The Trip

On the 25th of December the whole family went to a small town called San Eduardo. We rented a bus. The bus trip to get there lasted 4 hours. The second day we went to a cow ranch inside a truck that was about 15 feet long and usually used to carry cattle. It took about an hour to get to the ranch, which was at the top of the mountain. I was the only kid allowed to see the cattle because it is hard to get to their pasture. We had to cross about 3 rivers on foot to see the cows. The rivers were high from the rain.

These were adult animals ready to be sold. Each one weights about 600 kilos (over 1,300 pounds). It was fun!

Rain and fog

Over 1,300 pounds!

Are they getting closer?

The next morning I woke up at 4:30am and went to see more cows. This cattle was younger (like kids). It was freezing! In the road a mother cow had just given birth to a calf which was about two feet tall and three feet long. It was chocolate brown and already standing up. By the way, I learned that one of my cows, Clarissa, is pregnant. It's due in two months!

That same day we went to see horses. We saw three horses. We did not get to ride them though because the owners were not there. I wanted to ride them. Later that night my cousins and I played basketball and my team won. We were so hot when we finished that we went to have home made popsicles. I was so hot I ate two, one blackberry and one lulo, mmmmmm. We came back from the trip on the 28th.

See you in 7 days!

Peace,

Coco

Dawn. Beautiful!

Younger cattle

The brown calf

The pregnant cow is coming

Clarissa, very pretty

   

Novena and Aguinaldos

In Colombia there are two traditions that are called "la novena" and "aguinaldos."

La novena is a tradition that takes place over the 9 days before Christmas. You celebrate these days with friends and family, usually in the evening. During the novena you pray and sing Christmas carols, or villancicos, as they are called in Spanish. You play musical instruments while singing, like maracas, tambourines, bird whistles, and guacharachas. After that you just talk and eat a little snack.


Aguinaldos are games that you play during the 9 days of the novena. Some of the games are stolen kiss, three feet, give and do not receive, yes/no, and crash it! When you start the game, you decide which game, how many times you need to win (like best out of 3or first to reach 5 times), and make a pinky promise bet about what the winner will get. I played 7 games. I won 6 games and lost one. I played three feet (when the person you are playing against is standing with their feet apart you sneak up behind them and put a foot in between and say "3 feet, mis aguinaldos") five times, and yes/no (one person is yes and the other is no - whichever word you are you cannot say the opposite or your partner gets a point) once, and give and do not receive (you must get your partner to receive things from you but you cannot receive anything from them) once.  I lost one of the 3 feet games.  It was so fun!


See you guys in 6 days!


Bye,
Coco