Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Parque del Café (Day #15 if you're counting...and I am)

Well, with both Mami and Samuel on the mend, we decided it was a perfect day to head to the amusement park. It's called Parque del Café, and we had a blast. There were definitely challenges, but it felt more like real family challenges, rather than "trapped in a hotel room" challenges. We first heard of this place from The Derr's Blog. In addition to staying in the same hotel [room] as Sheila and David, we now have done most of all of the same activities that they did. Although we've copied them in several ways, we at least didn't rip off the idea of adopting from Colombia from them. That was Robin and Adam. Just kidding....sort of. Anyways...onto the day.

José took a scenic route to the park, highlighting the plants and culture of the surrounding regions. On the way back, we took a more major highway through the mountains. The story plays out better with photos, so I'll just go with captions from here....

Just some quick updates: thanks to family for updates on my Dad's surgery, glad to hear all went well; Andrea is still coughing, but hanging in there; no word on our court date, we found out the paperwork we just completed isn't needed, so hopefully that's a bonus; Thursday will likely be hotel day with Papa making a run to the bank (with no kids).


During our drive on rural roads to the park, we passed through fields of coffee, bananas, and other foods that I don't really understand the name, but I'm sure I've eaten. The highlight was stopping at this pineapple field. Some of the workers walked up to us, and after chatting we bought a few pineapples right from the field. That's freshness not even Trader Joe's can top!



One more stop on the way to the park was at a hotel made almost completely of bamboo. This is a shot of the bridge.


The first attraction we checked out the park was this sightseeing tower...


View from the tower of a monument to the coffee process down below.


The walk into the park was highlighted with many educational displays, including several different types of coffee.


A rare moment with all the boys together. The following pictures tell a more accurate story.


Samuel led the pack all day. Daniel tried to keep up, José and I were trailing after, and Andrea and Luis Angel were in the back. Luis is for sure our slowpoke.


Andrea successfully guides the twins down a very tall staircase.


After a successful voyage on the train, we decided to give the carousel a shot. Daniel wanted nothing to do with it until it started up. Samuel was fine, but Luis only made three revolutions until he started flat out screaming. This was how the ride was handled the remainder of the time.


Samuel eagerly wanted to ride the cars. He was a bit bummed when he was told he couldn't drive, but was excited again when he saw a small non-functional wheel on his side. Daniel and Luis wanted to go, but weren't tall enough. As for the race report, we won of course, passing two cars when they got loose in turn 3. The #8 car was bright pink which I wish I would have taken a photo of for all the Junior fans back home.


So we were on a quest to find something the twins would like. José recommended this push cart. Luis began the ride crying, but with Mama's comforting hand and presence - by the time the ride came around he wanted to go again.


After walking and taking the train then more walking, we were finally at the other end of the park. We either had the option of a LONG walk back, or the sky car. All of us were allowed to ride in one car, and we braced ourselves of a ride full of crying/screaming. José had Samuel, I had Daniel, and Luis (who was the likely crier) was with Andrea. And then nothing. All was okay. I'm not sure how much the twins did or could look out over the edge, but everything was peaceful until we pulled into the landing zone, and we freaked out for a bit. So if you are keeping track, small pushcart scary, giant skyride not-so-much. I guess the known is much scarier than the unknown to Luis, which is the opposite of myself.


View of coffee plants from the skyride....yeah, we were up there.

2 comments:

janine said...

Great pics! Your boys are so adorable. Glad to hear you had a pretty nice day together.

I have been so surprised at what scares my boys. They were very fearful in Colombia (especially Juancho) . . . of the playground, airplane, etc. Even when we first came home, they were afraid to ride the ponies down the street from us.

I'm so amazed at how far they've come in a year and a half! They just jump right into so many new situations . . . and they LOVE riding on planes! (we had a horrible one-hour trip from B'manga to Bogota with Juancho SCREAMING the entire way b/c he was scared!).

Anyway, keep hanging in there and enjoy many of the kids' "firsts" . . . I was just telling someone the other day that it's so fun to have a 10 year-old and see her experience things for the first time!

love!

Unknown said...

what kind of amusement park is this?!? no coffee brewmaster club with cheesy certificates?