The Rest of the Story

We got home so late last night that I couldn't even think about blogging, so I will fill you in now on the "Rest of the Story"...

After our fiesta at the orphanage and a nice nap, our attorney picked us up again and took us to the market. It's basically a few streets lined with shops with handcrafts, birds/chickens/goats and other animals, fruits/vegetables/coffee and other foods. We didn't do much walking around because it was raining. It was the first time we've seen rain since we've been here because they are in their summer season. But it was a good hard rain and it lasted all day long. It was in the "rougher" looking part of the city. We are staying in the southern part of the city which is a very nice residential area. This was on the other side of the city and more of what you would expect to see in a third world country. So we purchased a few things so the boys could have something from their heritage to take home with them. Then we went up to a very old church (about 400 years old). It was very beautiful with stained glass windows, cobblestone road, up on a hill with a beautiful view of the city. There was also a convent and Darin checked to see if they had room for three more :)jk. Cali is lined on both sides by mountains and cut through the middle by the Cali River. On top of one of the mountains is a huge statue of Jesus with his arms outstreched and on top of another are three crosses. Our attorney wouldn't take us up to see it because it is too dangerour. The mountains and outlying villages are where all the guerrilla activity takes place. As we were discussing this in the car the girls were thinking "King Kong, really?" We did a little more sightseeing from the car since it was raining and then went to Cali Viejo, a very old (that's what viejo means) restaurant for authentic Colombian food. It was delicious!! We had soup (I forgot the name already), tamales, and I was even brave enough to taste cow tongue! I can't believe I did it, but I have to admit that if I hadn't know what it was it would actually have been pretty good. We also had a big sample platter of all the traditional Colombian desserts. YUMMY!! There was a small group of musicians that played traditional Colombian music, two guitars and a singer. They were fabulous. There are two very different styles of music in Colombia. The music from the Pacific coast is very rhythmic and "Latino sounding" and the music from the Atlantic coast is much more melodic and flowing. It was all very beautiful!

So all-in-all yesterday was the second-best day we've had since coming to Colombia (the first of course was the day we got the boys!) We were all exhausted and even now the boys are still in bed (at 9am-unheard of)! So I'd better get them up and around or we'll miss breakfast!