Back in Bogota...

At last away from the heat and humidity of Monteria. As usual, it wasn't a smooth transition. We took Ruben to the pediatrician earlier yesterday. We were told he had" bilateral ear infections and throat irritation". He was placed on amoxicillen and something for cough. Still running fevers intermittently. Our attorney made it back from Terrialta with the new birth certificates for Ruben. This is what we needed to board the plane for ID for Ruben, as well as in Bogota for his passport. Our friends from Boston were traveling on the same flight to Bogota. I couldn't transfer my phone picture of their taxi, but just imagine a chevy aveo with 3 large pieces of luggage and a stroller tied to the roof. I couldn't believe it, only here... We had to travel on AIRES airline, because it was the later flight, versus Avianca. If I could give any advise to future families, DO NOT use AIRES. We waited for almost an hour in the hot lobby waiting to board. Ruben had enough, he was crying, arching his back. We finally heard some electrical problems were being fixed. We boarded an hour late. The seating left very little room between passengers. During the flight we descended pretty rapidly, no explanation. Then something was said in spanish, and within 10-15 minutes we touched down and I don't think anybody knew we were landing. It was pretty bumpy. However, any landing you can walk away from, is a good one. Andres was outside the baggage area and we drove off to the adoption house. Tracey and I slept very little, but were glad to be one step closer. We woke up and had a small breakfast. Andres and Lucia showed up and we were off to the passport office (little did we know, it was the first of four trips for the day). It was a very long line entering the office, because school was out for the week, and it is Friday. Lucia's son David (who speaks english,spansih, and french) took us. We found out the birth certificate that our attorney went to get in Terrialta was missing the parents (ours) nationality. I don't know how this was overlooked. This was suppose to be faxed. We went back three other times and the fax never came through. Lucia contacted the attorney in Monteria and she had to drive another 2hrs down and back to get a new birth certificate, which will be over nighted , so we can go back again on Tuesday, because Monday is a holiday here in Colombia. Ok, the good news is the doctor agreed to do the medical exam without the completed birth certificate. We had to make one stop to the ICBF office to sign another document, then back to La Lanthana adoption house. We are the only american family here. Two other families from France are here and one more french family coming this weekend. Again, I used my chopped up spanish with their chopped up english and our mutual minimal spanish and we talked about our different journeys. The one french father asked me to have a glass of wine with him. I said "vino, beuno"...

Due to the three day weekend, we can't do anything else for the adoption. Our representative here is going to get a van for us and the french families and get a tour of some scenic sites in Bogota. This should be interesting. well enough for the soap box tonight. off to bed for some well needed rest.