SOUP & FAMILY IN SOGAMOSO

Thursday morning Pr. Jairo and I travelled to his hometown of Sogamoso which was about a three-hour bus ride costing around $13 per person. We met his parents, Jairo Sr. and Maria, for lunch near the bus terminal and shared a traditional soup called 'cuchuco' (pictured here). Cuchuco is made with a base of ground up wheat, but also has potatoes, beans and meat. It was delicious and hearty for the journey ahead.

Pr. Jairo's parents took our backpacks to their home as we took another hour's bus ride to Tota Lake, this one costing about $3.30. Tota Lake is the largest lake in Colombia and its altitude is over 3000 meters (almost 10,000 feet!). From where the bus dropped us off it was a short walk down the hill to 'Playa Blanca' a beautiful, white sandy beach. The clouds passed in and out and the misty rain came and went with it. We walked the beach and took plenty of pictures.

After hopping a ride on a bus back to the small town of Tota, we waited there for another bus back to the city of Sogamoso where we spent the evening and night with Pr. Jairo's parents. Their hospitality was very generous as Maria made delicious soup (what flavor cilantro has!) and Jairo Sr. trying out his few English phrases he knew from watching American TV shows (limited mostly to, "thank you" and "hello"). As we flipped through the channels, we came across the movie The Devil Wears Prada with Spanish dubbing to which I replied, "I have a friend in this movie!" I'm not sure if they believed me or perhaps they expected that everyone from the U.S. knows a movie star, but thanks to working at Metigoshe several summers with Rich Sommer, it made me feel like the world was a little smaller where 'family' or 'la familia' is a purely subjective word.