villavicencio

Last weekend little J. went to the farm so I had Saturday-Monday off. Ingrid and I went out of town, about 2 1/2 hours away, to a small city called Villavicencio. It is the gateway to the plains... beautiful country, with layers of the Andes to the north, and opening into flat, broad expanses in the other directions.
We got into town late, but without any major problems (just more confusion about where the bus leaves from. It seems that I really need to research these things better before I go out of the house!). We found a hotel that we could afford, and settled in. The next day, we went horseback riding, because the plains area is famous for cowboy-type things. First, Ingrid got bitten (slightly) by a moody horse in the stable while we were waiting to begin the trail ride. Later, out on the trail through pastures, her horse ran her into a tree. Mine refused to canter, going from trot to bucking me when I tried to urge it into the next gait. The neat bits of the ride were the beautiful day, the warm weather, riding through a creek that covered half of the horses (up to mid-calf on me), seeing leaf cutter ants, and eating ice cream afterward.
That night we went out to eat and walked around a bit. Earlier I had seen some people setting up a stage in the main square, but it turned out not to be for Sunday night, but rather for Monday mid-day, since July 20 is the national holiday. The whole time we were there the town seemed a bit sleepy, had a beach town feel even though it's probably 15 hours from the ocean, and even the area that someone said was dangerous didn't seem bad at all, although of course we didn't just go hang out.
Monday morning, we decided to go find the river, which on the map is a huge, beautiful, blue expanse on the border of town. I had visions of swimming, or at least wading, in the water and generally enjoying a good time by the water, like we would in North Carolina.
Instead, the gray, muddy water seemed very low, and the banks were made of cobble-sized rocks. Off in the distance we saw people working by the shore and a community of houses. To the other direction it was deserted and seemed like we could go explore a bit.
Note: Rules of life are different here. For me, I feel safe in the country, but on-guard in the city. Here, that isn't necessarily true, as we were about to find out.
We walked down to the shore, by the bridge, and a group of teens accosted us, demanding everything. By the grace of God, they didn't harm us or even touch us. Also they let me take out my ID card, which really surprised me. The things I'm most bummed about losing are the camera that Mom and Dad just left for me (it was in the purse), and the purse itself, which was a gift from a Burmese student when I taught English in High Point. God was also gracious in having me leave my debit card and the equivalent of $35 in the hotel room that day, which was enough to get us back to Bogota without any more trouble.
We went straight to the police, but there was nothing to be done. I'm sure the kids had already dispersed and hidden the stuff to sell later. I hope their girlfriends enjoy the sunglasses... We got a ride back to the hotel in a police van, and called Bogota and packed our bags to the sound of the independence day parade.
For the rest of the day we were a bit shaken up, a bit subdued, very thankful to God, and feeling very stupid for going down there. Neither of us slept very well last night, but today I feel calm and super thankful for God's mercy.
When we explained to the police that we're in Colombia working with children at risk, with street kids, like those who robbed us, we had to laugh a bit at the irony of it all. But seeing first hand how they're living makes me more eager in my work, that they children I love on every day would not end up in street gangs, but instead would learn that there is another, better way to live.