The Salt Cathederal

Today we slept in a little later than usual. We had breakfast with everyone and then about the time that we were done our driver arrived to take us to the Salt Cathederal. The kids were excited that they were going. We piled in the car and off we went. Patricia was good at pointing out some cool stuff as we went along. She showed us the refining plant where they take the raw salt and process it for exporting. She also explained that Colombia is the 2nd largest exporter of flowers, especially ROSES. You will see pictures of all in the album marked "Salt Cathedral". We passed a government castle and a bridge that were over 600 years old. The Andes mountains surrounded us on both sides. There were portions of the trip where you could see houses on the mountain side. Most of the these areas she said were where the least fortunate people live. There were some homes on the mountain side that were large homes with multi-levels and were where the wealthy people lived. The Salt Cathederal is the first tourist attraction. It was very cool (not literally - It was not as cool as the caves we went into when we lived in St. Louis). Maria and J.P. had a great time touching and tasting the salt which was everywhere. By the end of the tour little J.P. was ready to sit for a while....I think he was tired. The tour took about an hour. We were with some other English speaking families on the tour - our guide also spoke English. After the tour we had a small cup of coffe at the bottom of the mine then we made the hike back up to the entrance/exit. We let the kids play on a playground for about 10 minutes and then we were off to find some lunch. Patricia took us to theis really cool place. Steve had chicken, beef and sausage with french fries, an arepa and a piece of banna bread. I had the same except the beef and chicken. The kids both had what else but CARNE, their favorite. The rain started to come in about the time we got ready to leave. I thought the kids would sleep on the way home but, they were too wound up. We got back into Bogota around 5:00PM and piled in the room for a quick siesta before dinner. Dinner was a simple red beans, rice, carne, plantains and guak. Just enough after the late lunch we had. The kids didn't really get a good siesta so after dinner they were ready for bed. We got them in their jammies and they fell off to sleep. We watched a movie and then we went off to bed. Tomorrow we'll catch up with Paster Mark at Calvary Chapel Melbourne (ccmmelbourne.com) on the web then probably go up to one of the local flea markets. It will be an easy day. Don't forget to check back for the pics. We'll try to get them up ASAP. Hasta Luego

Barbeque

Here is our room from both angles.

Pictures

Here are a couple of pictures from Bogata.

July 4th in Bogota

Today the weather was perfect. The sun was out and it was cool. We walked down to the Unicentral mall with JP while Maria was with her tutor. When we returned we went out for empanadas and went to the park. We returned home about 2pm and the kids took a nap. About 4pm we started the grill and had our 4th of July barbeque. Nick, cooked hamburgers & hotdogs, corn (with the largest kernells I've ever seen) and the girls made potato salad with bacon. We had all the chips and veggies as well. For dessert the kids roasted marshmellows over the coals on the grill then they had brownies and ice cream. We sat for a while afterwards, had coffee and talked. The kids were having fun dancing to some vallenato we put in on the computer. Betty's husband, Ralfa, came over and played with the kids for a while. Even though there were no sparklers or fireworks we had fun.

Another family came in late Thursday night after me. It was a dad (Larry) and his son (Andreas). He was adopted a couple of years ago. I believe he is now 14 years old. They have returned to Bogata for a visit and to meet with Andreas foster parents. They were gone all day yesterday although returnd last night about 10pm. We had just finished watching a movie so we talked for a while.

Tomorrow we are going to the Salt Cathedral. It's suppose to be spetacular. It's a salt mine that has a church in it. The cathedral holds 2000 people and has services on Sunday. There are many tunnels and biblical sculptures carved out of the salt. They have tours (in english). Everyone says it's one of those things you have to experience once.

Talk to you all soon. Steve

Daddy's on a Plane

Today was very exciting as we knew that daddy was coming back to Bogota today. Everyone was up and through the morning routine like clockwork. After breakfast I sat down with Maria and went over some homework with her. She is studing the alphabet, vowels, numbers, colors and shapes. We got through some of it and she said she would work on the rest later in the afternoon. We were pretty much killing some time because we were suppose to walk with Christina and Nick to a large park they found about 15 minutes walking distance from here. After they were all dressed and ready baby Mira included, we piled in the strollers and off we went to the park. The kids had fun playing for a while and it started to rain so we had to book it back to the residence. After some lunch I let the kids stay up instead of putting them down for a nap as the Dr. was to be here at 3:00PM to review their shot records. I didn't know if she would want to see the kids so, I didn't want them sleeping just yet. When she arrived the girls brought us some afternoon coffe and we sat down at the dining room table. After reviewing what was given to me by the social worker from Aguachica we came to the conclusion that Maria needed all her shots (Tuberculocious, Polio and Hep B she already had MMR) except chickenpox which we can give to her in the states (it is required by the Embassy but, we understand that they have been a little more lax about making the kids get it here in Colombia). J.P. has had everything except chickenpox and it is the same for him - he can get it in the states. The Dr. was going to double check about the chicken pox vax to make sure that the Embssy will allow it later. After the Dr. left I put the kids down for a nap. They both fell asleep and slept for about 2 hours. We had a half an hour to kill before dinner so I put in the movie "Free Willy". There was a part where they were showing a skateboard park and I told J.P. his daddy used to do that (Ms. Betty was in the room at the time and she translated for me) J.P. responded back to her "I can do that!". It was too cute. It really is a shame that we don't know more Spanish because I am sure there are so many more little cute things that they say that we do not know about. Dinner is Chicken, rice and delicious carrots and green beans. After dinner it was back to the room and I got the kids ready for bed. Daddy was gonna come in late and I didn't think it would be good for them to wait up for him. Well it's time....Daddy is coming now. Until tomorrow....Hasta Luego

I'm Back In Bogota

I flew back to Colombia. I had a good flight although it was a long day. I treated 10 pateints from 9am-11am, changed at the office, grabbed some quick food and hit the road by 11:30. I needed t0 be at the airport in Miami by 2:30 and it is a 3 hour drive. After some rain and construction slow downs I arrived ay 3pm. It tok about 1.5 hours to check in and get through security. My plane was scheduled to leave at 5:30 and was only a few minutes late. We landed in Bogata at 8:05. We deplaned on the Tarmac and took a bus to the terminal. Immigration was very busy and had taken about an hour to clear. Wendy was waiting outside. Long day but very glad to see Wendy and the kids.