Watch out- gringa behind the wheel!!

I drove here for the first time yesterday. It was the most scared I have been behind the wheel since I was 15 1/2 and learning to drive for the first time. People here drive like lunatics. And motorcyclists think they rule the road. At any given time, anyone could come from any angle. For instance, just because you are in the farthest left lane, and are turning left, someone could very well drive into the lane of oncoming traffic, in order to pass you during the turn. There are no right of ways either. The one who has the right of way is the one who is going. It is ugly out there. We went out for YogenFruz and I and could barely eat mine I was so stressed from the drive there :) Hopefully, like when I had my temps, it will get easier every time I go out! Here is a good example of what streets look like here..

Clearly I didn't take this while I was driving. As you can see, not only do people not follow the "rules" of proper driving etiquette, but the roads are not even built the same. At all. They aren't always marked with lane dividers. AND the "lanes" are very narrow. Not like the two-lane comfort cruise I am accustomed to. Another weird thing here... When I run on the path here, I always see people exercising in nice clothes. Like Polo golf shirts and then work out shorts. At first I thought that maybe those people didn't have normal running clothes because they were just starting to exercise, or were just going for a little jog before work. I quickly learned that that wasn't the case when I saw that they were running almost as long as I was. Since I run at least 3 miles a morning it seemed a little unlikely that these guys fell into either category. I brought this up to Carlos to see what he made of it, and I was very surprised by his answer.. He said that people here like to show off brands, and that they probably where these clothes to show off that they have them. I laughed at that, but he then said that they were probably eyeing me, and thinking, "Ha!! I am wearing Lacoste, and she is only wearing Nike.. HAHA!!!" I have only seen two guys doing this, but I still think it is so weird. I cannot believe that we are leaving here for 2 months in less than a week! I will be happy to be home, but I will definitely miss it here. When we leave, I will get some practice flying by myself here.. Emma and I are flying on a different flight to Bogota than Carlos and (hopefully) Charlie. There was a big mix up with our flights, and our airport here was closed the day we were supposed to leave. Since Carlos had booked on a different itinerary than us, and we didn't have our Bucaramanga-Bogota tickets, he got on one flight, and then when we went to buy our tickets, all that was left was first class, and more than double the price of the next flight in the afternoon. Since we didn't want to spend $300 for a one way ticket that is usually about $90, we had to book a later flight. Carlos is working on getting Charlie added to his itinerary so I don't have to travel with both kids. Fortunately it is only for the trip from Bucaramanga to Bogota. We fly to the Miami the next day. This airport practice will come in handy too, because when we get back the end of December, my family is coming with us! They will be here for about a week, and then I plan on escorting them back to Bogota, to get them through all the changing of terminals and paying the impuestos, etc! English is much more present than it was, but still- the process isn't exactly straightforward. Also, Emma is having surgery a few days after we get back :( These next two weeks will be a whirlwind. She needs her tonsils out big time, and since she is only 2, she has to be admitted :( They are so big that they are obstructing her airway, and all of her symptoms are getting worse instead of better. Poor little lady. So we will get home late late late on Monday night, Tuesday the internet is getting installed, and then on Thursday, Emma has her surgery. It doesn't take a doctor to see how huge her tonsils are! They practically touch.

I feel bad for the nurses who will be taking care of her. I forsee myself being a pain of a parent. I will keep you posted :)