So I'm in Colomba right now, my first time into town in a week, to use internet and just get out for a bit.

Escuela de las Montañas, where I have been studying for the past week, and will continue for another, is quite different from the others so far. We live in the school house and it sort of reminds me of summer camp (which I never actually had the chance to experience, but I am guessing that its sort of the same?). There is enough space for 14 students, with shared rooms, a kitched, patio with hammocks and a veautiful garden. Its pretty lush, feels like we are in the middle of the jungle, and study outside in huts, sort of like I did in San Pedro. We don´t live with the families for a variety of reasons...the poverty here is pretty stark, and there isn´t enough room for us to live with them. But we do go to families for each of our meals.

When I read that we would be living near the communities of Fatima and Nuevo San Jose, I thought it would be a bit bigger. But Fatima is actually a single street, lined with 20 families, with communal land holdings. Nuevo San Jose is two streets with about 70 families I think. Each has a primary school and a health centre. The communities hold similar histories, of struggles against the coffee finca owners, which finally spiralled out of control after over a year of lack of pay, and deaths from malnutrition. Nuevo San Jose came here 17 years ago or so, and Fatima nearly 8 years ago.

There isnt any work here for the men, so they all catch buses to bigger city centres at 3 or 4 in the morning, and many times they dont find work, but have to pay for the fares there adn back. The school provides some work int he community, based with women, who recieve work by feeding studens on rotation. They don{t have much land, but Fatima grows a bit of coffee, though Im not sure how much they sell or where.

The computer here is pretty slow, and my friend Kira is waiting for me so I will update more later!