Happy Easter

(written Sunday afternoon)

Easter in Bogota turned out to be great! There are 5 families at the Halifax right now—2 from the US, 2 from the Netherlands, and 1 from Norway. At Saturday breakfast we had some informal conversations about our respective Easter traditions, and made some plans to celebrate accordingly.

Mom, Esteban and I went to church at the Episcopal cathedral this morning. It was very nice, and not as long as last week. Esteban was a real trouper—he very intently watched the Dean preach his sermon, and slept through about half of the service. We saw a brief liturgical dance done to traditional Colombian music, and we sang a few familiar tunes.

While we were at church, other families painted eggs. Since all the eggs here are brown, they literally used paints to decorate boiled eggs. Others colored Easter pictures. Someone blew up and hung up balloons. Other people went out and got fresh flowers. Someone found chocolate Easter eggs with prizes in them for the kids and they had an Easter egg hunt. The Halifax staff had planned a special BBQ lunch in the courtyard.

When we came home from church, there was already a fiesta starting in the sunny courtyard. Festive music was playing. The staff came out and joined us all for lunch—and the food was great! BBQ marinated beef, potatoes, grilled sweet plantains, luscious avocado and tomato salad, guacamole to put on whatever you wanted, with sangria, and fresh fruit in juice for dessert. I’m almost hungry again just talking about it! It was a really nice party.

Lunch is the more formal meal here in Colombia, so dinner will be less fancy. As we talked about Easter traditions, it became clear that family being together is an universal value for this holiday. So, for dinner tonight, we asked to all sit at one big table instead of the 4 separate tables we usually occupy. Our family in Colombia will be gathered together.

Julien celebrated Easter in Rhode Island with his parents, and we hope they had a grand celebration. We spoke with them briefly last night.

Not to make those of you in colder climes jealous, but we’ve been enjoying a run of nice weather. Sunny days, with highs in the mid60s to low 70s, sometimes a breeze, the occasional late afternoon thunderstorm (brief ones), and nights about 50 degrees. The Colombians think it’s kind of cold right now—they are all wearing jackets and sweaters. It is supposed to get a little more rainy this week, with the high temperatures climbing a few degrees at the same time.

More photos and video to come - probably tomorrow - as soon as Snapfish is cooperating again.