Entry #3 June 27, 2011

Well, it has been a week plus since I last posted.  I have been working hard on cutting the grass on my property.  I have about half of it done.  Unfortunately, it is the easiest half, but it is the half that has all the flower gardens, drive way and is used by all.  The rest is around the gardens, fruit trees and ornamental trees.  It is a real jungle.  The grass comes up to my chest.  So, I bought a tool for the guy who is helping me weed the gardens and pick up the grass to cut it in half so I can see to cut the rest and avoid cutting something I don't want to cut.
My daughter, her mother-in-law, and my grandsons have been visiting my sister-in-law in Bogotá and came to spend the weekend.  It is what they call "un puente" because Monday is national holiday.  I am really not sure which holiday nor did my tenant know which holiday it was.  Anyway, we are all happy for the holiday.  On Saturday, I took everyone, including my tenant's two daughters for a hike up the road we used to call "El Camino Real a Guatavita".  The view is quite spectacular.  My daughter's mother-in-law took a lot of pictures.  I took a hike similar to this one several years ago on one of our family visits while my mother-in-law was alive.  There were very few house up on the mountain.  Now there are many.  The reason that there are so many now is that the road is partially paved and thanks to our push 30 years ago, is has electricity.  Most of the people who live there are hard working folks who either walk, drive, or ride their bikes down the mountain every day to go to work or school.  There is also an open pit sand mine which means a lot of dump truck traffic all day long.  Fortunately, the government is building the equivalent of an interstate highway that intersects the road, so soon, the on- going noise and traffic will be replaced with the drone of highway traffic (actually from two highways, one up the mountain from our house and down the mountain in front of the town).  But at least the walking down the road to town will be safer.
The road that passes in front of my house was called (they have a number for it now) "El Camino Real a Guatavita" because it was the path the Spaniards took to the "Laguna de Guatavita" to find the gold and jewels that the indigenous people told them about in the Legend of El Dorado.  Of course, they never found it.  An additional legend goes something like this.  When the Spaniards traveled from Bogotá to Guatavita to find the gold of the El Dorado in the Laguna de Guatavita, the people buried their gold and jewels in the family burial plots on their land.  They heard that those thieving white men with long sticks that make a loud noise kill people for their gold and jewels.  So, as the story goes, on a moon lit night if you see a glow coming from the ground somewhere, grab your shovel because you might find a "guaca", a pot of gold and jewels.  The locals truly believe it because some of their neighbors got rich from one day to the next!
Well, this is my blog.  Until next time.

First week in my house in Tocancipa, Colombia

Well, I have been here almost a week.  The flight down was fine.  I got to my sister-in-law's house and my daughter, her husband, mother in law, and two boys were there (as well sister-in-law, husband and two of their 4 grown kids.  It is a small apartment so decided I better get to my house pronto.  So the next day I took a taxi ride to Tocancipa.  If you look up Tocancipa on google you will find that it is the most industrial town in Colombia.  They several industries.  Flowers, natural medicines, beer, scrap metal processors.  When I first moved to this town it was not as big as it is now.  Almost every house on the street has some kind of store or business.  They have made many good improvements like the town hall, civic center, nice main square.
When I got to my house, the results of the 6 months of rain was very evident.  It is a jungle.  The grass in some places comes to my waist.  So guess what I have been doing.  Cutting grass.  Well, lawn mowers are extremely expensive.  Hiring someone to cut the grass is also expensive so, guess who is cutting the grass on an acre lot with a weedeater!  I went to buy the weedeater with a friend of mine who lives in a nearby city, Zipaquira.  After buying the machine, we went to lunch at a nice restaurant in his city.  He is a well known guy so people were saying hello to him while we ate a very nice lunch with large servings and beer all for $28 including the tip (for both of us).  Not really cheap but for a classy restaurant, it is pretty good.  I got a menu for my classes.
Well tomorrow is another day on the farm.  I don't have cows to milk but I would be nice to have a couple to munch on this grass!

Post #1-One week before my summer trip

One week from tonight I will be back in Colombia.  It will be the start of my two month stay in Colombia, hopefully things will go smoothly. I will begin by visiting with the Escobar family in Bogota.
This is the beginning of an opportunity to see if I would like to retire in Colombia.  Perhaps two months will be enough time to start the decision making process.