Day 10 & 11: The Finca & Santa Rosa de Cabal

Ok, I started this post yesterday, but ended up needing to take a nap with the guys more than finishing this! So, I will attempt to cover yesterday and today in one post.

I am not sure if it is actually possible to have a horrible day here! We had a fantastic day at Rosario's family's finca (farm)yesterday! It is a working fruit farm, and beautiful it was!

The family from Italy along with ourselves, Rosario, and Betty, one of Rosario's staff traveled about 30 minutes out of Pereira. We actually passed the Pereira soccer stadium on our way, so we had the taxi stop so that Dave could take a picture for Jonatan.

Our day was spent in and out of the pool, eating some great Colombian barbecue for lunch, taking a tour of the finca (gorgeous fruit trees, flowers, and cactus!), and getting to know the staff that works the finca. The day was a bit overcast, so it made for a very enjoyable day...not too hot, not too cool for swimming!









Can we say, "tired!"...this is what a lack of nap looks like:





Actually, our day had been so active that Jonatan concked out on the ride back and did not awake until shortly before dinner (I am thinking the lack of nap also contributed to that!). I am not sure if I mentioned this, but Dave and I had been joking a while back that our son is probably going to eat us out of house and home! I cannot imagine how many calories he actually burns in a day, but he is a very active little boy...consequently, he is an amazing eater! Breakfast isn't always his best meal, yet for other meals if you didn't see who was eating you would think an adult was being served all the food he can eat! So, the highlight for him yesterday was traveling from tree to tree consuming the amazing variety of fruits we found at the farm. It was too cute! He couldn't wait to try each...and, forgive me, we are in the process of trying to get all the fruits named as we took pictures but didn't have paper and pen to write down all that we were seeing and eating!

Today, we traveled out to nearby thermal springs and waterfall (Santa Rosa de Cabal). And, holy cow, it was amazing! Jose said that he thinks it is paradise...that there are a good many places within Colombia that are utterly beautiful, but this was just paradise...I think I agree with him on this one! Even Jonatan seemed to agree...at least in his 19 month line of thinking...he was actually able to stay in the pools for the whole time we were there...as in other pools, we find ourselves having to get him out periodically (of course, not without a dispute! LOL!) because his little lips turn blue and his teeth begin to chatter.















The upper pool (for children) that we spent most of our time in was fed by a thermal stream...that I might add is incredibly hot! In fact, the water coming out of the bears in the one picture is so hot that it could scald your hand! In order to keep the tempurature regulated in this pool, the owners have several cold water fountains spraying into it...pretty ingenious and the kids love it! I also need to mention that the falls were beautiful, and because the weather was rainy, off and on, it was not crowded...which made our visit all the more enjoyable.

Well, for the weekend, we have a calm, low-key day tomorrow. Dave and I are planning to walk Jonatan up the street to a playground and then in a different direction for the store. Other than that, we are planning to enjoy time as a family here at El Cortijo. On Sunday, we have plans to go over to the zoo and out to one of the restaurants here for llanero (a type of marianated meat). Other than that, we hope to hear some news on Monday or Tuesday from Hector, our lawyer, on the progress of our paperwork in the courts here.