I had a period of about 5 weeks in March of this year, 2018, were I could get away and because changes in my life I really needed to get away. With Hailey’s busy year that has not been easy to do but we were able to work it out.

Getting away has been necessary for me in the past. After Kathy pasted away in 2010 I got away several times. I took the girls with me some times or they met up with me on trips, but most of the time it was just God and me and some place new. Most of the time I had the kayaks with me. Hailey and I went to Lake Utica with the Spence’s and the boys. While they spent time with Hailey, I went Kayaking by myself. Then with Isabelle, we went to The Grand Canyon and Las Vegas. This trip I started and ended by myself. Then later we went to AZ SDA Campmeeting. Again they joined me for just part of the trip. We also went to San Diego and the Zoo. I went to Lake Havasu (AZ), Yuma (AZ), Palm Springs, Big Sur, etc. I ended my journeys by going to meet someone new in Manila in September of 2012. Then in September 2014 I was hopeful that my need to get a way was gone and that I was starting my life over again. However, that is no longer true. My life has crashed again.

It was a series of events and some of the mistake were my own. It was not long after I was remarried in September of 2014 and I discovered there was a boyfriend back in Manila. Someone that I had met when I was in Manila and that had worked for my business associate and personal friend David Garcia while he was in China. I spent a long time in prayer and many days being angry. When I found out, I had a chance to read unfiltered all that had happened and why. I was able to take days filling in most of the gaps – the good, the bad, and the ugly.  So, I took a step back and I asked a question we do not like to ask when we are hurt and angry but I asked it anyway. What would love do? It would forgive.

My expectation were now crushed but I choose to hold on my belief that love heals and that imperfection can actually make things better, we went to work on our relationship. It was not long and there were smiles and good times again – Happy New Years, Birthdays and Anniversaries.  Then last summer (2017) – I figured it out on our Third Anniversary – our relationship was broken again. Without my knowledge in about June 2017, my husband dumped the boyfriend. We had been talking about the fact that we were on the final step to getting to a close and working relationship. It was all set. However, I notice that something was wrong but I just backed off. It was the final step; we could take our time working on it. By the end July the husband was cheating on me again. I took me about two months to figure it out and then I confronted him. He does not do well with that.

My friend Ron pulled me over and asked if he could be blunt with me. I took a deep breath and said OK. Ron said there is a pattern here and you need to let your husband go. Not what I wanted to hear but what I need to hear.

Once I found out what had happen to the boyfriend, I immediately started rebuilding the bridge to him. But again, that was not to be. In December he started to have serious physical problems and in early Feb he died of Brain Cancer at the age of 28.

So as you can see I need to get away again. The reason for the vacation was not all bad there was a very nice guy that in the middle of all this mess that started talking to me and helping me with my business. With all my problems, his life was worse and we could help each other. Because of the economic failures in Venezuela while he had a job it was not enough to pay the bills and I need his expertise on one of my projects. So we decided to meet in and we made arrangements for a working vacation in Cancun. OK, get that on the day I left for this trip I was booked and headed to Cancun. So how did I end up in Bogota?

Bogota was not in my plans. On my way to a friends in LA and then on to LAX I had to stop at a Starbucks and redo all my plans. When my associate tried to enter Mexico (we had done everything that was required) they stopped him and would not let him in because he was Venezuelan. There was no posting or news clipping saying that Venezuelans need more than a current passport. But everyone in the holding area was Venezuelan. Luckily one of his friends from Venezuela has family in Bogota. They are there as part of the economic refugees and some of the family has Columbian citizenship. So when my friend was returned to Bogota by Mexico, he was able to get a hold of them and get us a place to stay until I could book new rooms. What a warm and welcoming family in spite of how difficult is for them right now.

There was the extra cost of the cancelation fees but Delta was very helpful and so was God. There were several fully discounted seats from LAX to Bogota still available on Delta hours before the planes took off. The friends in Bogota were Adventists so they could deal with my being vegetarian. Rooms on AirBNB were cheaper in Bogota and there were several to pick from. I am still not sure how it all worked out but it did.

As I went to the Airport, I said “God I wanted to go to Cancun.”

“This will be better. I promise”

It was. I was able to spend time with Adventist Venezuelan refugees in Columbia as they are trying to get papers to stay in Columbia and start their lives over again. I also spent time with LGBT Venezuelan refugees. I spent a tearful time with a circle Venezuelans one evening in the historic district and they played Venezuelan music and cried. I was able to experience a city far older than anything here in the US and I watched beautiful people that come alive and move everyday with energy and purpose. There is nothing quiet or calm about Bogota. Everything and everyone is on the move. I saw rundown places and new construction, nice examples of art, nature, and industry. I went to an Adventist high school. I went to largest LGBT club in the world and the largest shopping mall in South America. I learned to use their bus system by myself. AND I ate some of the best tasting foods I have ever had. I spend time with my Kinship brothers in Bogota and I am working and getting them some materials for a presentation they have for parents coming up. I met a kinds of great people.

Bogota is 8000 feet high up in a valley in the northern Andes. It is so close to the equator that is still not cold but thankful it is also not hot. It almost every day I was there. There are about 8 million people in Bogota making it almost as large as the Bay Area. It set against mountains that are about another 3000 feet higher. It is one of the most graffiti-ed cities in the world. Graffiti in Bogota is not about gangs and crime, it is about the voice of people against government corruption. A war the people just won only a few years ago.

Why Bogota? I think I do not have the full answer yet but it was exactly what I needed as I prepare to switch from being Daddy to being a crusader of economic information that makes it possible for us to live in a better world.

Please keep reading as I share more posts about the many different thinks that I experienced in one of cities that is very important to what is happening in the world today. I do not want to go to Washington DC right now and I cannot go to Carcass but Bogota has a story to tell that relates to all 3 cities and countries.