Villa de Leyva

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Stupid Slide.com! I was trying to make some slideshows (please check out some past posts) and I left my email on the site and then next thing you know all these emails came pouring back into my inbox for some GREAT deals on Viagra. So...I am SO sorry if you were inundated. My apologies.

Villa de Leyva is a quaint town North of Bogota. We started out on Saturday with the Agudelo family. As always it's a joy to get out of town for a while and the Agudelos are a joy to be around. They've become such an important part of our lives, especially Lucy and Mateo, their Colombian Abuelos. It makes my heart sing.

It's about a 4 hour drive to get there. We checked into our hotel and found a restaurant in the town square for some lunch. Then it was onto dessert. Godfrey had to bring us to "the best coffee shop in Villa de Leyva" My thoughts were, "Great! Good coffee." It is a little shop on a corner called "Cafe Don Eloy" It was some of the best coffee I've ever had. I'm not kidding! And the desserts...To DIE for!

We start back to the hotel and it starts raining, so we duck under a tent for a bit thinking it will pass. Godfrey and Adriana volunteered to go with an umbrella and get the car to pick up the rest of us. No sooner than they leave that the heavens seem to open up and there is this incredible downpour! We have to duck out of the tent and take refuge in a shop. It's only about 15 feet away but we're pretty drenched by the time we run to the other building. Now we're really feeling sorry for Godfrey and Adriana! Hopefully they have ducked in somewhere to avoid the weather as well. A little while later Inez decides to call and let them know where we are. When she puts her hand in her pocket she comes out with the car keys! Oh no! By the time they finally reached us everyone was soaked! I couldn't believe the torrents of rain. We could see the rain coming down the mountain like a river. It proceded to move down the streets through the town square and kept right on a going to God know's where.

It was nice to walk around, check out some shops and just relax. Kurt was sick again from who knows what???? So I took Lucy to the Fossil Museum. Evidently millions of years ago the area was an ocean. There is a pretty huge fossil there of some kind of crocodile. Pretty interesting stuff. There was another family from the hotel that happen to be there at the same time we were so we all went together. We also went to an Ostrich farm. I think that was Lucy and Garrett's favorite part.

We had a quiet ride back to Bogota on Monday afternoon. Lucy and Mateo promptly fell asleep in each arm. As I looked down on them sleeping so peacefully my heart was bursting with joy. I am so happy, so content, so lucky.

Our family is complete.
Smooch
PK

Botanical Garden

This weekend we are in Ville de Leva (pictures to come soon) but earlier this week we went to the Botanical Garden in Bogota. I must say that I really enjoyed it. Right now they have an exhibit on butterflies of Colombia where you go into a special part of the greenhouse and hundreds of butterflies are flying around you. They also have dozens of varieties of orchids there, but unfortunately most of them bloom here around December. Despite the orchids not being in bloom, we did enjoy the rose gardens and many other exotic plants and flowers.

Hope you enjoy the photos,

Kurt

Guatavita

This was by far my favorite day trip so far, including our last trip here as well! As always it is great to get out in to the countryside, seeing the farmers work their fields of potatoes. Breathe in the fresh cool air. It is not as lush or green this time around. This region is in a terrible drought. I think they must all be praying for the rains to come!

Freddy is a great tour guide and friend. We hiked up to the first view of the lake. Lucy was a total trooper. She walked most of the way with Kurt helping her along the way if she needed a break. There were lots of breaks! For those of you that have been before, the walk is about as high as Monserrate, around 10,000 feet. We went with our friend Tracy and her son Ty. Ty and Mateo are only 3 weeks apart. It was time to feed the babies by the time we reached the top so we plopped ourselves down to listen to Freddy tell us the Legend of el Dorado. Quite an interesting story of the indegenious peoples worshipping the lake, offering gold sacrifices, complete with Spainards draining the lake 9 feet to look for and plunder said gold.

We then went into the town of Guatavita for some lunch. Freddy took us to a fabulous restaurant where we all enjoyed the 4 food groups;) Kurt had the trout, Freddy had the chicken, Tracy ate the steak and I enjoyed the rabbit! So tasty in a tangy garlic sauce. Tastes like Grouse:)

The town of Guatavita is quaint. All the buildings are white with red tile roofs. There are many steep red brick stairs leading to all the shops and houses.

I've finally had some time to organize and download our pics. I'm hopeful that I can back track and put up some slideshows week by week of our stay. I know we haven't been posting enough pictures for all of you.

