This is a verrrrry belated goodbye. We got home from Colombia in late July and hit the ground running with band camp and school registration and job searching (for me) and interviews and starting a chaplain residency and working lots and lots (and lots) of hours. For a while it was too painful to look at the photos and know that Medellín was there being its beautiful self and we were here. Now, almost six months since we got home, Medellín seems like it was years ago.
The thing I wanted to show you more than anything else was the soccer field that the Unbound families built in a community way up the mountainside! I honestly didn't believe they could finish it as fast as they did. We left it looking like this:
They were planning to have their grand opening just a few weeks later. I left that day feeling so exhausted and so daunted by the task they had ahead of them, including leveling the field by hand, using shovels and buckets and one rickety wheelbarrow. We were blown away when we went to the grand opening a few weeks later and saw this:
I STILL can't believe it! I wish there had been a time-lapse camera running during those weeks! It's in use every day, with different neighborhood groups and school groups signed up for certain days and times. An incredible accomplishment, started by Unbound mothers groups working together to do something for the community. LOVE.
What else? . . . We had to say goodbye to so many people and places. Like my go-to strawberry guy. He was so, so nice. I bought strawberries when we didn't need strawberries because buying strawberries from him made me so happy.
We made one last visit to Parque Arví, which meant one last ride on the cable cars up out of the valley and back.
We went to the fancy mall a couple of times . . .
A last walk to the coffee shop . . .
Our last Friday-night pizza at our regular pizza place in the neighborhood . . .
Our last (aka second? third?) date night in the neighborhood . . .
Bowling at our neighborhood bowling alley? Check.
And we finally went to this juice place. There were maybe 10 juice places by the stadium, but every time we walked past, there was one that ALWAYS had a long line. We were dying to know why! So just before we left, we finally went.
The big secret?? It was cheap! Hahaha!
Some of the hardest things to leave were the views from our apartment. We never took them for granted. They were just as ridiculously beautiful on our last day as they were on our first.
And my favorite view that will be in my heart forever . . . twilight from the kitchen window . . .
Medellín, you were very, very good to us. Gracias por todo.
The thing I wanted to show you more than anything else was the soccer field that the Unbound families built in a community way up the mountainside! I honestly didn't believe they could finish it as fast as they did. We left it looking like this:
They were planning to have their grand opening just a few weeks later. I left that day feeling so exhausted and so daunted by the task they had ahead of them, including leveling the field by hand, using shovels and buckets and one rickety wheelbarrow. We were blown away when we went to the grand opening a few weeks later and saw this:
I STILL can't believe it! I wish there had been a time-lapse camera running during those weeks! It's in use every day, with different neighborhood groups and school groups signed up for certain days and times. An incredible accomplishment, started by Unbound mothers groups working together to do something for the community. LOVE.
What else? . . . We had to say goodbye to so many people and places. Like my go-to strawberry guy. He was so, so nice. I bought strawberries when we didn't need strawberries because buying strawberries from him made me so happy.
We made one last visit to Parque Arví, which meant one last ride on the cable cars up out of the valley and back.
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| This doesn't capture how steep the mountainside is. |
We went to the fancy mall a couple of times . . .
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| G making friends on the metro. |
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| My favorite plant we always passed on the way. |
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| National soccer team players in the pastry case. |
Our last Friday-night pizza at our regular pizza place in the neighborhood . . .
Our last (aka second? third?) date night in the neighborhood . . .
Bowling at our neighborhood bowling alley? Check.
And we finally went to this juice place. There were maybe 10 juice places by the stadium, but every time we walked past, there was one that ALWAYS had a long line. We were dying to know why! So just before we left, we finally went.
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| Three people at the place on the right, next to the long line for the other one. |
The big secret?? It was cheap! Hahaha!
 |
| Feeling super nerdy with our juice. : ) |
Some of the hardest things to leave were the views from our apartment. We never took them for granted. They were just as ridiculously beautiful on our last day as they were on our first.
 |
| View from the breakfast table. |
And my favorite view that will be in my heart forever . . . twilight from the kitchen window . . .
Medellín, you were very, very good to us. Gracias por todo.
What amazing photos! Thank you for sharing! Lisa
ReplyDeleteAnd I said to myself what a wonderful world". U have an eye to capture the wonder". Tks for taking me along...reminding me that Medellin is much more than Pablo E...the limit of 1 story...
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