Part 4.b: Getting to Colombia

I Thought my 23 day post was going to cover the very least amount of time but I beat it with this one! It seems like a lot of growth can happen in quick bursts of time.

I left my little sanctuary in tears. I had spent 2 months getting so comfortable with my life in Sosua that Dave and I were talking about possibly buying property there even though he still hadn't come to check it out yet. We talked about him doing that too. I had found ways to get through the crippling anxiety I'd been feeling at home and I believed that it was because of this "magical place." Soon I would find out that it wasn't really this place but at that point I was reluctantly setting out on a journey.

Chelsea was in Colombia and had been really pressing me to join her for a short visit before she went home for Christmas. I wasn't going home for Christmas. I knew that I couldn't and that was a hard reality. It was to be my first Christmas and New Year without any family and I had to plan for it. Seeing her first was becoming important to me and so if it was in Colombia (a place I had never before considered visiting), so be it! I had decided on a new experience for the holidays and timed it for the day she would be leaving Colombia but that's for the next post!

Now I had to gather my courage and take the bus for about 4 hours from Sosua to Santo Domingo. I say I needed courage because for this trip I was really alone and everything would be in Spanish. You would think that my confidence would have grown but to be honest it took me a long time to feel comfortable when dealing with everything in Spanish by myself. Even now, I have my moments and it is 3 years later! I really didn't start learning Spanish until I was 52 and I have always been a bit of a resistant studier. Add to that the fact that my life felt like it was falling apart and I was putting all of my emotional energy into trying to stop that from happening and there wasn't much left in me for a new language!

When I flew from the US to the DR Chelsea was there to greet me. She had made the living

arrangements. She talked when talking needed to be done. She really is quite a remarkable person. By the time she left I was very accustomed to my situation and even had a few English speaking acquaintances and one painting student! I knew how the money worked...Like I said, I was comfortable but I was leaving my comfort zone.

I got on the bus and got off at the right stop and I was calling that a win! I planned on 2 nights in a room of an airbnb in the old city. I figured if I was going to go through the capital I should at least take a look around! The city is beautiful and I walked a lot! Walking is definitely my favorite way to see a new place. I also went to the Museo de las Casas Reales https://museosrd.gob.do/museos/museo-de-las-casas-reales/ for a great look at the history there. They love Christopher Columbus in a way the US just doesn't and that's just one of the things that stuck with me.

I also went on a chocolate factory tour but mostly I just explored! Of course I had to eat too (I love trying local food everywhere I go!) and maybe have an ice cream. The cool thing about going somewhere you've never been is you can see all new things without spending much money and I was trying my best to conserve my money!

I woke up December 6th and boarded a plane to Colombia to hug my daughter. We spent 11 days exploring Cali. The time flew. The city was simply beautiful to me. I thought I would be devastated without swimming all day in my beautiful backyard beach but the mountains, the green, the trees...Omg, how I fell in love with the trees.

And then it was over. From the time I had left Sosua till the time I left Colombia it had only been 13 days and I was boarding a plane to Panama where my life would change again. For the better? For the worse? Who knew, but I would definitely be moving forward because going back is not an option in this life.