Trip to Colombia - part I

So, I've been promising this post FOREVER now, and I have finally gotten around to writing about it.

 

I'll warn you, it was a 3 week trip... so it will be long.  But I got to thinking, I'm going to mostly post pics with a little blurb about it, so its not all blah, blah, blah.  Sounds good??? Works for me.

This is the view from the airplane as we left Miami International and flew over the Atlantic Ocean.  I have yet to figure out what islands these could be, but I think that first one may be one of the Florida Keys... at least that is what I tell everyone that see it!

This is Carlos Sebastian enjoying his second ever plane ride... can I tell you this child is the perfect flyer!  He did not cry, fuss or give any to do the entire trip!  The change in air pressure on the plan bothered us more than it did him! 

What a cutie pie... am I right??? I know I am!

Here's my hubby being all serious on the flight out of Miami...

And here I am... all smiles on the flight to Colombia.  Please do not let this picture fool you... I spent about 95% of ALL the flights out cold, and drooling on myself.  I hate to fly.. LOVE to travel... not a good combo.  Oh and I also get airsick, so I have to take Dramamine to help me make it through the day.  Love me my Dramamine... pssst any people from Dramamine, please feel free to mail me some coupons or free samples!  ;o)

So we left our house at 2:00 am to head to the Boston airport for a 5:00 am flight to Miami.  Let me point out a little secret, even though the airlines state firmly that you MUST be at the counter, in line, at least 3 hours prior to an international flight... American Airlines does not open its ticket counter until 4:00 am!!!! So we sat for an hour waiting for the AA people to set up the velvet ropes for the ticket counter, and then let us into the line somewhere around 4:15 am! Yes, a whole 45 minutes prior to the flight!  Bastards!!!!




Any how, the flights were all uneventful.  We arrived on time in Miami at 8:30ish am, then headed over to the next gate for our flight to Bogota at 9:00 am, which amazingly was on time and off to Colombia we went.  We arrived in Bogota promptly at 12:30 pm.  After navigating through immigration and customs, off we went to see if we could find a cheap flight to Ibague (the city/town where my husband is from) well... apparently since it is a small airport that can only hand small 20-30 passenger Fokkers... there are only 2 (yes that is TWO) flights a day.  The fist of which is sometime early in the morning, the second being at around 6pm.  Ummm, yeah, I didn't want to hang out for another 5 hours in the airport not doing anything.  (NOTE TO SELF... its not such a bad thing considering the flight only lasts a whole 20 minutes and no I am not exagerating!)




So in all my wisdom I said to my hubby, why don't we just take a bus to Ibague??? Its only a 4 hour road trip, we won't be driving, and I can get to see a lot of Colombia that I have never seen before.  He agreed.  Love my hubby, but it was an awful idea. 




We jumped on a small bus at around 2pm, comfortable enough for me because I'm super short... not so much for my hubby who is 5'10" and was quite cramped during the almost 6 hour road trip!  Yes I said 6 hours, apparently there were a few stops along the way, but that wasn't that big of a deal... what my husband neglected to tell me is that apparently all bus drivers in the country take driving lessons from Mario Andretti! (Juan Diego Montoya for the Colombians)  These people drive like the devil in on their asses and there is no regard what so ever for posted speed limits!  Having said this, I swear to never voluntarily put myself on a bus in Colombia again!




So sometime around 8pm we arrived at my mother-in-laws house... AMEN! What a long freaking day!!!  But us being us, we couldn't just go to bed, we talked and ate some food, then crashed a few hours later.




Sooo... anyways, so much for not jabbering too much, but that is day one... as long as hell, but thankfully uneventful and we made it with all our luggage and our wits!




Now here are some pics to make up for all the gabbing....

This is Bogota, well a views from the bus as we were leaving... I love the Colombian skyline, for some reason the sky just seems bluer and prettier.

This is our "Welcome" sign on the entrance to my mother-in-law's apartment the night we arrived.  Oh and this is my husband's nephew... I kinda got him unbeknownst to him... not a good pic but too bad.

Here we are with my mother-in-law and my sister-in-law the morning after we arrived.

I love this pic... my mother-in-law bathed Sebastian ever single morning we spent at her house!  It was actually funny, because she'd come into our room, hand me a coffe and whisk away my baby.  He loved it, and she got to bond with the baby.

That's all I have for right now... I'll post more in a bit, I have to run and do some laundry now (yuck) before the kids get back from school.

;o)