Cafe Park in Columbia

Today we drove to Armenia. The Newman's have to do a class her tonight so we rode along. We went to a park that was really nice. It is the Cafe Park. A park all about coffee. It is a theme park with displays and rides etc. Very nice and lots of fun things to see and do. Here is Jeff picking coffee beans off of a bush. I never knew they were green and red when ripe.

Doing a photo op with "Juan Valdez".

I asked Jeff if I could do a pretend picture of me tied to a tree in the jungle...he said no so I am pouting here. Below is a look at the bamboo jungle. It was so impressive. I think that they might be a lot like the quakies in my yard. Glad I do not have to dig these up

Tomorrow we fly to Bogota and home on Friday.

On the roller coaster in Columbia

We drove 5 hours today from Medellin to Pereira. It was 5 hours of roller coaster road. I sat in the back of the van. it was a rough 5 hours. I do not get car sick but this about did me in. The road had not one single straight stretch of road the entire time. We went over the mountains. It was a very busy road. Lots of trucks passing and speeding. It was unbelievably beautiful however. So green and dramatic. We saw coffee fields, banana trees,cattle ranches and rivers.

We stopped at this place to get a drink. It was a lot like in India. Cooking over fire and wooden tables and chairs outside. These parrots were there and when I walked up to them this one hung down in front of my face. Silly bird. Silly me with such a goofy look on my face. Jeff always seems to catch me looking funny.

We visited a hospital and this nurse ran down the hall to catch us. She is LDS and was excited to have us visit the hospital. She was very pretty and has a nurses cap on. I had to add the picture below of the clouds from Sunday that we flew through. I used to panic when flying in this kind of clouds. Now I find them beautiful. Like bouncing along on pillows. HA!

Tomorrow we travel to another city. We are stopping at the Disney Land of coffee on the way.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RACHEL!

Quick update

Sorry no pictures tonight. We need to get to bed as we have a 6 hour drive tomorrow to another city. Leaving at 6:30. All is well. We spent the day talking to officials and seeing a beautiful hospital. Very nice. Not all here are nearly that nice. Walked around a lot and did a little shopping. Girls are lined up with those cool shoes I wear from Columbia. I just did not know Chalenes size. Let us know if you see this.
More tomorrow. I think we should have brought some Dramamine as we will be driving across mountains tomorrow.

Alive and well in Columbia

We arrived last night in Bogota Columbia. We had another Atlanta weather problem (third trip in a row). A big rainstorm blew in just as we pulled onto the runway. So the pilot stopped the plane and turned off it's engines then waited an hour for the storm to pass. Any way we made it finally. The above picture is Jeff in the Hotel hallway in Bogota. A jungle inside of the Hotel. We went to Church and then flew to Medellin.

The picture above was taken as we took off from Bogota. It is in the mountains. Columbia is a beautiful country. Very green and lush. It was a short hop to Medellin. Now those of you in the know will say we are crazy to come to this city. It has a notorious reputation for being the most dangerous city on earth. It is the home of the drug cartels and cocaine wars. That is now in the past (they tell us). We walked the streets tonight to find a restaurant and lived to tell about it. We found a fun Italian place and had a wonderful time sitting outside to eat.

The flowers here are everywhere and so beautiful. Most of the flowers we buy in the USA are from here. I will try to get some pictures.

Now I know some of you were very worried about us traveling here. It seems safe. We will be very careful. I did mention to Carlos who works for the Church about how I was going to bring a long book just in case I ended up chained to a tree in the jungle. He promised that of anything happened he would supply us with books. So see all bases are covered. Really this is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen. We are fortunate to get to come here.