A couple of weekends ago, we went on our first roadtrip in Colombia and our first real vacation since the summer of 2006. Needless to say, we were really looking forward to it.

We went to a town about 50 miles away (which actually turned out to be about 4 hours there and 3 hours back) called Melgar. It was a dramatic change from Bogota, where it’s 2,600 meters above sea level and about 65 degrees year round. Melgar is at about 350 meters and the high was anywhere from 85 to 95 while we were there.

We stayed in a hotel that several people had recommended. We were told that it was a 5-star hotel at reasonable prices. Turns out, as Kristen said, the stars don’t shine quite as brightly in Colombia. We ended up with a room that smelled liked sewage, water leaked from the ceiling, and the room was decorated liked a 1970s Days Inn. We aren’t complaining and under other circumstances would have been quite fine with our accomodations, but when you expect 5-star and come in way below that, it can be a little shocking.

The rest of the resort compound was very nice. The pool was one of the things we looked forward to most. Being able to be outside and in the warm sun. There were several pools at the compound, but the one at our hotel was a salt-water pool. The water was filled with salt-water, which actually wasn’t too bad. It wasn’t real strong. They also had a small zoo and other activities to do.

Jackson just loved the pool. It was his first time in a pool, and that’s one of the reasons we wanted to go somewhere with a pool. Kristen got him a floatie while in the States, so he just basked in the freedom to float around in the pool without anyone holding him or telling him where to go. It was such a joy to watch him enjoy the water.

We also met an American family at the hotel who was in Colombia adopting their 3rd Colombian child. It was fun having a chance to be a familiar American face in a foreign country. (Actually, they were the same to us.) It turns out they were going to be coming to the embassy in a few days to finalize the adoption process. So we invited them to our apartment a few days later for dinner, which they seemed to appreciate. They were staying in one-room in a hotel with 2 little girls plus their newly adopted son. They said that dinners weren’t always warm and didn’t quite feel like home in the hotel. They really seemed to like the night away from “normal” and a hot meal. And today I got to see them get a visa for their son before they head back to the US tomorrow.

It was great getting to show Christ’s love to strangers and getting to use the resources God has given us in Colombia (like a big apartment and a large dining room table to fit 6 adults and 6 kids-another Embassy family also joined us for dinner that night).

So, that’s our first Colombian vacation for you! When my parents visit in 2 weeks we have another mini-roadtrip and overnight planned so we will likely have more travel stories to come.