Last day as a family of four

Andes Mountains
Today was very enjoyable but all of us are getting very anxious for tomorrow.

First let me answer a few questions noted in the comments. Why can’t the children at Children’s Vision International be adopted? All of the children that are there have not been registered, they have no birth certificate. So to the government they do not exist, they are called the invisible children. Most of them were just dropped on the doorstep or were found left in abandoned buildings or under park benches. The process here to have your birth registered is different than in the states. After giving birth you have to go to a “somewhere” to have the birth registered, and I understand that there is a cost involved to register the child. Some of these folks can’t even afford to eat let alone register their child.

Another question is what time is it here. We are on Central Time. So for you Ohio folks, you are one hour ahead of us.

The weather here is beautiful. It stays between 50 and 70 degrees and so far has been mostly sunny. Apparently it rains here a little everyday, but so far it hasn’t rained since we got here. The evenings are cool and the sun goes down by around 6:00 It’s funny because some folks walk around in jackets and others in short sleeves. The German family here is always cold, but we are fine until evening.

A French family came last night and anther French family is coming later this evening. Luckily the German family speaks some English, the French family knows very little English and very little Spanish. Today we decided not to go on the picnic and to the father son soccer game. We spent the majority of the day walking as our last day as a family of four. Sundays in this area are "ciclovia" which means no cars only bikes and pedestrians on certain roads. The smog lifts and it's much more pleasant to get around without fighting traffic.

The German family staying here has been here for two weeks so they showed us around a bit, showed us the super market, the large mall etc. They showed us to a village that sells authentic Colombian items. We were able to walk to the village, it was safe. The kids, especially Emilee enjoyed it. She thought it was really cool to see all of the Colombian people selling their various forms of art. It was a really long walk, a few miles, but it was worth it. The kids feet were hurting so I’m not sure if we will get them to go back again. It’s only open on Sundays.

On our way to the market
Diro was tired of walking and we weren't even there yet, so Nate gave him a ride

Just before we got to the market we went into a mall of sorts to go to the bathroom. Luckily I had seen on a blog once, that you get the toilet paper before you enter the stall. So I looked when we went in and sure enough the TP was out by the sink. So I told Emi to grab some paper before she went in. You should have seen her face. The toilet did not have a toilet seat so that was a little odd. When we walked out Emilee looked at me and just said “wow.”

This was a bathroom sign, Colombians are very affectionate but is it really necessary to show that on the el bano sign?

Once again I have to say how proud I am of Emilee and Nate and their Spanish. Emi really wanted to purchase something on her own, she thought the market was really cool. She found a purse she really wanted. So Eric told her how to ask how much it cost and she asked all by herself, in Spanish, and completed the transaction with no help from us. Nate had more fun laughing at everyone staring at him and his red head. Diro the 8 yr old German boy (recently adopted) was with us for part of the time, just because he wanted to hold Nate’s hand or ride on his back.


Of course we spent some money. I bought a few pieces of art that I will frame for home. Emi bought a purse, the Colombian flag colors. Nate has always been fascinated by rocks, stones of sorts, so he bought an “obelisco tallada en agata”, it’s a really cool looking piece. I bought a child’s CD in Spanish and Eric bought me earrings and a pendant with beautiful emeralds in them from a jewelry store. Most of the worlds emeralds come from Colombia so I couldn’t leave here without an emerald. Plus the emerald is my birthstone.

The art I purchasedNate's "stone"
The kids experienced a little girl coming up and asking me for money, they couldn’t believe it. I was standing outside of the ice cream store while dad bought ice cream and this little girl wouldn’t leave my side and kept asking me for money.

We lathered up with sunscreen before we left and none of us are burnt today. Woohoo!

Also the B&B is going to have a mini party of us when we get back with the kids tmw and are going to help us get a cake and stuff for Joaquin's birthday on Thursday. Just down one block from us we saw a little party store that has birthday decorations. So will have to hit that store sometime before Thursday.

Staying her at the B&B are one French family is adopting a 4 mt old girl, they meet her tmw and another French family adopting a 5 yr old boy…If I understood them correctly. The German family adopted an 8 yr old boy named Diro. He has really taken to Nate. His two older brothers seem to pay no attention to him and his parents say he has moped around until Nate got here. Nate is having a ball playing with Diro. Emi is just excited to be able to get on line any time she wants in the lobby on the PC. She is staying in touch with her friends and is happy. We are doing great. Everyone is sleeping well and the food here is awesome. The kids love the fresh fruit. My favorite so far is mango, it tastes like peaches. I don't ask what stuff is, I just eat it. If I knew what it was I may not want to try it...hee hee. Like the soup last night, it was good, but i have no idea what it was. Today soup at lunch was cob soup but it tasted and looked like potato soup. The juice was lulu juice, no idea what that was but it was good, it was a real rich tasting juice, the kids were not so fond of it. We ask after we eat what the various foods are.

We were told it may take a few days to acclimate to the altitude here in Bogota. We are 8500 feet above sea level. Emi, Nate, and I have had no trouble, but Eric came down with a cold just before we left so it’s not been quite so easy for him. He was hitting his inhaler the first 24 hours but is doing better now. Eric’s purchase today was some kind of smelly (herb and oils),aromatic, therapeutic heating pad that can be microwaved or frozen. Emi said it probably has drugs in it and he will not get through airport security.

Okay well it’s time to get things ready for tmw, life will be very different next time you hear from us.

At the Market