We left on Thursday morning to make our way towards Chicago. On our way, we stopped to stay with my sister, Vicki, who lives north of Milwaukee. We rarely make it down to southern Wisconsin, and were so glad to get to see Vicki and her little dog, Patches. We went out for dinner at a microbrewery, and had some great beer and some...poisoned burritos! Well, Jason was the only one of us to get a "poisoned" burrito, but the poor guy really took a beating over the next 24 hours. Jason later said to me, "In retrospect, about half-way through the burrito, I looked at it and thought something maybe wasn't quite right. But I finished it anyways." What?! Oh no!! I guess he must have been REALLY hungry!
Anyways, Jason spent the rest of the night and the following day recovering from the after-effects of the "poisoned burrito". Food poisoning is never fun, but when you are traveling, and when you are a guest in another person's home, it is just so much worse. We still had a very nice visit with Vicki, who was a gracious and sympathetic hostess, and left on Friday morning to make our way to Chicago.
Once we were in Chicago, everything went smoothly. For others who may drive down there for visas, we had no problems at all. The Intercontinental Hotel is directly across the street from the Colombian Consulate office, and they provide valet parking for a discounted rate - $14.00. Pull your car up right to the front of the hotel (we had to go around the block to get on the correct side of the street), and they will take care of your vehicle. Be sure to bring your valet ticket stub over to the Consulate building, and have it stamped by the security person in the front lobby right as you come in the building (without the stamp, the parking cost would be $36.00).
We signed in and went up to the Colombian Consulate office. We were expecting a crowded office, but there were maybe only 5 other people waiting there. We were one hour early (we allowed extra time since you never know how traffic will be in the city), and we came in and just took a seat. They have 3 windows, and visas are issued from "Ventanilla 1". The woman behind the window called our names, we gave her all of our paperwork, and she told us that our visas would be ready in 30 minutes. After about 20 minutes she called us back to the window, handed us our visas, and wished us the best of luck. Piece of cake...it was easier than the DMV!
It does pay to have your paperwork organized and fully completed when you present it at the Consulate however. For example, the guy in front of us was a wreck...disorganized, missing certain documents, filled things out incorrectly, etc, and his experience seemed much more painful than it had to be. The woman kept sending him to the back of the line until he could get it together. Good thing for him, Jason and I were the only other people in the line!
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| Us in Chicago |
After we had our visas, we decided to head back out of town. While our parking was good for 3 hours and we could have had a little bit of fun in Chicago, Jason just wasn't feeling up to it...thanks a lot, Poisoned Burrito!! So, we scooted out of town and headed up to see our friends, Steve, Julie, and their son Calvin, who live near Madison. Jason and Steve were roommates in college and we are usually able to get together once a year. Our adventures these days are a lot tamer than they used to be, but always just as much fun...we have traded Recovery Room karaoke for watching "Cars" and eating chocolate chip cookies with Calvin!
Since things had gone so quickly in Chicago, we arrived at Steve and Julie's earlier than expected, and spent about an hour hanging out with their child-care provider, her 2 sons (ages 6 and 8) and Calvin (2 years old). Talk about a preview of things to come...3 little boys racing laps around the house, yelling, giggling, sometimes bickering, and just being BOYS. The *best* part was when the middle boy crashed a dump-truck into his older brother's ankle, and the oldest boy let out a few choice words. (Note: I say *best* since we weren't the ones to have to handle the discipline, and could just sit back in a state of over-stimulated amusement). Jason and I looked at each other, took a big gulp, and kind of giggled. We have since both agreed to really treasure our quiet times together in the next 2 weeks!
We had a great visit with our friends, even though Jason had to go to bed by 7:30...thanks again, Poisoned Burrito! In the morning, Calvin was the star of a home video demonstrating how to use a car-seat. We'll show it to the boys so that they know what to expect when they have to sit in a booster/car seat themselves, plus they will get an intro to our awesome friends.
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| Jason and Calvin...shouldn't you be IN the car, Calvin??? |
We headed back to good old Minnesota yesterday, and made it home by about dinner time. Two visas in our possession, two great visits had with freinds and family...I guess it wasn't such a bad thing to have our travel dates pushed back after all. Thanks Vicki, Steve, Julie, and Calvin for making our trip so much fun!!
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