Danielle Exploring Latin America 🌇✈️🌊

Hello it is I. Danielle. One of your Guitarrón Chronicle hosts! I’ve had one of the absolute craziest summers of my life. It’s actually been the most productive unproductive summer ever. I’ve travelled more in the past month than I probably have in my entire life. As you might know from my first conjoined blog with Hannah, I am currently in Medellín, Colombia for a fellowship funded by Rice (shoutout Loewenstern)! I’m working with a community partner to help out their research and the development of their STEM education programs. A decent amount of my work has been remote, so I’m using that as a chance to explore where I can! I’m super grateful for this opportunity and have been having a ton of fun with it as this is my first time out of the country!

‧₊˚❀‧₊˚. Danielle’s Summer Update 7-23-25 ‧₊˚❀‧₊˚.

A Weekend in Cartagena🌊🦜🐟

One of the most beautiful beaches I’ve ever seen was in Cartagena!! Me and my travel buddy met up with other fellowship participants (who are based in Bogotá) and enjoyed the waters together. The beaches there are so pretty and clear and calm that you can float around in the open water. We visited Playa Blanca and a resort called Bora Bora which was literally something straight out of a movie. Even better, I finally got to see a toucan (a lifelong dream of mine) at the Colombian Aviary!!! Did we have some trouble getting to the beach? Yes. Did our tour guide lowkey forget about us? Also yes. But did I have a really good time anyways? Absolutely! I also ate fish for the first time (I am usually a fish hater) and it was actually pretty decent (and pretty expensive…) though my opinion on eating fish has not changed much.​

Rio de Janeiro🔥🔥🔥

This was absolutely INSANE!! This was a very impromptu trip that was pulled off thanks to the help of yet another fellow and one of my closest friends (shoutout Lauren!) All of the views there were so beautiful and I had such a great time. I’m pretty sure life is headed downhill after this trip because my life most definitely peaked here. We saw Mr. Christ the Redeemer, walked through the Copacabana and Ipanema beaches, and went up to Sugarloaf Mountain! The beach was also super super gorgeous here but less swimmable because of all the crashing waves. Everyone eats Chicken Parmesan on the regular here which is basically my dream too. I also saw yet ANOTHER TOUCAN at Tijuca National Park (where we also got our workout in walking uphill for literally hours I think I can still feel the soreness in my legs). He was a Toco Toucan and we saw him flying in the wild it was so beautiful I almost cried tears of joy.

Coming back, I had a layover in Bogotá so I spent the day with our other fellowship friends from the Cartagena trip then proceeded to MISS MY FLIGHT back to Medellín. And not to mention, they kept giving me windowless window seats. Rip. Who knew my downfall would be my sleepiness. In my defense, imagine not having had decent sleep in a bed in over 48 hours… a nap was necessary at that point. Everything ended up being ok but I did end up sleeping for 21 hours after, essentially skipping the entire existence of Monday (yay?).

Comuna 13 of Medellín🌇🚠

A little more locally, one of the most beautiful and best places to visit if you find yourself in Medellín is Comuna 13! It was once one of the most dangerous neighborhoods due to its use in moving drugs up until Operation Orion in October of 2002. These days, there’s tons of street vendors, miradores, and museums. It’s super packed but it really is so pretty and lively. I bought an entire plate of strawberries for the equivalent of $2 and ate them all. We also stood in this line to take a picture with an abnormally large hand, and the line had seats for us to sit in which was great for our legs (do we look like a girl band in this photo?! Be honest). There was this silly museum of famous paintings recreated by rubber ducks which I thought was a genius idea.

Diabolical Mariachi Luna Llena Plans🎺🎻🎶

Last but certainly not least, I’ve been working a ton on planning for Mariachi Luna Llena this year! From the Guitarrón Chronicles to reels on our social media, I have so many hopes and dreams for this year. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks, y’all will see the website completely refresh (since we’re finally moving off our old platform), and hopefully in the next couple of months, y’all will get word of some of the events we’ve planned! Also, if you’re an alumni reading this, make sure you filled out the member headshot + additional info form I sent out to you all (7/21/25) 👀 hehe.

I also wrote another blog for the Center for Civic Leadership (CCL) here if anyone is interested about the Medellín culture and that aspect of my fellowship. Thanks for reading this far yipppeeeee!!

See you all next week with another chronicle!!

All the best,

Danielle