After falling on the floor a few times during the night, I fell asleep. I had a few odd dreams over the night but regret to say that I can not recall them. Anyways I woke up to an enchanting smell of eggs, coffee, and arepa. Arepas are a sort of breakfast burrito bade which some kind of ground dough. When I stood up out of bed and looked over towards the kitchen I saw the clock on the wall, it was 9AM and I think it was Tuesday. I was wondering where Gorge's wife and child were when it hit me, it isn't even spring break she must be at work and there son most have been taken to school. I slowly walked over to the kitchen when I saw a hot plate of eggs, coffee, and arepas with a sticky note on it. The sticky note read
"Daniel, este alimento es para usted. He tomado hijo Gorges a la escuela, y me voy atrabajar.
Atentamente,
Garganta del terror"

in english that means "Daniel, this food is for you. I have taken Georges son to school, and I am off to work.

Sincerely,

Gorge's Wife

That clarified where his wife was but I still didn't know where Gorge was. So I timidly raised my voice to just above a yell and asked to the whole house "¿GORGE?". I heard the ruffling of covers in the room where I last saw Gorge enter, probably his bedroom. I peeked in and there he was sitting up in bed reading a book he looked over to me and said "¿Si?" with a very chipper upbeat sound in his voice I told him about his wife and son and asked him if he had breakfast, he had and he already knew his wife and son had left. He said that they left at about 6AM and he woke up with them. Well I felt kind of bad that I had slept so late on their schedule so I offered to make him breakfast in an American way, he politely declined he said that he had only one thing on his agenda today, a man in Bogota had a fused electrical surge protector. We walked over to the kitchen and he read the paper as I ate my breakfast.

We hoped in the car at about 11 and road out to Bogota.

over the course of the day we went to an amazing little cafe stand and as he drove me to the airport the next day I felt we were so well acquainted that it wasn't awkward sitting in the car in silence. He took me to the gate of the airplane and I gave him a hug good-bye. It was an amazing trip I will tell my kids when I grow old.

My visit With Gorge Armando Hernandez-Day 2_First Impression

So I woke up at 6:00AM local time because I really want to meet Gorge. I had to call for a taxi and it was waiting outside, probably even before I woke up. The cabby or "taxista" was not the nicest man but he was a  good driver and on our way to Gorge's house we saw a couple of really historic, cool looking churches. Finally after a six hour drive I arrived at Gorge's house, it seemed to have taken forever (Which it kind of did). Probably because I was nervous about meeting him and it took six hours. He lived in what looked to be an average sized house with a garden and lawn in his front yard. He was standing in his driveway with his wife and child. I exited the cab with a very large grin on my face and Gorge and his family sent 3 bright smiles right back at me. I walked up to them and gave them a very chipper and upbeat "Hola!", and again they each gave it right back. Gorge said "Por favor sue venga.", and I replied "¡Gracias!". Inside there house they had three rooms that include there son's room, his and his wife's, and a rather spacious living room. Because it was noon local time Gorge offered to take me out to lunch/dinner with his family which I gladly accepted because I hadn't eaten all day! We hopped into his pick up and went to a restaurant called Andres Carne de Res, and to express to you how good that was and how fun it was going there here is a review from http://worldtop7.com/best-restaurants/colombia/bogota.aspx


If you haven't been to Andres you haven't been to Bogotá; "ANDRES CARNE DE RES" is out of town in Chia, about 30 minutes drive; started in 1994 as a place to hang out with your family on a Sunday afternoon; it's a bar, a restaurant and a party place in one; the decor is amazing and authentique with Colombian ornaments, old photographs, mattresses, bells and candles; Andres specializes in Colombian food with a focus on grilled meat: great "t-bone steaks served with tortillas and filled tomatoes"; amazing vibe and open until late; make sure to have someone who's driving you home! In any case, drivers-to-rent wait outside.


and just incase if you ever find yourself in Bogota or Chia, Colombia here is the restaurant info:

Address: Calle 3 NO.11A - 56, Variante de la Luna, Chia, (Autopista Norte Bogogta), Chia, Colombia
Area: Chia
Web: http://www.andrescarnederes.com
Phone: +57 1 863 7880
Email: acr@andrescarnederes.comPrices: Mains: US$ 7.- to US$ 32.-                                                                                                             Because we had to drive back to Bogota and beyond we stopped at a Starbucks for a snack and then when we got to Andre Carne De Res it was about six and we had a huge dinner. We started to head home at 8/9 and his son was fast asleep. During the car ride I fell asleep and when we arrived back at his house Gorge gently woke me up and offered for me to stay at his house I felt very bad staying at his house, especially considering that he took me to dinner. I payed with some of the money my parents had given me to spend. He walked with back into there house and let me sleep on there couch after giving me a blanket. The moment my head touched that pillow I was out like a light.

