This Pilgrim's Journeys

One morning we walked down the street, across a dusty dirt road, and waited by the side of a highway for the bus, which we rode into Cali. As we waited for Mario and Patricia to pick us up, we had coffee at an eatery in the bus terminal, walked around for a little bit, and then waited some more - traffic was terrible, Mario said. We drove through the city of Cali until we reached the Cali Zoo, where we had a lot of fun touring. It was so much better than any American zoo I had ever been to, especially because most of the animals there were naturally found in Colombia or neighboring South American countries. The mixture of natural flora and fauna was beautiful. Flamingos, iguanas wondering the paths freely, monkeys, turtles, colorful birds, reptiles and fish, alligators, bears, and so many more! After the zoo Mario drove us up into the mountains where we could see the expanse of Cali in the distant valley. Up there in the mountains it was cooler a

Ah. Nothing like Colombian coffee at least twice a day. And so much bread, often made with cheese. And to combine it all together, a lot of family members to visit - and they all give at least a snack and coffee, of course. By "family members" I don't mean my own. We visited aunts and uncles and cousins of the coworker who was showing us around, and even stayed at one of their houses for a night.  Mario and Patricia were the ones we spent the most time with - they picked us up from the airport, took us to Cali and up to the mountains, to Lago Calima, and they welcomed us into their home for the night, with the invitation to stay with them if we ever came back to visit Colombia again. They were very welcoming and kind. At the Cali zoo - Patricia, me, my brother, Mario, and Mery Mario and Patricia's home The pool in which we got to enjoy a swim We met other aunts and cousins as well, but all of the names I don't recall. We got a second of

Our first full day in Colombia, we got a small tour of Palmira. We walked first to the bakery to get breakfast - quite a selection! We also got a tour of the construction being done on one of the houses they own and rent out. Then, we hailed a taxi and headed into the heart of Palmira, where we first went inside the historic cathedral. We walked through the square full of palm trees and pigeons and saw the view from the second-story balcony of an art museum. The streets were hot and busy. We walked through a few shops and stopped in a side cafe for some guanabana (also known as soursop) shakes. Next, another taxi ride to a park. Unfortunately, it was soon closing for their lunch break, but we got a nice walk in before we had to leave. Our last stop was a visit to one of the sisters of our host. We walked the maybe four miles back to the house. The sun was hot and the air humid; we made a brief stop for some raspberry-flavored ice