to catch you up on our life... as if you were interested

1. We went to Cartagena last weekend. Jimmy had to work a congressional delegation and Mac and I had to work the hotel pool. We had a lovely time in the hot sun and even got to hang out with a school friend of Mac's and her family on Sunday. Do you suppose Mac has any idea how great his life is???


2. The school friend and her family are Brazilian. I love, no, make that LOVE Brazilians.

3. Jimmy got to eat at the Colombian President's house in Cartagena for lunch with the congressional delegation. While we were eating french fries by the pool for our lunch, he was feasting on lobster, steak, ribs and fish and meeting Juan Valdez.


4. Mac and I flew back on Sunday afternoon and found out that there were Colombian soap opera stars on board with us. They were returning from Cartagena where they'd attended the Colombian version of the Oscars on Saturday night. We even saw one of the "Oscars" in the airport being carried around.

5. I returned with a raging sinus problem, thanks to the air conditioning in the hotel. It's been a very long week of sniffling and coughing and hacking.

6. On Tuesday, I left work around midday because I felt so bad. I came home and Ruth sprang into full clucking mother hen mode. She got me in the bed, made me a hot water bottle for my feet, and then made me drink this cure-all orange drink that really did me make feel better. I do love that woman.

7. Jimmy and I hosted a dinner party for friends last night and we hired a chef to do all the work (because we needed to test him out before using him for work entertaining). I have decided this is how I must live from now on. I literally had to do nothing but set the table. He cooked, he served, and he cleaned up afterwards. The meal? Appetizers were phyllo bags stuffed with spinach and cheese served over a fresh tomato salsa. The main course was beef tenderloin with a dill mustard sauce, potato crepes, and sauteed vegetables. Dessert was passionfruit mousse. And it was all as delicious as it sounds. I love this chef and would like to figure out a way for him to live in our apartment with us.

8. Today I had a fashion designer type lady come over to re-do some stuff in my wardrobe. I'm super-excited about what she's doing plus she's making me a suit. My first fitting is a week from Tuesday. Stay tuned.

9. Jimmy's got the sinus funk now and so I had to take Mac to football practice this afternoon. 3 hours of football practice. Watch out girls: I'm back in the running for Mother of the Year.

NYR 10-8-11 - a weekend away

Yesterday Jimmy and Mac left for a boys-only trip to the US. Jimmy's been waiting for Mac to get to an age where they could go off on such a trip and finally, all the pieces fell into place and they went for 10 days. (Don't worry - we didn't pull Mac out of school; he's on the Colombia-wide mid-October break.)

Five other families/couples were going to Anapoima for the long Columbus Day weekend and they took pity on me and let me come.

For time in the sun, swimming in the pool and hanging out with friends, I am truly thankful.

NYR 5-31-11 - Cartagena-bound!

Today Cammy and I left on an early-morning flight to Cartagena to enjoy an overnight trip sans husbands and children. We stayed at my favorite hotel (where they upgraded us from a regular room to a 2-story suite!), enjoyed the fabulous pool at the Santa Clara, walked around the walled city, and enjoyed an amazing dinner at El Santissimo. It was a really great day!

For a great friend to share a great trip with (and who I'm going to miss terribly when she leaves in 3 weeks), I am truly thankful.

NYR 5-29-11 - thankful to be alive, part 2

In continuing with my "thankful to be alive" series, courtesy of our overnight trip to Tobia, I would now like to share with you the story of our white water rafting trip on Sunday.

Friends had done this same trip a couple months ago and they assured me that it was entirely safe and suitable for children. Lots of floating with a few minor "thrills".

With that recommendation and the assurance of the hotel people that kids go rafting on this river all the time, I insisted that Mac go on the trip with us (even though the river looked really, really rough from our hotel's vantage point).

Everything started out well enough. We got our little security briefing, put on helmets and life jackets and started out in one of two boats that took our group down the river. Jimmy and a new friend were in the front, Mac was in the middle between Jimmy and me, Jimmy's Georgetown friend and I were in the back row and the guide was in the way back.