My Visit With Gorge Armando Hernandez-Traveling

7:46AM
Well it is 7:46 in the morning and my taxi was on time but I didn't have a bowl of cereal or anything because I over slept, so I ran out the door to my taxi because I woke up at 7:28. He was a very slow driver so we got to the airport very slowly. Whatever, I'm still early for my flight so I'm just updating you. The airport is very empty, I wonder why, it's 7:45 in the morning on a monday it should be really crowded. I'm not complaining but its just weird.
8:50AM
Again I'm sitting in LAX waiting for my next flight which is to Mexico City. I actually quite bored because the airport is jam packed in fact i think this is the most busy I have every seen it.

10:38PM

I apologize for not blogging during the day but my phone ran out of battery. I am now in my hotel room in bogota so I have my phone plugged in and it only has 2% battery charged. I had a very normal nothing weird travel day, and I am join to go to bed now.

My Visit With Gorge Armando Hernandez-10 Phrases

In Colombia they speak spanish so I would like to know ten phrases to help me get along.

1)Where is the bathroom?=¿Dónde está el baño?

2)I am 12 years old.=Tengo doce años de edad.

3)What is his/her name?=lo que es suyo/su nombre

4)For how long?=¿Por cuánto tiempo?

5)How old are you?=¿Qué edad tienes?

6)That is so cool!=¡Eso es genial!

7)HELP!?=¡¿AYUDA!?

8)Where is a good place for dinner?=¿Que es un buen lugar para la cent?

9)What does your family usually have for breakfast?=¿Qué hace su familia por lo general para el desayuno?

10)Do you play any sports?=¿Usted juega algún deporte?

I will learn many more phrases but those are just a few phrases I though I would share.

My Visit With Gorge Armando Hernandez-$$$$$$$$

Because I am going to a new country I have to exchange my money for Colombian Pesos.
1 CP(Colombian Peso) is equal to 0.0006 of a US Dollar
8841.9988 CP is worth 5 US Dollars
and so on an so forth. So if you wanted to find out how much US Dollars to CP just multiply by 0.0006.
As you can tell by this the dollar is much stronger than a CP or Peso.

My visit With Gorge Armando Hernandez

I am very Excited because I get to visit a man who I have recently funded in a program called Kiva(for more in formation click on the link)
My Itinerary for my travel date is as follows:
Wak up at 7 in the morning grab a quick breakfast(cereal pop tart or bar)
Hopefully the taxi will be on time, if so I will hop in the cab by 7:30. I should then arrive at Santa Barbara Airport in five minutes. My flight leaves at 8:00 so I will have some time to kill. In that time I will probably turn on my phone a create a bother post. My flight goes to LA and I should drive there at around 8:45 with fifteen minutes to spare so I can get to my next flight at 9. My flight form LAX will take me to Mexico City Airport at noonish. When I arrive in Mexico City Airport I have 2 hours to kill again, so I will most likely make a bother post again. Then my Flight at 2:30 to Bogota Airport will depart and i should arrive in Colombia at about 6:30pm to my body, but about 8:30 local time. I will then check into my hotel for the night and drive out to Gorge's village the next morning

My visit With Maruge-Day Four

After our long hike yesterday, well long for me not for Maruge, we woke up very early because Maruge was incredibly eager to show me a morning sunrise. He told me about a place a mile or two away from his village where the sunrise was amazingly scenic as we were walking he told me about a dream he had last night. He said that he was walking through the village to go to the bathroom when he was grabbed by soldiers and taken away and that is when he woke up, and he saw that it was almost sunrise so he woke me. I thought that dream was real eye opener to what happened during the war. by the time we had finished our small conversation we were at the spot. Wow was it ever beautiful. We sat there in complete silence for a long time, I can't tell you how long because I lost track. While we were siting there I had a long time with my thoughts or at least it felt like a long time. I realized how hard it is to live like Maruge does and how much he must love it as well as what hardships he has been through and how nice he is about all of it. As we stood up to head back to the village I looked at Maruge and smiled viewing him in a whole new way, and he smiled right back. The walk back seemed to last no time at all and our day of climbing trees cloud watching and just talking about how we feel and what was on our mind flew by and sooner than you knew my head was rested on a hard dirt floor and I couldn't have been happier.