Days 22 & 23: Bogota

We are all settled in at Hotel Paris in Bogota.  I feel very international.  Hotel Paris is a small establishment that specifically services adoptive families.  The staff here is so incredibly friendly and helpful.  The downside:  all being in one room (it is a largish room with a king bed, two twins, and a crib).  The upside: all three meals provided!  Yahoo!  I enjoyed cooking all of our meals in Cali, but it has been a welcome break to just walk downstairs and have our meals served to us.  And the food is SO GOOD.  Our first lunch here was rice and plantain soup.  Last night for dinner we had baked potatoes, steak, and steamed local veggies (which I couldn't identify, but were super yummy).  Breakfast everyday is eggs, toast, or french toast.  Lunch today was red beans and rice with sausage and fried plantains (Colombians traditionally eat a BIG lunch).  Dinner was salad, fried chicken, and french fries.  They are even accommodating to our picky 4 year old.  They said, "Oh, we know how American children are."  They will whip her up a sandwich or hotdog anytime.  However, we have a "try it" policy in this family, so she has had a lot of new experiences.  Luisa, of course, will eat anything.  The next time beans are served, however, she is abstaining and having a ham sandwich like Caroline.  There has been some major stinkiness coming out of her today.

Our flight yesterday was delayed by an hour.  Thankfully the flight itself was under an hour.  It was a good intro to flying for Luisa.  She really liked it until the novelty of being buckled and not in Mommy's lap wore off, which just happened to be right when the seat belt sign went back on for landing.  We first went to Hotel Paris, where Philip and Caroline were fortunate enough to be served lunch and then go take a nap.  Luisa and I went with our facilitator, Gloria, to a lab to have her TB test administered (no crying from my brave girl).  The lab techs were almost an hour behind, so we didn't get back to the hotel for lunch until after 3:00.  Luisa was cranky (she really, really likes to eat, and the granola bars were not satisfying her), and I was feeling light headed.  We were served a late lunch, and then we went up to the room to hang out with Philip and Caroline until dinner.

Today, we went to ICBF to fill out some paperwork.  It was a quick trip, although the traffic on the way back was awful.  We finally saw the cause: the rear axle of a bus had come completely off.  No idea how that happened, and glad I was not on that bus.  Overall the traffic here is much worse that Cali, but the driving is much more tame.  People (for the most part) stay in their own lanes, and there are fewer motorcycles weaving around. 

After ICBF, we walked to the supermarket to get bananas (neither of the kids will make it long without at least 2 a day) and apple juice (which Caroline will perish without).  As is common in Colombia, the hotel serves different fresh juice everyday.  Today we had guanabana juice at breakfast.  It tastes like a smoothie.  Caroline, of course, requires Mott's.  She doesn't know what she's missing.

Bedtime story

Caroline, a.k.a. Little Mommy, teaching her sister storytime etiquette

Tomorrow we will go to have the TB test read.  Depending on the outcome and if we can get in to see the embassy doctor, we will have a better idea when next week we will be headed home.  HOME!