The river is really swollen from all the rain over the last few months. It was very chopppy and fast. Not the little float trip that I'd envisioned.

We hit the first rapids as soon as we put in but it was all good, even though I was a nervous wreck and grabbed onto the back of Mac's life jacket whenever we hit any patch of rough water. It's a wonder that we didn't both fall in.

The trouble for me came when our companion boat in front got sucked into a whirlpool. Our boat came through the rapids at the top of the whirlpool, but there was nowhere to go because we were stuck between the whirlpool and the other boat. We could not escape the whirlpool which sucked in the front corner of the boat, opposite of me. The lower that corner of the boat got, the higher my end of the boat went until I was thrown out.

Time really did slow down to a stop then because as I was flying out of the boat, I could see that I was going to land on what looked like a smooth surface that I assumed was a rock over which the water was flowing to form the rapids and creating the whirlpool in which the boat was stuck. I didn't hit rock thankfully but I immediately got swept under the water, under the boat and then eventually re-surfaced, backwards, downstream from our boat and upstream from the second boat. The water was really choppy so every time I tried to catch a breath, I got a mouthful of dirty river water. It was impossible to breathe because the water just kept coming in. I got turned around to face downstream and I spotted another helmet in the water ahead of me. The helmet was very still and facing away from me. All I could think was that the person inside the helmet had hit his head on a rock and was unconscious.

And I was convinced that person was Mac.

I kicked to get over to the helmet, grabbed the back of the life jacket and discovered it was Jimmy's grad school friend. I hung on until we got to the other boat.

All I can remember as I was hanging on the side of their boat before being pulled in was asking over and over whether Mac was in his boat. Then I remember whacking a woman in the head with my paddle which somehow I'd managed to hang onto. I hope she wasn't seriously injured - I forgot to ask her afterwards.

This incident happened maybe a quarter of the way into the trip and I was perfectly and completely miserable for the rest of the time. Any ripple in the water was a cause for alarm and I was terrified until we pulled out.

(As an aside, another group of embassy people went rafting the next day. That group included the friends who'd been a few months ago and who said it was child-friendly. They also had a very harrowing experience and said they'd never go again and had the river a couple months ago been as rough as it was on this recent trip, they wouldn't have allowed their young children to go, much less themselves!)

In any event, I believe I am done forever with rafting. Forget conquering fears. I'm into self-preservation now. I honestly think I'd have a panic attack if I ever tried to start a rafting trip in the future. I keep reminding myself that everything turned out just fine - nobody was injured and everybody's alive - but my mind's eye replays it over and over with horrible endings. I think this is a sign of PTSD.

I leave you with two photos which capture my feelings on this particular trip:
This picture was taken by the tour operators early in the trip when I was still able to smile.

This photo was taken by my friend Cammy (whose family was in the first boat) as we passed the hotel. My anguish is evident.

For being alive and for knowing that I never have to experience Tobia ever again, I am so truly thankful.

NYR 5-28-11 - thankful to be alive

Jimmy's friend from grad school days flew in for the holiday weekend. A group of embassy friends was going to visit the little town of Tobia for part of the weekend, so we asked Matt if he wanted to go. Now, after living through the overnight trip, I desperately wish he'd say no, but when we asked him, I was happy he said yes. We'd get to hang out with friends, go whitewater rafting, and be in a hot, sunny climate.

Tobia is only 75 kilometers from Bogota, but the road is terrible in some parts due to the neverending rains and resulting landslides. There are places where the road goes down to one skinny lane because that's all they've cleared after the slides. So 75 kilometers (or 47 miles) ends up taking over 2 hours to drive.

We left on Saturday morning and got to the hotel by lunchtime. The hotel was basically like camping but with walls. No hot water, mattresses that were as hard as sleeping on the ground, lots of bugs, etc. Not a luxury accommodation by any stretch but we weren't paying luxury prices, so that was fine.

