Not a Wasted Word

Our flight yesterday was cancelled and they put us on a much later flight instead, so we ended up spending eight hours in the Bogotá airport for a one hour flight. That’s what you get for booking a budget airline I guess.

My husband was waiting for us in the Cartagena airport for three hours before he turned on his pay-as-you-go international cell service and saw my messages. I helped him get to our AirBnB without us (he speaks no Spanish) and he waited there for us until we landed at 10pm.

Our place in Cartagena was really nice and we spent the morning swimming in the super pretty pools and taking hot showers. But at noon we had to be out of there so we high tailed it to the bus station and by 1pm we were on a bus to Santa Marta. It’s supposed to be a 5 hour bus ride and we’re all full so we aren’t stopping for anyone else (which can add a lot of time) so hopefully it really will be five hours.

Tomorrow we take another bus (only 1 hour this time) to Tayrona, and we get to leave most of our stuff behind at the AirBnB so it shouldn’t be too bad (I paid for four nights, even though we’ll only be sleeping there 2 – this is absolutely the most expensive leg of this trip). I will admit, getting around with this many bags is a pain in the ass.

We are on the bus now. The kids are sitting together in front of us and my husband and I are behind them. We’ve struggled a bit to find each other on this trip. Traveling is not my husband’s strong suit, especially not in a country where he doesn’t speak the language. The kids and I have definitely fallen into a rhythm and it’s weird to have someone else added to the mix six days in. We’re all figuring it out, but it’s definitely different, and I’ll admit it, a little harder. I’m hoping that once we’re in Santa Marta, we’ll find our rhythm as a family of four.

Yesterday we hit up three spots not far from our place. First was the Maloka Interactive Center, which is a science museum for kids.

We had a little trouble getting there because its’ street was part of a massive race that was going on. We had to walk the last 1/2 mile but it was worth it to see the race and walk alongside the racers and everyone else who was cheering them on.

Maloka was pretty cool, nothing like the science centers we have in SF, but again they had a guided activity that I really liked and appreciated. This time the kids learned about fossils and got to be archeologists themselves.

At the end they got their own little fossils to bring home.

My daughter was also really into this Megalodon mouth (#2) because she saw the trailer in front of Ant Man and the Wasp and it terrified her.

After Maloka we took the bus to the Jardín Botánico de Bogotá. I guess it’s a popular spot on Sunday because the line was long.

It was a nice garden but there wasn’t a ton to do there as the massive green houses are all being renovated and they are kind of the main attraction. Still the kids loved the carnivorous plant statues, “creepy” stone labyrinth area, and all the waterfalls.

Finally we headed to the public library that we had seen on a bunch of pictures in the airport in Bogotá. It’s a really beautiful building both inside and out. (I thought of you Mel!)

The kids were super stoked on this dragon in the kids’ wing because one of their many games right now is dragon hunting and fighting.

It was a low key, but fun final day in Bogotá.

Today we repack, clean up our AirBnB, and head to the airport for a one hour flight to Cartagena. As I write this my husband is in Miami, getting breakfast and changing money. We can’t wait to meet up with him on the coast!

I’m sad, but kind of ready to leave Bogotá, and while I’m excited for the coast, I’m weary of the heat and mosquitos. Mosquitos LOVE me, so I hope the bugs stuff we got works.

Let the next phase of our trip begin!

Yesterday we took a teleférico (gondola) up to Monserrate to enjoy an incredible view of Bogotá. Despite my app saying their was only a 40% of rain for one hour, it rained most of the morning. I actually forgot my rain jacket (it’s probably still hanging in my entryway, right above where the luggage was sitting), but I’ve been fine with just my Heat32s under a T-shirt (my idea to save space by just bringing a couple pairs of Heat32s to wear under shorts and T-shirts here in Bogotá worked out really nicely). Luckily I had the kids’ rain jackets and we weren’t actually out when it was raining really hard (yay for more long bus rides?!). Also I think the rain kept the crowds there down.

Because the teleférico didn’t open until noon, we went to the Museo de Oro first. My daughter was really interested in all the pre-Colombian gold sculptures, but my son was struggling to use an inside voice and keep his hands off every pane of glass he saw. We ended up only lasting 30 minutes but it was cheap so I consider it a win. Baby steps on museums I guess.

Outside the museum the kids got to take a (very) short ride on a llama, which they loved.

After the llama, we took a cab to the teleférico.

The gondola is big, but there is only one on each of two wires, so it takes a while to get through the line.

At first my daughter was scared to go, but once she saw the gondola, she was fine.

At the top you can see all of Bogotá. I couldn’t believe how big the city is.

We walked through a little market full of aggressive suggestions to buy wares and eat at local spots.

But the view on the other side was worth it.

We hit up McDonalds before we went home, because they were starving and I needed to get them something I’d know they’d eat. (Unfortunately they have not become more willing to eat new things here, but we’re making we’re making it work.)

We got home early because we needed to take showers and I needed to do a load of laundry. There is no hot water in our place (so I’ve been washing the dishes – and my face! – with cold water every day) but the shower had one of those electric water heater heads. I learned the hard way that it really only warms the water to a cold, but not freezing temp. I knew the kids would have a fit if I tried to shower them in that water (they already hate showers) so we developed an elaborate system of mixing scorching water from the stove with the temped water from the shower to create an acceptable temperature. I wonder if we’ll have hot water at any of our other places!

Having a washer and dryer really saved us. I’m so glad we get to wear clean clothes tomorrow because we are really getting our stuff dirty with all the riding on public transport we’re doing (there is a lot of sitting on bus floors when we can’t find a seat – just like the locals!)

I’m posting on my phone so these will have to be short. Also, the WiFi here is so slow it is hard to post with a lot of pictures. And man do I have a lot of pictures.

Yesterday we went to a place I was really excited about, but that was so far away I didn’t know how we’d get there. We ended up on an epic bus trek that took well over an hour (the traffic in Bogotá is insane), but eventually we arrived.

The place I wanted to go was called Divercity. It’s a kids’ play place but like nothing I’ve ever seen in the States. The kids start by getting their own credit card and some cash. They can then spend their money on things (getting nails painted like my daughter did, or riding a boat like my son did), AND they can participate in a job for 15 minutes, with a group of kids (whoever is lined up to do it) and an adult leader. It was so very, very cool.

And it was all in Spanish! My kids had to listen — and speak — in Spanish to participate in the activities.

My daughter was a surgeon, a reporter, a baker, and a veterinarian.

My son was an EMT, an energy center worker, a baker, and a veterinarian.

It was a really fun place and I’m so excited we got to go. It was so awesome that we stayed for four hours. It was also near a mall so we went in to get a few things. By the time we were leaving it was dark! (They don’t do Daylight Savings Time here so it’s only 2 hours ahead but it gets dark by 7pm.)

It was really late when we got home, but the kids were absolute champs. I have been so impressed by their ability to navigate the crazy bus system with me, and walk fairly long distances. We are having a lot of fun.