Our first adventure was a visit to the Botero museum. I have to admit that before we went, I was not a huge Botero fan. I thought the super-inflated people were a little weird, but seeing them in person changed my mind. I really like the bright colors and smooth lines. The girls liked it too.
Viv got a poster of the Botero Mona Lisa to hang on her wall. I wish I had taken slightly less crooked pictures, but Elena was so enchanted by the paintings, I had to keep a pretty firm hold on her to keep her from touching them. If she was in the picture, I tried to take it as quickly as possible, so that I could grab her again.
I was surprised to discover that Botero painted things besides people. I got a poster of the flowers.
But some of the paintings were definitely just weird.
Botero donated his works as well as several by famous painters from his personal collection on the condition that the museum would remain free and open to the public. The set up is lovely. The Botero Museum and two other museums occupy three connected buildings with lovely little courtyards. There's also a cafe and a restaurant. Of course, the girls declared they were hungry, so we had lunch at the restaurant.
Vivi is our steak monster. The food was good, but the service was quite slow. Luckily, the girls held it together. After lunch, we explored some of the more modern art pieces in the adjoining museum. We weren't too impressed with them, but we liked the shipping crate art on the outside of building.
Our final stop was in the third museum, which focused on the history of Colombian money.
Next to to the exit was a kids area.
On our way in, we walked right past a wall with little spy holes. On the way back out though, we took a minute to peek, and discovered that each hole had a different picture behind it. The girls had a lot of fun discovering the paintings. If they found a particularly cool one, they would immediately call the other one over.
We had to wait a while for a ride to pick us up, since parts of the road were closed to traffic.
The girls made their own fun chasing pigeons and playing "hide and seek".
It was a great outing. The next day we had a birthday party for a family friend. Everyone enjoyed themselves, and towards the end it turned into a sword fight with weapons made from the sides of the pizza boxes the food came in. Elena acted like an epic warrior maiden ;-)
The next week, Mom got into Valentine's Day mode. She and the girls made and decorated a bunch of festive cupcakes.
Mom also got candy for all of us and toys for the girls. We don't usually do much for Valentine's Day, but Mom can't let a holiday go by unacknowledged.
On Mom's last full day, we went on an adventure to La Calera with our friends. One of our other friends had recommended a hummingbird sanctuary there. It turned out to be a woman's house where she had set up lots of hummingbird feeders. There were all different kinds that flew through. It was lovely.
The property was quite big, so, after fueling up on snack, the girls went exploring.
There was snack for the adults too. Our visit included a hot beverage choice of coffee, tea, or panela. Panela is made from sugar cane, and I tried it and discovered I liked it. There was also cake.
We spent about two hours admiring hummingbirds, enjoying our snack, and letting the girls run around. Towards the end of our visit we stopped by the gift shop, and went to visit with the alpacas near the parking area.
Then we had a very bumpy and somewhat harrowing ride back down the mountain to the main town of La Calera. Our friend had also recommended a place for lunch, La Gloria.
It was right on the main square with the church.
The food turned out to be excellent.
We ate our fill, and then rested in the van on the way back home to Bogotá. We were anxious to get home, because Jeff's flight had arrived that afternoon, and he was waiting for us. We were all so happy to see him. He and Mom only had one overlapping night, so Mom and I decided we could handle two fancy meals in a day, and the three adults went out to our favorite French restaurant while Piedad stayed with the kids. It was nice way to end Mom's trip. She left this morning, and we miss her already. We'll lure here back here soon though.
