We are back in Bogota! After being awake for almost 24 hours, we are more than happy to curl up in our beds at the very beautiful colonial Hotel la Opera in the historical center of Bogota.

Apart from being long, the trip went really well. Up at 6 o’clock, we arrived with plenty of time to catch our plane to Frankfort. Our parking was full to the brim, meaning we will end up paying twice the price for the backup option which luckily still had free spots. We have to remember to book ahead for our next trip! We drowned our sorrow in coffee an egg McMuffins!

During the layover in Frankfort we extensively explored terminal Z to move a bit since the next leg of the trip involved 12 hours of being cooped up in a seat. On the bright side, we were in for some good catch up on the latest movie releases.

Sandra was already shedding a few tears of emotions watching “the United Kingdom” about Seretse Khama, beloved King of Botswana, who reclaimed his country’s independence from the British, when Skye told her he was watching “Lion” and reminded her that our friend Marie had warmly recommended us to see it.

“Lion”, is the true story of a lost Indian child*mild spoiler alert* who is adopted by an Australian family. As a young adult he wants to find his family again and finally manages to trace back his path to his village.

A heart wrenching movie in normal circumstances, it resonated particularly deeply for us on this journey back to our son’s motherland. Ryo, who was himself watching innocuous cartoons, had to comfort a very emotional Sandra who cried a mighty river.

We landed at 6 o’clock local time (add 7 hours to our day with the time change) and while going through custom, were asked by a couple of Germans with their obviously Colombian young adult daughter, if we were traveling with the same agency as them. Apparently they were here for the same reason as us on an organised tour. We indeed soon picked up other German couples with Colombian teenagers in the line, and it was moving to see that we were not the only ones taking this important journey back to our child’s roots.

Being pretty groggy after such a long trip, Ryo seemed to be absorbing everything relatively passively, and going with the flow. For Skye and Sandra, memories on how overwhelmed the soon  be parents were the first time the hit the Colombian ground at El Dorado Airport 11 years ago resurfaced.

A nice French fellow took charge of us for the transfer. He is a musician who came to Bogota in 2007 for a project and ended up marring a local lady and is now father of three children. They tried moving to France but life in Colombia offers more freedom, the have a sleep in help, and they can build and grow a business here easily in a booming economy full of possibilities.

We don’t see so much on our drive in the tropical night toward the historical center , but our guide gives us an account on how things have changed here. There is a new modern high rise towering above the city which gentrifies itself at a fast pace. Carulla supermarkets are still there but new hard discounters have settled and chased Carrefour. The security is much better, and it’s now Venezuela who used to be a better tourist destination that has become the country to avoid. Tourists and business men are starting to flock to increasingly trendy Colombia.

We are looking forward to discovering these changes in the coming days, but for now it’s 9 o clock and we really need a good sleep!