The Leather District and Emeralds

March 5, 2010

Today the bus drivers laid down their picket signs and returned to work! That means FREEDOM for us! They ended their strike just in time for our trip to the leather district and to the emerald store.

The plan was to leave after breakfast in a van with Isabel Romero, Rachel Thompson with Gabriela and Josiah, Pat and Connie Ahern with Henry and Gerrit, Pat's mom and Connie's Dad, and us. When Isabel arrived at Hotel Paris she informed us that the Defender of Minors had signed off on our case and that it was back on the judge's desk. Well, that was good news but also disappointing news. According to my caculations, the judge should have had our papers at the beginning of this week, not on the last day of the week. So, that means that the judge now has ten business days for his final signature. Hmm......we could be here another three weeks. O.k. we need to take a deep breath and just enjoy the day. Off to the leather district.

The van stopped outside of one particular leather store and we all entered. Isabel must have some kind of connection with this gentlemen. We spent some time there looking over leather backpack, wallets, and duffle bags. In the end we emerged with two wallets and a duffle bag. Not too bad.

Our next stop was the emerald store. I believe the name of the store was La Factoria. It was a family run business and the only customers that were in their shop were the people from our van. The emeralds were beautiful and quite costly. Not being knowledgeable about prices of emeralds or even jewlery for that matter I wasn't so sure what was a good deal and what wasn't. I know one thing for sure, that is that Jacob walked out with a little bag of green stones that he got a really good deal on. The owner wanted to give the little package to Jacob for free but Isabel informed him that Jacob wanted to "buy" them so the owner told Jacob that it would cost him 500 pesos. Jacob in turn bartered with him and walked out paying only 200 pesos. The owner and Isabel were impressed with Jacob's negotiating skills.

When we arrived back to the hotel, Dave was feeling slightly anxious and wanted me to inquire of Isabel if we could purchase tickets to Cali to visit Paula's friend's parents. Isabel discouraged us and told us that she did not want to have to call us back if we got Sentencia.

Once back in the comforts of the Hotel, Jacob resumed playing with Camilla and helping her with a school project.

Right before dinner the phone in our room rang. It was Isabel. She was telling me that the judge had signed our paperwork and that Carmen would pick me up in the morning to take me downtown. "So what does that mean?" asked Jacob while I was trying to listen to soft spoken Isabel. So I asked her, does that mean that we have Sentencia? As soon as the word Sentencia rolled off my lips, Jacob raced out of the room and scurried through the hotel informing everyone that we just received Sentencia.

Ahhhh, Sentencia. We have waited five weeks to hear that word and now we are free to come home!