From Shreveport to Cali

Early morning of November 2, 2011, we left for the Shreveport airport to officially begin our journey to Colombia. Doug picked us up at 5:00 - he specifically requested we have coffee waiting for him when he arrived. ;) Jennifer walked down to send us off. We were all in great moods (yes, even me) for such an early start to the day. Our flight left Shreveport at 7:00 a.m. We traveled from Shreveport to Houston to Panama to Cali all on November 2nd.

At around 5:45 p.m., we arrived in Cali. A lady from our hotel, Marcela, was waiting to pick us up. We rode the hotel shuttle with her, a driver, a young man from Toronto, and 2 sugar cane farmers from Guatemala. On the way, Marcela told us all about the city and most importantly, the food. She told us about this type of fruit, lula (sp?) that was especially good when mixed in a drink with "poison" - apparently there is a type of liquor here that is very strong. She said "it is dangerous." She said she would bring us the non-alcoholic version when we got to the hotel, but one of the Guatemalans said he would like his with poison. :) We learned the 2 Guatemalans were here researching the sugar cane farms in Colombia. They and Ford got into a conversation (they spoke English pretty well) about the differences in harvesting it in Louisiana (2 years) and in Guatemala (1 year). Pretty interesting. We learned that the Canadian had been to Cali before and had stayed at the same hotel. He was by himself, and I'm guessing he was a student of some sort because he seemed to know a lot about Colombian politics. He mentioned a politician named Ingrid who was kidnapped not long ago in a more remote part of Colombia and held captive by 9- and 10-year old "soldiers." He mentioned a book about her that he was reading. I think she must have been running for president of Colombia because he mentioned all the traveling around the country that all the candidates did, and that she had to do it too even if it was more dangerous for a woman. Very interesting stuff. Also on the way to the hotel, we were stopped in traffic next to a man and his two small children begging for money. All I could think about was Michael. Marcela pointed out several views of the landscape to us. Cali sits in the shadow of a small mountain, and there are houses built all along the side of it. At night, it was a pretty sight to see with all of the lights going up the side of it.

It seems that Cali is pretty industrial. We traveled to the hotel during after-work traffic, and a lot of people here drive motorcycles. They were everywhere. Marcela said they were all getting off work and heading home. Drivers definitely drive offensively around here. ;)

We arrived at the hotel a little after 7:00 p.m., unpacked, ordered room service, and crashed asleep. What a long day. But we are here!