Stepping Out

We have been in Bogota for six whole days now. Most of which has been spent at Hotel Paris. Today was the day that we decided to step out and have a little fun for Dave's sake. Only in Colombia could you get away with packing two adults and four children in the back seat of a taxi.

It was a ten minute taxi ride to Park 93. Once we arrived Jacob and Caroline played in the sand and on the swings while we sat in the shade. It was a beautiful day. In the sun it felt like it was at least 80 degrees. We thought that it was quite warm but then we spotted several people wearing down filled vests. We really don't understand that coming from Michigan.

Jacob and Caroline really enjoyed swinging.







While Luciana enjoyed a siesta in the shade.




After playing in the park we walked across the street to TGI Fridays. Once again it took us a while to cross the street with the traffic. The food was very filling. After lunch we thought that we needed to walk it off so we decided to walk to Atlantis Mall which was approximately 30 minutes away. That is when the real adventure of the day started (The six of us could have done well on The Amazing Race). Thank goodness for our translator Kristi who was able to ask some locals for directions to the mall. There are no street signs posted at intersections like at home. The street number and address are on buildings located at or near the intersection (found that out a day later). Once in the mall we checked out a few stores and then Jacob enjoyed going up and down the four levels on the escalator. When it was time to leave we needed to hail a taxi. We had a difficult time flagging one in front of the mall so we headed to a different street hoping to catch an empty taxi. New experience....hailing taxis. I bet that at least three drivers stopped and looked at the six of us with Kristi's stroller and refused to offer their service to us. At this point Jacob was thinking that he was going to have to walk back to the hotel. Something that he was not fond of. Finally, Kristi stepped off the curb and into the street and hailed a driver. He too was going to refuse to take us but somehow she persuaded him with her excellent spanish (POR FAVOR!!! POR FAVOR!!!) to take us to Hotel Paris. That was a relief! We arrived back at the hotel and felt good about the fun times we had together.