Homeward Bound

March 15, 2010

 

It was Monday morning before the sun rose that we were up, packed, and ready to say good-bye to Colombia and hello to our families! We were excited to introduce our little Luciana to our life!

 

We made it through customs and to the terminal with thirty minutes to spare.  As always, Luciana was enjoying another outing.

 

 

We all were seated next to each other and the flight went well. It was a perfect day for flying. We all peered out the window to get a bird's eye view of the Colombian landscape that we were leaving behind.

 

 

 

It wasn't a couple hours later that we flew over this island. Can anyone guess which one it is?

 

 

 

Our guess was Cuba.

 

We landed in Atlanta, Georgia and had a few hours to get through immigration. That was an interesting experience.  We did not get "warm fuzzies" from the American side of immigration. But it sure felt good to be back in the United States!

 

Our next stop was Detroit and then home! What a GREAT feeling to be able to welcome home our precious little Luciana Valentina Houseman!

 

 

 

Killing Time

 

March 13 & 14, 2010

 

We arranged to fly out of Bogota on Monday, March 15 so we could have one last Sunday to spend in Colombia. One of our favorite days in Colombia has been Sundays when they close some streets to vehicles and open it to foot and bike traffic only.  We also enjoy going to the flea market.

 

This Saturday morning Jacob and Luciana enjoyed sleeping in a little bit.

 

 

We stuck around Hotel Paris most of the morning and were treated to Dave's least favorite food for lunch.  We can usually tell when Juanita, the cook, has the day off.

 

 

If you were unable to guess what food this is, I will tell you that it was not served on the plate looking like this.  This is Dave and Jacob's creation of chicken strips taking flight.

 

 

 

It was even equipped with landing gear.

 

 

 

Like usual, Luciana happily waited for the conclusion of lunch while sitting in her car seat.

 

 

 

We decided to take one last trip to the mall and pass some time. Jacob enjoyed a game of air hockey with Carlos.

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday, March 14, 2010

 

It was another nice day in Bogota.  As I mentioned earlier, we looked forward to Sunday's flea market.  However, much to our disappointment, there was not a flea market today.  We changed plans and decided to take a walk to a park so that the Jacob could play and Dave could get some fresh air.

 

We followed the brick path that ran along side of Hotel Paris.

 

 

 

Finding treasures along the way to keep Jacob and Carlos entertained with the hike.

 

 

 

We arrived at our destination along with several other local families that were enjoying their Sunday afternoon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We weren't gone for more than a couple of hours and it was time to head back to Hotel Paris.  One last night of hanging out with the staff.

 

 

 

Oh how we will miss their smiling faces and warm hospitality.

 

 

 

We are grateful for the friends that we made on our six week stay in Colombia! Thank you Hotel Paris, The VanderMaas Family, The Thompson Family, The Kammeraad Family, The Tanner Family, The Kerns, and The Ahern Family for adding to our memories.

 

 And a special thank you to Carlos and Camilla!

 

 

 

We will never forget our time in Colombia!

 



Guatavita

 

March 12, 2010

Katya, the owner of Hotel Paris, offered to take us on a day trip to Guatavita before we left Colombia. The trip began Saturday morning as we hopped in Katya's Toyota SUV and headed north out of Bogota. Our first stop was at a little restaurant on the side of the expressway. We enjoyed pan de yuca, ban de bono, and Jacob had a chocolat ice cream cup.

Nature calls frequently for Dave so before we continued on to our destination he visited the bathroom. He did the usual and washed his hands and was stopped short of drying his hands. He couldn't believe what he saw. Being an electrician, does he dare touch the hand dryer? He made sure that he wasn't standing in a puddle of water before he pushed the on button.

He did not have to worry about turning the light off when he left.

While Dave was studying a new way to wire hand dryers and lights, Jacob was taking full advantage of the Goliath size swing behind the restaurant while finishing his ice cream.

Next he was off to the biggest outdoor slide that he had ever seen on a playground. Maybe he will be ready for Cedar Point this summer.

We left the restaurant just in time because Jacob was hanging on his last rope.

We made our way off the main highway and arrived at our destination. Katya pointed us to a hill on the horizon and told us that the house on the side of the hill was her second home, a farm.

Laguna de Guatavita. It is a circular lake in the mountains of what some thought was a meteor crater and or an old crater of a volcano. Are you familiar with the legend of El Dorado? Supposedly this lake is widely thought to be the basis for the legend. Legend has it that the Guatavita Indian Chief covered his body in gold and would venture out into the middle of the lake on a wooden raft and then submerge himself in the water. This ritual was to honor his wife, who according to the legend, lived at the bottom of the lake. Many stories have been written about this myth and for that reason many have attempted to try to recover the supposed gold that is at the bottom of this lake.

The first structure that we encountered looked to be like a "warming" hut.

In the center of the structure was a fire ring and along the interior walls were benches. Katya told us that various ceremonies and rituals are performed in this building.

We exited the structure and followed the signs that led us to the narrow foot trail to Laguna de Guatavita. The vegetation that we entered into felt somewhat like a jungle. I kept my eye on the path for native reptiles. I did not want to be surprised by a slithering creature.

Luciana was thoroughly enjoying the hike.

It was a relatively steep trail and Jacob welcomed the sporatic benches for an opportunity to catch his breath.

We made it to our destination and took some time to pose for pictures and to admire the beautiful landscape.

Before we started on the downward trek we followed the trail as it ascended to another shelter type stucture. Dave with his keen eye for moving creatures spotted something in the folage along side of the trail. Can you see what Dave saw?

Jacob leading the way, moved quickly to the front of the line on the descent to the parking lot. Good thing he was wearing a red shirt so we could see him.

We have experienced many new and different things during our time in Colombia. Dave jas taken an interest in the various public restrooms. This one had to be his favorite. It was as if he was one with nature.

We piled back into Katya's Toyota and headed into the town of Guatavita. We made our way to the central square where there was one food street vendor and a couple handcraft vendors. This particular food vendor was selling desserts with fruit and cream.

Katya chose to eat strawberries and cream and Jacob had chocolate covered strawberries. I also partook of Katya's strawberries and cream and Dave refrained. This was the first time that any of us ate street vendor food for fear of getting a stomach bug. It was pleasing to the palate without ill effects to the stomach.

Once again we got back in the car and started to make our way back to the hotel. From a far, a little town called Guasca caught our eye. Katya veered left and gave us a quick tour of the town.

What grabbed our attention was the architecture of this church.

Our final stop was a quaint restaurant on the side of the road. It was well hidden by folage.

We were the only patrons at this restaurant.

Jacob was able to pass time while waiting for dinner with creating a new hat for Luciana with his new purchase from a Guatavita street vendor. She liked the attention that he was giving her.

Katya's meal.

After dinner we made one more unexpected stop at a roadside stand/restuarant outside of Bogota. Katya purchased an arepa for our tasting. The road that she took back into Bogota came down out of the mountain that we could view from our hotel window. It was getting close to dusk and we had a fabulous view of the city all lit up. It took us awhile to get back to the hotel because of "rush hour" traffic. Bogota's traffic can seem like a parking lot at times.

This was Saturday night and we had cake to celebrate our Sentencia.

 

One last family photo before we come home.

What a good day it was!