Our Adventure Begins

Saturday we had a long travel day, although our trip was pretty smooth. Everything was on time, and we didn't have any issues. On our last leg in Miami we met a couple who was also adopting and they were on their way to Colombia to also their daughter!!  Such a crazy coincidence! Our stories are different, but somehow so much alike. We had a great conversation with them, and were very glad we got to also share in their excitement right before meeting their daughter.

We arrived at Hostal Murali late Friday evening, and didn't do much but get changed and crashed. The place was not what we expected, but we decided on the flight from Miami to Guayaquil that we are going into this as an adventure without any expectations. Therefore I was not able to verbalize my disappointed (although I suppose saying it here is somewhat the same??? Just don't tell Ryan).

Sunday morning we met with Maritza, our in-country coordinator and lawyer. She gave us a drive-by tour of the city, and then brought us to Casa Alianza, which is where we will stay this week.  We are hoping to spend the time while we're hear researching about other homes that we may be able to rent, maybe along the beach!! As I said, it's an adventure, and we are going to take in every single experience!!

We stopped at the shopping mall to purchase cellular minutes for the phone we will be using in-country and pick up snacks for our room. We learned earlier that E's orphanage is RIGHT NEXT DOOR to the mall. It was very hard not to run over, jump the giant wall and go searching for her! I kept saying to Ryan, "She's right over there. She's just right over that wall."

Soon, very soon.