Day 32

Bests: weekend in nature with Diego and his parents, coming home with rosy sunshined cheeks, adventuring in the cold river this morning.

Worsts: another complication with the salary from Buenos Aires--tax forms. Life is so much simpler when you just volunteer all the time. ;)
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This Saturday, I was picked up by the C family (punctually--a rarity in Bogotá ;) ) for our two hour, mountainous, curvy, northward drive to a small town called Pacho.

That is where the Cs have their finca, like a ranch house that they make the drive out to stay the weekend in, every so often. It was such a massive treat! The drive to the finca, as well as the entire time we were at the finca, was so naturally stunning that I just about laughed with joy at its glory.

The moment we made it into sight of Pacho, we all rolled down our car windows to take in the fresh, countryside, non-factory-spoiled air. Mmmm. We made  our way down the perilously potholed streets, and bought water, and tried desperately to keep Luna (the schnauzer) calm just a tad longer. Dad, she was wearing her Chelsea jersey. :)
When we got to the finca, we checked to see how the house had kept up. Then we went into the back garden. There, for the first time in my life, I saw real live orange trees (two varieties--one for juice, one for eating), mango trees, avocado trees, guava trees, as well as other floral plants. SO cool how anything grows here. :)
After a snack bought at a nearby store, Diego and I ventured down the lane and down a hillside to a cool bridge, suspended over the river. It was gorgeously sunny, and there was nary a cow to bother us. So nice to just breathe cleanly, smell the vegetation and the water, and listen to the river scramble and rush its course.
We drove up to the town for lunch, at a typical Colombian restaurant, la Olla, and there I tried a couple new things: freshfreshfresh orange juice from right there in Pacho (the Orange Capital, as Mr. C aptly calls it), and Cola y Pola--a beer and soda combo drink. They were both quite tasty! Obviously, fresh squeezed orange juice is hard to beat, so it was my favorite of the two. Still, both were yum. For lunch I had a chicken and meat plate, with yucca, salted potatoes, little bit of salad, and guacamole. Mmm. So full. So deli.
After lunch, all feeling satisfactorily stuffed, we walked through the plaza to get bread for dinner and breakfast, and then hopped into the car to go back to the house. There, we all enjoyed a magnificent naptime. :)
After napping, Diego and I headed downhill to a different part of the river. It looked just like one of my favorite hikes in the Lake District (England)! I was pleasantly surprised to find this little haven of familiarity, in the midst of a landscape already quite similar to the rolling fells of the Lakes, just magnified into mountains.
When we got back to the house, we played dominoes with his parents. I am a whiz at dominoes, let me tell you. It was super fun. :)
For onces, like Colombian tea time (but obviously with café, not tea), we went to the house next door--which Diego's uncle owns. We talked about many things, and laughed quite a bunch. I guess I covered my gringaness well enough; his uncle assumed I was a classmate from Diego's university. :) After some tinto, afternoon coffee, some desired coca cola, so I went to the little store with Diego to get it.
Problem is, the men from surrounding houses were already welllllll into their happy hour, and a young gringa on their turf...hmmm... smart. I waited for Diego in the street, distanced from their drunkenness. One man started trying to yell out the door to me, or started gesturing. I completely ignored him, still taking note of my surroundings enough to know an escape plan. While the lady storekeeper dilly-dallied with our coca cola, this man decided to stand up and head out towards me in the street.

Um...hello, frightened, racing heartbeat.

I made use of the divinely placed car at my side to put some obstacle between the man and I. After what seemed like an agonizing 20 second delay, Diego appeared from the doorway, walked right up to me, and led me away safely. Phew. God is good.

The rest of the evening was spent playing Parques--Parcheesi--and dominoes back home. While in dominoes I frequently was able to chalk up victories, in Parcheesi, not so much. The first game, Mrs. C won soundly, and I was second or third. The second time...uuuuuuuuuush. Within twenty minutes or half an hour, Diego won. MEANTIME, sending my fichas, game pieces, to jail approximately 7 times. The game proceeded to take an hour and a half for the next person to win, and I was nearly constantly with pieces in jail. It was hilariously tedious and amusing. We all laughed a lot.

In the morning, I slept in, as did Diego, and then awoke to a yummy breakfast of tamales, bread, freshfreshfresh orange juice (from the backyard oranges), and hot chocolate. Mmmm. It wasn't bad. :)
Diego and I headed down to the river again to do some more rock scrambling, and then back up the hill for packing up. Luna did not like going back into the car. After all, she'd been quite the main attraction for all the chico dogs in the neighborhood. They would literally make repeated--nearly constant--efforts to enter the finca fence to get a chance. Not so lucky.
Then we said goodbye to the lovely finca, and headed back towards the city. The mountainous drive this time made me sleepy, so I dozed until we got over the mountains into Zipaquirá for lunch. We got tasty chicken, yucca, cornbread-like-something, potatoes, platano, and Sprite. All super tasty.
Then we continued our drive into the city. It's pretty nice to be back, rested and relaxed and sunkissed, ready for a new week. Every day here is a treasure. I keep my ears and eyes open as much as possible, and continue to find more and more great sites and people and foods and flowers and things.

Enjoy a few pictures! Que estén bien. xox