vacation

Two days after the last post, Mom and Dad arrived to visit for a couple of weeks. What a relief! God's timing is perfect, even in knowing when I really need a break and how to encourage me. Among the things we did was take a 2-day trip out of the city. I had found a place that sounded neat on the internet, so Wednesday morning we went to Portal de la 80 to catch a bus out of Bogota to Tobia, in hot country. As soon as we went through the turnstile from the Transmilenio (like a subway or metro system) to the waiting flotas (buses between towns)I saw one with a sign in the window for the place we were headed to, so I asked the driver how much it cost and how long it would take and we piled in. I was surprised at how inexpensive the fare was, and how short he said the trip would be, but we arrived without problems after passing through the beautiful "savannah" of Bogota.
It didn't seem very hot, and I didn't know where the hotel was, so we went to a bakery for a snack and to wait for the hotel agent to call me back. When he did, I realized my error: the hotel in hot country is in Tobia and we had gotten on a bus for Tabio, less than an hour from Bogota! With instructions from the hotel guy and a man in the bakery we hopped on a bus back toward Bogota (whose driver was in a terrible hurry and liked to honk the horn a lot) until we arrived at the traffic circle of Siberia: a major crossroad for any vehicle leaving or heading toward the capital on the road to Medellin.
We waited about a half hour for the bus to Villeta to finally pass (meanwhile my foster kid picked me every dandelion, almost ran out into the major highway, and was put on a "leash" by my Dad.
This time the trip was more what I expected: we crossed through the beautiful mountains and as we started going lower, it got warmer and warmer! Hotel guy had told me to get off the bus at La Maria and take either a bus or a "carrito". Where the road to La Peña meets the carretera to Villeta there is a place for passersby to buy empanadas and sodas and sit under the shade of a little roof. Apparently this crossroads is called La Maria. We sat on the step of the store and finished the strawberries I had bought through the window of the bus. I lent a minute on my cell phone to the other family that had gotten off at the same spot. A red car pulled up and turned off the ignition. "Those who are going to Tobia: he'll take you."
It seemed a bit random, as I hadn't understood that a "carrito" would be someone's private vehicle, but we hopped in and started down the road which soon turned to gravel, some places so steep that I can't imagine how they make it in the rainy season. On our left Rio Tobia flowed on ahead of us, leading the way, and the car dropped us off in the hamlet, where the Rio Negro runs into the Tobia.
After all the adventure that was arriving, my delight in the perfect getaway was completed when we pulled in (in the hotel manager's car) and I saw the rushing river in front of the hotel, complete with pool and hammocks and beautiful nature.
The next night we were back in Bogota, but I felt better having been away from traffic and pollution and 8 million people for even a night.