Fincas are the Colombian version of country homes, and it's common for paisas to escape the big city atmosphere of Medellin for fincas in nearby pueblos on the weekends.  My friend Rodrigo had generously invited me to stay at his family's finca in Copacabana one such weekend.

If you visit the Caribbean area of Colombia, an absolutely mandatory side trip from Santa Marta is the Tayrona National park (Parque Nacional Tayrona). This is a protected coastal tropical forest, most of which you can only access by foot, donkey, or boat, thus guaranteeing an adventure away from civilization.

I know this sounds like a really lame post. Hell, I feel stupid just writing it. You don't make juice. You squeeze citrus to get juice, or you juice fruits to get juice. Real juice, anyway-- in my family we always had frozen fruit concentrates in the freezer that you mixed with water to “make” juice, but nobody was fooled. I never considered myself much of a juice fan, though, so I didn't much care. Apple juice always made me want to throw up a little, and although I do love freshly squeezed orange juice, it always seemed just a bit too much work to do at home or stupidly expensive out. And for “real” juice, the kind they serve at juice bars, for that you needed an expensive, not-high-on-my-list-of-kitchen-essentials juicer.

An unforgettable experience I’ve had in Colombia was volunteering for 'Un Techo para mi País - Colombia', an organization that sends volunteers into the poorer areas surrounding Bogota and throughout the country to help construct emergency housing and implement social programs into these communities. We had close to 800 volunteers building 100 new houses in the south of Bogota, helping numerous families in need on the weekend I was involved.  It wasn’t an easy weekend by any means but the feeling of achievement and the gratitude from the family I helped was definitely worth the hard work.