Today Patrice took us to a doctors appointment that had been schuduled for Sofia a month or so ago. The appointment was scheduled for 2:00 and we didn't get in to see the doctor until about 2:40, so that felt like home. It was just a follow up appointment and they suggested a full checkup either here or when we get home, and seeing as Sofia was terrified I think we will wait to get home. At least then we won't need an interpreter.

After the doctor, Patrice drove us on a tour up the volcano. Shorlty out of town paved roads gave way to dirt/rock roads that I'm surprised Patrice's van made it through. These were steep mountain roads that were one vehichle wide and twisted and turned. On may parts there was a drop-off so far that not only would you die if you fell, you would have 10 minutes to ponder your bad luck on the way down. But Patrice did an amazing job in his van and it made me laugh to myself at the fact that Patrices van is about the biggest vehichle you see here. The people in the mountains drive little beat up cars and do just fine. To think of all the people we see at home with big SUV's that are supposed to be able to do this kind of driving, yet only brave the rough terrain of the suburbs is pretty funny. The scenery in the mountains is unreal. Being from Wisconsin with no mountains makes it that much more so. We stopped in a little town in the mountains on the way down and walked around a bit. Patrice joked to us about people staring at us and they surely were. I doubt that it is every day that they see a couple of Americans in their village. But none the less, almost everyone said "Buenos Dias" and smiled. I haven't traveled as extensively as some people, but I really think that most places you'll find that people are pretty cool. Governments might do bad things and countries might have certain attitudes tagged to them but people are generally just people. I know for sure that if one of my friends or I met someone at home, who was in the States from Colombia and we struck up a conversation it would only be a matter of minutes until we were drinking beer and grilling brats in the backyard. Patrice is the nicest person you could hope to meet and his hotel and staff are the same. I had a nice talk with his cook tonight about punk rock. He had Misfits and Ramones patches on the back of his backpack and when he was leaving I said "Pardon Senor" and mimed eating and said "Bien". Then I felt like a total moron when he answered "Oh You liked dinner, thanks." You get so used to no one speaking English, but its not exactly a secret language either. But we talked a bit of punk music for a minute and it was nice for me at least.

These are just a few of the other things here that struck me as interesting or different. First off, I asked Patrice what was up with all the fotocopias here and he explained. Apparently a lot of things here are a bit shifty and anything put in writing is copied and signed over and over just to cover all the bases. It still seems like a lot of Fotocopia shops though. Another odd thing is the gas trucks. There doesn't seem to be any mainlined natural gas here, yet every stove etc. runs off of gas. So everywhere has big gas cylinders delivered to them. Much like the propane tank on a barbecue grill but about 5 feet tall.

The trucks that deliver these gas tanks have a bell hanging over the cab with a rope coming down into the drivers side window wich the driver pulls non-stop to make it ring. I understand that with traffic here if you are driving the gas truck you want people to be aware of you but it also seems like having two hands on the wheel might not be a bad idea. Seeing that they are driving trucks, the internal combustion engine seems more complicated than say, a loud battery powered beeper. But whatever works.

I'm amazed at how much my Spanish has picked up, but when you are almost completly immersed in it, it is bound to . It's not like I can conjugate verbs or effectivly ask for directions but it is better. Sometimes though when I need to respond even if I know the correct response I will blurt out something stupid. At breakfast the waiter might ask "Mas Huevos?" (more eggs?) to wich I might panic and respond "Bueno Grande Por Favor!" (good big please!) or "Hola Cinco Bano!" (hello five bathroom!) But it's getting better.

I used change in a business transaction for the first time yesterday. At home I never use change , instead opting to pay with a bill and throwing all my change in a jar at my house. Here, every time I pay for things the clerk looks at my money and asks me something I don't understand. I assume it is something along the line of "Do you have a smaller bill or correct change?" but I'm not sure so I answer with my favorite phrase, "No Espanol". The bills here are the 50,000 Peso, the 20,000, 10,000, 5,000, 2,000 and 1,000. The 50,000 is roughly $20.00 American but apparently to make change for that is a hassle. The coins are 500 Peso, 200, 100, and 50. To put this in perspective the gumball machine at the mall costs 200 Pesos. For real. I'm not sure why there are even 100 or 50 pesos coins seeing that they cant even buy a gumball. I've been carrying around change wherever I go and handing it out to beggars, street people, etc and am surprised none of them has fired a 100 Peso coin at the back of my head and yelled something like "Thanks buddy one more of those and I could have a gumball for dinner."

Another thing that is odd is that the T.V. channels change at random. One minute you're watching a rerun of Everybody Loves Raymond on channel 53 and the next minute channel 53 is playing a Spanish speaking infomercial. As nice as it is to know that it's not only Americans who need to loose unsightly body fat, more efficiently grill meats or vacuum things with more power, it is a hassle to flip through 90 channels to find out how exactly things get resolved on Everybody Loves Raymond. One morning Cinemax is channel 20, after lunch its channel 98. I know that sounds petty and stupid but we have to spend a lot of time in a small room with a "spirited" toddler. Sofia is more fun every day but still a little rough at night some times. Every once and a while she will yell "Papi!", although never directly at me. Often when she wants my attention she will yell "Mami!" though. I'm hoping to work on this before she learns enough English to start telling people that she has two Mamis. She is warming up to me more now that she realizes that I'm the one who will swing her around upside down, stick coins to my forehead and act like a fool (my strong piont anyways), so things are mostly pretty fun. If you will indulge a new father a bit she seems incredibly smart and clever and has already learned to play cute and make us laugh whenever we try to tell her no or stop her from being naughty.

here are some pictures of our trip up the volcano, Paul

P.S. the cerveza here is Muy Bien.