Day 3 - Arrival in Cali

Our first night in a new country was slightly confusing, because of the time difference. We had set our watches, but forgotten to set the clocks on our cell phones. So when we used our cell phones as alarm clocks and we thought it was 7 AM and time to get up, it was only 1 AM in Colombia and we had only slept for 3 hours! Then, at 4 AM we got woken up by an SMS from Jelena's mom in Russia (where it was noon already), who had heard on the news about a big snowfall in Paris and was wondering if we had made it out of France at all! But it is nice to know that someone far away cares about us!

After that, we couldn't go back to sleep. Although we are in downtown Bogotá, a city with nine million inhabitants, the sound of birds twittering outside our window is quite loud. And it is unlike any bird songs we have heard before!

So we spent the morning blogging and chatting with friends on-line. :-)

Today we took a domestic flight to Cali. A driver named Artuo transported us to that airport. Upon hearing that we come from Norway, he exclaimed:
"I know Norway! Fjords! Oslo! Yr.no!"
(My boss won't be happy to hear that last part, I'm sure.)

As it turned out, Arturo has lived in Norway over 20 years ago, and still speaks very good Norwegian. (Again not a coincidence; he was assigned to us by the adoption agency.) He lives in a town two hours outside of Bogotá, called Fusa. (On maps usually called Fusagasugá.) Arturo once visited Fusa in Norway, where Ulf grew up, and took a picture of the gas station/car repair shop Fusa Auto, which was funny to him because in Fusa, Colombia, they have a completely different type of company with the same name. He invited us to visit him and his family in Fusa. We hope to have time for that on our way back from Cali. (And maybe take a picture of Fusa Auto.)

We flew with a Boeing from Avianca. I think it is the first time I have heard a safety announcement before take-off that did not mention life jackets. But why should they — there are no lakes or oceans nearby. :-) At 11 AM we left Bogotá where it was sunny but only 15 degrees. We flew for 35 minutes, and emerged in a totally different climate!

Before we left home, we had checked the weather forecasts (many different sources, just to be on the safe side!), and they all said that this week in Cali would be extremely rainy and only 18-20 degrees.

When we landed in Cali it was 35 degrees and sunny, and the driver (Larry) who took us to our hotel, just laughed when he heard about those weather prognoses. He said he had never experienced temperatures as low as that in his entire life!

The area where Cali is located, is dominated by sugar cane plantations, as we could easily see from the air. They also grow bananas and avocados on big trees a bit further north, on the mountain hills. Even further north, nearer Bogotá, the main produce is coffee.

For the next few weeks, this will be our home: http://www.hotelstein.com.co/




We met one other foreign couple doing the same thing we are doing, at our hotel in Bogotá, the friendly Hotel Zuetana. We already got to know several more at Hotel Stein in Cali! Knowing that others are doing it and that many have done it before us, makes the prospect a seem little less frightening.

The hotel lies in a relatively safe part of Cali. We've been out walking and shopping and talking with locals (in pidgin Spanish) today, and it felt as safe as any other big city. It was hard to believe the rumors that Cali is the second most dangerous city in the world (after Medellin, Colombia), which we had been told from many sources.

(Our Facebook friends can view more pictures from our trip on Facebook.)