Souvenir Photo Studio, by Al Bourassa: Thursday October 3, 2024 To Colombia

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Thursday October 3, 2024

Back up to yesterday... Belated Happy Birthday Leonie.....

I was up before 7am and cleaned up at Betty's place before she drove me to the airport for my noon flight on Air Canada to Toronto, which, as always, left a little late... Then I had a 5-hour wait in Pearson Airport to use up my Canadian cash before catching an 11pm flight to Bogota. I honestly thought Toronto and Bogota were in the same time zone,.. but that only happens without Daylight Saving Time.

On the way to Bogota, I swear that we went by Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela, because we were treated to a lightning show I have not seen since Okotoks. That lake apparently had almost 24-7-365 lightning storms.

This morning, Bogota had heavy fog so we were in a holding pattern for way too long, then rushed to get through Immigration, wasted 15 minutes in the wrong lineup, because Canadians are forced into a special line where they must cough up over $93 in a retaliatory tax to combat the Canadian tax on Colombians. They had one guy taking the money, fouling things up with a long line-up and I had less than1/2 hour to try to catch my flight to Cali. Now it is a well known conspiracy of airports to place your entry point at the farthest point from your connecting flight which is ALWAYS at the far end of the terminal. Today was no exception as I rushed to Gate D15a to find that I either missed my 6am flight or they had cancelled it... They re-booked me without problem to a 7:40am flight to Cali and I rushed get wifi on my phone to advise Cristina and our vet John of the delay because they were already on the way..

We started waiting for the flight at Gate D8, then they moved us to D9, and then back to D15b...!! I had been allotted the same aisle seat 12D but when I went to board, the guy ripped it up and gave me a blasted middle seat 7B. I sucked it up for the less-than-one hour flight.

We finally connected with Cristina outside Cali airport and began the long drive home, myself with over 24 hours on the trip without any sleep...

I had a second bright Canada jersey that I gave to John and he was absolutely thrilled.... And Cristina claimed my special Canada hat.

I called my friend Roger in our town and found that it was his 71st Birthday. His girlfriend and her daughter had asked me for a Canada t-shirt so I actually brought two for each of them and Cristina, with Canada hats and earrings. They are to come and pick them up soon. They obviously had other plans tonight...

The dogs have been absolutely appreciative of my return and they appreciate the attention I give them, which is infinitely reciprocated. I have made partial friendship with the white cate but the black one and the orange one are more wary so far.

Even though I was dog tired, I got into Mr Fix-It mode and repaired a few things around the house then we had a brief nap, even though I didn't sleep. Cristina was snoring almost as soon as I wrapped her in my arms and it felt so natural and goodand peaceful.

So, we have arrived, and all is well! I didn't take out the Nikon until I arrived home.

One of our friends here is selling Chinese electric bikes... I just might look at one for here....

I hope you enjoy the pictures. That was the day’s excitement.

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