So good to be home...

Well we've been home almost a week now. I don't know where the time has gone.

We arrived at Sydney Airport at 10:00 pm on Thursday night to a cast of thousands. It was wonderful to see our family and all our friends who were able to make it to the airport. Really it was above the call of duty since it was so late at night I hadn't expected anyone but family to come out. It was really special though to see everyone and share our happiness. Thank you so much to those who were there... and apologise for being so dazed and confused. I really felt like there was no connection between my brain and my mouth so I just couldn't form the words I wanted to say.

We struggled out with our mountain of bags to find that my dear dad had a surprise for us... a new car. Most dads would bring a teddy bear for their new grand-daughter - my dad brings a car. It just added a new layer of shock to my already shocked brain. There it was, a shiny, brand new Honda Odyssey with the baby seat installed all ready to take us home. Crazy! But wonderful!

During the next few days we tried to re-adjust to life at home. It was so good just to be home, in our own home, with our own familiar things around us. Just to cook in my own kitchen, wash in my own laundry and shop in my own supermarket... those simple tasks we take completely for granted... they were all put into a new perspective for me.

Marianna has settled in beautifully, enjoying her new room, her new cot, highchair, etc. She seems to know she belongs there.

We had a simple family Christmas lunch at our house (thanks to my beautiful sister and mum who brought all the food - we just contributed the house). It was so nice to spend the day with family. Then Boxing Day at my dad's new apartment. Again, it was lovely day... even though I couldn't eat anything - we've had a stomach bug sweeping the family, starting with Jason, which leaves you very sick for a few hours then very weak and lethargic for 24 hours.

We've managed to visit a few friends in the last few days to show off our gorgeous daughter. She is very social and seems to enjoy meeting new people and getting out and about.

I am keen to establish a proper routine but it is difficult until the silly season is really over. At the moment Jason's mum and her friend Doug are staying with us and we are doing lots of socialising so it's hard to get the whole family into our normal routine. Really we probably won't get into it until the school holidays end in late January.

I won't be writing in this blog anymore as our journey is officially over. I have my normal blog which most of you know about. If you don't know that blog but would like it (you poor unfortunate people, really you should get a life... LOL!) please email me at blanter@ozemail.com.au and I will be happy to share it with you.

Until our next journey... goodbye and thanks for reading!

In the immortal words of Michael Buble...

Another aeroplane
Another sunny place
I’m lucky I know
But I wanna go home
Mmmm, I’ve got to go home
Let me go home
I’m just too far from where you are
I wanna come home...

I couldn't have said it better myself Michael!

But seriously, I want to send my best wishes to Dave, Mel, Seb and Stacey who are anxiously waiting to travel to Colombia to bring home their gorgeous new daughter Valentina. I hope that she is recovering quickly and that you will be with her soon. We're thinking of you.

It's Tuesday late afternoon and we are the business end of our big trip. After this I will head back to the hotel to finish packing and relax. We will be picked up at 8:30 am tomorrow and our flight leaves at 12:25 pm. Bring it on!

Yesterday afternoon, after my last post, we wondered around central London. Jason was going to go on the Beatles tour but decided it was too hard to leave me with both children. Will is being less than obedient at the moment and even with both of our constant attention he is constantly in danger of tripping over or running into people - long story.

We found a small carnival of rides in the middle of the theatre district and Will enjoyed an hour or so of rides - including on a giant chicken on the Merry-go-round. Then we got the tube to Knightsbridge and Harrods. Oh my god, what a place. Really it's just like a very very upmarket David Jones but because Christmas madness is upon us it really is like the depths of hell... a very expensive hell. We didn't go everywhere because there simply wasn't room to move but we did see a very plain man's jumper for £360 and pheasants in the meat section of £57 / kg. While it looked outrageous to me there certainly was no shortage of willing shoppers handing over their hard earned. We wanted to have afternoon tea but there were queues for the queues for all of the eating counters, including Krispy Kreme... sheesh!

So just got some souvenirs (one bag full = one week's wages) and decided to walk back to our street to have an early dinner at the steak house down the road. It was a great walk, apart from Will complaining about being tired and wanting to go to the hotel not go out for dinner. We enjoyed a very nice dinner steak dinner for about three times what it would have cost us in Sydney and went back to the hotel to relax. Jason then decided he wanted to have a beer in a "real" British pub so he went off down the road - where he met three Aussies and a guy who used to play guitar with the Rolling Stones (???).

