A Trip to Paradise: Part V

Day two, Madeleyn makes me fruit for breakfast. It’s delicious! I have no idea what it’s called, but I’m quite positive I’ve never had it before. Emerson is supposed to pick me up and take me to lunch at Germon’s house. Germon is cooking for me. Emerson is late, as usual. When he arrives, Juan Pablo is with him. I didn’t know JP was even in Cali. He told me before I came that he and Manuel had moved to Bogotá. It is a wonderful surprise.
My suitcase looks way too big for Emerson’s tiny green car. Now that I think about it, my suitcase looks too big for all the cars in this city. Emerson manages to get it in anyway. Now it’s time for my first goodbyes. I hug and kiss Davis’s family. I tell them I will see them again. I get in the car and as we drive away, I look back at the family waving. Goodbyes are hard.
We talk as we drive through the city, JP, Emerson, and I. I ask about the shoes. All over the city I have seen shoes thrown up on telephone wires. JP says that they are from sports fans. After soccer games, they will take off their shoes, tie the laces together, and throw them on the line. It seems like a strange and expensive way to celebrate a victory to me. I take pictures out my window. I learn fast to get over my dislike of driving with the windows down. Cars in Colombia don’t have AC.
Germon’s house looks, from the outside, like a barred, black door in a white brick wall. Inside, however, is quite normal. Germon is still cooking when we arrive, so we sit down and chat. Emerson talks a lot with Germon’s roommate. Apparently, the roommate is the graphic designer for Carmen Lopez. He was really nice, but I can’t remember his name. Hum. Sad. Anyway, they show me the designs for their upcoming show. They are beautiful. They have some pictures from their time in Utah. Jody and David Reid are in one of the pictures. I’m in another one. Those are such great memories.
More friends arrive, Francisco with his wife and daughter, and Ivan, another one of my boys. I pass out more presents, then Germon announces that lunch is ready. His food is perfect. I love it so much, but again, there is more than I can eat on my plate. While we eat, Francisco speaks better English than anyone, but he still asks me to speak Spanish. I am very embarrassed. I am still not very confident with my Spanish. I cannot think of anything to say. Francisco’s daughter saves me by being cute and distracting. She likes my camera. Back home, she could be a child model, she is so beautiful with giant dark eyes and perfect curly black hair. She’s also very intelligent for her age. She is barely learning to talk, but already she can say some things in English and Spanish. Amazing.
After lunch, Germon offers to put my leftover food in a bag for me to take with me. I still have the arepa from the day before in my bag, but I accept anyway thinking I might get hungry eventually. My friends begin to leave. Francisco explains that he and his family will go with me to the zoo where I am to meet with Ana and Luisa. Francisco says he has been wanting to take his family to the zoo and is glad to have a reason to go now. I say goodbye to Germon. I am pretty sure I will see him again before I go home. I say goodbye to JP. I know I will not see him again. He is going home to Bogotá tomorrow. He will be taking a bus. It is a very long drive, longer, perhaps, than the drive to California from home.
Francisco’s car is nice. It has seatbelts! I’m very excited to wear a seatbelt again. None of the other cars I have been in since I arrived have had them. That explains why I had to remind my Colombians over and over to put their seatbelts on when they were in Utah. Francisco talks a lot. He asks about his host family, the Woolfs. I don’t have anything to report, unfortunately. The Woolfs are nice people, but I only see them during the Folkfestival since they are regular hosts. I didn’t even actually see them to pick up the gifts from them to the Colombians because I was too busy and had to ask my mom to do it for me.
Francisco has to stop at a bank. They cannot help him, so we must go to another bank. The other bank is in yet another mini mall. I wait in the car with his wife and daughter. I don’t think his wife speaks English. She doesn’t say anything to me. Francisco returns successful and we head to the zoo.
When we arrive, Francisco accidentally locks his keys inside his car. I feel really bad for him. I haven’t locked my keys in my car since I bought my Stratus which has a magic clicky button, but with my last two cars locking my keys inside was a pretty regular happening. Francisco had to take a cab home to get a spare. I waited with his wife and daughter at the zoo.
While we waited, I realize I am really tired. I sit against a wall. The wall has “Zoologico de Cali” on it in big white letters. Many people stop to take pictures in front of it. I am sitting too close. I quickly feel bad. I am sure I’m in all of those pictures. I am too tired to move.
I try a couple times to call Ana with the phone Davis gave me. The phone is in Spanish. I can’t even figure out how to get it unlocked. I ask Francisco’s wife to unlock it for me. She does, but I am still unsuccessful. The phone won’t call Ana. I don’t know why. I will have to ask Davis about it later. I just wait some more and spray myself with my cool new spraybottle/waterbottle I bought at Walmart in Florida. The spray doesn’t have the same effect here as it would in Utah. Colombia is already humid, so the spray does nothing to cool me down.
Finally, Ana arrives. She says she didn’t know I was going to be here. She says that we came earlier than she expected. I am glad to see her. She tells me that we will go in and get started. Luisa and Francisco will meet us inside when they arrive. She buys me a ticket. I keep it with me to scrapbook when I get home.
The first animals I see are flamingos. I don’t think I’ve ever seen flamingos before, well, maybe a long time ago at Hogle Zoo, but I don’t remember. It’s been many years since I’ve been there. They are beautiful and so much less pink than they are in the movies. That’s good. Pink is gross.
