Saturday trip to the airport

We left for the airport at 11:30 Saturday morning, earlier than usual because we were not able to check-in on line.  We were so glad we did!  About 25 minutes in to the 50 minute drive we came to a complete stop.  After about ten minutes, we called William Flores to see if he could find out what was going on.  He called back and said that there was a tractor trailer blocking the road, but that it wasn't an accident so it should be cleared fairly soon.  About 15 minutes later the cars in the left lane started moving very slowly.  Our lane (we were behind a big truck) wasn't moving at all.  

There was a slight break in the traffic so Stephen changed lanes and it was a great decision.  As we approached the truck we could see that it during a maneuver to make a very sharp right turn (almost in a jack-knife position) it was hit by an SUV.  The cars in the left lane were moving because the police began allowing cars to wind around in front of ithe truck.  Each vehicle had to start their turn and then back up to complete it.  Obviously, the space was much too small to allow anything larger than a pickup to pass, so all of the big trucks were stuck, as were any cars that were behind them.  

We finally "wormed" our way around it as they were dislodging the SUV from under the carriage of the trailer.  We lost more than 30 minutes of time, but managed to arrive at the Avianca counter just after the suggested two-hour check-time.  At the gate, we saw two people from IBVN San Salvador who were also on our flight.  Vilma Camino and her granddaughter (relatives of Pastor Alex and his wife, Norma,) were flying down to help translate.

Although our flight was delayed by 30 minutes, for some reason unknown to us, we were upgraded to first class, a very rare occurrence indeed.  We enjoyed a nice lunch on the 2.5 hour flight to Bogota!  We landed, walked down the steps to the tarmac and then boarded a bus for a 20 minute drive to the international terminal.  The immigration lines were substantial, but that was to be expected because the airport is enormous.  The greater Bogota area has more than ten million people!

We waited a very long time on our luggage as, once unloaded, it had to make the 20 minute drive to the international terminal, as well.  Norma and her daughter, Paola, were there to meet us and show us to the Holiday Inn shuttle, and pick up her mother and niece.

The Holiday Inn Airport was a ten minute drive and the check-in procedure was easy.  We were in our room by 9:00 p.m.  We met a couple in the lobby who were looking for a place to eat so we joined them on a walk the McDonalds, which was a block or two away.

We've been really busy this week, with not too much free time in the room, so I'm really behind in posting what's been going on.  Much more later about how God is really working here in Bogota and how exciting it is to be part of His work!