This past weekend we took a road trip to a town outside of Bogota.  It was nice to get out of the city one last time. The city is famous for their crafts and town square. To be honest there wasn’t much to see but we filled our time by going to the local Sat produce market, walking around through the cobblestone streets and just relaxing.It was probably our first trip with realistic expectations in terms of accommodations. We always like to say now that they might have a star system in Colombia for hotels but the starts just don’t shine as bright. We came home with a few bed bug bites and it was quite rustic for the price you pay but overall it was peaceful and a good time away in the fresh air.

Our funniest memory was Jackson trying to order his own food at the hotel. He would call for the waitress in Spanish and continue to tell her exactly what he wanted with a sweet “por favor” and followed up by a boisterous “gracias”. They loved it and he obviously ate up the attention. We discouraged it knowing that in the US this would be seen as super disrespectful. One of the mornings there the waitress answered his request for milk but brought warm milk. Word of warning, warm milk in a sippy cup equals and spraying geyser.  As soon as the lid was tightened it flipped on it’s side and spun around as it shot out warm milk. Luckily the hotel restaurant was almost empty at 6:45 AM so we enjoyed our own milk show without disrupting other guests!

On our way home we got behind a bike race which took forever to get around. Jackson decided not to nap and talked about the cows and animals along the road the whole way home! We are not sure if we can talk about cows from TX to DC when we do our move in Oct. Thank goodness by then we will have a car with a CD player.

Here are a few pictures from the weekend…

Our hotel had beautiful flowers

checking out the ducklings at the market

is this not the biggest zucchini you have ever seen?

this was strawberry country! we got a lb for about a dollar and they were the best we have had in a long time!

this basket was super noisy! we asked the lady to open the bag for us to peek…

it was full of little chicks!

5 mins into our walk on the cobblestone Jackson was finding places to plop down!

town square where people came out in the evenings to fly kites

poor little guy…after another good run around he plopped down again!

back at our hotel…Jackson was standing in his crib with the window open peering out

this was what we had in front of us on part of the ride home…we think it must mean that Jesus’s second coming will somehow involve a cruise ship. How exciting!

I guess it’s about time that I blogged about my trip to the Amazon.  Not that I’ve been putting it off, it’s just that life seems really busy right now.

Which I guess is why the Amazon was such a great trip.  Since the advent of cell phones, I’ve never been somewhere for so long where I didn’t have access to the outside world.  But more about that in a minute.

Many months ago, I started talking to our South African friend Nicholas about going to Leticia (which is the Colombian city on the Amazon).  He was game, but it took a while to take off.  But we finally booked it.  We went over Memorial Day weekend, for 5 days.  We flew into Leticia, which was an interesting town.  It’s the only city in the department (state), which tells you something about the department.   It’s all jungle and forest, and those who live there are indigenous and don’t want to interact with city folk or the government.  I don’t even think there’s a road connecting it to the other departments.  Leticia also shares an invisible border with its Brazilian sister city.  So when we went from Leticia to Brazil, we didn’t even know we had crossed into Brazil.

We then took a boat ride, which lasted about 5 hours.  We were only about half way there when the sun set.  And we had to stop at some river town for a pit stop.  It was really interesting to see the way the locals lived.  As we went along in the boat, we saw the tops of huts/houses which were flooded by the Amazon and other tributaries.  From what our guide said, the owners let it flood, and then when it’s low season, they move back in.  I can’t imagine living on a river.  Not like today’s Mississippi.  Like 500 years ago Mississippi.  Living off the river commerce.  Being affected so much by the high and low seasons.  For example, when the river is in high season, it’s harder to fish, because the fish have more areas to spread out to.  But when it’s low season, they are confined to their little river.  What a strange life!!

Our jungle lodge was neat.  It was all earthy and organic.  They only had electricity for about 2 hours a day, and the only light we had during those times was 3 flourescents in a large mess hall.  The light was dim enough that you could barely read.  Which meant we went to bed at around 8 or so, because there wasn’t much else to do.  Of course, the sun rose at around 5:30, along with the rest of the jungle.  Even before the sun rose, birds and animals and insects woke you up.  We slept in little cabins that had wire netting for walls.  And then we slept underneath mosquito netting.

The weather wasn’t quite what I expected.  There were less bugs, less heat, and less rain.  None of which I am complaining about.