This morning we slept in or at least lazed around since we didn't have any sort of schedule (for the first time since we've been in England). At about 9:30 am we went down the road for a big (all day) breakfast at the very English cafe (staffed entirely by Eastern European young girls, a lot of that here). We got two giant plates of chips, sausage, bacon, egg, baked beans and half a big baguette. I shared mine with Will and still barely got through it.

Then we walked down to the Musuem of Natural History which is only about two blocks away. It was a great way to spend a few hours. Will particulary loved the moving, roaring model of the T-Rex and had to go back twice to see it. Then we walked through Kensington Gardens, past the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain, which was very peaceful and nice - not exactly what I may have designed, but still very nice. Then we continued all the way through the Gardens into the city to the Hard Rock Cafe (Jason's pick of course). Despite myself I had a great time. There is memorabilia everywhere and I liked seeing guitars owned by The Ramones and The Sex Pistols. The food was also really good and Marianna sat happily in the high chair playing with her plastic spoon and bopping to the ear splitting music. No visit (to anywhere on our trip) would be complete without a stop at the souvenir shop and this was no exception.

So here we are... at the end of our crazy, wonderful, tiring, exciting, amazing trip. I can't really believe we've survived and haven't killed each other and are still on speaking terms. We've even managed to have some wonderful, memorable times along the way.

A few memories of England:

* The COLD, the mind-numbing, bone-chilling COLD.

* The best hot chocolate ever, with whipped cream and a Flake, enjoyed in a tiny, quaint Portsmouth cafe in a cobble-stoned back street on our first misty afternoon. Oh, heaven.

* Chichester Cathedral... really beautiful.

* Portchester Castle...

* The London Eye...

I feel all things considered we've done really well to see a lot in a short amount of time with two children in tow. While everyone we came across gave us yet another list of things we REALY SHOULD see or SHOULD HAVE seen I think we've seen quite a lot. We've been lucky with the weather - no rain - which has allowed us to be out and about everyday, despite the cold.

I can't wait to get home and see the photos and watch the video, maybe then I'll feel I've actually lived this trip but at times it has been an out of body experience.

Goodbye England... hello Sydney, Australia. Have you ever seen Sydney from a 747 at night?

Bring on Global Warming I say!

I really don't know how people live here! I mean it is bloody freezing. Today isn't quite so bad but yesterday was just ridiculous. I had on a long sleeved t-shirt plus a cardigan plus my fuzzy wuzzy super warm cardigan (which is as warm you ever need on the coldest day in Sydney - on it's own) plus my suede jacket plus hat plus gloves plus scarf and I was still absolutely freezing. I felt like the Abominable Snowman or the Staypuff Marshmallow Man (for the Ghostbusters fans).

We did the double decker bus tour of London yesterday and despite the cold it was really great. We got off at the London Eye and had a "flight" on that. It is really spectacular. It was a very crisp clear blue-sky day so we got to see for miles and miles. Fantastic. Then we got off and took a ferry ride up the Thames River to the Tower of London. Again, very enjoyable and a beautiful view.

The problem with London is there are literally too many things to look at, it's top heavy on the beautiful, historic buildings department. You need a swivel head to see everything as you go past.

We didn't go inside the Tower of London but had a walk around the outside. We then caught our bus again and finished the tour. It was very enjoyable and sitting on the warm bus was just what we needed as we were all tired by then.

We got back to the hotel, regrouped, put Marianna in her stroller and went for a walk up to Kensington High Street. It was very busy and crowded so we turned around and found a little Italian restaurant for an early dinner. I have to say prices here really are horrific. I try not to do the maths but it's hard not to feel like we're being ripped off left, right and centre.

Anyway, this morning we went to the Australian High Commission and got Marianna's visa. All very easy, no fuss. Our last beaurocratic step. Since then we've been wandering around London. We had a Cornish Pasty for a late breakfast in The Strand and now we're at an Internet Cafe just near Traflagar Square and Nelson's Column. Amazing that old and new combine here so effortlessly. Jason is going to do the Beatles Tour this afternoon and I'll probably head home with the kids.

