Here's a little story

Last night, Angie and I met up with one of my very good friends from high school, Sally. She's been living in the Bogota area for about 2 years. She met and fell in love with a really sweet Bogotano named with Camilo. We went out with them and their friends for a few drinks and a burger, and stayed out way later than parents should. We had a blast. Sally always seems to find the sweetest people wherever she lives. She also found people proficient with English, so Ang and I had no concerns with communication.

When we got home, Francisco pitched a fit. I found out later that he was the perfect angel while we were gone, but got really angry at us for leaving him. He let us know most of the night that we need to be by his side 24/7. In combination with some roadwork being done on our block in the middle of the night, we have had very little sleep again, which is becoming very familiar.

Today Angie, the other family staying here, and I traveled with one of our respected cabbies, Jorge Rico, to a coffee plantation in a town called Fusagusaga. I think. He gave us an incredible tour of the process of making coffee, and some botany lessons of a few of the local species of orchids, bromeliads, and other assorted plants. It was really a neat experience - he knows his stuff. I'll post some pictures later.

We stopped a long the way at a lunch counter and sampled some local soul-food. It was amazing and cheap - the nice thing about traveling with Jorge-you get a tour guide who wants to show you actual parts of Colombia.

One thing he focused on was some of the ecological troubles facing Colombia. There have been several initiatives put forward, like planting trees and adding sewer treatment plants, but they have a long way to go. His main pet peeve was the ecalyptus tree; apparently, years ago it had escaped from gardens, and has been choking out a lot of old rainforests. He should us the difference between native forests and new ecalyptus forests. It's quite sad to see their native habitat disappearing.

I know a lot of people call this tree-hugging, but I'm of the opinion that God made this Earth a certain way, and gave us dominion. Our choice as His children is to decide what kind of ruler we will be to His gift to us. Do we act like dicators, or as loving as He has been to us?