It was definitely hard to be so far away, communication-wise, from Kristen and Jackson.  There was no cell phone, internet, landline, TV, etc where we were.  Which was a nice break.  But was also hard not getting to see how their trip in Cartagena was going.

I definitely got to see a lot of wildlife, but not as much as I had expected.  That was partly because we went out in groups, and weren’t the quietest bunch.  But we did see monkeys, caymans, pink river dolphins, grey river dolphins, birds, and pirranahs.

Overall it was a great and memorable trip.  I’m really glad I went.  But Kristen and I have decided we’re not the kind of couple that enjoys taking separate vacations.  Maybe one day, but not today.

A couple of weeks ago my parents flew in for a quick visit the day that Seth flew out for his Amazon trip. I will let him post about his adventures. But we had our fair share. Jackson, myself and my parents along with a friend and her baby flew to the coast to spend 4 days in the sun and warmth!

I had done tons of research on where to stay and since hotels at the coast are so expensive we decided to look into a business here owned by an American that rents out people’s apt’s for them during seasons when they aren’t using it. We found a good place in our price range, asked tons of questions and then signed the paperwork. When we arrived in Cartagena it was HOT. We got out of the airport quickly and made it to our apt smoothly. The only problem was that the A/C in 2 out of the 3 rooms didn’t work….there was no hot water…one of the rooms had a toilet that didn’t work…and it was scortching hot. We had paid good money to have at least A/C.  It was hot enough that cold showers might not have been too bad. In addition we were told it was on the first floor and right in front of the pool and beach. turns out it was all false advertizing!  So, after going back and forth with our agent we got her to agree to move us to another of her properties. The second was amazing! It had a view of the bay and working A/C and hot water! It was a place that cost far more than the one we originally rented but we got the original price because of all of the problems. So, we re-packed and moved across town. Luckily, we were all too overwhelmed to take pictures of the first disaster place so years from now we might be able to just remember the good stuff!

Once we were settled in it was great! We enjoyed our view and each other’s company. Jackson was a bit too excited to have his grandparents along so woke up at 5 or before each morning looking for his friends. Naps were sparse because of all of the fun to be had!  Here are some pictures…

Jackson’s early morning “attempting to stay quiet at 5AM” activity

Jackson loved it when Ben out “get him”

Ben just chillin’

The pigoen whisperer

The toucan at the Santa Clara hotel where we stopped in to cool off with some lemonade. This was the absolute highlight of Jackson’s trip! If only he could have brought the toucan home with him!

We arrived back home Wed afternoon a few hours before Seth was going to land. I felt kind of quesy on the ride home but figured I was just reacclamating to the altitude. Within a few hours I was the sickest I have ever been in my whole life. By the time Seth walked in from the airport he was home for about an hour before he had to take me to the hospital. We called the doctor and he recommended taking an anti-vomiting med but when I couldn’t keep that down or even water we were on our way. We spent the night there for me to get an IV as I was so dehydrated. They had a hard time getting in the IV. I have bruising all over my arms from them pressing! By the middle of the night they decided they would have to keep me and would not be able to put me in a private room because I was needing nursing care every 5-10 mins. I was so sick I didn’t care where I was! I got to come home mid-day the next day.

My dad felt under the weather as well but luckily we think his was altitude sickness and his never progressed like mine. We spent another day and half together before they had to head back to Texas.  The night they flew out we made a fancy dinner. Beef is so good and  reasonably priced that we went to the butcher and bought a huge beef tenderloin. We had it with melted blue cheese on top! After our feast they headed to the airport! It was so nice to have them around! And such a blessing to have them here when I was in the hospital!

So, our getaway was more of an adventure than I anticipated and it will be a LONG time before I travel without Seth along but it was good to get out of Bogota for a few days and have a nice view!

Here are a few videos from our trip to Texas.

This one is of Jackson seeing a horse up-close.  He’d seen horses before, but never like this.  Notice his reaction when the horse finally appears in his window.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hy3oYxIuxQE]

The next one is of Jackson, Mia and Grandan out on the lake at the Farm.  It was quite cold that day, especially out on the lake with the wind.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ohMLkFYDGM]

The final one is Jackson with Nama at the Ft. Worth Zoo, checking out the monos.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wU996iLbzLU]