Jason says he doesn't recommend travelling to London with a 6 year old. Will has had his "testing" moments but that's to be expected I suppose.

Anyway, we arrive home on Qantas flight QF 30 on Thursday 22/12 at 9:35 pm. However, if anyone is thinking of coming to the airport please check with the airline as our plane will probably have to take off from Heathrow and then refuel again at another British airport due to the petrol tank fire here at Heathrow.

Can't wait to get home! Thanks to everyone for your comments. They've been great. See you all soon!

Last stop... London...

Here we are in London, well, South Kensington to be precise. We packed up our zillion bags and had a lovely drive down the M3 to sunny London this morning. Where we're staying is very nice, lots of beautiful old buildings and trendy shops and restaurants. Haven't done too much exploring yet as Jason took the car back and was gone most of the afternoon and I had laundry to do. Took the kids for a walk around the area but it was bitterly cold so we couldn't walk too much.

To recap... On Thursday we picked up Jason's cousin Diane and her friend Pam and we all drove to Chichester to visit Diane's other daughter Carrie. Carrie and her boyfriend are renovating a houseboat at Chichester "marina" (not a marina as we would know it) and it was really interesting visiting the houseboat and going across the canal on a little raft thingy (for those of you who know how "adventerous" I am, you would laugh at my face when faced with this prospect). Then we drove through some very lovely "typical" English country roads (narrow with dense hedges on either side and quaint cottages peaking from behind the hedges, occassional pub around the corner) to her current house. This was a lovely place called Dolphin Cottage - again very typically English (Jason had to duck not to bump him head on the doorways and lightfittings).

Carrie put on a lovely lunch for us and then we set off to visit Chichester proper. This is a lovely historic town and we visited the very old (11th century?) Chichester Cathedral. Beautiful and amazing. Then we had a very quick walk through the town which was beautifully lit up for Christmas, with a quick stop to buy JB another little pressie. As it gets dark here at about 4:00 pm our days are always cut short.

Thursday night we went around to Jason's nanna's for a final family get together. All the aunties and uncles (except for Stephen who we saw on the weekend and who lives too far away) came over and we had a very nice evening. It was sad to say goodbye as we know we won't see them for some years (who knows when really).

Friday we picked up Jason's nanna and took off for Surrey to visit his cousin Glen. It was mean't to be a straightford journey of less than 1 1/2 hours but due to heavy traffic took more than 2 hours. It was lovely to see Glen and his wife Mim and their two boys. Of course Will took straight off to play with their toys and we had a cuppa while we decided what to do. We ended up going into their local tiny town for lunch at The Crown which is apparently one of the most haunted pubs in England. We didn't see the headless ghost (I'm sure they have more a problem with legless people, rather than headless ghosts) but we did have a nice lunch. Then we again headed off to visit a beautiful old country house set on huge parklands with deer. Will was very happy to see some reindeer but we couldn't hang about too much as it was so cold I couldn't believe it and the wind was bitter. So we said goodbye and headed back to Portsmouth.

Now it's Saturday late afternoon and I've popped down the internet cafe (luckily there are plenty around here) before we have dinner. We're going to have a famous London curry tonight. Hopefully tomorrow won't be quite so cold and we can do some exploring. I'm looking forward to pottering about Harrods as it is only up the road from here.

You'd think I'd be tripping over internet cafes...

...but they are as rare as hen's teeth around here. It really is a problem to keep in touch at the moment but I've finally found one here in Portsmouth, near Jason's grandmother's house. Jason, Will and Aunty Jan have gone off to go up in the Portsmouth Tower thingy (which we ran out of time to do yesterday). So Marianna and I have gone for a walk around the shops and found this net cafe tucked away in an optometrist shop (???).

We've had a busy few days. Tuesday Jason's Aunty Jan and her husband Barry arrived and we spent most of the day driving around having a look round the place with them. Barry has a GPS which makes it very easy to get around - it literally tells you "100 yards turn left", "at the roundabout take 2nd exit" - quite cool. We visited and walked around Portchester Castle, parts of which were built in the 11th century, so it was pretty special. It's all a ruin now except for the church which still has Sunday service. It was absolutely amazing to walk around such an old place, you could almost hear the ghosts talking to you.

Then we came back to Nan's house and Jason's Uncle Martin and Aunty Sue and her husband Mike arrived. We spent a few hours chatting with them but had to leave as Marianna was getting very tired.

