COLOMBIA!!!

Estamos en Colombia!  We arrived in Bogota at 5:00 am (6:00 NY time).  The flight was great, both girls slept right through.  We then had breakfast in the airport at Bogota after going through Customs.  Apparently you arrive in International Arrivals and from there you go through Customs which was painless.  From there we took a bus to the other terminal where the domestic flights were.  That was an adventure.  The bus drives right on the runway where planes are taxiing to and from the gate.  We have pictures which hopefully we can upload. 

You see although I am married to the biggest techie geek in the world, his wife has the power to destroy electronics with a single touch.  My laptop is not working.  It worked in Bogota and then after that it seems to have crashed.  Flip camera where I was going to record our adoption story is not working.  Won't turn on.  We are down to Angel's computer and my Iphone which is our camera/ video camera, etc.

But I digress.  We arrived in Cali after a short flight and immediately I love Cali.  First of all, the weather is way better than anything I have experienced in the last, oh, 6 months.  On the way to the hotel we saw three young men.  While we waited at the red light, they jumped on each other's shoulders and juggled.  That is one man on top of one man, on top of another man, juggling.  It was so impressive.  Iliana said, "they must work at the circus!"  We get to the hotel which is in a higher end neighborhood.  The hotel is beautiful, safe and a kids haven.  Right now there are eight families who are in the process of adopting.  Two of them got their children today and it is so amazing to see these families experience that love for the first time.  These are the first children for both families. 

It is a great environment because the kids all play together and share their toys.  It is so fascinating to see families come from all over the world to adopt.  There are two Norweigan couples who we have bonded with because we've been to Norway and have Norweigan friends. There are three French families, one Italian family, and one Dutch family.  We are the only family fluent in Spanish so at times we are the only ones besides the staff that understand what the children are saying and we translate.  The kids love our girls who speak English and a little Spanish (hopefully that will change on this trip).  All families speak English.