Bogota; June 11-19, 2024

Rather than go through ICBF like we did in the past, we went through the private agency called FANA, which is based out of Bogota. FANA was confident we could be paired with a younger child.
The video pre-encuentro meeting, the 3-hour one I blogged about was sup informative and alone was worth the change. I can’t speak highly enough.
We are scheduled with a pediatrician tomorrow morning and will schedule a x-ray of his hips. We also have a meeting in the afternoon with Daniela, one of the ladies from FANA that we’ve worked with quite a bit. I think this counts as one of the social worker meetings that I mentioned.
Next is the appointment with Bienestar, the over arching adoption agency in Colombia. We need their “stamps of approval “ prior to heading to La Mesa for the legal system and meeting with the judge.

La Mesa; June 19- July 4 (estimated)

Where?! Nope, never heard of it myself. Previous adoptions were handled in Pereira which is a very familiar city for us. Love that town! But, apparently, Bogota legal system is bogged down causing the process to drag out. Keep in mind, they say “ on average 6-8 weeks in country”. Moving the legal stuff to La Mesa ensures 6-8 weeks if not faster.
So we arrived in town on the 19th and a petition was filed with the court. Then we wait for our court date anticipating, yup July 4th.

Back to Bogota but other side of town. Here we will get Andre his Colombian passport. Colombian law states all children born in Colombia ARE Colombian. This is why when we travel here, at customs, they only want to see the kid’s Colombian passports. Don’t know what would happen if I refused to renew passports but with often as we go, not really a bridge I want to cross. Anyway, Andre will get his own passport good for 5-years.
The to the US Embassy to get his visa which is essentially all done and waiting on our arrival. What takes so much time? Making the appointment once peanut has his Colombian passport. These dates are pretty strong estimates.

Visiting the in-laws. Hey, they want to see their new grandson too. We’re kind of breaking the rules because the agency recommends not introducing new members to a household as it can be difficult for the child to bond and can be confusing. Therefore 5 days. This should irritate the in-laws because it did last time too.
Bigger city. No where near a Cali or Medellin or of course Bogota. Deceptively big though. Population 586,000. Big enough I guess.
Pereira is beautiful, but we will head to the mountains.

God’s country.
Small coffee town (population 80,000). If you know me, you’ve heard me talk about it.
Perhaps our favorite place in all of Colombia. We’d like to spend some time up here prior to going home.