Today Diana had arranged for her dad to make a curry for her teaching colleagues. We met at the house she and Dan share and split into 2 parties to head to up to her parents home I settled for the taxi along with Dave the Aussie Maths teacher, Amy an English teacher and Daniele a Drama teacher. Now the Taxi driver was playing follow the leader with Diana in the lead bearing in mind Diana is driving a jeep we were soon racing across the city traffic towards the outskirts, on route, we had to go over a couple of Speed bumps - The taxi did not fair well, the sound of grating metal on concrete made everyone wince, I blame Daniele myself if she had been a liitle slimmer we wouldn't have had a problem (It should be noted that Daniele is about as petite and slim as its possible to be - but I couldn't blame myself!!) this was then made a 100 times worse when we turned onto a road that seemed to go straight up literally the jeep cruised up it easily but the taxi struggled and at half way up came to a stop and we slowly retreated back down the hill in reverse where the driver now took on the look of a Bull about to charge a Matador, a couple of revs of the engine and we were back off up the hill, and this time momentum and luck carried us to the top (and this was without Dave getting out as he suggested). The fare of about 12000 peso's or £3 hardly covered the damage that must surely have been done to the Sump when we grounded, the tires when we were wheel spinning on the hill or the clutch that must have been over heating trying to drag the taxi up the hill, the poor driver must have been so relieved when we got out. But that is only half the story as Dave and I plus this time Gerrant Special Education and Chris also Maths got the taxi back down the hill at the end of the visit, if coming up was hairy going down was scary ! The taxi had looked like it had seen better days (probably before going up and down the hill) and having confidence in its ability to stop at the bottom of this steep slope was not something that came easily. Particularly when the speedometer didnt seem to move above 35kms / hour and we were barreling down at a lot more than that. However today was a good day as we got out eventually close to home in one piece if a little shaken up - but thats really just part of colombian taxi style.
Diana's parents house is beautiful it seems to meander over various floors all interlocking around a central area, each room has been laid out and designed to offer the maximum comfort and view possible and if I could pick it up and move it back to scotland it would be worth every penny it would cost to do. The curry was really nice her father is a very good cook and obviously enjoys doing it as the meal was everything I could have hoped for, some thought (those madras curry fiends from UK) it wasn't spicy enough but I really enjoyed it. It was a lovely afternoon and thanks go to both of Diana's parents for opening their door to a group of strangers and being the perfect hosts.
The photo's show the group sitting after dinner, on the sofa you can see Chris, Gerrant, Dan and Adrian, Dave is seen on his own and later in front of the fire were Amy, Gerrant, Daniele and Diana (Roasting Marshmallows badly by an open fire.
It was a lovely day thanks to Diana for organising it, her dad and mum for making the food and her family for throwing open the door to their home. Oh and thanks go to the Big Yin too for ensuring that I survived 2 taxi rides in one day.
Oh a final note, when we arrived there were nuts and a nicely designed Nut Cracker sitting on the table, Dan opened a couple then failed on one (PE Teachers no inner strength, wimps really) so I thought I'd have a go - sadly I hadn't had my weetabix and also failed so I passed it onto to Dave, Now Dave is a big lad and started squeezing harder and harder when there was a resounding crack, the nut remained undamaged but the chromed nut cracker was now in 2 pieces, the moral of the story - if at first you don't succeed, DONT give it to an Aussie they dont know their own strength.!!
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