Cali - day 1

Arrived safely in Cali last night after a 45 minute flight from Bogota.  Cali is 240 km SW of Bogota, but is only 3,000 feet above sea level so the temperature is more tropical than the cool weather in Bogota.

 
This is a view from Mama Leny’s apartment looking west toward the west Cordillera of the Andes mountains. The mountains are covered by low hanging clouds as the rain approached from the Pacific Ocean. The apartment is on the more prosperous south side of the city.

The rain came early so we had a quiet day visiting with Patricia’s mother (Mama Leny) and sister (Lucero) and Lucero’s six year old son (Manuel Jose). We ventured out in the rain to a local (multi-story) version of Walmart called LA14 (La Cartorce) where we shopped for groceries, a few ornaments to complete a Christmas model of Bethlehem and the birth of Christ at Lucero’s house and a new TV for Mama Leny.

Cali merchants plan for the rain, which is a regular occurrence in this tropical climate, many stores, including this LA14, have covered parking. At one point during our shopping trip we were on the floor next to the roof and the rain was hammering on the rooftop. It sounded just like a tropical storm shower in Houston. We then ate a Colombian restaurant on the third floor of LA14 where Manuel Jose tried out the drinking straw glasses we had bought from Houston.