Christmas in Pereira

We spent Christmas in Pereira with the Gonzalez at Kiosco de los Lagos (finca)

(December 29, 2019) Well, Larry and I had a crazy week last week. We traveled to Pereira, Colombia, with our temple president and his wife for Christmas for 8 days. Pereira is a special place (explained later), a very big city with about 800,000 residents, and with undrinkable water. My goal during the trip was always to find something safe to drink. Pereira is 100 miles as the bird flies from Bogota, a trip of 270 kilometers, and a voyage of 12 hours. Yes! 12 hours. Pereira is special because this is the first place that Larry served in Colombia (in a poor area called Dos Quebradas - 2 creeks) and then a place he served again in the second part of his mission in the place where the temple president and his wife used to live (Los Alpes - the mountains). He loved Pereira and the people. We attended church at a chapel which he helped to dedicate 40 years ago. Interestingly, as he talked about the dedication with the temple matron, he was confused because she was baptized in the building some time before it was actually dedicated. Then, Larry remembered that the members would use a building for some time before the dedication because a building could not be dedicated until all of its cost was paid for. What a blessing today that the local members do not have to pay for buildings! 

For the trip, we left Bogota at 4:30 AM so that we could get away before rush hour traffic. Thank goodness I took my dramamine at 4:00 AM because as we got going at top speed (60 km per hour = 36 mph), the driver (Monica, the matron) slammed on her brakes to avoid hitting the man walking on the freeway. There were bikers (wearing dark colors in the darkness, pedestrians in the lanes, huge handcarts with recycling, and motorcycles everywhere). You would never believe we were on a freeway, the only passageway from the east of Colombia to the west. Then, we hit the mountains. They are so high! Bogota is 8600 feet above sea level, and the mountains that we crossed had passes at about 10,800 feet. The roads are so narrow that the traffic in one direction stops completely to allow a semi-truck to negotiate a curve coming the other way. We did this for hours. I kept popping dramamine, as many as I could take. And I still felt really gross. Ha ha! Of course, the views were spectacular. Colombia is such a beautiful country. The combination of equatorial sun and rain with tall, green mountain peaks is amazing! 

The traffic on the highway is so slow that beggars and people selling junk are everywhere, trying to get you to buy things or give them money as you travel across the country. A lot of semis stopped in the middle of the highway to buy a cup of coffee. It was soooo dangerous! The homes up in the mountains are the poorest. Most of the homes called themselves little restaurants, so you would see a two room shack with electric wires, and plastic chairs out front with people eating and in back doing the dishes in the river. They often have electricity, but not potable water. We could not have eaten there, of course, because we (as Americans) would have gotten really sick. The people who stopped to eat at these homes parked their semi trucks in the lane of the highway. Seriously. The drive was crazy in every way. 

We spent a week in Pereira, and it was interesting, not my favorite. Ha ha! We went on a "hike" at the finca, which was basically walking around the large yard and getting bitten by ants (not my favorite day), and we celebrated the Catholic "novena" with nine nights of Christmas. This was pretty fun! We lit candles and sang a song about Jesus coming to our hearts over and over. We can sing the song for you when we get home. We opened a couple of presents. During the days we swam in the pool and talked with a huge family of Colombians. We learned the names of some of the amazing birds in Colombia. A few of the family wanted our help to come to live in the US, and I realized that we are soooo blessed to live in Wyoming. One girl we met wants to be a pop singer like Shakira and Larry and I felt so helpless to explain to her that her dream was probably not possible, especially because she did not speak English. So hard! Some days, we just sat in chairs and sort of wondered why we were sitting and what the heck was going on. Then after a couple of hours, people would start eating, and we figured that this is the way it goes. We never knew what we would be doing, and for people as busy and organized as Larry and me, this was crazy-making. People just sit here. They have several women who cook and clean for them, so the residents just sit and wait. Without even talking. Now I realize that when our family in America gets together, we play games, we read books, we take naps, we cook together, and so our culture is really different. Ha ha! Our trip was a little boring, and we have a lot of mosquito bites and Dad has some weird rash on his feet to show for it. :)  We DID eat dozens of fresh tangerines and juices. Yeah! 

