Colombia - Week 1

Warning: I'm using this space as a virtual journal for our time in Colombia, so a lot of words!

We made it to Colombia with such ease!  God provided us with a place to get our COVID test that was reliable and quick.  That was our biggest hurdle to being able to leave and get into Colombia.  

We were a bit apprehensive about the international travel with the kids.  Dane is registered to go through TSA pre-check (the security line where you don't have to take off any shoes, belts, jackets, or take anything out of your carryon bags).  For some reason he has had issues in the past with airlines letting him use his TSA pre-check status.  This time, it was printed on his ticket and on all three kids tickets.  They took all the carry-ons and breezed through security, while I went through regular security unencumbered with anything except myself.  So easy!

The pilots on both of our flights took the kids into the cockpit and on one plane even let Elise push a button to do some sort of check they have to do before takeoff.  Gran packed surprise goody bags for the kids for the plane ride.  They were thrilled and it kept them busy for both flights.

We were warmly welcomed by Erika, the ECA (El Camino Acadamy) HR department (she juggles a lot!).  She stayed with us for several hours helping us get settled in.  Then later in the evening the guard (we live in a gated apartment complex.  I know, fancy!) called our apartment and said several things I couldn't understand until I heard "abre la puerta".  Open the door.  Oh! ok! I opened our apartment door and a mom from ECA had brought us a big bag of household items and food!  So kind and welcoming!

Monday:  Settled into the house and explored the neighborhood.  We're less than a block away from a huge western style mall.  I have gone in a couple of times to get money and go the the dollar store (!), but my preference for groceries and other items is going to the shops that are all over the neighborhood.  We are at the northern periphery of the city and it feels urban in a very nice way.  Clean, LOTS of parks, people out walking their dogs and shopping, etc.  The kids got their first taste of Colombian street food.  Obleas.  Wafers with arequipa (kind of like caramel cream) in between!

Tuesday: We went into ECA for a staff retreat.  The kids and I mostly played outside and luxuriously read as much as we wanted in the school library.  We didn't bring any books, so the librarian kindly loaded us up with a big bag of books.  We met several people in person that we have only seen on a screen or communicated with via email.

Wednesday:  The internet was not yet hooked up at our apartment, so the kids and I met up with someone from the school and she showed us how to navigate the bus system.  Which is the main source of public transit here and a pretty extensive system.  We went in and used the schools internet for the day while Dane used a cell phone hotspot to teach from home.

Thursday:  School at home.  Dane was very hungry.  I'm still figuring out food, shopping and cooking!

Friday: School at home, dinner with some ECA friends that live nearby.  They have two daughters and our kids were the first ones they've played with since COVID measures started here.  Bogota was in pretty strict lockdown where kids weren't even allowed to go outside.  EVERYONE wears a mask here.

Saturday: We went on our first adventure into central Bogota.  We weren't exactly sure where we were going and went through some very interesting parts of town.  Not beautiful, but interesting.  The city seems to have their businesses clustered.  We got off the bus in the motorcycle area.  Hundreds of motorcycles!  Street after street of motorcycles.  We passed through several more areas and the kids definitely saw poverty like they haven't seen it before in their lives.  Elise was feeling distressed and then we came upon this beautiful, old cathedral and went inside.  It was old and in need of repair, but beautiful.  I think we all needed to see that beauty after seeing some of the harder things.

We ended with finally finding what we initially set off to find.  Plaza Bolivar, the main plaza in Bogota.  It was cordoned off and guarded by police because of some demonstrations that were planned.  Oh well!  We'll be back.  We wandered some of the more touristy streets of Bogota before heading home.  Dane described central Bogota as being pretty raw.  Not a city that people typically would choose to come to for tourism, but very interesting.

Sunday: church at home, rest time, family time, and grocery shopping.

Let me know if you want to see our apartment and I can send you a PDF that Dane put together that shows the apartment and complex where we live.  It's a lot of pictures so I don't want to post them all on here.