Location change! Adios Bogota!

Sunday July 14, 2024 -Pereira, Colombia-

It was a lot of fun prepping for travel when all the adults were sick! We managed though.

Saturday was the last day of soccer camp for the kids. We dropped Nani off but today, Santi was going to be late. We decided to pursue orthodontist work for my man. Claudia went with him while I hung out at a coffee shop. Not from lack of interest but for some reason, security into the building is a pain. Plus, there was a coffee shop! But my brave 9-year old walked out with this beautiful blue retainer! So the treatment begins. The price here versus home? Umm, this was a no-brainer! Treatment cost at home? I could afford to fly us down to Colombia and pay for the treatment a couple times per year! As I said, no brainer. For Santi? Well, lots of saliva, mumbling, laughing, even an occasional gag reflex. Always fun! He’s in good spirits. I don’t think the easy process he thought it would be.

The coffee shop was disappointing so I wandered the streets. They were beginning to set up the market we visited last Sunday. Got peanut a sweet stocking cap.

Not quite buying into the whole hat thing.

That is NOT an expression of joy but he is still learning that as parents, it is our job to torment.

Back to the camp for our Santi. Today was game day for the kids. On our way back to the apartment, we drove by an area that was selling all the Colombian soccer jerseys for the Copa America which, Colombia is playing Argentina for the championship as I type! So we went and ordered personalized jerseys. They both wanted the same player, #6, Richard Rios. So no confusion there.

After, it was back to the house to pack. Our plan was to get our two biggest bags shipped again. Problem was, the times listed on the internet for hours of operation? All lies. We drove all over trying different locations that said they were opened. We finally had to give up and go get the kids. We had one more option Sunday morning at 8:00. Fast forward…do you think it was opened? Nope! Main problem in Colombia is reliability. Even in business. Customer service doesn’t really exist so they have no trouble wasting your time. Plan C was to leave our bags in the trunk of our rental car which will be delivered to us on Wednesday. I could have drove but it is a dangerous LONG drive and with peanut, that is too much to ask of him.

Anyway, the kids were thrilled when we picked them up with the jerseys. I think they lost faith that it would happen. They needed to be all decked out for the game. Peanut was a trooper all day with the running around. Claudia thought it was one of his easier days with us.

Sunday morning.

I wasn’t sad saying goodbye to our apartment. It was fine but not very welcoming. All the complaints against us for parking, Saturday someone in the building had a party in the building and double stacked cars in their spots effectively blocking our entry. Our stay there just started and end bad for multiple reasons…the parking is only my favorite.

Our time at the airport was easy as it could be. We were even early enough to sit and enjoy a morning coffee.

They’ll always haunt me. Most of you know I retire later this year. While I am thrilled to death, I know I will be broken hearted as well. It’s funny, most of the guys at my work have never really seen me work on an airplane. I’ve essentially been a supervisor for around 15 years. But I enlisted in 1987 have only worked C-130’s. I love those ugly things. They’ll always be in my heart and blood. Ironically, the Colombian Air Force has an aircraft with tail number 1008. Han, for those who don’t know, that was the tail number I was assigned to here in Minnesota. Ok, enough about me but while ordering coffee, this was the view out the window.

My man chilling with Juan Valdez at the airport

Peanut on the airplane? Um, this was good practice. He was a handful. Remember the “Vishnu” name I gave him? Even more funny on an airplane because everything is so close? My glasses, mami’s hair, the airplane literature, the seat belts…no interest in the toys we brought. We distracted him with an unopened bag of chips that he beat and beat and beat on everything. Thank goodness the bag never opened because that would have been a chip crumb disaster like never seen before!

Arriving in Pereira, Colombia

What’s special about Pereira? It Claudia’s home town. It’s where her parents live and a place I’ve come to love. Taxi to the in-laws house and greeting their new grandson

It’s Sunday obviously…therefore, we went to mass. It was a great service with a new young priest I’d never seen before. I actually enjoy that the church is really only a block away with an Adoration chapel. After mass, it was nice to find my son ho went on his own to the chapel to pray. Warms a parents heart