Our Journey to Adoption: Salt Cathedral

Today we were up early and had contacted one of everyone's favorite drivers Freddy on Facebook to see if he was willing to take us on a tour. Some of our friends have raved about how great he is! :-) He came to pick us up at 9am. Freddy works as a tour guide so is so knowledgable about the city of Bogota and all the things to see and do. We headed out to the town of Zipaquira for a tour of one of Colombia's best attractions, the Salt Cathedral. It is a catholic cathedral built in to the mountain 200 meters underground. See this video link:
http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/colombia_saltcathedral

There are several stations that represent the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. Freddy told us that 85-90% of Colombians are Catholic also but that only 30% are considered practicing. Words can not describe how cool it was! Isaac was amazed. Freddy explained all the symbolism which was unbelievable. Many crosses were carved in to the walls of the mine. At one point there were 3 sets of stairs leading to the same destination. He told us to choose which set we wanted to take. Isaac took the set to the right, Jeff the middle and me the left. Then Freddy proceeded to tell us that the right were for people with pure hearts, the middle was for sinners, and the left for people who have many sins. Did we chose accurately?? :-) HA! The Cathedral had 3 sections representing the birth, death and resurrection of Christ. Again very cool and so much symbolism. After the mine Freddy took us to the town center of Zipaquira where we were able to do a little shopping and see the beautiful architecture of this town.

We then headed to another small town on the way back to Bogota for lunch at one of Freddy's favorite spots. We had traditional Colombian food and Isaac ordered...you guessed it...ajaico soup!! It was so fun to get out of the city a bit and see some of the smaller towns that surround Bogota!! On the way back we passed huge greenhouses, rows and rows of them. Freddy said that Colombia is the 2nd largest exporter of flowers. These greenhouses is where they grow many roses. He said that around American Valentines Day Colombia exports around 500 million roses. That is A LOT of roses!! He said that men don't tend to give roses in Colombia to their significant others as they are very cheap here...around 4$ per dozen. So they love to give tulips or orchids or other flowers. One other interesting thing he shared is that in traditional Colombian families the women are the decision makers. He could see me get a smile on my face. Then he said, but men have the final word.... "yes dear!!" We laughed and laughed! We absolutely loved having Freddy with us and will contact him again for sure! He plays electric guitar in a band so I told him that I need to get his CD! One other fact Freddy shared with us is that typical Colombian families don't eat a lot of vegetables and the fruit that they eat is usually for dessert or in their juice in the morning. We have noticed this with the food we are served here at the hotel. Many times I am asking Juanita to cut up fruit or have a salad for dinner. Crazy as the markets are full of fresh fruit and veggies. Colombians love their meat and carbs!! :-)

We are thrilled that there is another family here. When we get back Isaac is off playing with the other 3 boys. Tomorrow another Italian family is adopting a little 8 year old girl. I hope she does OK with the boys. :-) I will have to get a picture of them all together. There are many pillow fights, foosball games, and lots of energy!! :-)

I need to get a few pics of Freddy and Diego without baby A in them so I can post!! Many pics we take include her so I will try and be more intentional!! :-)

God’s way is perfect. All the Lord ’s promises prove true. He is a shield for all who look to him for protection. (Psalms 18:30 NLT)

Here are a few pics from today: