Traveling-with-TLC

January 13-15 Travel Days

Why Colombia

About 3 months ago, we decided to visit Colombia. Many of our friends and family think we are nuts. So, before I start sharing our journey, a short explanation might help. Ted and I are nearing retirement age. About 30 years ago, we promised each other we wouldn’t sit around after retirement eating bon-bons and watching TV. Back then we went to a retirement party for 2 of Ted’s co-workers. One retire wasn’t celebrating, he had nothing to look forward to. Sadly, I think he was headed for a boring, early death. The other was excited because he was planning to help build church buildings across the US using his engineering skills. Ted and I have always promised each other we would serve in some way when we retire. We have been looking into many opportunities for about a year. When Pastor Conley said he has the possibility of supporting a new ministry in Cali, Colombia, we thought let’s see if this is a good thing.

We can do some birdwatching while we are down in South America. The US has about 700 bird species and Colombia has almost 2000. We hope to see tanagers, hummingbirds, and many exotic colorful birds. We will connect with the Pastor in Medellin who will be sending a Pastor from his congregation to lead the church in Cali.

Preparing for Colombia

To get ready for our trip, we redoubled our Spanish studies (turns out that was pretty useless but more of that later…), watched dozens of YouTube videos, and worked on housing and transportation plans. It was fun. Part of our prep has been reassuring family we will be safe and are not entirely crazy!!

Off to Colombia!

What a beginning to a trip! We left our house and headed to my parents’ (thanks for the steak dinner, Mom!) to spend the night at their house. Just before noon the next day, we headed to the San Francisco Airport. Mom dropped us off about 4:00PM. We thought we had paid $50 to hang out in an Avianca Lounge while we waited for our 11:00PM flight. Turns out there isn’t an Avianca Lounge at the San Francisco Airport. You will probably notice by the end of this post that I’m not an Avianca fan…We managed to find a place to sit that was semi-comfortable and had a nice dinner near our gate. Finally, with a little bit of trepidation, we boarded a plane to South America!!

Our seats were theoretically upgraded, but it still felt pretty much that like a sardine can

Fortunately, we didn’t have a third person in our row and managed to get 3 hours of sleep during the 7 hour flight to San Salvador. In San Salavador we changed planes for Panama City. This one was slightly better, but still sardine city. Just before landing in Panama City to pick up more passengers, the plane was sprayed with insecticides. The crew said not to worry because the World Health Organization had approved it. (“And I soooo believe WHO to be worrying about my best interests”, she said sarcastically). I wanted to step outside the plane to catch a fresh breath, but I wasn’t allowed. Fortunately we only had another 2 hours of the flight to Colombia. Somehow we were not fed the entire trip.

Arriving in Colombia

Goodness we were tired and hungry but we were finally in Colombia. Customs was easy and it was not too bad to connect with our driver. To reach Medellin from the airport, the road goes through a 4 mile tunnel. Our first view of Medellin was spectacular. We arrived at our building and had no idea what the doorman was trying to tell us about how to get to our room! Oh no! Our Spanish is useless!! Eventually we figured we where the elevator was. On to the 13th floor we dropped off our stuff, and headed out to find a place to eat. Took us about a mile of wandering, feeling lost, and overwhelmed. but we found a restuarant. Food did make us feel better. We managed to find groceries and our way back to the room. Ted was asleep before I unpacked one suitcase. I think we are going to make it through this trip but that was a rocky start! By the way the view from our room is pretty awesome!!