The last few days of our trip were spent in Bogota, primarily by ourselves. Bogota has a train that heads out to the plains/savannah on the weekends, and since Monday was a Colombian holiday (something like labor day) we got tickets to ride the train. We thought it would be memorable for the kids, and something low-key.
One unique cultural experience happened when the band came to play traditional music. All the Colombians voluntarily were singing along. And it's not because they're good singers (dare I say most aren't?) but because I think that the country just generally has less inhibitions than we do in the United States. There was dancing, clapping, singing, from at least 90% of the people-- old, young, male, female. Didn't matter.
We were on the train for an hour or two before stopping in Zipaquira, a town famous for it's salt mine cathedral. Hyrum and I went in 2011, and knew it wouldn't be fun for kids (dark, wet, long tour, etc) so we just took the kids to walk around and relax in the main plaza. Tiago saw some kids playing soccer, so he went to ask if he could play with them (we helped him say it in Spanish.) He had a great time. We bought cotton candy, walked through a shopping mall and let the kids ride on those cheap rides (one played a song they're familiar with, el payaso plin plin, which was fun.) And many pigeons were chased.
Then the train dropped us off in Cajica, a small touristy town with plenty of restaurants trying to make customers of the train passengers. We were so hungry. But while we were walking away from the train, Siena pulled on my necklace and broke it. I took it away and she freaked out. And instead of us getting to eat lunch, she laid on the sidewalk and threw an epic tantrum for 45 minutes. I don't remember exactly what it was about. Maybe she wanted to hold my hand instead of Hyrum's? Or she wanted to hold no one's hand, but we were next to main road? Something dumb, but it really set her off. I took the 'behaving' kids to a playground down the street, and eventually Siena calmed down, even though I'm sure all her blood vessels in her eyes were shot.
We hurried to eat lunch with our remaining time, and I hurried back to the train with the kids. Hyrum stopped in at a bakery to buy us dessert for the train ride. And... this was a highlight of my trip. He bought not one... but THREE huge cakes. One was merengon, which is a merengue thing with cream and fruit. The other was a fruit cake. And the last was dulce de leche / arequipe, and it was so so so good. We ate a few bites of each before we were stuffed, and continued to eat them over the next 24 hours. Maybe that was the blessing for having put up with our child??
The trip lasted from 9 am until about 5 pm. So the return to Bogota was just filling time. The thrill of being on a train had worn off. It was interesting to watch the change of scenery, from cows and fields to mountainsides filled with buildings. There was one area, in particular, that was fun with bright colored houses that created a rainbow.
It should come as no surprise that Mila had her third insane, crazy-person freak-out that night, making us wonder how many nights until she'd be sleeping in her own bed. (And we had no idea what the answer to that question was.)
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