The zoo is spectacular. The plants and trees are so green and thick and the animals are amazing, most of them I’ve never seen before. Ana teaches me about the plants and animals. She tells me that this is her first time giving the tour in English. She does a really good job for her first time. She teaches me how to recognize mango trees. She shows me many plants, like one that has a bad smell to protect itself and the plants around it from predators, and another plant that curls up in the sun, and a whole bunch more.
Luisa joins us. I am so happy to see her. We hug for a while, then we realize that we’re blocking the path and people are trying to get around us. Oops. We continue our tour. I take a lot of pictures. Later in the afternoon there is a show they want me to see. We take an employee’s only shortcut to get there faster. I get distracted by some really pretty flowers along the shortcut path. I stop to take pictures. One of the flowers is an orchid, Colombia’s national flower, well, it was a baby orchid. Also on the shortcut path we find a fruit tree. Ana lets me try a star fruit that has fallen from a tree. I don’t really like it very much. It’s really sticky and I have nothing but my water bottle to clean my hands with.
We make it to the show in time. The performers are friends of Ana and Luisa. They introduce themselves to me. One of them puts his hat on me and takes a picture. I remember my Colombians doing that a lot when they were in Utah. I don’t know why it’s so amusing to them to share their hats. I don’t mind, though. I like hats.
The show is fabulous! It is a cute story about a monkey who gets lost and meets a bunch of different animals. Most of the show is just music and dancing so I don’t need a translator. I record as much of it as I can so I can watch it again at home and show my family. The monkey meets a snake. The snake tries to eat the monkey, but the monkey pulls a little girl from the audience and hides behind her. The snake eats the little girl instead. It’s cute. Now the snake comes out to the audience and eats people at random. He eats me too. The snake’s mouth is just red cloth that opens and closes, so it doesn’t actually hurt. Eventually, the monkey finds his parents. It is a very fun show. My camera runs out of memory before the end. The battery is getting low, too.
After the show, Luisa and Ana take me backstage to see all the costumes and props. They let me choose one. I choose a butterfly. We take pictures with the costumes and the cast.
By now, it’s getting late in the afternoon. We take the employee shortcut back to where we left off the tour. We see more animals. The baby lions are very cute. The daddy lion talks to us. He roars every fifteen minutes. We can hear him everywhere we go until we leave the zoo. We see a white tiger too. It’s so beautiful! She comes to say hello. I have never seen one so close before. I love it! Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! They show me the “glasses bears” that are native only to South America. The markings around their eyes make them look like they have glasses.
My camera dies. We see a few more animals. The owls are really neat and remind me of Bryanne Colver, Cynthia’s best friend at home. She loves owls. We also see anteaters and giant rodents. The animals are starting to go to sleep now. The lights on the aquarium are turned off so we can’t go there at all. We decide it’s probably time to go home.
We leave the zoo and cross the street to a bus stop. There is a line of people waiting for the bus. A lot of them are employees of the zoo. Ana and Luisa know some of them. One girl is a good friend of theirs. We talk with her until the bus comes, then she sits with us on the bus and we talk some more. Eventually, we part ways. Luisa goes one way, Ana and I take another bus to her house.
Emerson brought my luggage to Luisa’s house earlier. I’m glad that it’s waiting for me. Luisa’s house is beautiful. It’s very clean and white. It’s also on the ground floor. Her parents are very kind, but I cannot talk to them much because I am very tired and my brain isn’t thinking Spanish right now. We eat dinner. Ana was going to cook for me, but we took too long getting home. Her mom cooked for us instead. I try fried plantains. I do not like them either. I don’t really like banana’s much, and plantains are like bananas on steroids. I do like the rest of the food they make for me, which is rice and meat. Still, I cannot eat everything. I’m so full! I think about the extra food Germon sent home with me. I realize, I’m probably never going to get the chance to eat it or my leftover arepa. Everywhere I go, people give me more delicious food. I really doubt I’ll ever be hungry enough to eat leftovers.
I take a shower. The cold water feels awesome after such a long, hot day. After my shower, I start on homework. I don’t get very far because I have a headache and school seems so far away and insignificant here in Colombia. I meet Ana’s brother. He is very kind. He tells me that if I need anything, I only need to ask him. Ana tells me he just found out his girlfriend is having a baby. That’s really exciting for them. Ana is going to be an aunt. Being an aunt is awesome.
I try again to work on homework. Ana tells me Davis is coming over. I think it’s a little weird for him to visit so late at night, but I don’t mind so much. I do wish, though, that I wasn't wearing my pajamas. I’m a bit self-conscious. Madeleyn comes too. Davis tells me that Madeleyn is leaving to go to a different city. She wanted to see me one last time and bring me a gift. That explains the late-night visit. Her gift is very sweet, a Colombia box with a note and a ring inside. I love it. I read the note. I am surprised that I can understand it, even though it’s in Spanish. I love Madeleyn a lot. I will miss her.
We talk for a while, then Davis and Madeleyn have to leave. I hug them both. When they’re gone, I give up on homework. I am too tired to think. The family is watching TV in the living room next to Ana’s bedroom. There is a window between the two rooms. I shut the window and sleep like the dead. I’m very glad that I can sleep through noise so well.