Wednesday (yesterday) we spent the day on the Portsmouth historic waterfront. We took the hovercraft over to the Isle of Wight and came straight back. It was cold and foggy so we didn't feel like hanging about. But at least we can all now say we've been on a hovercraft and been to the Isle of Wight. Then we strolled around, had some lunch at the fanciests Nandos I've ever seen and then Jason took Will on a tour of the HMS Victory (they both loved it) and Barry had a tour of the Mary Rose. Us girls just pottered about and I bought some nice books about Portsmouth to take home.

By the end of the day Marianna was getting very tired and cranky. She is teething and quite grumpy compared to her usual happy self. So Jason dropped me and her back at the hotel and he and Will went to have dinner with Yvonne's old friends Bob and June. They live very close to our hotel and they all went out to The Seagull (one of the MANY pubs around the place) for a steak dinner.

Marianne did not have a happy night though. She was very restless, drinking a bit of her bottle, falling asleep, waking up grumpy, having a bit more of her bottle but not wanting to sleep again, on and off all night. I was very bleary eyed when we awoke this morning.

Anyway, now she is sleeping in her stroller so all is well. This afternoon we are going with Jason's cousin Diane to meet her other daughter Carrie and have lunch at a pub in Arundle. Tomorrow we are driving to Surrey to visit with Jan and Barry's son Glen and his wife and two boys. Glen came out to Australia about 8 or 9 years ago and had dinner with us and Peter and Maureen. So it will be nice to catch up with him after all these years.

Well, not too long now before we head home. As much as I'm enjoying myself here I really am feeling quite desperate to get home. I want my own things around me and to start getting into a good routine with Marianna. I can't wait to see all the smiling faces when we get off the plane.

Here we are in Merry Olde England...

Well, it's been an interesting few days... where to start...

The day we travelled from Bogota to London was a nightmare, pure and simple. Definitely the worst day of my life, well certainly in the top 5.

It started with our bags being searched at Bogota airport. Jason's carefully packed souvenirs were a mess, Marianna was screaming, it was hot, it was horrible... Then we were stopped and searched, passport checked, etc at least another 4 or 5 times at that airport. At the immigration checkpoint where we handed over Marianna's paperwork the girl took forever, calling over another girl, looking at us suspicious... I was getting very stressed and worried. There was even a seperate bag search at the Iberian Airlines gate.

Finally we flew out and the flight itself was OK. Marianna and Will slept most of the way. I didn't of course but I did get to watch Must Love Dogs so that was something.

We expected a 2 hour layover in Madrid (HUGE airport, by the way) but the plane was delayed... and delayed... and we took off about 3 1/2 hours late. Then we had to circle and circle Heathrow Airport, landing at about 6:30 pm instead of 2:30 pm. It was horrendous. We were all so tired, Marianna was very restless and getting hungry. Will was tetchy, bored, annoying, just horrible.

Getting out of the airport was no problem at all but then we were hit with the freezing cold outside. We had to push our 130kgs of luggage through the crowds to the Budget Hire Car bus stop, wait for the bus and then it took over 30 minutes in the HORRIBLE traffic to drive 1 km to the Budget place. Then they tried to give us a smaller car. Jason just went along with them but I chucked a wobbly and demanded the car we had booked and paid for and finally we got it (after hanging about for over half an hour). Marianna was getting to be a very cranky girl by now. She was hungry but I had no water left and no clean bottles. I thought we'd stop at a petrol station so I could get organised but we got on the Motorway and there wasn't a petrol station for about 20 odd miles. Marianna screamed and screamed. It was just awful.

Finally we found one of those huge service stations with all the mod cons. Got fresh water for Marianna and she was happy with her fresh bottle and KFC for the rest of us. It's amazing how much better everyone feels when tummys are full and the baby is sleeping instead of screaming.

Another 50 miles down the road and we found our hotel and suddenly we were all cosy in our lovely hotel room, warm and comfortable, with beautiful beds and a heated towel rack.

After passing out, too exhausted to sleep even, we awoke the next morning to a crisp sunny British winter day. It was gorgeous. A proper English breakfast (with TEA, how I missed TEA) made us feel very human again and we were off to find Jay's grandmother's house.

