Good Friday

Happy Good Friday to all! What a great day today is- especially when we think of the meaning of it!

We had another great day today, and it started out with a walk over to Santa Barbara to see if the markets were open. Before we left, I had Ally point out to everyone where we are in Colombia:

Shortly thereafter, we left with Jen (our friend from Minnesota) and her friend Jen (not a misprint- they're both named Jen) who came in from MN for a 10 day stay. We headed to the markets (which were empty- hardly any vendors were there) and found some new sunglasses for Beck. She was happy of course, but I was happy for 2 reasons: (1) They cost 12,000 pesos (about $6), and (2) with Jen & Jen there, my opinion wasn't needed (I have no fashion sense and only wear what Beck buys for me. If it were up to me, flannel shirts and jeans would dominate my wardrobe). We were off to a great start.

Shortly after entering Santa Barbara, we were given an awesome treat- a procession of congregants from a local chuch:

As they walked, they sang a few songs (none that were familiar- the words were in Spanish and the tunes we didn't know):

They kept coming closer and closer, and there were multiple figures of Jesus and Mary (the country is 95% christian, with 81%-90% being catholic).

They stopped right in front of us, and the church bells behind us started ringing. The priest offered a prayer, then they said something in unison (again, not sure what it was):

After a few minutes, they continued on their way. We're not sure where they went, but it was awesome to see that, and a graphic reminder of what today means.

We left Santa Barbera and headed back toward our hotel, but stopped for lunch first. Had a great burger (queso azul- mi favorito!), had a nice time chatting with the Jens for awhile, then Will decided he'd had enough. So we headed back to the hotel for some rest time (it didn't last long!). The rest of the afternoon we spent hanging out, playing Crazy 8s (I'm going to stop playing Ally- she beat me 3 games to 1, then quit because she was bored. Is there a league or something I can join to get better at that dumb game?!?) and watching Will squirm around. If he sits still for more than 3 seconds it's a miracle! Or maybe if Beck is reading him a book. He absolutely LOVES to read, and will do anything to climb on someone's lap and have them read him a book. He's nuts about them!

Tomorrow we're headed to the coffee plantation. That's something we didn't do last time we were here, so we thought we'd do it this time (and we need something to do to keep our sanity- if we sit still all day, both we and the kids go nuts). We're hoping that this is the Starbucks plantation, because if so, we expect red carpet treatment. Those of you that know my wife well know what I mean. :)

Tomorrow we'll post some plantation pics. Then Sunday we're off to for a local church tour. Not sure exactly what that'll be, but looking forward to it- the churches are beautiful around here.

Love to all-

Scott, Beck, Ally, and Will