Colombia Día 1: We made it!

The first 10 hours of the journey were honestly not that bad. Evidently my kids never get tired of screen time, which really helps on a long flight and layover.

The final five hours were rough. We started our last flight at 11:20pm our time and we were tired. I finally convinced my kids to try to sleep an hour into the flight, right when they turned on the lights to serve us hot meals. Why?! It was 2:30am local time!

By the time the lights went out again it was 1:30am our time. My kids slept some but it was hard for them to get comfortable, and harder for me with both of them on me in some way.

Landing was the worst because they both just wanted to sleep. My son screamed for the entire landing.

Passport control took over 1.5 hours, and the only reason we got through that quick was that an airport worker took pity and pulled us from the line half way through.

Then there was a snafu with our bags – they were no longer on the carousel by the time we got to baggage claim – but after another 30 minutes, and tons of stress later, we were able to head to our AirBnB with all our luggage (three hours after we landed!)

We were SO LUCKY that our AirBnB didn’t have guests the day we arrived and the guy said it was fine for us to show up early (I arranged this the day before we left). I honestly should have rented the place for the night before, it would have been worth it. I am still thanking my lucky stars that we were able to go straight to the place at 9am.

The kids slept some more. And spent more time on the pads (I am embracing screen time as a stress reliever for them, and me). I wanted to check out a kid’s museum that was nearby the for the first day, and it closed at 3:30pm, so at 1:30pm I woke up my daughter and after much cajoling we left.

I used google maps to figure out how to take a bus to the museum, but we were standing on the wrong platform to catch the first bus, then we learned we needed a special card for the second bus, then after walking back home to get the card (I had noticed one in our apartment), we waited 10 minutes for a third bus only to find out it had no money on it. Boo.

We ended up taking a cab, getting there at 3pm, but there was a special event, and actually the “Museo de Niños” is now the “Parque de Niños” so walking around outside we got see most of what we wanted to see (and maybe all there was to see?). I was glad to know it wasn’t something to plan for in another day.

We ended the day at the Parque Simón Bolivar, where we walked along the lake, and played on a super cool playground. We walked out a different way than we had come in, and the kids really want to go back to that part next time. I’m sure we will, especially now that we know how to take the bus (I think I can recharge the card online).

We walked home, and I was super impressed my kids made it that final mile. We stopped by a grocery store and go some essentials (I will never understand bags of milk) then watched a movie and ate dinner to end the night.

At 8pm local time we were more than tired enough to fall asleep after only a couple hours the night before (I was honestly super impressed by how well my kids did with so little sleep). Now it’s 9:35am on our second morning. My son and I got almost 12 hours of sleep and my daughter is still sleeping. I’m excited for our 2nd day here.

Here are some pictures from our first day.