Can't stay on much longer at the moment but suffice to say we LOVE England and we LOVE Portsmouth. We are having the most wonderful time. The weather has been lovely - crisp clear sunny days (a balmy 8C today). We love the old buildings and the quaint shops and cafes. It is just wonderful. So far we have spent some time with Jason's grandmother Peg and her friend John and Jason's uncle Stephen (who came down from Birmingham) and his two lovely teenage children Emily and Joe. Today we have spent the day with Jason's cousin Diane and her friend Pam. Everyone has been wonderful to us and we couldn't be happier. I'm in serious danger of looking at real estate.

Write again soon. Love to everyone back home!

Memories of Colombia

At every set of traffic lights throughout Medellin and Bogota (and I assume other major cities in Colombia) there are people selling stuff. Fruit - beautiful fresh fruit from the farms (strawberries, cherries, mangosteens??, plums), mobile phone accessories, Christmas decorations... the list goes on. At the toll booths on the mountain road leading to and from Medellin many men sell packets of homemade local delicacies - sweets and most importantly what they call pork rind - pork crackling to you and me. This is a national delicacy and I am amazed that anyone lives past 30. It is quite literally packets of deep fried pork skin, salted, and very delicious (and I'm sure 99% fat and cholesterol). Vicky's husband bought us a couple of packets and of course I had to consume 90% of both packets within two days. I was disgusted with myself but what can you do when that delicous crackling is calling you... " Kathy, we're so crunchy and delicious. You know you want us... come on, don't just sit there...". The most memorable thing I saw "for sale" at a set of traffic lights was puppies. Yes, a litter of gorgeous Chow Chow puppies - golden brown, chocolate brown and gray. Their mum was sleeping under a tree on a blanket and a couple of guys were shoving handfuls of puppies through the window at us. Of course my crazed mind automatically started trying to work out how we'd get a puppy home from Colombia (and as everyone knows we are the worst pet owners in the universe and should not even be allowed to consider the possibility of another pet, let alone a puppy from Colombia). Luckily the lights changed and Vicky sped off. Saved again!

Another important memory from Colombia is women and clothes. Especially in Medellin, but also in Bogota, women, ALL WOMEN, dress amazingly well. Not just well but in skin tight clothes, even those who shouldn't. There must be some legislation in place which bans women wearing baggy t-shirts, worn out tracky daks, or anything which isn't designed for 15 year old anorexic prostitutes. It is 90% skimpy, skin tight and skin exposing. Even middle aged and older women wear cut off tops, super slinky jeans and stiletto shoes. It is unbeleivably. I have felt like the world's biggest DAG the last few weeks. My simple attire of jeans, t-shirts and sneakers just doesn't cut the fashion mustard around here. Even poor people dress better than me. However, when I tried to buy some more stylish tops they didn't seem to make sizes for lard-arses like myself. A few shops stocked an Extra Large but even that was so tight on me it looked painted on (and that isn't a good look). Don't get me wrong, most of the women look fantastic. Their clothes, shoes and handbags MATCH. They wear tasteful accessories which match their clothes. They generally look elegant and very well groomed. I just can't imagine that much dedication to looking good, day in, day out. Who has that sort of stamina? I am just happy if I can put on something clean and comfortable, make up is just for special occassions, and stilettos... forget about it.

Some pictures...

Marianna visiting her carers and her friend, the other Mariana, at La Casita.
















The little angel sleeping.
















Los loco chicos!
















Vicky, Marianna, me and Will on the cable car in Medellin.

Cold showers...

