The rumors are true...

Freddy is a fantastic tour guide! He picked us up at 9:00 this morning, which meant we had to be up and ready much earlier than normal. Jack slept from 9-5 this morning when Murphy got up to go to the bathroom. We all went back to sleep until 7:35 when I woke up and realized I better get going. When Freddy arrived, I expected an older Freddy. Maybe like the emerald Freddy. So I was surprised to find out he is 30. We started out going to Monseratte but on the way there he took us through some different parts of town. Jack slept on the way there and then needed to eat once we got there. He didn't get a very good nap the whole day so finally slept once we got back to the room. While we were at Monseratte you could see the clouds roll in and we knew it was going to rain soon. We felt a few sprinkles on the way down but made it to our car before it started raining. Oh, I forgot, after we parked the van at the bottom of the hill, there was a man with a pet llama and he was giving rides. So Murphy got to ride the llama named Lucas for $1.50. I have pictures of her with a big smile on her face.  Just like she was riding one of Pam's horses. If you aren't familiar with Monseratte, it is a shrine to the Fallen Lord and is 10,341 feet above sea level. It was finished in 1657 and is reached by riding a cable car to the top. The Spaniards called it Monseratte (with a short e on the end) and the Colombians, after building their own sanctuary, called it Monseratte (with a long e at the end). After we left Monseratte, we drove to La Candelaria, which is the historic center of the city. The town square is Bolivar Square, named after Simon Bolivar who fought for emancipation from the Spaniards. Bolivar Square, the Congress, the Mayor, the Supreme Court, and the Cathedral of Colombia (our painting!) are all in the La Candelaria district. It was raining so we didn't get out and walk around. And then we went to a restaurant called Pozzetto, which is an Italian restaurant and he kept telling us that it used to be very famous until something happened there. I was imagining rats or something but he said that wasn't it. Freddy, Murphy, and I all had spaghetti with home made noodles and Rob had lasagna. After we left he told us that a man had murdered twenty some people there in 1984. Rats, murder... not thrilled about either one. By that time, Jack was tired and grumpy and we were ready to come home. We got back about 3:30 and Jack took a nap, Murphy couldn't even pretend to take a nap, and Rob and I worked for a little bit. So there was our day. We are off to buy some emeralds tomorrow. :) And we planned a few days for next week. Wednesday we are going to Los Pisingos, which is the orphanage Murphy was at. We can't wait to take her back there. We are also going to the Salt Cathedral and to Panaca. The Salt Cathedral is a salt mine that has a cathedral built inside of it. The thought of going inside a mine is not appealing to me but I put Rob off last time so I'm not sure that I'll be able to get out of it again. Panaca is an interactive petting zoo that Murphy will have a blast at. We are also going to the leather district. Plus the markets are open on Wednesday so we'll have plenty to do all week.

Murphy and Lucas the Llama.

Pam, you're going to need to get one of these!

A family photo with the llama! 

The cable car going up.

The sanctuary. 

A really good zoom lens lets me see across the way. 

The view of the city

The clouds roll in right around us. 

Making Mama a little nervous. 

Heading into the sanctuary. 

A smaller sanctuary in the back. 

Murphy at the markets behind the sanctuary. 

Even more clouds now. 

Obligatory family photo overlooking the city. 

The cathedral from our painting! 

Until tomorrow, have a great night!