MONKEYS!!!!!

So Felipe and I went to the Cali Zoo. I fell instantly in love with the monkeys. So much though that I made us go back to see them one after we had seen all the other animals.











Here you can see that they were super fun. They were really showing of for us. This guy has just jumped off of the wood wheel and is swinging on the rope.




Excuse the money chi chi but this little dude was so funny. He was smacking the window and throwing his food at us.




This was really cool. The tiger was leaning up against the glass I walked by. I realized after when we looked at the picture that it looked like we were leaning on each other.

Javi and the University

On the day that we left to go back to Cali, Javier took us to his university. It is a revolutionary university to say the least.

Here is a large painting of Che Guevara in the main square.



And Javi and me near the building where he spent all of his time. Notice the spray paint on the blocks. This is some sort of acronym for the FARC...



What shocked me the most amongst all of the pot smoking and propaganda was all of the spray paint. They had it everywhere: on the buildings, in the buildings and even in the lecture halls and classrooms. Everywhere protesting/supporting anything.

Here we have Malcolm X.


As impressed as I was, I did not take many pictures. I had plenty of people staring at me simply because I'm a gringa and then add a camera to that... I seriously felt like I had "look at me" written on my forehead.

The Bogota Temple

I got the chance to go and see the temple. I did not get a chance to go in because I was only in Bogota for 3 days and two of the days it was closed :(
I was really nice of Felipe's friends to take us in the car to see it. Nothing beats the spirit of the temple!



I hope it was a good missionary tool. I was certainly asked a lot of questions after.

Sebas

I feel like I should give some time to Felipe's nephew Sebastian but I have to admit that Isabella is on my better side. Sebas is the devil himself. For example, you say "hola Sebastian" and you get a face like this:



You might think that is a "forced smile" but that is his face when he growls at you.

He is mostly nice to his sister but that is always a case by case thing.



Here he is telling his sister what to do. (He pushed her right after:) )



They did get along when they were in the bounce house and it was very sweet when Isabella was crying because he when over to her and gave her a kiss and said "calmate." But at the end of the night we were friends and I even got a kiss on the cheek. I think that is because I raced him down the sidewalk.

Monserrate

Monserrate is a small tourist village on the top of a mountain in Bogota. We took a flying cable car (the real name is escaping me) to the top. From there you can see all of Bogota. With a breathtaking view, we went into the old church and down the little streets where they sell overpriced souvenirs.



The view!


The Flying Cable Car:)


I saw something that looked like a scarf. I asked to try it on and it turned out being much bigger. And then of course I took a picture of it. I am such a gringa!







So when I was looking at these pictures, I realized how similar Pipe and Isa look. Same skin color and hair and facial expressions. They are certainly family.

Isabella!!!

In Bogota we met Isabella, Felipe's niece. She is the cutest thing in the world. We became good friends quickly thanks to a good game chase and a few good swings into there air. We got along so well.

Here she is wearing the pjs that I bought for her.

Bogota or BUST!

We decided to go to Bogota to visit Felipe's brother Javier and his two children. We took an 10 hour long bus ride but it was so great to see the country and the bus was very comfortable. It got to be a bit much by the end though. Mostly because they showed the worst movies in the world: Rambo 10, Something about Spartains (some spoof) and Vantage Point.


This face says "I'm so done with the bus"



And this one says "Don't worry, we only have nine hours left!"

Two very practical things

When I was in Cali I discovered that Colombia has some very good ideas.

#1 Bus stops
There are not any. You just stand on the street that the bus goes down and you motion to them like you would when you hail a cab and then it stops right in front of you. It is really much better in my opinion. No more waiting for the bus at the stop or having to memorize the hours for the bus. I really loved doing it. I would make sure we took busses everywhere we went so I could do all of the hailing.



#2 Plastic gloves
Some of the restaurants give you plastic gloves so that when you pick up your chicken etc you don't get your hands dirty. When I first saw someone with the gloves I did not know what to think. They did take some getting used to ie you need both hands to pick up your drink with them or else you spill and I once wiped my hands on a napkin even though I had the gloves on but after that I found them very useful. Something that I hope to see catch on in the states.

Felidia

One of the places that I was able to visit while I was in Colombia was Felidia. It is a small little village about an hour bus ride out of Cali.



The house there is so colorful. They bought it when Felipe's grandfather died because he left him money. They (Felipe and his 2 brothers) decided they would paint it. I think they did a pretty good job.






They have a guava tree in the front yard and these are pictures of me being eaten alive by the little flies (I went right in an put bug spray on) and I still have the marks to prove it.



It was worth it though because we got to drink delicious guava juice after!

CALI, CO.

For those of you who don't know, I went to Colombia this summer to visit Felipe and his family. The Colombian people are so warm and welcoming (we had dinner invitations almost everyday) that I felt so comfortable. The first couple days were nice and relaxing. Felipe and I went to a river in a little area called Pance. It was this park with tons of people swimming and running/walking and having fun together. Some of the pictures are from Pance and the others are from a dinner with some of the family's friends and then out and about in Cali.
More about what I ate to come....

Meet Katie

WU 4 LIFE

Amen

Orleans

Felipe and I went to Orleans for a little day trip. We rode the bikes that you can rent for several hours and I have never had so much fun. I did make a real biker stop very quickly (hence the skid mark) because I was laughing so hard at Felipe's sad excuse for a bike bell. We did find some boats and when Felipe got in it started to float away but luckily I was there to save him.
Orleans is known for Joan of Arc and there are several statues of her as well as tours. The best was the cathedral... well not really. It has a beautiful exterior but the interior was a bit blah and in addition to that it was colder inside than out.