This morning I got up nice and early to have a long shower and wash my hair. Seemed like a good idea at the time. As soon as the conditioner was in, the hot water stopped. I waited, hoping it was a temporary problem, but the hot water did not return and I had to finish my shower (including the hair rinsing) in cold water. One of those moments when I tried to count my blessings and think about the people in the world who are less fortunate than myself and would LOVE nothing more in life than the opportunity to have a cold shower. We have spent a pretty lazy day hanging around Los Palmas waiting for Mauricio to come to take us to ICBF. He came at 2:30 pm and by 3:30 pm we were back with our Certificate of Compliance. So we are now officially finished with all beaurocratic stuff. No more waiting, no more signing, no more getting out passports. Our only other official thing is in London when we go to get Marianna's Australian Visa. I am hoping since we're going to the Australian Embassy things will go smoothly - at the very least we'll all be speaking English!!! If you have noticed I have spelt Marianna's name with two NN's. Something went wrong during the legal process and since our lawyer was checking all the paperwork we only glanced at it along the way. Thus Mariana has become Marianna. I first noticed when I was filling in the paperwork for her British visa. I looked at her passport and looked again. I then went to the file and looked at her new birth certificate. All with two NN's. Shit! Jason and I talked about it and decided it was probably easier all around to keep the two NNs and just get on with it. There's always something, isn't there!! A few thoughts on Colombian driving. It's hell on earth! I will never again about traffic and/or driving in Sydney (well, until I'm on Epping Road during peak hour while construction for the tunnel is going on next time or I'm on one of the Harbour Bridge approaches on a Friday night). The traffic here is somewhat organised chaos. It's like they get their driver's license and then promptly forget everything they learn. Indicators are NOT used (I think it may be illegal to use them). Horns are used constantly. Lane markings are only used a very vague indication. Basically cars go everywhere, anytime, with very little regard for what other cars are doing. You want to go somewhere, you just go and hope that the cars around you stop or at least slow down. As a passenger it is nerve wrecking. Each trip involves at least a dozen moments where I'm sure we're all going to die. Often Jason and I giggle nervously as yet another near miss occurs and our driver doesn't bat an eyelid. You have to experience it to believe it. Colombia is just like Australia, except sort of broken. They have mostly the same shops, giant shopping centres, giant supermarkets, giant home centres. Everyone is upwardly mobile or trying to be. Apartment buildings are going up like weeds all over Medellin and Bogota and we have been told a two bedroom apartment in the good suburbs of Medellin cost around US$800,000 - who can afford that here? Apparently lots of people, they can't keep up with the demand. There are furniture shops everywhere and according to Vicky the Japanese minimalist style is in at the moment - very bizarre. You drive past glue sniffing beggars curled up in blankets in the middle of the road and minutes later you are passing exclusive appartment buildings with swimming pools, tennis courts, full time security and Christmas lights and decorations in every window. The shopping centres are chock full of very finely dressed people shopping up a storm. You can't get a car park. There are expensive, new or nearly new cars in every parking spot. The cafes and restaurants are full of people eating and drinking. People are buying jewellery, clothes, shoes, homewares wherever you look. It is hard to reconcile the two sides of what you are seeing around you. When I say Colombia is just like Australia but "broken" I mean the cities look like any Australian city but everything is just a little "off". A little dirtier, a little less maintained. Whereever there is construction it is chaotic with much more manual labour and mess. The roads are all potholed, the buildings sort of crumbling around the edges. The pollution is chronic, with road fumes really almost unbearable. But then in Medellin, in the dirty heart of the city, you have the beauty of Botero's beautiful giant bronze sculptures gracing the public square. There really are so many contrasts. Today I feel far from home and desperately wanting to be home. I really feel "rootless" (stop that, those with a dirty mind!). Home seems like it is so far away and that I haven't seen it for a very long time and will not see it for a long time to come. Strangely, last night as I was doing washing in the laundry room here at Los Palmas I suddenly missed my washing machine so much I had tears in my eyes. Isn't it funny how such mundane things can stir up such strong feelings. I would have given anything to put my undies in my own washing machine and then to hang them out on my own Hills Hoist in my own backyard. Anyway, enough of my pathetic musings, Marianna has just woken from a late afternoon nap and wants her bottle before our dinner is served. I have to say, yet again, what a wonderful baby she is. She is happy most of the time, chatting and smiling. She loves to stand up while we hold her hands and we do our little "get down and boogie" dance. She loves it. She is starting to learn to crawl but only manages to go backwards. She does a mean push up - possibly a career in professional aerobics?

The British Embassy... oh joy!