One of the best days we had was the day we went to a theme park with Monica (the temple president stayed home to sleep). It was nestled among a bunch of coffee trees and it was beautiful. Dad and I went on all the roller coasters, to the show, on the horses, and more. We really enjoyed it! At the show, there were not seats or benches, so we sat on some huge steps. The woman in front of Dad was very old, so she rested her head in Larry's lap. Ha ha! I took a blackmail picture. Larry did about half of the driving to and from Pereira because our temple president is very weak from chemotherapy. He has pancreatic cancer, and my guess is that this was his last Christmas with his family. He needed Larry's help to go home. Still, we missed helping at the temple on a few of the busiest days, and we feel some guilt for going to Pereira. We have been serving here long enough to realize the tensions that exist between the leaders, and we are trying to keep a low profile. :)  The president does not tell anyone about his cancer and his treatments so the other leaders are left to guess why he is absent so much. And why we went with him. :) 

Today Dad and I are so happy to be "home" to our apartment with 4 plates, 4 spoons, 4 forks, and an electric warmer-type of stove. We got to wash our clothes in the building machine that deposits orange spots on our white clothes, and we opened our windows when the sun came blaring into our windows so that we would not sweat so much. Ha ha! It is all a matter of perspective. We have forgotten how nice our home and dishwasher and bed and shower were in Laramie, and we are just so thankful to be back to our routine of working in the temple and eating our funny food. (I tried to make chocolate chip cookies, but Colombia does not have brown sugar and the flour is different, so they are really dry.) When we first came to Colombia, I think I had big dreams of making a huge difference here, but now I think I will be happy just to survive. I WILL say that I have made a lot of friends who I love to hug and smile at and to remember forever. So for all the craziness and the stress, we are having an amazing time. I am always playing the piano and organ, and today a sister asked me to show her how to play the piano, hoping I could impart that knowledge in a 5-minute lesson. :) Mom and Dad, thank you for encouraging me to practice. What a blessing! 

This mission is something that we could not have predicted, both worse and better than we imagined before we got here. We do not regret coming at all, but we also are quite homesick, and we plan to celebrate Christmas again in July this year. :)  We are learning the way that we learn best, through things that are hard as well as significant. We are growing in leaps and bounds, which is pretty amazing for two 60-year-olds. I will tell you that my love for Larry is so deep and strong. He is my one constant here, someone who gets me, whom I love more than I ever thought possible. So yes, there are some amazing and wonderful blessings to serving here together. I love all of you so very much. Thank you for your prayers on our behalf. We are doing great! We are stronger people than we knew, and we will never forget these 6 crazy months in wild and wonderful Colombia. I hope you have a wonderful week and I hope you can feel our love for you across the miles.

Pics of the lovely Andes mountains

Their tradition is to leave baby Jesus out of the Nativity manger until late on Christmas Eve

They love their Christmas lights--a typical park

Taken on outskirts of Pereira, looking at Dos Quebradas

Resting in a hammock at the finca

Los Alpes--Larry was there when it was dedicated Feb. 1980

Where Jose y Monica fell in love--local tennis club

They love their meats--a typical parilla

Not exactly "wide" nor "long" :) but it was VERY slow

We spent a day at Parque Del Cafe in Armenia with Monica (while Jose rested)--many pictures follow:

Beautiful show highlighting different regions of their country--full of life!

A very scary roller coaster at the park

The "abundant" leg room at the Show--Jenny's wondering 'what's she doing in my husband's lap?"

A couple of rowdy fans

Back to the Finca

A typical shared meal at the finca

Monos--a favorite Pereira eatery

The main highway between 2 of the largest cities (Cali y Bogota) and traffic was SO slow, that you could buy a tinto (coffee) while you went by :)

Menu from "La Vaca que Rie"  Jenny loved the Bandeja Paisa!

Typical huge mandarina from the finca

Larry trying to harvest some mandarinas

Fresh fruits at the finca (we ate 5 huge mandarinas/day)

Wow, what a breakfast of fresh fruits and juices, prepared by their cook

We enjoyed the pool and hot tub

A lake that had iguanas, alcaravans, and lots of birds nearby

Some of my favorite flowers--all varieties of heliconia

Jose's parents family tree (12 kids)

Jose relaxing in his hammock

Larry w/ Jose's brother (Francisco)

pretty yellow canaries

Gallo pinto--delicious combo of rice, beans, cilantro and other spices (Costa Rican)

Platano frying in aceite

This was our shower at the 'high end' apartment of the their friends (former Bogota Temple President)

Los Alpes chapel with its new addition to make it a Stake Center

The same baptismal font where Monica was baptized 40 years earlier

I still remembered this park where I would go pick up the Zone's mail and $ wire each week--guess its name?  Parque Bolivar of course!

My old house in Cuba, Pereira (1st area)--now turned into a store

Manizales

Bull fighting ring

New chapel at El Chipre--when I was there we had a metal fabricated, small building on concrete pad

Such a lovely city (my 2nd area)