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 ...

Writing in my journal in the living room Ahhh. Waking up to Colombian coffee before walking to the corner to buy bread and arepas for breakfast. Sitting on the balcony overlooking the still-sleepy street where a few cats saunter along. Enjoying coffee in the morning on the balcony Home away from home in a Colombian house in Palmira, hosted by a wonderful Colombian woman. The house - we were upstairs That's where my brother and I stayed while visiting our coworker and her mom. They rented out the bottom portion of the house and lived on the top portion. The door from the street opened right into a staircase that turned rather dramatically to go upstairs. The balcony at the top opened into the living/dining room; from there, a tiny piece of hallway with a bathroom to the right and a staircase to the left that went upstairs to the enclosed "backyard." Next was the kitchen and then a small back room and a bedroom to the right. Small, but cozy, and it did ...

It all started with a co-worker asking if she could borrow a suitcase. Two days later, both my brother and I had plane tickets and time off of work for a five-day trip to Colombia, South America. I couldn't believe my brother had volunteered to go with me and actually seemed excited, since I had been trying to get him out of the country for the past five years to no avail. It also felt strange to be going on a trip that wasn't a missions trip. We would be visiting with our coworker while she visited family members in Colombia before bringing her mother back to the US for a month. It had been five years since she had seen her. Less than a month after purchasing the tickets, we made our way to the Philadelphia airport for our American Airlines flight to Cali, Colombia. I wore my usual ensemble for air travel; my brother wore the shirt I had brought him from Thailand and had never worn before. It had been years since I flew American Airlines; usually I flew United if goi...