Bueno Santa Marta
Published:
Counting in Spanish for the first time in my life was perhaps the least significant happening during my tour in Latin American Colombia for IMO 2013. Over one day of flights all the way to the other end of the world left our team of seven (with deputy leader) totally exhausted. We were staying at a lovely beach resort. Despite the exhaustion we had explored half the resort in a couple of hours.
The first few days were quite intense as we kept thinking of the exam whilst doing those last minute preparations. Nothing that significant happened apart from some vain attempts to communicate with the hotel staff who had miserable English.
It was finally day one. My first time at an IMO. I managed to get through the first question pretty fast. The second turned out to be difficult. I didn't really try the third after finding it completely out of my bounds. I got back to the second and spent the remaining time trying to figure out what I could. Although I was quite passionate about mathematics I was a beginner and I realized what little knowledge I had after discussing the paper with others around.
Day two was bad. I was stuck in the first question. After an hour or so I switched over to the second. No clue there either. The third was pretty much the same; or even worse. I went back to the first and kept working on it to get through somewhere. At last time was up. I walked off feeling neither happy nor sad.
Soon the fun element of our tour to this Caribbean beach resort kicked off. Some crazy out of the world adventures we had and some unique individuals we met are memories I still cherish. Pushing each other into the pool early morning and trying out those funny looking dishes for lunch (turned out to be super tasty) and beach volleyball and dancing along the sand all evening were indeed joyful.
Soon the last day arrived and the time for the award ceremony came up. Our team mate winning a bronze medal was the highlight of the evening for us. I was delighted to discover that I had been placed among the top 300 in the world. It was definitely one delightful day for everyone.
As the say all good things must meet their ends. The tour wrapped up as we headed for the airport grumbling a bit as the thought of the over 24 hours of flying time before us crossed our minds. But it was difficult to keep that laughter of gaiety off for long. Thus we bid farewell to that memorable city of wonders, each of us taking home memories that were to last a lifetime.
