Someone forgot to tell him he wasn't driving the Porsche today!

So, it's been chilly here in Bogota, so Marcia and Suzanne invited me to go away for the weekend. Woo hoo!!!!

Marcia offered to go to Isabella and see what she could book for us and when she returned she said that we could all go to the little town of Paipa. And when she said "we all" she meant herself, Suzanne, me, and............ Isabella.

Yeah.

Well, because we are all very gracious and polite women, we all said that would be 'fine'. Now, any normal person would think that the story would move right on to our trip to Paipa.

Nope.

You see, that night a bomb went off in Bogota. Marcia told us all about it the next morning on the bus to school. Seems that the bomb went off at a Blockbuster and was set by the FARC. They get money nowadays through extortion since Uribe tightened the screws on them. But anyway........ when the bus stopped at school, Isabella, who rides my bus, stood up, blocking the aisle and announced to her captive audience that 'the FARC bombed a business downtown' and then paused dramatically. In that pause, Suzanne dared to say to Marcia, 'there is your bombing'. Bad call. Instantly, Isabella pointed at her and yelled, 'Shut up! I am talking. I am the teacher now and you are the student. This is important and you will listen. No one wants to hear what you are saying.'

Yeah.

Well, needless to say, we decided to forgo the trip to Paipa and find something else. And we did. We decided to go back to Melgar ~ to the gorgeous hotel where we stayed a couple of months ago. And what a good call. It was hot and wonderful and delightful and perfect!

Of course, since we were going by ourselves, we had to go to Melgar via bus. Not too bad, we thought. We made sure to book the direct bus (rather than the one that makes stops) so that we could get to our hotel as soon as possible after school on Friday. The bus station in Bogota was really nice. Very similar to the airport, really. And the bus wasn't bad either. Spacious enough. Soon enough we were on our way. Well, sort of. I mean, we were on our way, but it was hardly 'non-stop'. We had our driver and this other man who periodically hung out the door and called to pedestrians, looking for passengers. No, seriously. He did! It was bizarre. Even when we thought the bus was full, he hung himself out there, hollering, until there was someone sitting on the bump at the back of the bus (between the bathroom door and the last seat) and another was sitting on a barrel in the aisle. Seriously!

But eventually we were on our way. And boy were we moving. You have to understand that Bogota is on a savanna between two mountain ranges. So, in order to get down to the lower elevations, you have to drive over one of the mountains and then drive lower and lower. And I use the term 'drive' loosely here. OUR driver was more into 'careening' down the mountainside, driving across the double yellow lines in order to pass cars and trucks (did I mention we were in a bus!?!) I'm pretty sure someone forgot to tell the driver that he wasn't driving the Porsche today!

Luckily we made it to Melgar safely. Our driver dropped us off at a corner in town and pointed. We wandered up the street until a woman, who had also been on the bus, pointed out the cabs to us. Whew!



Hotel at last!!! What a relief. Now we three days to relax in the sun! Which we did.






Man, I love this life!

But we didn't just lay by the pool. We went to the local zoo. Very, very small zoo. But we did get to see a beautiful lake and a gorgeous, huge tree filled with white birds.



At first glance, they looked like blossoms in the tree!


Suzanne, Marcia, and I enjoyed walking around.




And were very surprised when we saw a floating bar!!! Those Colombians, they think of everything!


And since it was a zoo, we did see some animals. There were cats and birds and happy turtles.


There was this rodent ~ apparently the largest in the world ~ from Argentina, I think. There weren't many signs, so I am not sure of it's name..... It's definitely a rodent though!


And our favorite, monkeys!!!




And, just like on the island with my girls, there was a toucan!

And Macaws

And even peacocks and hens!



So, despite all the drama at the start of this long weekend, we had a wonderful time and came back to CNG well rested and raring to teach!

Reality Check

So today was kind of interesting.....

Well, first you have to know that Dahlia and I are co-managing a Destination Imagination team of fifth grade girls. DI is a very cool organization that promotes creative thinking and problem solving. Our team, for example, had to research some critter and learn about it's means of communication. Now they are putting together a skit, complete with costumes,scenery, and 3-D props, in which they have to demonstrate their understanding of that animal's means of communication. Our girls chose bees.

Anyway... this afternoon we took our girls to a store where they could buy most of what they would need to construct their props and such. We had asked for parents to volunteer to drive us there, since neither Dahlia nor I have wheels. Two moms stepped forward. However, at 3:30 when we walked down to the main gate of the school to catch our rides,there weren't two moms waiting for us. Instead there was one very nicely dressed driver of one girl's family, and the elegant mom of another girls and her driver!

Yeah, it was weird for me too. I mean, it shouldn't be a big deal. I take cabs all the time, and I have used a driver for special things, and yet, somehow it was still sort of weird. Although, when we finished shopping and headed for the door we saw that the sky had opened up in a torrential downpour!! Well, no biggee... the cars were parked in the parking garage just about 20 feet from the door. We could make a run for it.

But no ~ the mom whipped out her phone to call her driver and asked him to meet us at the door with some huge umbrellas. Which he did. and he escorted us to the garage.

I think I may have gotten a drop of water on the back of my pants by my shoes.

Every now and then I have to do a reality check here. I mean, I am living in this second world country and yet, if you have money, doctors make house calls and people have drivers. You'd think that the US could figure out some of this!!!! Of course the downside of all this is that there are soooooooooooo many people here who have next to nothing. There's the reality check I suppose.