Last night was quiet. A "homely" dinner here at Los Palmas, then bed. Our room is tiny but cosy. Will has a tiny kid's bed and Mariana is in a mini-cot. Our bed is less than comfy though. It probably isn't even a double size and poor Jason's feet are literally hanging off the end. It is also quite lumpy so I spent half the night tossing and turning trying to find a comfy spot. I think possibly we've got the dud room because the place is quite full. Anyway, apart from the bed we haven't escaped the all night music. There was a party going on in the street and it didn't stop until dawn. Ouch! Bleary eyed we awoke and got ready for the day. Right after breakfast Mauricio came to take us to the British Embassy. The traffic here is different but just as bad as Medellin. After the usual security checks we were given a number to wait for the cashier at the Embassy. After waiting forever we found out we didn't have enough pesos to pay for the visa (I had misread the instructions - doh!) and they wouldn't take payment in any other form - are we living in the 21st century or what??!! So we went back downstairs to look for an ATM but luckily Mauricio had some extra cash which he lent us. So back we went and got back in the end of the queue!!! I wasn't a happy vegemite. Then finally we paid and had to wait again for our "interview". Jesus, we only wanted a tourist visit for our baby. Do we look like terrorists or drug trafficers? So then it's our turn to be interviewed by Mr British Beaurocrat. It takes him 5 minutes just to figure out we can speak English and don't need the interpreter. He asks all sorts of dumb-ass questions - like do we have a photocopy of Jason's grandmother's passport. What the hell??? I have a good mind to write to the Queen to complain... right after I write to the Interncontinental to complain (the complaints list is growing). At least he took pity on us and said he'd get the visa done straight away so we didn't have to come back to pick it up. Lucky, since we'd already been there for 3 hours!!! When we finally came outside Mauricio said the letter at ICBF wasn't ready and we'd have to go there tomorrow. Just as well as we were all exhausted and thoroughly p'd off. We returned to the hotel just in time for a very nice lunch. We then pottered up the road to Pomona (the Woolworths like supermarkets here - which ofcourse remind us of home). Since then we've been hanging out, reading, watching a video (George of the Jungle - only G rated movie you need to have a cold shower after). So tomorrow ICBF and then a trip to the old city and the gold museum. Congrats to Lleyton and our Bec on baby Mia. We love to hear news from home - especially important news!

Here we are in Bogota!

The last few days have been great. Saturday morning Vicky took us to the once-a-month art and craft market in the city. It was awesome. Never mind the Black Market this is so much better. It is chock full of stalls for jewellery (hand made by weird hippy/rock chick/goth people) and hand bags and all sorts of stuff. I spent every cent I had and could have bought twice as much but I had to draw a line. As it was we have bought two new small suitcases (one to replace mum's onboard bag - sorry mum it fell apart after the first flight - and one new one). So we are now travelling with SEVEN suitcases and one stroller. Total weight: 130 kg. AWESOME! I can tell you we had some fun packing last night and this morning. It was sad having our last meals at the hotel this morning. There were a few people we were very sad to say goodbye to. Especially one waitress, Andrea, who really took a shine to Mariana and would talk to her for ages each morning at breakfast (I can tell you she would have got her butt kicked big time on "My Restaurant Rules" but in Colombia service is a little more relaxed). Everything went well at the airport. It took a while to check in and for Vicky to convince them not to charge us for excess baggage. We were booked into economy (sheeeesh!) so our luggage was limited (certainly not 130kg). When we got on the plane we were upgraded to Business Class anyway - obviously they realised we were not the sort of people who flew cattle class!!! Mariana was an angel (as always). She flirted with the man next to me, then drank some of her bottle and promptly went to sleep. Since we were only in the air for a total of 25 minutes she only managed a short nap. When we arrived the poor porter (who was tiny) had to cart around all our luggage (Jay gave him a generous tip) and we were met by Mauricio (a very cute young man who works for Las Palmas) who whisked us - and our mountain of luggage - away in his van (lucky that!). So we arrived, checked our comfy room (Will loves his "little" bed) and we met the other families here. Two American families, a few Scandanavian families and our old German friends from the Intercontinental. We've just enjoyed a very homey dinner and the children are playing beautifully. Tomorrow Mauricio is taking us to the British Embassy first thing and then to ICBF to get our compliance certificate. So we may be finished with "official" business tomorrow (unless there is some hiccup) and then we'll have 2.5 days to check out Bogota and - dare I say - do some more shopping!

Next stop Bogota...

Well, it's Saturday and our second last day in Medellin. We're sad and excited about leaving. Today we're going to the art and craft market that's only on once a month in the city. Looking forward to picking up a few gifts.