We decided to go on a hike that afternoon. Thankfully, Mac decided he didn't want to go and he stayed back at the hotel to swim with friends.
en route to the hike - in the back of a pickup truck when I was still smiling

We'd been told that "you might get wet" on the hike, but within 3 minutes of hiking, we were neck-deep in water. We followed a river (with waterfalls that we had to climb around or through) upstream until we got to a "sliding rock". At that point, we veered away from the river onto a path back into this little hamlet where our ride dropped us off and would pick us back up.
Catching up to the boys and just before I had to pull myself up on a rope to get up around that waterfall
Jimmy on "Sliding Rock" which he said was about an 82-degree incline
happy to be back on a path and not in the water. Happiness was short-lived.

I was pretty excited to be on the path which felt more secure under my feet until we had to go around two recent landslide areas that had wiped the path out. On the last one, I was literally shaking with fear that my feet were going to slip on the loose rocks and that I was going to fall to my death or at least serious injury.

The other thing that was in the back of my mind the whole time was that I shouldn't have read the autobiographies of people who have been kidnapped by the bad guys here in Colombia. Now the area that we were in is safe and has been cleared for travel by the embassy's security folks, but the descriptions in those autobiographies kept coming back to me. I imagined myself on a forced march fording rivers and streams and hiking across jungles where you pick up parasites and worms that bore into your skin. You get the idea.

In my mind's eye, I was living out scenes from the kidnapping autobiographies.

The path was supposed to go across where that white pipe is in the bottom of the photo. But the landslide wiped out all of that, so we had to cut up and around.
I'm serious when I tell you we were in the boonies. We passed this family heading back up the mountain with their donkey laden with supplies. I hope they knew another way around the landslide area!

I was never so glad to be done with a hike in my life.

For surviving the hike and conquering fears, I am truly thankful.

NYR 5-26-11 - when one thing leads to another

Today my friend Cammy and I had our usual Thursday joint tennis class. When I got dressed for tennis, it was sunny and absolutely beautiful. I wore shorts and a tank top with a t-shirt on top that I planned to strip off when I warmed up.

Except as soon as we got in the car to go to tennis, it started spitting rain. We're hearty girls and a little spitting rain doesn't scare us off the court.

Except that by the time we got to the court, it was raining pretty hard.

We tried to wait out the rain but finally decided that we hearty girls could play in the pretty hard rain.

That lasted about 5 minutes before I was freezing.

I went back under the cover while Cammy played for about 5 more minutes before the coach called it.

We ended up talking for over an hour while we waited for the rain to abate. The conversation wandered from our coach's history to the fact that Cammy hasn't been to Cartagena once since she's lived here. We decided that there were no free weekends left to travel to Cartagena before they leave the country for good but there was no reason why we couldn't go during the week, just us girls. Since we were pipe dreaming, we may as well pipe dream big, right?

Finally when I could stand the cold no longer and my lips were blue, the three of us made a dash down the hill and out the gate to the car where the car thermometer said it was 52 degrees. A teensy bit chilly out there in the rain in shorts and a t-shirt.

After I got home, showered until the hot water ran out and dressed like I was going snowskiing, I started researching a Cartagena trip.

And guess what? Cammy and I are going next week for a little girls' getaway. Just one night, but we'll have plenty of time to sit by the pool at the Santa Clara and eat that yummy hotel breakfast there that is really to die for.

Had we not been rained out, and had we not sat around in the freezing cold for an hour and half and dreamed of sunnier places, and had there not been a decent enough deal on airline tickets, we would not be going to Cartagena next week.

For one not-so-good thing leading to a really great thing, I am truly thankful.

NYR 2-20-11

For a nice pool, hot sun and good friends, I am truly thankful.

NYR 2-19-11

For the anticipation of a weekend away,

with friends...

a mere 2.5 hour-drive from Bogota...

in a big finca...

where it's supposed to be hot and sunny...

and where there's a swimming pool,

I AM TRULY THANKFUL!

bringing a little holiday warmth right to you!

