Healthy food classes and training in Medellin

Happy November!

The cool weather in Medellin continues, as another rainy season is in full swing (though as mentioned last report, the rain has never stopped). Although that means we haven't been able to organize the water-related problems in the training centre, I feel the pressure and need to start community based activities ASAP.

A few weeks ago I attended a 'Medellin Foodies' meetup where a number of our regular monthly dinner participants (pre-pandemic) were present. I let them know that we still had the challenges in our spaces, but they enthusiastically insisted on having a smaller class and dinner this month, which they organized on the spot! So it will be great to see familiar faces and have the energy of a class and dinner in the kitchen and patio once again!

I've also been getting a lot of messages from our community class participants as well as new people who want to be here learning, so I am working on organizing a small class for them as well in the next month, which will be very emotional to finally be sharing with those who are motivated to learn and prepare healthy meals at home, especially with the inflation and food prices skyrocketing here. In my next report I will share photos!

And finally, I found out a couple weeks ago that we were nominated and won a 2022 Travel & Hospitality Award as the best learning experience in Antioquia, this region of the country! That was a pleasant surprise, as it must have been a guest who nominated us without our knowledge!

I hope you have an enjoyable and safe year end, and we'll talk soon!

Brian

Hola! This week we've finally had some sunny, warm days in Medellin. The city and country in general has been suffering from an extended rainy season: the first dry season of the year never appeared, and it's been wet since October of last year, which has caused all sorts of challenges and disasters. Here at Via Cocina, the gardens have had a tough time getting restarted with all the rain, but we do have some plants finally sprouting which is something to look forward to!

I was recently contacted by a tourism guide who had come here with his colleagues a few years back for their year end celebration  (with a delicious cooking class). He had fond memories of the experience with us, and wanted to include us in the itinerary for a Singaporean tv filming crew, who visit different countries that have overcome a challenging history and have new positive stories to share. That sounded perfect to us, and we were very happy to spend a day participating in the filming with a cooking class onsite, and an interview sharing our story too. And as an added bonus, we were able to invite a couple of our community project participants who have been here since our first cooking class. We had been in contact, but hadn't seen them in over two and a half years, so it was super nice to see some happy enthusiastic faces taking notes as we cooked away!

I hope that this brings us even closer to starting up our regular activities again; there are a couple more repairs to be done (thanks to all the rain), and once I have them in order, we are truly looking forward to seeing more of our colleagues in the project space learning and laughing with us.

Thanks for your support!

Brian