Out and about in Sincelejo,

my colleague commented on a new housing complex.

Yes, said the local we were with, they’re selling like_____________.

I’d say hot cakes but in fact she said cheese.

More work than I can possibly do.

Colleagues who make me laugh, a lot.

Friends who’ve now known me for 5 or 6 years,

the newness has worn off; there’s that lovely

comfortableness of established friends: I can open my mouth

and say just what is in my head.

New friends, too.

A cyclamen I bought didn’t die.

I’m knitting with the lovely alpaca wool I bought in Quito.

Sometimes I even get out my trumpet.

All being well, I head off to the Coast today

for a couple of days training with a group of people

from our partner denomination.

We will be working on writing Sunday School lessons

with a view to producing some materials together.

It’s an exciting development. If you pray,

pray that we’ll do a good job

and that this project will really take off.

Last Saturday I got caught in a traffic jam.

A route that would take 10 to 15 minutes on a normal day,

ended up taking an hour and a half.

A combination of accidents and a holiday weekend

conspired to make it a hot and frustrating journey.

But as usual, the Colombians on board made the best of it.

Some slept, some played games on their phones,

and at the front, a group of older women befriended the bus driver,

advised him on what to do and generally found the whole thing hilarious.

I picked up a couple of copies of Medellín’s free papers

and here’s what’s made the news this month:

February, 2014 was the month with the lowest number

of reported murders in 30 years.

Between November, 2013 and January 2014

unemployment fell in the Medellín area from 11,9 to 11 per cent.

Sixty two thousand new jobs were created.

And drivers whose license ends with the number 3

were warned to renew their licenses or face a fine of

$164,266 (= £50, $82, €60).

…in Colombia is El Ratón Pérez – the Pérez Mouse,

originally from a 19th century Spanish children’s story.

…in Spanish is:

al pan pan y al vino vino.

Bread, bread and wine, wine.

A bit more poetic, somehow, don’t you think?

in Spanish is hablando del Rey de Roma. (=Speaking of the King of Rome).

(You say speaking of the devil if you are speaking of someone and they appear).