Mom, Mac and I spent a couple nights on Baru Island in the north of Colombia, followed by a couple nights in Cartagena. After rainy cold in Bogota for what seems like decades, we were so appreciative of the blue skies and hot sun.

Since I know so many of you are suffering from terrible cold in the US and Europe, I thought I'd share just a teensy bit of Caribbean warmth with you. You know, in an effort to make you feel like you could shed some of those layers of clothes you're having to wear just to check the mailbox.

view from our hotel room in Baru

the view from my pool chair

our resort's beach

Our candy cane "date stamp" to prove it's the holidays. Ho!Ho!Ho!

Lest you think the vacation was totally stress-free, we did have the scary "ferry" ride over the river to and from Baru. On our return trip, we were on the back two seats of the bus and because they had to squeeze as many vehicles on the "ferry" as possible, our full-sized bus was forced to back up on the ferry until the rear tires were at the edge of the ferry. If you'll imagine a bus, you'll notice there's a lot of space between the back tires and the back of the bus (like one-quarter of the bus sticks out past the tires AND the engine is in the back of the bus which makes - in my non-professional engineering mind - the back end of the bus too heavy to be sticking out over the river). But there we were nevertheless.

the road leading up to the ferry "port" (honestly I was pretty sure that I'd fallen asleep on the 1.5 hour flight from Bogota to Cartagena and somehow woken up back in Mozambique.)

the ferry terminal

one of the ferries

one of the ferries being loaded. We were in one of those green buses waiting for the next ferry.

the ferry "terminal" scene was happening. You could buy snacks, use surprisingly clean bathrooms, play with wild kittens, and generally soak up the atmosphere. Or just pray that your ferry didn't sink if that made you feel better.


And finally a photo of our harrowing return trip. This photo is taken from my bus seat, looking out over the river. We were on this ferry with another bus, a cement mixer and two large pickup delivery trucks. S.C.A.R.Y.

But after that scary ride back, we knew Cartagena was waiting for us. More sun, more pool, more heaven.
Mom in the pool

at our hotel, Bovedas de Santa Clara

Mac and Mom at Club de Pesca for our last night's dinner

minor Christmas miracles

1. I have now slept really well three nights in a row without the assistance of sleep meds. This is HUGE and I feel so rested. We've chalked up the insomnia to a failure to acclimate quickly to Bogota's high altitude. Maybe I'm acclimated???

2. My mom arrived in Bogota yesterday for Christmas and we are so excited to have her here. Mac really, really wanted to go home for Christmas - which we never do when we're overseas - and he was so happy to see her when he got home from school. It was a great reunion.

3. It's entirely possible that the weather has made a turn for the better here in Bogota. After what seems like months of rain (and devastating flooding all over Colombia as proof), we've now had a string of really nice days. It rained some yesterday but not all day, which is improvement. And the temperatures when it's not raining? In the mid- to upper-70s. LOVE IT!

4. Mac, Mom and I are going to Baru Island and Cartagena on Thursday for a few days and I can't wait. Hot, humid, hopefully sunny weather: here we come!

a little jaunt to Cartagena

Mac has had this last week off of school for some Colombian-mandated holiday week. We decided to head up to Cartagena for a few days to enjoy what I have missed the most while living in Bogota: sun and warmth and humidity. Cartagena did not disappoint.

Some photos of our mini-vacation:


street scenes at dusk and at night

Outside of our hotel, Bovedas de Santa Clara

The view from our hotel room window

Our hotel was a small boutique hotel so part of their deal is that you can use the pool and eat breakfast at the very swank Sofitel across the street.
The courtyard at the Sofitel has a couple resident toucans who visited us at breakfast. (The breakfast there, by the way, is the best hotel breakfast I've ever eaten.)


And the pool was pretty spectacular as well!

a beautiful view from inside the really intimidating Inquisition Museum
courtyard

some lovely ladies from Cartagena

folkloric dancing in a square

My just-out-of-the-ocean-fresh grilled fish lunch on our day trip to the Rosario Islands

I'm already trying to figure out when we can go back!