McDonalds and 2 colectivos back home

McDonalds abroad is always fun.  The boys said they see what I meant when I said American fats food chains change their menus to fit the culture they’re serving.  The group favorite was definitely the triple bacon burger!!!

After about an hour at McDonalds eating, using their WiFi, laughing, and talking we left the mall, walked to the Main Street that the colectivos use and we organized ourselves for our ride home. The first colectivo already had passengers inside when our crew hopped in so space was limited.  Alex’s sons and nephews opted to stand holding onto the back of the vehicle.

During the ride our second colectivo passed our first colectivo and that was lots of fun even for The cautiously playful drivers. 

Here’s the video of us catching up to the first colectivo: https://youtu.be/pkZDibeDvuo

We reached our neighborhood a little after 10, after talking and joking more we all headed home for showers and bedtime.  The kids have class tomorrow at 9am sharp AND in the afternoon we will go to the mud volcano. 

Movie time/ a wrinkle in time

At 6 oclock we all went to the movie entrance for our 6:30 showing of "un viaje en el tiempo". We knew ordering food and settling in would take a while.  While ordering etc. I was sure to take pix and even videos.  I especially wanted you all to see that the movie was dubbed over in Spanish. The BEST Boys said that even though they didn’t understand every word that they understood the movie. 

Clips from the movie: https://youtu.be/D4tKjNKXPDM and https://youtu.be/vYlgb_TSHYk

After the movie we headed out, talked laughed, bought host moms and family members a few presents then headed to McDonalds for a late dinner.

Rashad and Alex’s son Jhon are like brothers now. 

Caribe Plaza mall

As soon as our happy group was united we went straight to buy our movie tickets, then strolled around the mall for a little over an hour.

In Latin America they always assign the movie seat.  Family is important and seat assignments ensure that families can sit together. The mall was nice and had lots of familiar stores. 

Frisby is a very popular chicken chain and a few boys ordered from there and a few other places before the movie. 

Mall and food court videos: https://youtu.be/pbBwU1_1ctI and https://youtu.be/CHfHrPsPG-E

Colectivo Movie adventure

At 3:30 we met at the center so we could catch our 6:30 movie and still have time to explore the mall beforehand.  We didn’t leave until a little after 4 because the boys were playing and having a good time.  We had a few conversation on the best way to transport 15 people to th mall and we decide that instead of taking 4 taxis that we could possibly fit in 2 colectivos, which are taxis made to for 8+ people mostly strangers heading in the same direction.  

Me and Karen (Alex’s daughter, our main guide!

Fun video of our colectivo ride: https://youtu.be/FIHFyFCxS-g

Videos of the busy streets: https://youtu.be/Ze7DVN-QlY8 and https://youtu.be/J1OmlQdpnLI

The ride cost us $10.000 CP in total that’s a little over $3... even Uber can’t beat that.  Once we got out of the colectivo we had to walk a few blocks to the mall Caribe Plaza.  

The second colectivo arrived shortly after we did. 

Culture and Language studies

During the class break the boys got a quick lesson in Dominos and winning strategies. It’s a popular game here and if you want to win you need to know your math

After Dominos they returned to class to practice how they were going to tell their host mothers not to make them dinner because they were going to the movies. Here’s a video of the practice convo. 

https://youtu.be/EVKHtrHz1_A

When we were leaving for lunch we met a family friend from Palenque, the African village founded by escaped slaves. We will go there Saturday afternoon and we hope to see our new friend perform with his band. 

Here is a quick video about Pelenque: https://youtu.be/JgzOlTAze3Q

It’s all good in the Barrio

(DaSean and Jaedyn live on this street, Rashad lives around the corner as soon as you turn right at the parked car) 

Everything is great this morning.  The students are currently in class.  They spent the first 10 minutes of class Joneing (roasting) me and Dr Malik.  If you know the BEST Boys this is a sign of love and affection.  

We decided to catch a movie together tonight.  We are inviting our new friends to join us.  The movies here comes to about $3.50 each.  I told the BEST kids to pay for themselves and a Colombian friend (all the guys from yesterday/ Alex’s sons and nephews) and that I’ll buy all their movie snacks.  The movie theatre is in the mall.  We will leave our neighborhood at 4ish so we have time to walk around the mall before the movie starts at 6:30.  We all voted on the movie and "A Wrinkle in Time" won.  The movie will be dubbed over in Spanish, no English subtitles. 

After dinner family movie

After dinner I enjoyed sitting and relaxing with my family as I hope the others did too.  By the time I got to the center most of the kids were in Alex’s upstairs room watching a movie with his kids.  I teased him and his wife that I bet they didn’t know that inviting BEST also meant they also adopted 6 more sons.  They didn’t mind at all and loved that their place was the hangout spot.  

After a while we all walked to the store together for drinks and snacks.

The store run was pretty quick and we all returned back to the movie, with a few breaking away to play Dominos, Colombian style. 

https://youtu.be/GFYZgkWH1XM

I made everyone head home at 9:30. Alex’s sons took Jordan and Demetrius toward their homes, Big Baby was already home, and I took Rashad, DaSean, and Jaedyn to their homes.

Alex says that in addition to the families loving us, that now the other neighborhood families want to host groups too!  I love how we all effect each other equally and that it spreads like wild fire.  This is how global change is made home to home, heart to heart.