An Adventure of a Lifetime

Hello,

Once again I am writing from the convent. This is where I am staying for most of the time while I am here. I have both my own room and bathroom which is wonderful. I have a bit more time today so I will tell you more about yesterday and then about today.

Yesterday:
We woke up in the morning to a delicious breakfast of baked egg, bread, fresh squeezed juice and the best cocoa I have ever had. It was actual chocolate and they had fresh milk to go with it. We then took a bus up the mountains overlooking Bogota. It was beautiful and really gave us an idea of how big the city is. I found a piece of grafitti that was my name so I took a picture with it. Speaking of grafiti it is really neat here...true art around every corner. We took many pictures from the hills.

Then we went to this church up on a mountain. It is a very popular thing to do in Bogota. People come from all over the world to climb the mountains on their hands and knees all the way to the alter of the church. I can´t imagine how hard that must be. We were lazy and took the gondola or cable car. It held forty people on a tiny cable. I do not like heights. I do not like feeling claustrophobic. It was definitely scary but I survived. At the top there was a church and a market area. I bought a mask made out of clay from Northern Colombia. It is cool and has a lizard on the top.

After that we went to the government plaza area. It is scary because all over Bogota there are guards with very intense guns. We are assured that they are there for our safety but it is still scary. There were a lot in the square also. Lacey you would have hated it because there were literally thousands and thousands of birds that clearly had no fear of humans.

We then went back to the convent to listen to some people about the Emmaeus Road Foundation. It is the reason we are here and is a really great program.They provide meals for displaced children and also scholarships for school.They have put 890 kids through high school or college. It is really great.

Today:
Once again we woke up to a wonderful breakfast. This time Tomales(corn sstuff steamed in banana leaves). To be honest I didn´t really like it but it was still very nice. The fruit here was wonderful. Then we went to a church service in this garage. It was cool because there were so many people in a little tiny space. Paige and I spent time in the Sunday school room and the kids were all really cute. They were all really sweet. I brought them some gum and beach balls and things like that. They loved them.

We have wonderful tour guides names Nataniel and Estella. We visited some of their family a poorer part of town. The hospitality of people is amazing even though they have very little. It was good to hear about some of th struggles that people have here in Bogota.

Then we went to a wonderful lunch. It was huge. They kept on bringing more and more appetizers so we all got a chance to try a ton of food. I can tell you I have not gone hungry on this trip.

After lunch we spent some time on the countryside. It was so beautiful. TOns of flowers and fresh fruit and just beautiful mountains. Again the hospitality was amazing. I got the most beautiful rose of my whole life that a woman had grown in her garden. The flower industry is huge down here. One of the women made us Empanadas and they were so good.

Overall it has been a wonderful couple of days. I really do love it here. I can´t wait for the rest of the trip. I hope everyone is enjoying their spring breaks. I miss you all and am excited to talk to all of you and share our spring break stories. I love you!

Erika