The big Night

Hola everyone!! Just returned from my trip to Cali and my Marriage to Linda. I took my parents and brother to Cali so they could meet my new family and wife. Lindas sister who lives in Indiana met us at the Miami airport and flew to Cali with us. This turned out as a blessing, since she has been in the USA for a year and helped to translate for my family. Linda met us at the airport and looked more stunning than ever before. We then went to meet her family, and after a few hours both my families were getting along great. The next day we had to finish up a few details such as purchasing the alcohol, getting the tuxes, and last minute preparations with Gonzalo and the photographer. Our wedding was the next night Feb 09 at 8pm. During the day, I took my family to see alittle of the city. We arrived at the Casa Roma saloon for the ceremony at 7:45. Only my family and Gonzalo were there. At about 8:20, a few people started filtering in. I am told that this is normal and no one ever shows until 8:30. Sure enough, at 8:30 every one starts coming. Linda and her family arrives at about 8:45 and the wedding begins. It was a very formal and beautiful ceremony. The photographer did an excellent job of taking photos and video, and I would recomend Foto Sarasti to anyone getting married in Cali. The celebration lasted until about 4:00 am. On Monday,Feb 12 Linda and I went to the embassy in Bogota. At 12 noon, everyone is sent in through the gates. At 1:00 pm everyone filing for alien resident petitions then pays the $110.00 filing fee and is givin a new form to fill out. Gonzalo already had one prepared for us, so we only had to copy the information to the new form. We waited about 30 minutes and then were called up. We were given an information package for the second interview. We were given an appointment date of March 1 at 7am. There were no questions for me as expected. We were in and out of the embassy in about 2 hours. We spent 2 days touring Bogota since Linda had never been there. We stayed at Travelors Suites Gold and I would recomend the place to anyone going to Bogota. It is like a mimi condo and much nicer than any Hotel I have stayed at. We saw Montserrat, Bolivars palace, the gold museum, the old neighborhood of Candelaria, and tried out several Restaurants. She liked the one on top of the world trade center, since it rotated and you got an excellent view of all of Bogata. We spend one night at the pink zone which is similiar to avenue sexta in Cali. We returned to Cali for Valentines day. Which I mentioned alittle under the topic about two valentines days. I have been away from my Linda for only 2 days and know that the wait of three weeks will be very long indeed. It was a great trip and a wonderful start to a new life. Her family were wonderful hosts for my family, even though there were language barriers. My family feels very good about my marriage after witnessing our marriage and spending a few days with her family. It was expensive, but I would recomend taking your parents to Colombia if you do decide to wed down there. My family spoke no Spanish, but loved the trip and all of the people they met were kind and generous. They love restaurant Cali Vieje close to the zoo. It has always been a favorite of mine and is a must see for any new travelors to Cali.
Chao, Steve

[Junfan]

Congratulations Steve! Good idea to take your parents down, a real once in a lifetime cultural experience I'm sure.

Don't be a stranger...

[Chao]

Congratulations Steve!

chao