Bogota or Bust

Our first view of Bogota from the plane

I guess it's about time I resurrect our blog and share some of our adventures.

Ben and I left home Saturday morning about 3:15 a.m. Grandma came to stay with the kids and Camille drove us to the airport.  Addy came upstairs crying just as we were getting ready to leave.  It was hard to give her a hug and leave her crying.  We arrived at the airport and told Camille goodbye.  We checked our bags and went to find our terminal.  We boarded the plane at about 5:30 a.m. and took off around 6.  Our flight was uneventful, Ben slept through most of it and I read until I was sleepy too.  We arrived in Houston, TX about 9:30 a.m.  We had a 14 hour layover and decided ahead of time that we would rent a hotel room so that we could rest somewhere more comfortable than the airport.  We called for the shuttle and checked in.  The nicest thing I can say about the hotel was that at least the cockroaches were dead.  The floor in the stairwell nearest our room had at least 15+ dead cockroaches laying on it.  We went up and down the stairs many times while there and there were more each time.  Our room smelled terrible, but the air conditioner worked and we were able to get some lunch and take a nap.  We also watched lots of episodes of Dirty Jobs.  We finally decided that we would be more comfortable at the airport.  We checked out and waited forever for a shuttle to the airport.  We finally made it to the airport and checked in.  We wandered around for a while and then got some dinner.  Our flight was delayed due to bad weather in Denver.  We waited and wandered the airport.  We were able to board the plane around 12:30 a.m.  It was a long, bumpy flight.  We were on the very last row of seats, right by the bathroom.  Between the turbulence and people going to the bathroom, it was near impossible to sleep.  As we flew into Colombia, the woman next to me opened the shade to the window and told me to lean over and look.  It was beautiful!  We landed at about 5:30 a.m.  We made it through immigration quite fast and then went to get our bags.  Thankfully all of our luggage made it. We cruised right on through customs and went to find our ride.  Our driver was waiting for us with a sign with our names on it, just like in the movies.  Our driver was a very kind man.  He only spoke Spanish and we only speak Spanglish.  It was amazing watching him maneuver his way through traffic.  There were no lines on the roads to indicate lanes and cars were bumper to bumper.  Then the motorcycles would swerve in and out of traffic.  It was crazy!  We arrived at the gate of our hotel and were met by the owner, Claudia.  She was so nice and welcoming.  She showed us our room and gave us a map of the city, the wifi code and a hand drawn map of where the nearest market was.  Welcome to Bogota!

Selfie on the plane

dead cockroach

view from the plane of Texas