Magical A-Frames and Realistic Birthdays
Alternate Titles: Andie Zuzarte’s Thoughts on Birthdays, Post-Glamping Reflections
I just spent the weekend in an A-Frame in the forest of Minca. I fell asleep after watching the sun turn bright flamingo pink and slowly melt into the ocean. I woke up to a disappearing full moon and a chorus of birds and monkeys resonating through the valley. We walked around the property and picked guavas and oranges, all the while struck by the amount of hummingbirds that filtered about. It was a disney-like dreamy experience. To no one’s surprise, I love glamping.
This first glamping experience was all thanks to a new and dear friend, Andie Zuzarte. She is a Fulbright research fellow living just four hours north of me in Cartagena and , for her birthday, we all made our way to the A-Frame of my dreams.
Andie turned 24 on February 3rd. On our way back down the coast she told me that this was the first birthday with which she felt “truly satisfied.” It turns out a large majority of Andie’s birthdays have fallen on a snow day, “at least seven of them” she says. So, instead of being at school or gymnastics surrounded by friends, little Andie spent lots of birthdays home alone while her parents, both doctors, worked. But it goes beyond weather and location. We also talked about expectations:
“I didn’t hound anyone to come to this. I sent one invitation text and whoever wanted to come came. It was just people who cared about me and were excited to be there.
It showed. In all my time traveling, this was by far the easiest group to interact with. Decisions were quick and painless. We shared a mission: get to the magical A-Frame and have a good time for Andie’s birthday.
“Plus, I didn’t expect it to be a perfect day. I expected some sh*t to go wrong. When I was younger, I think, I expected every birthday to be a perfect day.”
It’s unwise to expect perfection in Colombia. It’s not how things work. Transportation runs on its own schedule and it’s impossible to anticipate how you will get from point A to point B, or what will be waiting for you at point B. This has been good for all of us. We’ve been forced to stay “tranqui,” as the costeños say.
“Plus, as you get older you know what’s going to make you happy. When you’re 16 you expect other people to make you happy on your birthday. But when you’re 24 you know that a croissant and gymnastics will make you happy.”
This one hit home for me (the girl who made a list of acceptable gifts for her last birthday). I think we all should take some time to consider what would make our own birthdays more satisfying. We should be, after all, experts on our own joy. So plan your own birthday and maybe you’ll avoid the all-too-familiar birthday cry, like Andie (almost) did.
*Tranqui: short for tranquila, which means calm. This term is used to reassure people that everything will be ok, similar to saying “stay calm.”