Sunday morning we attended church in the ward Hyrum used to attend and saw his old friends. Tiago attended his primary class in Spanish and we wished we could sit at the door and just watch. But after one creepy picture, we left to our own class. Neither he nor the girls had any issues being dropped off at class. I think the girls are fine anywhere as long as there are goldfish crackers and toys. (They actually started crying in the hallway because Hyrum stopped to talk to a friend, and they wanted to get to nursery!)
Our plan for the afternoon was to go see Montserrate, a big church on the top of the mountain in Bogota that overlooks the city. We wanted to take the kids on the bus system Transmilenio (instead of a taxi) and figured Sunday would be less crowded than during the work week.
The whole plan was an epic fail. The buses were so busy. We were told every day was busy, even the weekends. A few nice people gave us seats so the kids could sit down, but on the last bus we took it was standing room only and we were packed like sardines. I yelled at a few people who tried to walk right over Tiago.
We had a 15 minute walk uphill from the station to the base of the mountain. From there, you take a tram or gondola to the top. It kept raining on us, and the kids were tired. (And I was hot and grumpy.) We were passing tons of people walking downhill, and when we finally saw the line to buy tickets it was out of control. We figured it would be over an hour waiting for a ride to the top.
We had been fasting, and wanted to make it to the top to eat lunch at a delicious cafe we ate at in 2011. But by the time we got there, we had been fasting for about 25 hours. I told Hyrum I'd wait in line with the kids if he would go buy me food-- anything! During the 30 minutes he was gone the line barely moved. I told him there was no way I was waiting in that line another 2 hours, so we stepped out of line, shoved a few pre-packaged cakes in our mouth, and caught a taxi down to the center of Bogota for plan b.
Our first priority was to find an area with NO people and eat. It was quite a feast-- we had chocolate cake, chocolate, suckers, chips, and soda. I think he spent about $10 on snacks, and I wasn't sad about it.
Once we weren't famished, we took the kids to the Botero museum. He's the most famous Colombian artist, known for painting everyone and everything extra round. It's a free museum with a huge collection of art. It's so outlandish that the kids had a great time looking around. Tiago recognized the Mona Lisa and a painting of Jesus on the cross.
From there it was a short walk to the Plaza Bolivar. There was a big party going on with techno music and lights. The kids chased pigeons, Hyrum danced, and we headed on to the Casa Nariño (the Colombian equivalent of the White House.)
The kids did so well walking all over. Siena thought we had said we were going to the 'casa de niños' (instead of Casa Nariño) so she was disappointed when we arrived and there were no kids. We couldn't even go inside. We saw one last church, across the street (Tiago was fascinated on this trip with crosses inside Catholic churches) and then took a taxi back to our apartment.
For dinner we went out with Hyrum's Tio Julio and his wife, Pati. We were at a completely empty restaurant, which was so perfect after the crowds we faced earlier. The food was so good, and I can't believe I didn't get a picture of all of us together. Julio was so sweet with the kids-- he snuck up and bought them each their own bowl of ice cream. Tiago couldn't have been happier. Then on the way out they saw a machine filled with bouncy balls and he gave them each a coin to buy one. Pati taught at a preschool for her whole career and really loves kids at this age. I told her there was a lot she could teach me, I'm sure, especially because towards the end of our trip the kids were exhausting our patience. So much crying!
That night was Mila tantrum 2.0.... We put them to bed in one of the bedrooms so it would be dark. A few hours later when we tried to move them to the pull out couch Mila woke up, and went crazy for a third time. She was thirsty, then hungry, but didn't want the spaghetti, then it was too cold, and she was completely delirious. Right as we were going to bed ourselves, Tiago woke up screaming and it took another thirty minutes to get him to sleep. I think we both prayed hard for a good night's sleep, for us and for them.
No comments:
Post a Comment