February 16
Prior to our flight out, we breakfast at the hotel, then I take a walk alone around Riohacho for an hour or so, both the waterfront and a part of the town, gathering up some last Caribbean sun prior to our trip to the Andies. I like walls, as you can see below.
Then we’re off to the airport for our 12:35 PM flight to Bogota, arriving at 2pm, and transferring to Hotel B3 (which sounds like the first tile in a bingo game). At the airport, Nevada takes this photo of me in my Colombian hat (a gift to all of us from the textile lady we bought things yesterday, suggesting that we paid way too much for the textiles). She says I look rakish in the hat, and poses me.
But she says that when the front brim flips up, as it does from time to time, I look dorky, proving that the line between rakish and dorky is precariously slim.
Bogotá is ar 8000 feet, and so blissfully cool, high of about 70 degrees going down to the low 50s tonight, a welcome respite from the heat of the coast. Traffic is heavy, as it’s been most everywhere we’ve been, so it takes an hour, rather than twenty minutes to get there. Check in; nice room.
In a stroke of extreme good luck, I discovered prior to our trip that my good friends John and Peggy Christie from DC were going to be in Colombia visiting their son, Than. I had not seen John and Peggy for quite a number of years, despite the fact that my daughter, Jodi, lives in DC. However, we were able to arrange a rendezvous in Bogotá. Go figure. Than has been working in Columbia for almost twenty years with USAID and other agencies.
I had set aside the afternoon and evening to be with the Christies. John comes over to the hotel, and we spent an hour and a half or more walking through a park near my hotel and talking, and stopping to see a hot soccer game.
We then walk over to Than’s apartment, where Peggy has been sitting with their adorable 7-month old grandson, Parmo. Around six or do Than and Danielle (who also works with the State Department come home, and we have a long and detailed discussion about Than’s work in trying to facilitate a successful,transition, should the peace agreement being negotiated in Havana come to fruition. I can’t begin to recount all the complicated ins and outs, but it’s fascinating to listen.
John, Peggy, Than and John and Peggy’s 15-year old granddaughter, Larkin, go for an excellent dinner at a restaurant called Brasserie (Danielle stays home with Parmo). Dinner affords a great opportunity to catch up on Christie family goings on, which are always very interesting. Here’s a photo of Danielle and Parmo, and another of our group at dinner.
The afternoon and evening with the Christies is a special treat for me.
Next time we talk I will tell you some Riohacha stories I have been told. Some are likely true, most are likely quite embellished.