced, and everyone jumps around and shouts. I have never seen so much enthusiasm at 9am after only getting about 4 hours of sleep! I really like that every LC is structured the same; there’s an IM (information management), TM (talent management), ER (external relations), Communications, and Finance team. We were able to get right to work on the issues rather than waste time talking about whose LC organization made more sense like we do in the US. I also think that because Colombia is an underdeveloped country, their members are especially dedicated and passionate. They put so much time and effort into working with different foundations and organizations and raising traineeships. The US focuses on OGX (outgoing exchange) mainly because we’re a developed country and there’s not a need for developmental traineeships, and also because we no longer have local sales teams working on external relations and raising traineeships. I can go online and look at the traineeships available in Colombia, pick one and go, with very little effort. But if you step back and realize the effort that was put into creating the PBoXs (projects based on exchange) and everything, it’s mind-blowing to realize the dedication these young people have for working towards bettering their society. I was really taken aback and impressed during the sessions.

I escaped a few times during the conference with some other trainees to go exploring in the area. The trainee from Brazil and I took a trip to Volcán Totumo. It’s a natural mud volcano halfway between Cartagena and Barranquilla. You climb down this ladder into the mud and then get a massage. It was the weirdest feeling ever because the mud was so dense it was impossible to sink. It seemed like it was going to be a relatively inexpensive trip because it only cost 5,000 pesos to enter (about $3), but it’s incredible the amount of tips they ask for. While we were eating lunch they just hovered over us…the little boy that carried our sandals, the man that took our pictures, the man who gave the massage, the women who tried to help us clean off, the woman who cooked our food, the woman who brought our food to the table, the woman who cleared the table, etc etc. The next afternoon, a bunch of the trainees went downtown, and I got to act as tour guide which was fun. We went to Juan Valdez (a local café that I am addicted to…but hey, there are worse things to get addicted to in Colombia, right?!) and fed pigeons outside of the Iglesia San Pedro, walked along the Muralla that surrounds the historic downtown, ate mangos, bought earrings from the hippies on the streets, and more. I also went with the guy from Bulgaria, Petko (yes…pronounced like the store for our furry friends), to the Castillo San Felipe. It’s this enormous castle just outside of the downtown. It’s full of deep, dark tunnels. We walked around guided by the lights of our cell phones. Some of the tunnels dropped way below sea level so we had to walk through about a foot of water! We never saw any rooms, just tunnels. Looking at it from the outside, I expected the inside to be different.

The party themes during the conference were: Night 1-Fiesta Caribeña, Night 2-Take Cover, Night 3-Fiesta Infantil, Night 4-Fiesta de Pijamas. The second party was by far the coolest party I’ve ever been to. We took a Chiva ( an open air party bus that blasts music and is painted really brightly with flashing lights) to the Murralla next to the famous (and beautiful) clock tower. The party was held on top of the Muralla so we had a beautiful view of the city. Furthermore, everyone was dressed elegantly in all white. One of the teachers at the school I work at actually sewed me my dress.

The weekend after NatCo, I went with some trainees to las Islas del Rosario…a group of 27 islands about an hour and a half off the coast. We spent some time on the beach at Playa Blanca, which is absolutely beautiful. The water is sooo clear, and the sand is really fine. It’s hard to relax though because there are thousands of vendors walking along the beach trying to sell you bracelets, carved wooden statues, maracas, coconuts, mangos, beer, shrimp, massages, braids, etc. Each vendor sells the exact same shit, and they come around and try to convince you that it’s all one-of-a-kind, hand-made treasures.

posted by Erin @ 12:42 PM