Bogota, Colombia

Colombia (not Columbia).  A truly beautiful country with a sordid reputation.  Many things have changed politically and economically in the last decade that has made this country a more global destination than perhaps every before (at least in modern times).  The draw for me was Cartagena, but before going there, we stayed a few days in the capital of Bogota.  A lively, diverse, and international city that actually reminded me a lot of Santiago.  Bogota, like both Santiago and Quito, is set in a valley among mountains.  The most striking thing I noticed upon landing was that there didn't seem to be a modern day downtown - it was just an endless sea of reddish, tan brick buildings.  Once we arrived, we went to our apartment, which was very beautiful and well located in a nice neighborhood (reminded me of las Condes in Santiago, except without the business buildings).  We had a full-time housekeeper who went grocery shopping for us and made us breakfast.  Can't complain about that!

I will say that we did a lot more than what it looks like! We forgot our camera the day we went to the old part of the city to see the Museo de Oro, all the old churches, as well as the president's mansion.  We also ran into a very cool parade and festival de Paz (captured a couple on my phone).  Extremely interesting culture.


Here is our apartment with a great fireplace!

Museo de Oro

Random parade.

Plaza de Bolivar

Going up the funicular to Montserrate (at 3,152 m).

At the top, enjoying a nice walk up to the church.

View of the Bogota from Montserrate.

Sadie in church.

Mindo, Ecuador

My favorite place in Ecuador that we visited was hands down our lodge in Mindo.  It was seemingly in the middle of the cloud forest, completely apart from everything. You literally had to sit on a man made pully platform to cross over a river just to get to it.  There wasn't a bridge.  It had 6 cabins for guests and one huge open lodge with hammocks, couches, chess, books, tables and an open kitchen where they made all the meals from their local organic garden.  The food was clearly amazing as was the serenity of staying in nature.  The kids loved it.

So many amazing kinds of plants and insects!

Our nature walk through the cloud forest.

This girl can't get enough!

The entrance to our lodge.  Note the river below.

Peeking out the window of our cabin.

Inside our cabin - it was a very cool layout.  Here is the bathroom.

The front room of the cabin.

The front of our cabin.

The main lodge.

Sadie loved all the fruits for breakfast.

Rebel.

Being twins at the butterfly farm.

Wait, what's on his head?

These are all cocoons.  Super awesome.

Sadie trying to hold a butterfly.

Back at our lodge, time for a little swim in the natural pools made from the river!

 

Last lunch of amazing organic veggies and juices.

Quito, Ecuador

We had the privilege of taking a three week trip to the northern part of South America.  While, all of South America may seem close to you North Americans, take a look at a map.  Traveling from Chile to Ecuador and Colombia is actually pretty far, especially with a layover in Panama City.  With two young children, it proved tiresome, but luckily, it went fairly smoothly with the obvious challenges.

First stop on our itinerary was Quito, Ecuador.  The airport is only 2 years old, so as soon as we ventured off the jet bridge I was very impressed with how clean and modern everything was.  We went straight to our rented apartment in centro historico, which was located about 5 blocks from Plaza Grande and 2 blocks from the Basilica.  It was a fantastic place and amazing location.  Quito is in a valley among many volcanoes and mountains, so the landscape was absolutely gorgeous.  Very green, hilly, and surprisingly fresh air.  It's a very livable city (i.e, I could live there).

Here is a view from our apartment of the hillside.

The view right outside our apartment.  Can you tell that it's a huge hill going down behind me?  That's the way to Plaza Grande, and let me tell you, walking back to the apartment from the Plaza was a very good workout.

Plaza Grande where there are countless vendors of homemade creamy paletas (or popsicles)

 One of the many very old, very beautiful churches in the centro historico

Our first Ecuadorian lunch.  Pretty good local fare!

 A visit to Parque Ejido for a picnic.

Fresh sandia!

View from the top of Cerro Panecillo

Day trip to Otavalo to visit one of the biggest handicraft markets in South America.

Cuicocha Lake (in the crater of an active volcano)

Exploring the grounds of a hacienda after an amazing authentic lunch.

View of Cerro Panecillo from the Basilica.

View of the Basilica from the top of on of its towers. I was able to climb one tower, but the other one was extremely hard to get to, so Steve took this picture. 

View from the top of the Teleferico. Sadie was obsessed with the cable cars we rode in to get here.  It was freezing, so we headed back down pretty quickly!  It's one of the highest of its kind in the world, rising from 3,117 m (10,226 ft) to 3,945 m (12,943 ft) in the 8 minute ride.

Just sitting on the equator.

Isaac's First Birthday

On July 28th, my dear sweet baby boy turned one year old.  I can hardly believe how quickly this past year has gone by.  So much has changed and so many new adventures have come our way.  We have been extremely fortunate this year.  He is nearly walking, and his favorite thing to do is point and say, "dat!" Which, sounds eerily similar to "What's that?"  He's a genius.

Here he is, tall and mighty.

First bite of birthday cupcake! A little unsure.

He got over that quickly...