WARNING: This blog might be found offensive or disturbing. Read at your own risk.

So, my friend invited to me a typical Colombian event and, in keeping with my upbeat, willing to do just about anything personality I said "Sure!" And that is how I ended up going to a bullfight.

Yeah, I know. Scary. Gross. Inhumane. This was sort of a tough decision, but I also really wanted to go because I wanted to take in what is very much a tradition and has been since the Inquisition. But, like my girls before a big game, there needed to be some serious pre-funking!

Marcia whipped up the traditional pre-bullfight meal of muy delicioso paella served with a refreshing liquid courage, Sangria. Suzanne brought a decadent dessert of lime cheesecake. Double yum! Did I mention we had Sangria? Mmmmmmmm!

And as if to keep us focused on the small blessings in life, we enjoyed a mommy bird and her little babies who were nesting just outside Marcia's window




Life is beautiful.


And then it was off to the bullfight. The outside of the arena is just beautiful, all made of brick as are so many buildings here. And on the streets outside there were plenty of vendors. Par for the course.








Once inside, we were in for a surprise. Turns out, you don't get just one bullfight. Oh, no. You get 6! I know ~ more than one could ever hope for.......! Luckily, there were some very nice ladies who offered us a bit of rum before entering!



And the first one was tough. It's sort of like going to watch "Titanic". You know how it's going to end, and it's hard to stop thinking about it. But once you put the end out of your mind ~ hard to do, but possible ~ then you can appreciate the enthusiasm of the crowd and the elegance of the matador and really enjoy yourself. First they marched all the players out so that we could appreciate the majesty of the event.



And as though 'they' knew the Gringos weren't ready for the main event yet, we were first treated to the elegant horsemanship of a very talented and young (18 years old) Portugese man who worked his horses magnificently!




The horses were able to trot in such a way that they looked as though they were practically floating above the arena, and then trot sideways as though they were doing a dance. It was beautiful!

But eventually it was time for..........



............ the bull.

Here's how it works. First the (very brave!) bandilleros come out with their hot pink capes and work the bull. One bandillero in particular was very good and put on quite the show.




They do have the protection of the wall to run to though, since they are not the matadors, and they use it when the bull gets just a wee bit too close! Some bandilleros are smart ~



I would be scared of the bull too!!!!

Next comes the picadore; a man on a robed horse whose job it is lance the bull once.




This was the scariest part for me, because the bull has to be very close for the picadore to lance it, and that means that the bull can at the very least get it's horns caught in the 'robe' worn by the horse, and at the very worst (as was the case in Manizales one year) the bull can lift the horse up by it's belly and toss it!

Then it's back to the bandilleros, only this time, instead of just using their capes, one of them, sans cape, stands facing a charging bull and thrusts two smaller lances into the bull's neck/back and then runs for the hills! I think that these are the bravest men because they have to stand still while a bull races straight at them! Of course, they do have pointy sticks.....




This bandillero was named El Gordo by the crowd. He was a favorite since he is from Bogota.

But they are not the finale, of course. Finally, out comes the matador dressed in his tightly fitting, sequins covered costume and wielding a smaller red cape and sword.




He very slowly engages the bull's attention, seducing it with his words and hand motions until it charges the small cape. The matador stays in the same spot, simply pirouetting as the bull charges time and again. The better the matador, the closer he keeps the bull. And by closer I mean, he can reach out and touch it as it passes under his cloak! Of course by now the bull is weakened from blood loss but also very very mad, so when this man assumes his matador stance, no one is surprised what part of his body he extends outward ~ yeah, he has balls! I think the best of the night was the Spaniard. He was beautifully elegant and arrogant in his stance. But he was amazingly brave in the face of an angry, wounded bull.







Of course, he is also the one to finally kill the bull. He uses a sword and, brandishing it very theatrically and striking a dashing pose, he stabs the bull in the back of the neck.




A good matador can bring a bull down very quickly.



For his efforts, he can earn one of the bulls ears, or if he is really good, then two. And if he is amazing, then he can earn both ears and a tail. The Spaniard was so good, that at the end of his fight, the judges awarded him the enviable prize of two bull's ears!

(Yeah, I know. Disgusting.....)

There were a couple of bright spots in our evening,though, believe it or not. First is that the young Portugese was one of our matadors (there is a special word that I have now forgotten for a matador on horseback). He came out and once again wowed us with his skills as a horseman, striking the bull and then "running" his horse from the bull .... sideways! It was scary to watch the bull come so close to the horse's hind quarters.


I've never seen a horse run so fast sideways!!!!

Secondly, and most importantly, during the second bullfight with the local matador, the crowd, after an amazing show by both the bull and matador, were calling out "in dulto". I didn't know what that meant, so I rushed down to the man we had met earlier (three sons graduated from CNG ~ now a lawyer, a doctor, and a business man!). He told me that the crowd was calling to the judges to pardon the bull. And just then, I turned around to see the judges lower a yellow flag ~ the bull was to be spared! The man was very excited. He said this is the best bull fight that he had seen, and he is a regular. A bull being pardoned is a rare event, he told me. It only happens like every ten years or so!!! It was such a joy/relief to know that one bull was going to live (even though I knew that the meat was to go to the poor of Bogota). Yay!!! Guess I am just not cut out to be a bullfight groupie!!!! And so Marcia, Suzanne, and I were able to leave the arena with smiles on our faces.