We're in Bogota!

Can't even believe it. After over a year of thinking about it and planning for it, we're here! Let me (Lenna) recap our day of travel. Up at 2 in the morning so we can leave Fallon at 3, so we can get to Reno by 4:15, so we can go through the lines, so we can take a 6:15 flight to Los Angeles. That all went beautifully. (Thank you Amiee for the ride, the encouragement, the hugs and the prayers and thank you Jessica A. for the big fat hugs at 2:30 in the morning!) Our 4 hour layover in LA went "quickly", as we had more lines to get through and breakfast to eat. Then we boarded the plane for Bogota and settled in for a 7 hour flight straight through to Bogota.

The flight went just fine. Not surprisingly it was frequently bumpy, but nothing more than I guess is normal. We got a little tired of sitting, and I myself felt completely drowsy and mildly nauseated the entire flight and just wanted to sleep. Thankfully, the nausea went away as soon as we were on the ground. We got off the plane (8:30 p.m. Colombian time, 6:30 PST) and found ourselves in a huge line to get through immigration. Apparently, six other planes had come in at the same time as ours and everyone was in that line! The line took us an hour. Then we stood at the immigration booth for awhile waiting to get our visas stamped. Apparently, my visa had not gotten through to their system yet and they couldn't find me in it. But they figured it out eventually and we were allowed to go.

We headed toward the luggage area and found all but one suitcase. It was beginning to look like we would have to go without it until someone came along and helped us. Actually, I think it was Geof who ended up locating it. Then we wandered around looking for the driver who was supposed to take us to our hotel. We were told to look for someone with a sign saying "STARK" on it. Well, two hours after we landed we were finally through all the lines and looking for our driver, but there was no sign of him. Our concern was that he gave up on us. We didn't know if he was inside the airport or outside, but if we went outside to look they wouldn't let us in again. And of course we needed to go to the bathroom, but the only indoor bathroom was closed for cleaning. And we were all soooooo thirsty!! And soooo tired. And completely out of our element with only Spanish speakers around.

So we just stood around looking forlorn and confused, which seemed to work because an airport worker approached us and tried to figure out how to help us. Geof was able to communicate that we had a driver and needed to know if he was outside. The man went out and found him and came back in to let us know. Yay!! Now we could go!! Or so we thought. We got in the line that was going out the door only to find when we got to the front that there were more forms to fill out. This time it was customs forms and there was only one per person. That took another 20 minutes. Back into the line, it moved quickly and we were out! What a relief. At 10:30 at night, we were really lost as to what to do if we were stranded in the airport. There really wasn't anywhere to just hang out.

Our escort spoke pretty good English so we had fun talking as we headed to the hotel. He got us there in about 25 minutes, rang the security guy, and got us unloaded and in the door in no time. The security guy brought all our luggage upstairs, opened our door, showed us in, and said goodnight. That was it. Now we just had to arrange ourselves and get some sleep.

So that was yesterday. We all slept well. I think we'd have slept well if we'd had to do it on a pile of rocks, we were that exhausted. We went downstairs for breakfast (they serve all 3 meals at the hotel) and found a bunch of families eating and no table for us, different languages being spoken, and no one in the office to tell us what we were supposed to do. Again, we stood around wondering what to do next. Finally, Geof bravely went back into the dining room (you know that feeling of being a new kid in a new school and everyone is looking at you...?) and found someone to ask. So they set a table for us and we had an amazing breakfast, not the least of which was freshly made raspberry juice!

We have now made our acquaintance with three families in the hotel who are American. Each one has a unique adoption story to tell, and they are all so helpful and friendly. We have been given a walking tour of the neighborhood and the mall (where they have the equivalent of Burger King called Whopper King!). And we have eaten a delicious lunch, made by the cook at the hotel. The food is a big hit!

So tomorrow morning we will board yet another airplane and head to Neiva. That is where we expect to be most of the time we are in Colombia. Hopefully, tomorrow we can post again! Our love to you all.