18. Colombia Salsaaa!

but really colombia, I LOVE YOU already! by day 2 in colombia, it felt like home. all that day and through the whole trip i kept saying i want to be colombian! having antonella, the 1 year old call me mana and twirling her around in the morning was the best start to the day- and more gym time too.

my friend matt jascol connected me with daniela espinel before arriving. talk about one badass, truly amazing person!! before i arrived, she was offering me to stay with her and making sure my travels went smoothly. she was a best friend immediately. wednesday she called an uber for me to get to her house- and kept calling him to make sure i was safe.

i adore that girl in so many ways- and one is that she was brave enough to make a successful skydiving suit company. i met her there and our hug was like we had known each other forever. i saw her work studio and met her adorable younger cousin. her dad picked us up for lunch where we headed to t-zone. at lunch we immediately opened up about our pasts, our goals, everything. in all ways she made me feel at home, showing me around, telling me about colombia, being a true friend from day 1. she helped me get a SIM card which was a lifesaver for ubers and communication with locals. over colombian coffee, we sent selfies to all of our favorite people who we both know.

i wanted to treat victor and his family to cooking dinner that night so daniela helped me grocery shop. victor then picked us up and we started cooking dinner- well let's be honest- daniela cooked- i served everyone wine and played with my little girl ;) marcelo who I met in puerto rico came and brought the party as always.

dinner that night is one that i treasure- victor, gianina- who I have to mention has the beauty of a model and has such grace, calmness and ease, daniela, marcelo, andres (victor’s son), antonella (baby girl) and the loving maid, yanith. we all sat laughing, listening to spanish music, dancing, sharing wine. at 11 they said – let’s go dance salsa! they taught me how to dance- well start to learn the dance- and we laughed that whole night. the music, dance, love that night made me fall in love with colombia all over again.

victor, gianina, andres, daniela, marcelo, antonella, yanith- i forever thank you for this amazing start to colombia- you AMAZE me!

this is my type of family dinner- baila baila baila! video:

post-dinner, pre-salsa night lessons from my love gianina:

daniela and i exploring bogota- she is featured in the t-zone area for her skydiving!:

salsa video:

lazy post-salsa snuggles the next morning: