Where have we been!?

Hey everyone, sorry about the radio silence for the last week, we have been very busy and have not had a chance to blog for a while.  Much has happened since our last post on last Monday, but I will try to summarize so that we don't end up with another super long post.  Tuesday was a pretty boring day, I worked in the morning and then we just hung out in the afternoon, it was nice to relax a bit.  Wednesday was very eventful, in the morning we had our visit with ICBF, which basically started the whole legal process in motion.  We expected it to be some big formal meeting, but it ended up being very relaxed and short.  Magnolia, our interpreter picked us up and we drove to the ICBF building.  There we met up with out lawyer, Gertrudis.  We went to the office of the ICBF representative who asked us a few questions and that was basically it.  The ICBF rep was very familiar with Kayella and her case and was very happy to know that she was going to such a good home.  After the visit we went to the notary next door to sign the power of attorney document which made Kayella legally ours, and then Gertrudis went to file the paperwork with the court.  Wednesday afternoon we had our tour of Chiquitines, it was very nice to be able to see what goes on day to day around there and how much the staff and volunteers at Chiquitines truly love the children in their care.  At the same time it was very heartbreaking to see all of the children waiting to be adopted, we wanted to bring them all home with us.  Of course everyone there was thrilled to see Kayella again, everyone wanted to hold her and give her kisses.  We could tell that Kayella recognized all of them, but it was very reassuring that she seemed wary anytime we handed her off to them.  We could see in her face that she did not want to be there very much and she would only smile once she was back in our arms.  The staff also could not stop saying how much she had changed in less than a week, and how much she had bonded with us.  We took a ton of video, but here are a couple of short clips for now.

There are more but we didn't want to overwhelm everyone!

Thursday morning we got to go to the zoo, something we had been looking forward to very much (I think I was more excited about it than Kayella).  The zoo here is definitely a very different experience than back home because you can get so much closer to the animals, at one point I was literally a foot away from a Zebra.  Kayella's favorite part was the fish, she stared in awe as they swam in front of her face.  We are definitely going to have to get a pass to Sea Life when we get home. It was a great experience, although Kayella fell asleep halfway through and missed most of the zoo.  That afternoon we Skyped with family, it was great to see everyone, but really made us realize how much we missed home.  It was the first Thanksgiving at Roxanne's that Ted missed in 20 years.  Kayella loved Skyping, she was especially excited to see her cousins Ruby and Dylan.

Friday morning, Enrique took us all to the local market.  It was amazing, think of the Minneapolis farmer's market times 10.  It was so cool to see all the variety of produce, from things we recognized to tropical fruits and veggies which we had never heard of before.  The colors, smells and tastes were more than I can describe.  We got to taste test all sorts of exotic fruits, like cactus fruit, papaya, and one that I can't remember that you could only eat the seed out of, but they were surrounded by this jelly like membrane, very different than anything I've had before. 

The other unique thing about the market, is that besides produce it also has a meat market within it.  Here I will give a quick warning to anyone who might be squeamish or be a vegetarian, because it's about to get a little graphic...



OK, here we go.  Basically the meat market was dozens and dozens of stands where animal carcasses hung from meat hooks and the vendors chopped and hacked the meat right before your eyes.  To say the least it was an affront on your senses, because the air was hot a thick and smelled of blood and meat.  They also use every part of the animal, so as you can see from the pictures below there were various innards laid out to pick from including eyes, tongues, brains, intestines, kidneys, and testicles.  Amid all of this Enrique had us sit down and "enjoy" a soda or beer.  So there we are sipping cold beverages while all of this was going on around us.  Again if you are squeamish you might want to scroll really fast through the next few photos.

After the market we went to a small souvenir shop of 100% Colombian made products.  It wasn't your typical tourist trap souvenir shop, the prices were very reasonable and the products were all well made, no chincy knock offs here.  We racked up around $100 worth of gifts and trinkets for folks back home.  That afternoon Magnolia picked us up and took us for a mini tour of northern Cali, we didn't get to see a whole lot, as we need to exchange some money and traffic was horrendous, so most of the tour was poor Magnolia trying to weave her tiny manual car up the hills of Cali, it was quite a ride but she kept us all in one piece.

Saturday morning Enrique treated everyone to a trip of a local ecopark.  It was a pretty cool place, however we did not see many of the animals that were supposedly there (maybe they were hiding).  That being said, there were still plenty of amazing plants, trees, and flowers to take pictures of.  I have to admit that compared to the flora here, Minnesota is kind of boring.

That afternoon we decided to go for a walk with our new friends, the Lopezes, another family staying at Stein who adopted from Chiquitines.  We were planning on going to the restaurant at a hotel in the area, which we were told had the best pizza in Cali, but when we got there the line was wrapped around the block, so I think that might confirm that it's the best.  We however did not want to wait that long so we walked a little more until we found a Tony Roma's.  After Lunch we walked a little farther to a place called Ventollini's (think of a cross between a deli, a wine bar, and an ice cream parlor) and had some ice cream.  It was delicious and cheap, Jodi and I each got a 2 scoop waffle cone and the total was around $5.

As I mentioned previously, Sunday the Kitchen is closed, so Enrique takes us somewhere nice for lunch.  This week was no exception, as we headed up into the mountains to a beautiful hotel called El Faro De 18.  The drive up was amazing, but crazy as the driver took hairpin turns going 45-50mph on a 2 lane road with no shoulder...and passing slow drivers.  I found it somewhat entertaining, kind of like a roller coaster, but every time I looked back at Jodi, she had a look of terror on her face.  Kayella of course slept through the whole experience.  Lunch was fantastic and the ground of the hotel had many great photo opportunities.  Midway through lunch a fog rolled in and  obscured the mountains and valleys around us, it was a very eerie sight, straight out of a Stephen King movie.  After lunch we piled back into the van for the wild ride back down the mountain, this time assisted by gravity.  Once again I thought it was a blast, Jodi was terrified and Kayella slept.  After that experience we decided to relax the rest of the day and Skype with family, including our first visit with Uncle Jeremy.

This afternoon, we are going out with Magnolia to hopefully find Kayella's authentic Colombian baptism gown.  Magnolia also has told us that we might find out form our lawyer Gertrudis when our court date will be.  We will let you know how everything turns out.  Until next time...Ciao!