The internet is down in our house right now, and I don't have a phone, so I haven't been online, checked my email, or talked to anyone I wasn't looking at face to face in three days. That doesn't sound like that long, but it really is when you're usually online all the time and carrying a phone even when you go to the bathroom.

Friday was a staff party of sorts, at a finca outside of Cali. Everyone in DAPA took a big bus out to this gorgeous house surrounded by tropical plants including coca, and peppers, and these hanging flowers that looked fake. It was the house owned by the parents of one of the project leaders here, who host staff parties pretty frequently. (The last one was apparently the Christmas party, and it got quite rowdy from the stories..) I hadn't seen how really wealthy people live in Colombia before this, but the British pound goes a long way here!! They had a nice lawn, hammocks and gazebos with faerie lights everywhere, a fountain/pool thing, a parrot sitting amongst the enormous tropical flowers greeting everyone. The women who owned the house saw me trying to talk to the parrot, and so she tried to put it on my shoulder. But I think I'm afraid of parrots, and I think the parrot could sense my fear, because the parrot proceeded to squawk loudly and take a lot of anger out on my hair.

After a few drinks in the house everyone went to the nearby river where there was a swimming hole and a big rock to jump off of into the water. It's really weird to see all of the important, professional people you work with splashing around in a pool in their swim suits. But that was just the beginning of the erasing of the line between work life and social life...

We found a patch of grass that was big enough for some pick up soccer, so we played a good sized game. I should mention though that at this point it was me, one other women, and about 20 of the guys we work with, all shirt less and slightly drunk, and really competitively playing soccer. When it finally got dark and we couldn't play any more, we went back to the pool to rinse off the sweat. I don't know who started it, but soon enough the guys were removing the last bit of clothing they had on - their shorts - and swinging them triumphantly above their heads. Don't worry, there are pictures, which one day, I will add.

The rest of the night was pretty much just drinking and lots of dancing. Most people are super good dancers, but when they aren't dancing, people like to sit around the edges of the room and make fun of the people who aren't very good dancers. I don't really mind if people make fun of my dancing; I'm not under an illusions about the quality of my moves. Many people tried to teach me though, so I've now tipsily danced with most of my bosses and project leaders...