Easter family fun

Grandpa Ramon and Grandma Maruja came for the week before the Easter holiday. We had a taxi sent to the border to pick them up.

Papi Ramon spent alot of time in the hot springs and the hammock as his leg has been bothering him.

Maria looking quite pretty in this photo.

Carlita dressed up as a Hawaiian girl.

Hopefully Ramon and Carla will enjoy these pursuits as much as I do....and if not...I'll cry :)

With the crampons on backwards :)

Hamming it up for the camera.

Well....I hope that's true....b/c I just bought my first new bike in 15 years.

Here it is....with Carla in her new seat. Looks like the old iguana...as I used parts from the iguana on the the Bulls King Cobra....fenders, bar ends, rack, mirror etc.
800usd....aluminum, made in Germany.
So now I have disc brakes (that seem to wear out too fast, but grip much better) Suspension forks that can lock off, and 27 gears...I think...much smoother shifting. Still trying to get the fit right though...I have a long reach. I still miss the Iguana however and I'm tempted to revert back to it....we'll see.

From my first red tricycle, to a banana seat bike, to my orange Sears catalogue bike and onwards.......10 bikes in total I think.

So we then headed off to Pasto for a couple of weeks.
Lucho, friend and tailor, joined Ramon and I on the first leg of a 3 day tour. 140k total. Spent the 1st night at a friend's place

Second day down to the bridge over the Rio Juanambu...from which people were bungy jumping. Then a 4 hour climb up a dirt road! The little man handled it alot better than I did! He sure helps out now.

If he sits for too long and wants to burn some energy, he gets off and runs for awhile!!

....and takes photos of his old man.

Then we did a two day bike ride to La Cocha and back....a 30km ride from pasto, up and over a pass. 3:30 to ride out...2:45 to ride back. He sure is struting his stuff here! Did he learn that from his Kinder friends?
The scenery could be in BC! The Lake is about 2800m....300m higher than Pasto and I believe it's the 2nd largest lake in Colombia.

A more idealized version of the lake and surroundings.

Ramon loves to go for boat rides, so that's what we did.

Reminds me of European canals.

All the houses/hotels/restruants have loads of flowers out front.

We took a short boat ride over to the National Park, which is an island just offshore.

....and hiked to the other end and back
....could be old growth BC forest!

....but alas....just an old man getting long in the tooth
and a ton of bromiliads/epiphytes

.....and orchids

Hotel kitchen...we were the only ones there, being a weekday.

Rainbow trout is the main dish here. That's what he wanted and that's what he got. Steamed in onions and tomatoes. Too bad the they are farmed and not wild.

Any machinary or construction and we stop so Ramon can take it all in.

Just outside of Pasto in a local park.

....revisiting a place where I courted and whooed Maria about 17 years ago :) (Well...that's how I remember it....her memory is of some strange alien who wanted to go for bike rides with her)....just outside of Pasto...San Pedro de la laguna....a great place to cool the heels as well...and float leaves downstream.

Church of said village.

Carla off to the local hotsprings with Carolina on the left and Tia Vilma on the right.

Carla and grandma Maruja dining together.

Ramon and his cousin Wilson Andres, who is 10 months older. They are great buddies now.

Check out the Biology teacher's blog for Family fun day photos, pulling the bicycle triple around.

http://johnrobbiemaia.blogspot.com/2012/03/just-little-of-bsq-family-fun-day.html

His link is also on my fave blogs on the bottom RHS on our blog.