Colombian Food

Once every couple of weeks, we go to lunch at the Sopa y Postres restaurant that serves authentic colombian food and is near our office. A lunch for two is about $20 US, sort of in the mid range of lunch prices. The foto above is of he menu.

The foto above shows small empanadas of cheese, deep fried and delicious with the special sauce.

These are the main dishes with the Ajiaco soup on the left, with the piece of corn on the cob and in front the ever present rice and avacado. Above the Ajiaco are shown a little dish of caper-like condiments and cream to add to the soup. The dish on the right is a special rice dish, with pork, with strips of deep fried plantain and with a fried egg on top

A view of the outside part of the restaurant It's very pleasant when the weather is nice. We also enjoy eating outside because the chairs have backs; inside one sits on backless benches.

Enjoying the ambience after a nice meal. Sitting at a nearby table was a birthday party consisting of six pretty young women, one of whose birthday it was, and a single young man. They sang Happy Birthday, first the English version, followed by the same tune with Spanish words.

Avacados are eaten with nearly everything. We eat avacados with all of our green salads. The sauce is our favorite and compares in flavor with the tortilla factory.

Carolyn's first attempt to make cookies at this high altitude. They turned out pretty well, if a little flat.

Aides foundation and mission home

We went with Jose Luis Cardenas to deliver Church-donated hygenic kits to children with the HIV virus who live in an orphanage operated by a community of the Catholic Church. The kids' don't have functioning parents -- the parents are dead or drug addicted. The kids go to school and eat and sleep at the orphanage. The above photo shows the official kit presentation to the director of the orphanage.

The little boy above can't tolerate the drugs needed to prevent full-blown aides. He is in isolation and probably won't live much longer.

The children at snack time. We arrived at the orphanage just as the children were coming home from school.

Carolyn and Royal with the children and the orphanage director. This foundation, supported by the Catholic Church, is better furnished and maintained than many similar foundations that we have visited. What keeps the children functioning are the expensive drugs they are able to get. There are about 20 children, ages 1 to 15. The hygenic kits were very much appreciated. The Church ordinarily doesn't partner with well supported foundations like this one except with small gifts like the hygenic kits. These kits are assembled at the humanitarian center in SLC and then shipped all over the world.

Last Sunday we , along with three other senior missionary couples and the president of the Bogota South mission and his wife were invited for dinner at the home of the president of the Bogota North mission. It was very nice. They served Ajiaco, our favorite Colombian soup. Shown in photo above at the right are President Casablanca (white house) of the Bogota south mission and his wife. He is from Puerto Rico. His wife, although born in the USA, lived most of her life in Puerto Rico and met her husband there.

Sister Casablanca on the left and Sister Hacking on the right -- wives of the two Bogota mission presidents.