Cali Mio

We just returned from an 11 hour trek to Cali, a city of three million people located in tierra caliente (warm country). The drive was beautiful, but we had a few moments of panic (or at least I did) as we passed many trucks on windy, mountainous roads and as our brakes failed midway. So there we were just past La Linea, the highest point of our journey (some 10,000 feet above sea level), when we got stuck behind a long line of slow-moving trucks making the descend. Because we weren't driving in low gear and we were using the brakes a lot, we lost our brakes. Add a crying child who wanted to escape from her car seat, and we were having the time of our life! Fortunately, we saw a roadside tienda that advertised a mechanic who specialized in frenos (brakes). So I kept Katie entertained in the tienda while Ben stood with the mechanic in the rain helping repair the brakes. I wish I had thought to take our camera from the car because after Katie finished chasing the small dog that the owner of the tienda had, she stood on the porch and bounced up and down trying to get Ben's attention by saying "Hola, dada! Hola, dada!" This was her first Spanish word. Well, thankfully, the mechanic knew what he was doing, and we made it safely to Cali where we enjoyed the wedding of my cousin, Sarah, and visited with friends who live there.