21 - Bogotá to Girardot

I arrived in Bogotá after taking my overnight bus from Cali around 9 am on the 24th of December. I took a taxi to my mom's friend, Laura Alvarez's house. I was fed a delicious breakfast of eggs and toast and then I went and slept for many more hours. At night I went with one of Laura's sisters, Fabiola, to the airport to pick up my mom. It took a while to find her because the airport was packed, but when we finally did I gave her the biggest hug ever! I missed my mom.

The three of us drove back to Fabiola's house. We expected to have an easy night, and we were about to get ready for bed when at around 11:00 pm Fabiola came into our room to ask if we were ready to go. I guess neither of us understood that we were going to Laura's house for Christmas Eve dinner. Ahhhh the joys of the language barrier. When we got to the house the entire family was already there drinking and laughing and enjoying each other's company. They celebrate Christmas a little different in Colombia. Around 11:45 pm the family all got together and recited some Christmas prayers and by midnight it was time to pass out the dozens of presents tucked nicely under the Christmas tree. I guess Santa doesn't visit Colombia. After presents we ate a delicious feast of soup, chicken, rice, salad, potato pie, and yummy desserts.

The day after Christmas we drove with the family a few hours south to Girardot where the family has a vacation home. The drive down through the mountains was spectacular.
We also drove under Colombia's Nariz Del Diablo (the Devil's Nose), which looks nothing like Ecuador's Nariz Del Diablo (see blog entry 17).

We spent about a week in Girardot enjoying the great weather and incredible hospitality. For most of the days we just lazed around in the pool, ate a ton of incredibly delicious food, and played lots of games of dominos.



We spent New Years Eve in Girardot and it was quite an event. Colombia has a lot of fun New Years Eve traditions. One of them is to eat 12 grapes at midnight and make a wish for every one that you eat. I was a little bit inebriated by the time New Years came along, and somehow my grapes disappeared very quickly. I finally realized that one of the cousin's was stealing my grapes when I wasn't looking, so I yelled at him, "Stop stealing my wishes!".
Another fun tradition is to run around the block with a suitcase to ensure a year of good traveling. I certainly need that for this upcoming year, so I grabbed my backpack and hit to the streets.

After everyone was done eating their grapes and running around the street we sat down for some delicious lachona. Lachona is pig cooked in a huge oven and stuffed with rice and lentils.


After la lachona around 1:30 AM I went with the younger crowd to another house to keep the New Year's party going. We didn't get back until 5 AM. 2 hours after going to sleep I was awakened by about 5 members of the family coming into our room to give us a glass of sweet wine and a cookie. It's a nice family tradition, but after only 2 hours of sleep I wasn't too enthusiastic about the wake up.

Mom and I took a bus back to Bogotá on January 2nd. Girardot was a great relaxing week, but what was even more special was getting to know Laura and Jaime's family. Thank you to the Bello/Alvarez family for all the wonderful food and fun.