Barcelona, Spain: Barrio Gótico

As previously mentioned, the hop-on/hop-off bus dropped us off at Barrio Gótico, which is also known as the Gothic Quarter. At one point, this area was a Roman village, and some of this great history can still be found here. There are beautiful cathedrals, churches, restaurants, and shops—all of which can be found in the 2,000 year old Gothic Quarter and any of the side streets you may find yourself walking along.

My sister and I stopped for churros y chocolate (churros, also known as a fried dough pastry with chocolate) since this is said to be a must in Spain. When the dessert is ready, you receive a plate full of churros and a cup of warm, melted chocolate, and you dip your churros in the chocolate, and enjoy!

Once we had enough to eat, we continued walking until we came across another bakery that had been highly recommended—Ecribá. We ordered a cremadet, which is a caramelized custard filled puff pastry. Once we were stuffed and had enough to eat, we continued walking around outside, until we came across an exciting parade taking place nearby.

One of the shops we passed in the quarter was a store for jamón ibérico, or cured ham, which happens to be very big throughout the country. We saw an employee cutting slices of ham (pictured below), which is exactly how the locals do it at home as well. We found another beautiful church in the area with a great sign that stood out to me. It read, “Caigas donde caigas. Allí estaremos,” which roughly translates to: Fall where you fall; we’ll be there.

As we turned onto a side street, we walked past another sign that seemed to be a campaign of some sort which read, “I’m doing nothing.” Underneath, a question was written, “How many things would you do if you were not scared?” This is definitely food for thought that many of us could benefit from taking the time to think about.

Day 2 In Cartagena, Colombia: Canoeing In La Boquilla

Upon waking up in the morning, we began our day by heading out to La Boquilla, a fisherman village in Cartagena where individuals from class zero and class one live (the two lowest socioeconomic classes in the city). La Boquilla is considered to be a fisherman village because the main activity for locals here is fishing. Fishing is so great in this area because the ocean is connected to the swamp, so local fisherman are able to catch fish from both areas of water. If you were to go to the village at 5:30am, you could purchase caught fish that are still alive, swim in the local water, and go prepare your freshly caught lunch.

There is a lot of construction taking place around La Boquilla, especially the building of hotels, so the locals have worked out a deal with the government. The deal is that hotels building around La Boquilla must employ 20 percent of their staff from the area. In addition, the must either feed these individuals once a month, or educate them in order to help give back to this community.

La Boquilla is known for having the biggest natural reserve in Cartagena. Mangroves here grow up and down, similar to the path of a circle. This is because when the mangrove grows downwards, it creates a new mangrove tree that continuously repeats the process. You can also tell the color of the mangrove by looking at the bottom of the trunk. The colors can be black, red, or white.

Something interesting about La Boquilla is the fact that numerous members of the community come together to raise money for one another and for their neighborhood. This is evident in the fact that some members make the canoes by hand, others row the canoes when tourists come to town, and a select few are in charge of organizing visits from tour groups in Cartagena. These canoe rides, offered on what is called a bote canoa chalupa (or small canoe boat), are a main source of income to the locals in La Boquilla, and they take great pride in the work that they collectively do.

Reaching New Heights at Misioneros Del Camino

In 1986, Mami Leo answered a call from God to pack her belongings and move to Guatemala to help abandoned, abused, and malnourished children. With $2,700 raised by her and her prayer group, and faith that the Lord would guide her, Mami Leo devoted nearly thirty years of her life living in the mountains, nourishing, educating, and loving countless Guatemalan children in need. Throughout the past month, I have been discussion the incredible milestones that Misioneros Del Camino has accomplished thus far. As the story continues, we pick back up in 2011.

As you might remember from a previous post, in 2006, a neurological center was established on site, providing care and numerous therapies to children with various neurological disorders such as autism, Down syndrome, intellectual disability, cerebral palsy, and many more. In 2011, an expansion on the neurological center was completed in an effort to provide service to more children than our current facilities would allow. The expansion was devoted to both occupational and sensorial therapy.

Occupational therapy consists of teaching children everyday skills from getting dressed, to writing and more. Sensorial Therapy deals with sensory issues such as not being able to eat certain types of food, not being able to stand in a bright room, and more severe issues like the inability to sense hot or cold and high sensitivity to touch. To put this into perspective, imagine if someone touched you and it felt as though thousands of ants were crawling on you. Many children with Autism and sensory disorders cannot even be hugged or touched by their mothers because of such sensations. But thanks to the generosity of such great supporters, more will children will be able to hug their mothers and accomplish ordinary tasks that we would normally never even think twice about.

One such child who benefits from the therapies offered at the neurological center is Darlin, who is pictured below being carried on her mother’s back. She is four years old and has cerebral palsy. They live in a very poor village about 20 miles from the Neurological Center. To bring Darlin to therapy, her mother has to carry her daughter on her back to take a bus that leaves her about 5 kilometers from the Center, and then she walks the rest of the way with her daughter on her back. To return home, she does this again. She has been doing this since 2011 to help her daughter. Darlin has made fantastic progress! She is starting to take her first steps and is saying a few words. Hers is a long road, but there is hope. A few short years ago, she would not have had any hope or access to help, but thanks to the Neurological Center, that is no longer the case.

Expansion at the Neurological Center

Some of the Various Therapies at the Neurological Center

Darlin and Her Incredible Mother