To be or not to be Portuguese

(Written last night while waiting in the Bogota airport for the 9:30 flight to Sao Paulo)

T’was a long day, just like was expected. We had four school visits with our day beginning at 6:40 and ending a little after 6:00. I just had a nice glass of red wine & 2 benadryls so that I will hopefully sleep my little heart out on the way to Sao Paulo.

Bogota is absolutely beautiful. I could kick myself for not charging my camera battery last night. We went up the mountains to this school that was literally at the top. The ride there & back was totally from a movie with bad bumps & the bus actually getting stuck more than once on the way down. F-Dawg (a colleague from Linfield College) had to get out and guide the bus driver. Anyway, the view was TO DIE FOR. You could see all of Bogota from the top of the mountain and it was simply breathtaking. Like I said, my camera battery died earlier in the day, so I got no pictures of this. The view alone made all the hassle of changing from Bolivia to Colombia and waking up at 5:55 am, totally worth it.

I never felt unsafe in Bogota, as you may think since there is a travel warning against this country. The only disheartening sight was about every 50 yards in the busier parts of town, were military police full on with machine guns. Earlier in the day, F-Dawg was trying to take pictures and was told that he could very likely get his camera taken away from him for doing this. Even going through the airport was not bad; there were not drug dogs or something that you might think you would see, as in a movie. At dinner though, we were all talking about “Maria Full of Grace” a drug movie if you have not already seen it. These girls swallow balloons stuffed with cocaine and take them into foreign countries. Ay, ay, ay.

The school visits were good – nothing absolutely noteworthy, but quite a bit of interest at the second to last school. They asked great questions! At the second school of the day we ate a typical Colombian lunch of a soup with 3 types of potatoes, chicken, capers, corn & avocado – it was very good.

At this time a week from now, I will be home. The thing I miss most about home? Not eating out at restaurants for every meal; I want a nice home cooked meal! That means you & pork chops, mom J I also miss my dog & cats. You see all kinds of stray dogs here and being the animal lover that I am, I just want to pet & feed them. Luckily, I haven’t acted on that urge.

There is a girl on this trip that totally reminds me of Raj, the hotel roomie from heck when I stayed in Salamanca. From her mannerisms to her know-it-all-ness, to her pickiness about food, I think I have not liked her very well from the beginning because of her similarities to Raj. You can take the girl out of the catiness, but you cannot take the catiness out of the girl.

Okay, I think that is it. I cannot wait to be in Brazil J