MY FIRST SOLO-ADVENTURE (OR 'DON'T WORRY MOM, I'M FINE')

Wednesday afternoon, I had my first little adventure on my own in the big city of Bogotá. However, before I went off on my own, Pr. Jairo and I made a two-hour trek out to the southwestern edges of Bogotá, to the neighborhood of Caracolí to visit a mission called 'Luz y Vida' (Light and Life). I'll be going to 'Luz y Vida' for worship on Sunday afternoon, so I'll write more about it then.

For now, I'll just say that the neighborhood of Caracolí is in the far south-southwest hillsides of Bogotá where we were able to get a great view of the city laid out before us. All 8 million people of it. I've changed the background photo as of June 6 to show this view, but I'll probably change it before long!

After spending about an hour or two in Caracolí, Pr. Jairo and I went back to 'El Centro' (the center or downtown) where we had lunch. Then Pr. Jairo dropped me off near El Museo Botero. Pr. Jairo went on to some meetings while I spent a few hours perusing the impressive museum. That is, after I asked about half a dozen people how to get there… '¿Dónde está El Museo Botero?' They would say something I didn't understand, but I'd walk for a block in the direction that they pointed and then ask someone else. It actually worked surprisingly well. I set this posts "blog location" for the museum.

Fernando Botero is one of the most famous artists in Colombia. You might have seen some of his artwork and thought, 'Huh, that guy looks chubby.' Or as art historians might say, his work is unified by figures that are proportionally exaggerated. Botero himself apparently called his figures "fat." I would provide a picture here, but this was the first day that I decided to travel light so I didn't bring my backpack. And wouldn't you know it, the battery on my camera went dead. And wouldn't you know it, I left the back-up battery in my backpack. Thus, you'll just have to check out the Google art project's high resolution by clicking here. A couple of my favorites are the Monalisa and Músico. Don't ask me why.

After a couple hours at the museum, I set off on my own for 'home.' After walking through seas upon seas of people and cramming into the second bus because the first bus was too full to fit even one more person (and there were 20 of us waiting to get on) I made it back to my stop. I did a bit of shopping at a book store and then arrived home, thanks be to God.

As I was sitting in my bedroom working on my computer, a younger couple greeted me from the door. After exchanging the usual pleasantries as best I could in Spanish, trying to explain where I was from and what I was doing, they said, "We speak English." When I explained (in English) that I was from the Black Hills, the young man said, "Oh, I worked at a camp in the Black Hills called Outlaw Ranch." Turns out it is indeed a small world after all. Daniel and his fiancée Andrea were meeting with Pr. Jairo's wife Pr. Consuelo to talk about getting married. I've posted their picture here. Needless to say, we're already friends on Facebook.

Tomorrow morning, it's off to Cartagena for Pr. Jairo and I (insert joke about the U.S. Secret Service here). We're hoping that our flight isn't delayed. Apparently a volcano erupted somewhere between here and Cartagena and some flights have been delayed. Not something that happens between Rapid City and Minneapolis all that often. I likely won't blog at all 'til we get back on Saturday evening, but expect lots of pictures then…