17. Colombia Arrival!

landing in colombia, i felt completely different than landing in argentina. i felt myself more centered, more belief in myself that i would thrive here, completely happy with having no plan. ever since I can remember it was my dream to visit colombia. in my travels i had heard from many people it was their favorite country- and when I lived in ecuador 10 years ago it was too dangerous to visit- so i know the thrill aspect was in my blood too.

when i was in puerto rico on the first part of this trip, a new friend introduced me to three colombians that were there helping to do tandem jumps. they immediately said COME to colombia!! you are welcome with us! 6 weeks later and they stayed in touch and were still in touch. victor and his wife invited me into their home and said they’d pick me up at the airport. on that plane i often turned back to my faith that it would work- they would be at the airport, they would have safe home, they would be supportive.

i walked off the plane and they were there! big smiles, big hugs, huge welcome. they drove me back to their home which was a gorgeous condo in a high rise building. they didn’t speak english and my spanish was so limited- but we connected over laughing with google translate, victor pointing to a flying giraffe stuffed animal and imitating a wingsuiter. i was shown my own room and bathroom – once again overwhelmed by generosity with strangers.

waking up that morning felt so relaxed- i wanted to give myself day to take it easy. their one year old greeted me that morning- an adorable, sassy, daring girl. she was drawn to me immediately and started calling me ‘mana’- wanting hugs no matter where I was. i adore children and in my travels i find it so comforting to spend time with them- especially this gem!

victor showed me their fancy gym- this beautiful pool and gym with a view- and he even connected me with a trainer! after traveling non-stop for a week, my body loved getting that exercise. after the workout with dasha and roberta in argentina, my goal was to get strong with weights and less cardio. i then spent the day cuddling with my little girl and spending time with the lovely maid who cooked me breakfast.

as I was taking off from san diego to colombia, my skydiving josh and i posted at the same time that we were headed to bogota. i don’t like social media for the most part but this was amazing comfort to find that he too would be there for the beginning of the trip. equally randomly, my friend oli from puerto rico happened to be arriving in bogota the day before. that night 4 of us met up in t-zone for drinks- the laughs and skydiving talk made us all feel so at home. my immediate calmness in colombia was amazing- being gone for good gave me such a lightness.