Yesterday we hit El Tesoro again (that place is so cool) and had a nice meal at Crepes and Waffles (we're addicted) and then Will had a couple of hours in the play area. He even went on the giant bungy thingy (where they attach you to these giant elastic bands over a trampline and let you bounce - he loved it but I couldn't even watch - Dodo, it's like the one at Darling Harbour!).

Then we did some more shopping (I'm getting sick of typing that) and I have another pair of boots (don't even ask!) and some nice junk jewellery and a little pressie for my gorgeous sister.

We have new upstairs neighbours in the hotel who like to engage in a bit of horizontal folk dancing every morning at 5:00 am. This morning was SO LOUD, Will woke up and asked what the noise was. Jason told him frogs (it did sound like a frog) and Will was very worried where the frog was and how it was to get out. We ended up with a long and hilarious discussion.

Anyway, next post from Bogota.

The last few days...

Tuesday night we went out for dinner to celebrate the granting of Mariana´s Sentencia. There is a restaurant across the road which boasts a horse (caballo) show. We went over but the shows are only on Saturday nights, so we just enjoyed a lovely dinner. Note on Colombian food: the serves are huge - like double what we might get at home, especially the meat servings. We were able to take enough home in a doggie bag for Will and I to have dinner the next night. Anyway, the girl who is the marketing manager there (Alexandra, who said she was 36 but looked 22 max!) was very helpful and as we were leaving showed us where the horses were doing some display and training work. The Colombian horses are called Pasafinos and they are unique in the way they move their legs - straight with very tiny movements, I´ve never seen anything like it. The horse we were watching was worth US$1,000,000 - WOW! They also had some very beautiful white Spanish horses. It was wonderful to see these beautiful animals.

On Wednesday morning I took Mariana to get her Passport then we returned and got all the documents from Maria Jose. We gave Vicky and Maria Jose "vouchers" from the hotel salon for manicures and pedicures. They are very inexpensive but we thought it would be a nice little special gift to say "thank you" for their wonderful help, support and friendship.

Then we got all the presents ready and went to La Casita for the final goodbyes. This was a very special visit. We had lots of time to speak with Claudia, Cecilia (the social worker), Marie Adelaide (the gorgeous young psychologist) and some of the other ladies. They were wonderful, so warm and full of information. They were happy to give us a photograph of Mariana´s birthmother which is very special for us and for Mariana.

Will took off with all the older children and they were instant friends, he even had lunch with them in the dining room, which he said was delicious. The children went mad over all the toys we brought - all the cars and trucks for the boys and the Barbie dolls (latina) for the girls (luckily there were only 3 older girls, as we only had 4 Barbies).

We also brought lots of lollies and biscuits for the kids which they also loved. It was fantastic to see their happy faces. As always it was hard to leave because all the children touch your heart and you want to give them all a home and a family.

There were only about 6 babies in the pristine Babies´Room. One was 2 years old and blind and maybe had other disabilities. I wonder what will happen to this poor little fellow. There was another girl called Mariana who is about 10 months old and absolutely gorgeous - with the biggest, round brown eyes you´ve ever seen. A sweetie! Vicky wasn´t sure why she still didn´t have a family. I hope she, and all the other children, find one soon.

Thursday we had our usual relaxing morning and then went off with Vicky to do some shopping. We had lunch at El Tesoro at a place called Crepes and Waffles. Wow, I´m addicted. It is fantastic. Really good food (heavily into the crepes and waffles, as the name suggests) with unbelievably low prices - my Beef Stroganoff Crepe (DELICIOUS) was 9,000 pesos (or US$4.50). Vicky and I shared wild berry waffles for dessert - SO GOOD. So good infact we´re going back this afternoon.

Then we had to courier a package of papers to the Oz Embassy in Chile and then Vicky and I went off to see her friend to buy some jewellery. Since there are presents involved I won´t go into details - enough to say I got some beautiful things (which then involved a trip to the bank to take out a ridiculous amount of pesos - I have to remember to convert back to dollars so I don´t scare myself too much!).

Now it´s Friday. I´ve spent the morning at the salon getting a hair colour, manicure and pedicure - all for $50! The three kids are relaxing and after Mariana´s nap we´re back to El Tesoro for a bit more shopping, another meal at Crepes and Waffles and some fun for Will at the children´s playground (he LOVES it!).

Bye for now.