The Universe speaks in mysterious ways. She points to people and places if you begin to trust her enough, subtly guiding you to exactly where you need to be. Carl Jung coined a term for these meaningful coincidences. It’s called synchronicity: the aligning of the universal forces with personal experiences. A beacon that you’re on the right path. The flow, if you will. Ever since I first started looking for her, I’ve begun to see her everywhere. She winks and she nods. The past few weeks here in Colombia, she’s been speaking to me in turtles.
Turtles are such interesting creatures, independent and minimalist travelers, carrying their home wherever they go. They are quite resilient as well, and have long defied eras of mass extinction. Before I left the states, my friend Emily gave me a small turtle figurine to accompany me on my travels. Curiously enough, I’ve been seeing them everywhere since I arrived here in Colombia. Upon arriving at our hotel in Puerto Colombia where we spent our first week of training, each person in my cohort was greeted with Welcome signs from current volunteers. Mine was a sole turtle, exclaiming “Bienvenidos a Colombia, Brynn!” It was a literal sign.
Four days later, I learned that I and three others from our group would be living in a small pueblo called Polo for the next three months of training. We left the hotel squished inside the back of a van with all of our luggage, anxiously awaiting our first “Bienvenidos” from our host families. We arrived at a dirt road in the quaint and quiet pueblo, and as the van came to a halt in front of a small blockhouse, the driver tossed out my bags and I stumbled out into the smothering heat. I was greeted by a small six-year-old girl with ringlets of bouncy curls, eager to meet her new hermana, and to show me her two new baby turtles. As fate would have it, my Colombian family has four large pet tortoises, and they had just hatched babies. I had no idea where on earth I was, but I knew that I must have been in the right place.
These past few weeks haven’t all been easy. Colombia is not all rolling hills and rainforests. Just like in the states, there is poverty here too. It looks different at times, but it’s the same. Gender roles are pretty sharply defined here, and the piropas (catcalls) can be relentless. However, the families here are so warm. You can’t enter a house without being offered a glass of fresh juice. You’re always greeted and farewelled with a kiss on the cheek.
Although, I’ve neither mastered Spanish or the art of the bucket shower, yet, I have an amazing host family that paso a paso is showing me the way. That’s what I keep telling myself, paso a paso y poco a poco, I’ll get to the places I need to be, even if it is slower than I want it to be. That’s another nice thing about turtles, they take things slowly, step by step. They enjoy the journey and don’t rush to the finish. Taking things step by step in Colombia has given me a new appreciation for the meticulous, the ordinary and the routine.
So for now, I ‘ll just keep following the turtles, and hope they keep leading the way.
