Christmas in Colombia

Happy 2010 everyone! I'm back in Olympia after spending 2 weeks on a family holiday in Colombia. I would have written a blog earlier or while I was there, but my USB cable for my camera along with a few other things were stolen from our house there. It was a minor setback on what was otherwise a very fun trip. My parents and my sister are there for 3 months and my brother and I flew down from opposite ends of the US so we could all spend Christmas together. It was the first time we've all been together in Colombia, and I think the longest in almost 20 years, since my brother left Scotland, that we've all been together. Here are some photos with captions that will give you an idea of what I got up to down there.

Me walking back from the new swimming pool that was built 5 minutes up the road. It was in the 90's (35 Celsius) everyday, so it was nice to jump in the pool or go to the beach to cool down.

On one of the first days there we met all the kids in the village during their Christmas party, my mum volunteers at the school teaching English, she's behind all the kids.
Me at Taganga beach, its a smaller beach just north of town where my dad and I went diving. For some reason all the American and European tourists come here, but you wont see them anywhere else.
Me and my brother would go up to the village at nights and play pool. We played this weird form of billiards where you use the 3 ball as the cue ball, and the balls were set up along the cushion on the outside of the table. Rickie would always beat me.

Troucou-Trou the dog was still hanging around the house, despite no one living there for months. He looked pretty skinny and scabby, but after a couple of weeks of eating our leftovers he's looking a lot healthier.

Here a photo of me with my brother and sister and my cousins who I met for the first time. Gloria in the middle is my oldest cousin, she is the oldest of 12 in her family. And my cousins Pao and Kike who are my age, and my mum in the background.

Although I didn't climb the whole time I still got plenty of exercise, here I'm playing in a tree with Nicholas, my cousin Gloria's grandson, he's 4.

Nicholas and I would play in the river, but there had been a 4 month drought so the river was way lower than it was last year. It finally rained about a week into my stay there.
My brother and sister and I on Christmas Eve, here they celebrate it on the night of the 24th.
There wasn't much Christmas decorations compared to in the states, but I saw this Santa Claus near the mall.
One of our neighbors is rearing pigs, they are the cutest. Don't get fooled by my clothing its still really hot, I just had to wear jeans cause in the movie theatre where we were heading they blast the air conditioning.
Rickie, Nicholas and I at Rodadero beach, a very popular beach.

The old folks relaxing in the shade at the beach.

An underwater photo of Rickie Luisa and Me.

We tried to take a photo of everyone on a timer, but Troucou wouldn't stay still. In this photo is another new cousin of mine Nelson in orange and my uncle Moises next to him.

A nice family photo. Thanks Mum, Dad, Luisa, and Rickie for such a great Christmas!