Cheers and Jeers from Colombia!

by Leslie

Right now, you may be wondering, "What's with the test nest hiatus?"  Well, like many people, we have been busy doing holiday things.  Erin shared a great post about her sweet new color-coded bookshelves, but much of the rest of our time has been consumed with travelling, Christmas-ing, packing, and travelling some more.

Right now, Laura and Erin (et. al) are at my cousin's wedding in Illinois.  I wish I could be there with them to celebrate (and hopefully cut a major rug), but instead I am far, far away.  In Colombia!  Jaime is from Colombia, as many of you know, so we decided to spend the new year with his familia.  So far the trip has had its fair share of ups and downs.  Let me tell you why.

I'm going to do this post "Cheers and Jeers" style.  If you are from my hoime town of Albion, Nebraska, this phrase might be familiar to you.  Especially if you were on the high school newspaper staff.  In each issue of the paper, the "editors" would write the positives and negatives of the weeks that had passed since the last issue.  So here it goes. . .

Cheers to a fulfilling selection of movies on our flight to Colombia.  In five and a half hours, I watched three full movies.  That is pretty much my dream flight, minus the onset of restless leg syndrome (for me).

Jeers to getting TOTALLY and COMPLETELY sick on our second night in Bogota.  I have never wanted so badly to be in my own home in my life.  In addition,  jeers to the dang illness sticking around for way too long.

Cheers to fresh, ripe fruit wherever you go.  It tastes so much better here (probably because it is)!  If you ever get down to Colombia, you've got to try granadilla.  I won't include a picture of it in this post for fear of grossing you out, but it is an awesomely sweet, melted Jello-like experience.

Jeers to traffic.  In a place where public transit is pretty awesome (and cheap), a lot of people still drive--which would be fine if they would stop when you were in the middle of the street . . .

Cheers to walking everywhere and actually getting somewhere.  Jaime's mom lives in an amazingly central location.  In minutes you can walk to a bakery, a grocery store, a pharmacy, and a restaurant.  I could list even more things--a bank, a fruiteria, a discoteca, and a doctor's office.

Jeers to salamanders on the wall.  This isn't really a bad thing, but Jaime showed me one outside on his mom's patio last night and they freak me out!  Lightning fast and slimy.  Bad combo.

Cheers to a visiting a place with a relaxed pace of life.  Things are just a bit different here.  Families stroll around the park together and couples browse the mall.  Nuns stop at the ice cream shop for a treat and families routinely stop for photo opportunities just for the heck of it.  As we were walking down the street today, I said to Jaime, "Let's be like the locals.  Let's just enjoy the day."  So we did.

I'll give you the full scoop when we get back.  I look forward to getting back to you all!