Trip to Guatavita

Today we went on a trip to Guatavita. It was a small village about an hour outside of Bogota. The drive was beautiful in a cultural way and the view of the Andes was beautiful. Guatavita is a circular lake surrounded by the Andes Mountains. Lake Guatavita was one of the sacred lakes of the Muisca Indians. It is also one of the origins of the legend of El Dorado. The drive was as worth it as the village and lake itself. I love the culture of the Colombia and to see the various life styles is very cool, for me anyway.



Jess and Joaquin refused to get in the pic




We told the Jessica and Joaquin after breakfast that we were going to get on a bus. Joaquin very excitedly said “to go to the United States?” We said no, but shortly after a plane went over us and he pointed and asked Nate if we were going on a plane to the US.

I woke up with a nasty cold, I felt it coming on last night and didn’t sleep much, not able to breathe. Joaquin started back with a runny nose yesterday too and I don’t think he felt real well today. He had a bit of a rough day, he definitely did not enjoy the trip as much as the rest of us. However, he and Jessica liked the bus ride, they both wanted window seats, they took a nap on the way and on the way back. We got to meet a few more families from CHI, that was pretty cool. Joaquin has had a few moments the last few days just testing the waters. He does well, no real fits like Jessica had. They are in bed early tonight, the trips wear them out.

I so wish we understood more Spanish. It kills us to not know everything they are saying to each other and to other Spanish speakers. I say that because tonight Joaquin asked one of the other boys here why his mom doesn’t buy more games for them. The little boy responded by saying my mom doesn’t have much money left. Joaquin then said, “my dad has a lot of money!” We cracked up, but there are so many more conversations that we don’t understand. They are a crack up. If only he knew how far the money “doesn’t” go.

We talked some more about switching to a different B&B, El Refugio would be about half what we are spending here at Zuetana. We have to call Lucia tmw anyway and may see what she says about the availability of the big room at the other place. We are kind of torn as to what to do. We’ll see. Eric leaves on Wednesday and if we switch it will before he leaves. We are comfortable here, but the price is, well, a bit pricey.

Emilee and Nate are still doing well. Peggy and Sofia were on the trip with us, so Emi got her baby fix again today. Nate desires to have conversation with people like Uncle Brian, Papa, Uncle Matt, Uncle Tim, Papaw Ronnie etc. So he gravitated to one of the other CHI new Dads, a young, fun looking guy. I had to keep telling Nate to leave him alone, he is trying to work with his kids and be a dad. It appeared they guy had no interest in Nate and Nate didn’t understand why I kept telling him to come with us and leave well enough alone with the other families. But Andres our driver loves talking to Nate, I think he really just likes to rub his head. Andres is great. And thanks to Peggy, Nate and Emi got some conversations in with someone other than Eric and I.

This was Andres just after rubbing Nate's head...shucks, I missed the shot


Tomorrow starts a new week, a week with the possibility of Sentencia. Thursday is a holiday here, Labor Day, so all offices will be closed. Wow, if we get Sentencia this week, we will be coming home the just a few days later. That’s pretty exciting to think about.

Well we tried to get another family photo of all 6 of us and one of the 4 kids, but Joaquin just won’t cooperate. Finally this evening he did sit still after I begged and pleaded, so I guess this is as good as it gets. We have a picture frame we bought and wanted a really good photo of all of us, or one with just the 4 kids, but it has been a nightmare trying to get Joaquin to not act silly or to just sit still. So here’s what we got today, not too shabby.