Colombia II - Monserrate

From: Dan Trumble

Sent: Saturday, October 06, 2007

Colombia II - Monserrate

Monserrate is a neat hill/mountain that overlooks Bogotá. It is about 3200 meters (about 10,500 ft) above sea level. There is an outstanding view of the city from the mountain. You can walk up the mountain or ride the cable car...we rode the cable car. There is an old Catholic church at the top that has a famous image of Christ called "El señor Caido de Monserrate" (The fallen lord of Monserrate). The story is that many people who are crippled have received healing on this mountain.

More on Monserrate:

http://www.cerromonserrate.com/santuario.htm
http://www.cerromonserrate.com/peregrinar.htm

There are also statues depicting the Stations of the Cross and there are some restaurants and shops.

Rich, Carlos, and Dan at the base of the mountain waiting for the cable car.

The cable car

Almost 100 years ago, a man crossed something like 800 meters between the two mountains on a tightrope. The two mountains are indicatd by the arrows. The picture shows the guy on the rope. Loco.

The view from the top

The church at the top. The inset shows the inside of the church with the El señor Caido de Monserrate statue featured at the front. The following picture shows it a bit more closely.

The fallen lord of Monserrate

Below is part of the path that leads along the statues of the Stations of the Cross

Some of the statues

We ate at Casa San Isidro, a nice French restaurant, up on the mountain. I had a chicken dish. The juice is Mora (blueberry or blackberry…I saw it referred to both ways in different places).

Bogotá at night.

Colombia I

From: Dan Trumble
Sent: Saturday, October 06, 2007
Subject: The Trumble Travels - Colombia I

After spending a few days in Ecuador, Rich and I flew from Quito to Bogotá, Colombia on September 22. Bogotá is a city of about 9 million and is at a high altitude (about 2550meters or 8350 ft) helping make the climate very pleasant. The stereotype of Colombia being a dangerous place with kidnappings and drugs is not accurate of Bogotá which is a very nice city with many malls and restaurants.

On two different occasions we ate at different Crepes & Waffles restaurants. Crepes & Waffles is a chain of restaurants that started in Colombia but has now spread to several countries. In Colombia (and maybe elsewhere too) they try to employ women who are heads of households as a way to help them out. The food is quite nice too.
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.crepesywaffles.com/&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=1&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dcrepes%2Band%2Bwaffles%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX

More on Colombia: http://www.compassion.com/about/where/colombia.htm

It doesn’t have much to do with anything but kind of interesting to run across a candy with TTT on it.


Stroganoff in a bread bowl you can eat at a Crepes & Waffles restaurant. Also feijoa juice which is made from feijoa fruit which is something I don’t know that we have in the States (not in Colorado at least). According to wikipedia, feijoa is also known as pineapple guava. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feijoa


On Sunday afternoon, after attending church with Henry and his family, we drove quite a ways up in the hills on the north side of Bogotá on the way toward the town of La Calera and went to Restaurante Parrilla El Mirador Del Embalse.


Lulo Juice. Lulo is also knows as naranjilla http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naranjilla


Rich with steak. Dan with pork, chicken, and beef. Also, both of us have potato and plantains.


Dan with Bogotá in the background.

Dan in Simón Bolívar square. The congress building can be seen in the background.

For lunch one day we walked a short distance from the office to Las Acacias which serves typical Colombian food.

Clockwise from left. Veronica, Carlos, Dan , Rich.

Our waiter and me

Guanabana Juice

Cow Stomach soup

El Corral restaurant. How can you go wrong with a burger called “Tres Quesos” (Three Cheeses)? I had Swiss, double cream, and blue cheese on mine.

A different Crepes & Waffles restaurant

Statue of Simón Bolívar.

His victories over the Spaniards won independence for Bolivia, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. He is called El Liberator (The Liberator) and the "George Washington of South America."
Source: Harvey L. Johnson from this site http://www.bolivarmo.com/history.htm

Ecuador VI - Misc Stuff

From: Dan Trumble
Sent: Thursday, September 27, 2007
Subject: The Trumble Travels - Ecuador VI - Misc Stuff

Did you know that in 2000, Ecuador dollarized and now the U.S. dollar is the currency of Ecuador? Paper bills are the same as the ones used in the States but there are special Ecuadorian coins. http://www.globalpolicy.org/nations/sovereign/dollar/2000/ecuador.htm

According to Wikipedia, these are the countries that are dollarized:

British Virgin Islands
East Timor (uses its own coins)
Ecuador (uses its own coins)
El Salvador
Marshall Islands
Federated States of Micronesia
Palau
Panama (uses its own coins)
Turks and Caicos Islands

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollarization

Ecuadorian nickels, a half-dollar, and a quarter

French fries (“papas” in Spanish) are quite popular. Here is Papa Sumprema (like Supreme Nachos or something but fries, not chips).

That’s a big Coke banner.

There are three main cell-phone providers in Ecuador. They are Porta, Allegra, and Movistar. Movistar has the coolest logo, hands down. It can also be seen in a lot of places. It’s a really cool logo.

Street vendors that sell to folks in cars stopped at stop lights are common. Cell minutes can be purchased from guys like this guy.

Dan with a smaller Movistar logo.

The Movistar logo looms outside of the office (actually this is from a sign at the airport)

Movistar is also in Colombia. Here are some Colombia Movistar images.

Ecuador V - Visit to Project EC-111

From: Dan Trumble
Sent: Thursday, September 27, 2007
Subject: The Trumble Travels - Ecuador V - Visit to Project EC-111

On Thursday afternoon we visited Compassion project EC-111. This is a project that represents Compassion’s three core programs:

• The Child Development Program (CSP) that works with mothers of young and pre-born children to provide prenatal care, health screenings, training for mothers, and spiritual education.
• Child Development through Sponsorship which works with children to provide them with spiritual, physical, economic, and social benefits.
• Leadership Development Program (LDP)that provides and opportunity for exceptional graduates of the Child Development through Sponsorship program to attend University and receive Christian leadership training.

Both the CSP and Child Development through Sponsorship programs are run from the church which sits in the hills on the edge of Quito. Some graduates of the program are currently involved in LDP. The church is a bi-lingual church (Spanish and a local language) and has been a Compassion partner for several years.

Dan, Rich, and children.


Dan and children.

Children attending project activities

The church has started a little factory where several women are employed making clothing for retail sale. They each make approximately $170 per month.

Here is a picture from the outside. The clothing factory is on the third floor (indicated by the arrow)

Norma (left) has been Compassion’s partnership facilitator for this project. She is pictured with the project director.

Here is some of the clothing that has been made in the little factory.

The net in the foreground seems to be a volleyball net. The little dwelling in the corner is where the watchman for the church lives.

The project has a little garden area in the back.

The street where the church (and project) are located.

A view from the roof of the building where the project activities were occurring.