Celebrating Mother’s Day

The weather in Medellín is considered by many to be perfect. With clear blue skies, bright mid-day sun, light breezes which come down from the mountains that surround the city, and temperatures that consistently hover around 22 degrees Celsius, Medellín truly lives up to its nickname “The City of Eternal Spring”. 

The Paisas – as the locals call themselves – thrive in these conditions. The year-round springtime temperatures put a spring into their steps and a smile on their faces, and nobody misses an opportunity to enjoy the beautiful mountainous countryside that is easily accessible from the city in every direction. 

To celebrate Mother’s Day and to take advantage of a particularly beautiful day in late May, the staff at one of  Globalteer Volunteer Colombia’s partner projects partner projects organised a large excursion for the project’s approximately 60 children and their parents. Piling into two large rented buses at the project in a largely industrial part of downtown Medellín, the children, parents, and project staff were all set to enjoy a long day out in the countryside. 

A 30-minute bus ride took the group to Copacabana, a small municipality north of Medellín. Their destination was a nature park called La Quebrada Piedras Blancas. As the park is well off the main road, the buses deposited their passengers as close as possible to the park and everyone walked the remaining 15 minutes up a cobblestone street. Everyone helped carry something from the buses to the park – parents with arms full of firewood, foundation staff with food and large pots, small children with three-litre bottles of Coca-Cola, older children carrying the smallest children on their shoulders.

The lush park occupies a small valley, with green spaces hugging the hillsides and a small river flowing through the middle of the park. Water cascades down rocks in the river, forming small waterfalls that the children jumped under immediately after arriving. Bottles of Coca-Cola were placed in shallow water to keep them cool for the day, and children and adults alike stripped down to their bathing suits to splash and play sports in the river. 

While a soccer game was organised between children and parents, one of the more resourceful fathers quickly set to making a fire, and the foundation staff got to work peeling vegetables and making other preparations for the stew, a regional favourite called sancocho. Heavily meat-based, as the Paisas are generally very carnivorous, sancocho is a thick stew of beef and pork, with potatoes, carrots, yucca, and corn. Before long two pots, each large enough to fit a small child, were placed over the fireplace and filled with the bubbling stew, and everyone stopped all other activities to form a long line and await generous portions. 

The children sat with their parents to eat lunch and regain their spent energy, but before long they returned to play in the water with much sancocho-fuelled vigour. 

The rest of the afternoon was spent playing games, enjoying the calm respite from the activity of the city, and relaxing and chatting under the shady trees. As the sun began to set at 6pm everything was packed up, the pots were cleaned in the river by some of the older kids, wet and shivering children were clothed by their parents, and everyone began to make their way back to the buses with huge smiles on their faces. 

All agreed it had been a wonderful way to celebrate Mother’s Day. If you'd like to join an excursion like this and help out the wonderful children of Medellín, consider volunteering at one of  Globalteer Volunteer Colombia’s partner projects.