Day 9: The Embassy Pediatrican Appointment

This morning we awoke early and ventured down to breakfast at our hotel, which is included with our stay free of charge - a nice perk! We finished up just in time for Shane and Sam to gather their belongings and jet off to Sam's embassy pediatrician appointment. I volunteered Shane for the task of taking him since 1) Samuel is quite the Papa's boy, and 2) I didn't have the heart to watch him get poked for the blood test. 

Julie, our translator, met Shane and Samuel at the clinic. The pediatrician appointment went well - even the doctor was smitten by our sweet little boy and could see his amazing potential. They also got Samuel's photos taken for his upcoming passport/visa appointment. Then they strolled over to another building nearby for the blood draw. I told Shane before he left to make Julie hold Sam for the draw, and she thankfully obliged.

While Shane and Sam were at the clinic, the rest of us packed up our belongings so that we'd be ready for check-out and then we ventured off to find dairy-free yogurt for Aria. Dairy-free yogurt is Aria's current favorite food. I was so worried about her refusing to eat while here that I packed a suitcase full of dairy-free yogurt. With us traveling to La Mesa, I wanted to replenish my stock. It's surprisingly hard to find here in Colombia, but our in-country rep, Soraya, told us about a small health food store called Gastronomy Market. We found a few options there to try and headed back to the hotel.

Shane and Samuel arrived back to the hotel shortly after 11:00 am and Shane had to run one more errand to Carulla to stock up on a couple more food options for Aria. Once he got back, we grabbed lunch at the hotel before departing for La Mesa. 

La Mesa is located just over 2 hours west of Bogota. This is where our court proceedings will be conducted. Back in the day, we'd be assigned to a court in Bogota that processed things at a much slower speed, but now all international adoptions take place in La Mesa. In order to use the courts in La Mesa, you have to travel there to establish residency. So today our residency officially began!

We drove through town, then veered off the main road onto a narrow, rugged gravel trail. We drove past some questionable properties and I started to wonder if I had made a bad choice booking our rental through Airbnb (you never know what you will get!), but then we pulled up to the gates of the private neighborhood of La Pilarica. We choose this property as Shane will be leaving soon and we liked the idea of a gated community for extra security.

We drove through the neighborhood and up to the beautiful home we will be staying at. There were many "oohs" and "ahhs" as our host showed us around. It's really a spectacular property, and we are so excited to settle in for the next couple weeks.

One downside to the property is that we are quite a ways from town so once again we need to rely on others to bring us to town or deliver groceries. Luckily, the owner's daughter is local and speaks English. I WhatsApped her upon our arrival to line up a grocery delivery and a pizza delivery for dinner. 

While we waited for our food to arrive, we took a dip in the pool. It's a fantastic sized pool right in the front yard overlooking a beautiful view. It's a slice of Heaven.

The sun set and we were still splashing away.

Samuel was apprehensive about the pool tonight so Nana Bev held him with just his feet dangling in the water. It is hot in La Mesa and with no AC, it'll definitely be a bit of an adjustment getting used to this heat. But thankfully we have the pool to keep us cool.

We will be in La Mesa until the judge signs off on Samuel's adoption which could take a couple weeks. Here's hoping for a speedy court process. Tomorrow will be a day of unpacking and exploring the property.