Smooch
PK

la Candelaria

The internet is so fussy here. Our Skype is pretty sporadic at best. The spell check doesn't work on our blog and sometimes it won't let us post pics. Sigh.... I guess we're a little too dependent on technology these days. How did we ever survive without the internet;)

Saturday we went to la Candaleria with the Parmers. We had a delicious lunch from a restaurant that specializes in food from Cali. Que rico! After lunch we headed over to Bolivar Plaza. They have a display there now. Ants are crawling on the side of one of the buildings. They represent the displaced peoples living here in Bogota that have had to leave their homes and land to get away from the FARC and paramilitaries.

The church was also open which is a rarity I guess. It is enormous, not to mention breathtaking! We happen to be lucky enough to see the changing of the guard at the presidential palace as well.

Today we had Bandeja Paisa for lunch at the hotel. The staff really outdid themselves.

Tomorrow we're going to the town of Guatavita to see the Legend of el Dorado.

I'm truly in heaven...

Smooch
PK

Sunday Markets - So much shopping, so little time and money

My dear friend Adriana was kind enough to go to the Sunday Markets with me. I thoroughly enjoyed our time together without kids. Thank you Kurt! I am amazed at my restraint. I came back to the hotel with my backpack only half full:) I have my eye on a few things and of course I need to go to hotel la Fontana as well. But I have to tell you the dollar is not going as far as the last time we were here:( Good for the Colombians but bad for my shopping addiction! While my bargaining skills are a little better, they are not as willing to barter. But many thanks to Adriana who helped me!

Anapoima....what a relaxing getaway! Hansa tours now (or maybe they always have) rents houses/apartments all over Colombia. Check it out at www.hansatours.com We went with another family from Wed - Fri last week. It was only about a 2 hr drive and the scenery is breathtaking! It is quite the ride down the mountain! The fresh air and weather was awesome. And the pool....that was a lifesaver. Lucy only came out to eat, go to the bathroom and sleep. My little fishy. We really needed the quiet time away as a family. The hotel is great but ohhhh so busy. Katia, the owner, told me that she's had to turn away four of her reservations. Mateo is thriving! He ate like a little piggy and now officially has a tiny double chin and elbow dimples! He went swimming in the pool and now even has a little tan. Kurt is back to being the whitest member of our family.

Today is a down day and then we're going to Guatavita for the day with some other families from the hotel. We're still figuring out our Villa de lleva trip with the Agudelos this weekend, how many nights. It is a 4 hr drive so we'd like to go for more than one night.

Chiao!
PK

Anapoima

Here are some photos from our stay in Anapoima. Weather was a little cloudy but still about 82 degrees each day.

So Much to Do, So Little Time

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Since I have not posted anything but pictures yet (I been a bit lazy about writing this time), I thought I should finally take a little time to share a couple thoughts with everyone. So here is what has been on my mind for the first week and a half:

Family

It has been interesting to watch the new dynamics of our family unfold. Cooporation, frustration, exhaustion, negotiation, jealousy, happiness, love, joy, togetherness are just a few of the words I would use to describe how the new family unit functions. So far it seems to be working pretty well with just a few minor hic-ups along the way. Although, I will say that the remaining 10 hairs I had left on my head have fallen out as a result of all 4 of us sharing the same room for the last 14 days.

One final thought on family, it really is special to watch all of the families that are here with all their different adoption stories. There are people here from all over the world adopting babys, special needs children, and family groups. This afternoon Lucy and I played Play Dough with three boys who are being adopted by an older Italian couple. I can tell when I see them together playing, eating dinner, and doing learning activities with their new mom and dad that they are going to be a great family with a lot love to share between them. This is just one of many hopeful situations for both the children and the parents that I see here everyday. Please say a prayer for all of them.

Travel in Colombia

Now that we have met with the Defender of Minors we can travel around Colombia. This is what we have been doing or will likely be doing over the next few weeks while we wait for the OK to go home:

- Nemocon (were there this weekend, see pictures)
- Anapoima (leaving for there tomorrow)
- Guatavita (Next week, this is where the legend of El Dorado originates)
- Villa De Leva (two weekeds from now)
- Caratgena (week of the 23rd)

Hence the name of the post, "so much to do, so little time"

May God bless the children who are still waiting for their families,

Kurt

PS. Spell check is not working so please forgive any errors. Also, as I mentioned above we will be traveling this week without internet, so no new posts until this weekend . . . sorry.