Bogota Visit November 27

We had a very productive meeting this morning with our representative Manuela. She is incredibly organized and efficient and has been wonderfully helpful with all our arrangements for both visits and also as we look forward to returning in January. We have been given permission to extend Wendy and Fer's holiday visit by a week! Then, we will return to Colombia with them and keep them with us until the legal process starts, so they will not return to San Mauricio after they leave for the States next weekend. Everyone we met with at ICBF was in agreement that it could be very hard on them to transition to being with us and then go back to the fundacion for only a week and then come to us again, so we are very glad it all worked out.

Gigi and Grandad sent the girls an Advent calendar, which I'm pretty sure they have not seen before. At first they were kind of non-plussed but after we explained, they wanted to start opening the windows. They each did one, and they were so amazed at the picture inside ("ooooooh!!")
Wendy was very interested in the paper before we headed out in the late morning for a visit to the planetarium and then lunch.

At the planetarium, we saw the space show, and then went to lunch at "La Casa Vieja," a restaurant with typical Colombian food. We enjoyed empanadas (meat turnovers), chicharrones (fried pork), bandeja paisa (a mix of meat, rice, beans and fried egg), and aijaco de pollo (chicken stew) -- all delicious!! The girls really had a good time.

After returning to the hotel, we had some down time, and then it was off to Fitness Infantil for a gymnastics class. We have become huge fans of Fitness Infantil, and we are hoping to sign the girls up for the day camp there for the last 3 weeks of January -- they would have the chance to do a mix of swimming, dance, karate, roller skating and arts and crafts for several hours each day. We think it would be great for them to have some structured activity with other kids rather than hang around the hotel all day with just us to entertain them.

Tomorrow Wendy and Fer will have one last swim lesson, and then we will take them along with Hugo and Leydi out for lunch and time at a park with a petting zoo and rides. Then we will take all four back to the fundacion and come back to the hotel to pack and get ready for our night flight. It has been a great visit, and we are looking forward to seeing the girls again very soon!