This week included two half day trips. The first to Palmira. A city of 300,000 about 15 miles east of Cali. The city says it is the agriculture capital of Columbia and listed a number of crops but we only saw sugar cane (caña de azucar). I thought Sister Oliver just wanted to see the city but we had volunteered to inspect missionary houses. They were very clean but some needed some maintenance and repairs which is what Elder Torgerson does. We didn´t take pictures as usual but I borrowed some. One of the apartments was in a little village called Cerrito (little hill).
The second trip was to Jamundi city of 120,000 about 10 miles to the south. We went to buy furniture for a missionary apartment that is growing from 2 to 4 Elders. The mission has a contract with Don Ramon who drives us in one of his taxi´s or sometimes in his private car. I am greatful to him and his knowledge of where we need to go. The biggest challenge is getting through the city traffic to the road out of town. On this trip I noticed a few huge pines. With research we figured out they are Norfolk Island pines. The kind we had in the house for many many years. In their natual environment they grow to 200 feet. The pines we saw were the tallest trees around. We have seen other trees that we grew as house plants.
Another interesting tree is the Ceiba. We have talked about how big they get. The neighboring apartments all have Ceiba in their name, the view of the ceiba etc. We have taken a picture of this tree. We read that the ceiba tree in Mayan folklore is a sacred tree that opens the door to the 13 heavens
This week included two half day trips. The first to Palmira. A city of 300,000 about 15 miles east of Cali. The city says it is the agriculture capital of Columbia and listed a number of crops but we only saw sugar cane (caña de azucar). I thought Sister Oliver just wanted to see the city but we had volunteered to inspect missionary houses. They were very clean but some needed some maintenance and repairs which is what Elder Torgerson does. We didn´t take pictures as usual but I borrowed some. One of the apartments was in a little village called Cerrito (little hill).
The second trip was to Jamundi city of 120,000 about 10 miles to the south. We went to buy furniture for a missionary apartment that is growing from 2 to 4 Elders. The mission has a contract with Don Ramon who drives us in one of his taxi´s or sometimes in his private car. I am greatful to him and his knowledge of where we need to go. The biggest challenge is getting through the city traffic to the road out of town. On this trip I noticed a few huge pines. With research we figured out they are Norfolk Island pines. The kind we had in the house for many many years. In their natual environment they grow to 200 feet. The pines we saw were the tallest trees around. We have seen other trees that we grew as house plants.
Fun for you to see some new parts of the country. Are the 200 feet tall "house plants" still as soft as the tiny ones?
ReplyDeleteYes, but I didn't know that until we saw one as we were walking home from the office one day. (It was not 200 ft tall). When we went to Jamundí we only saw them from the taxi as we were driving by. Don Ramón is on contract with the mission so he takes us places that are much farther than a taxi would usually take us.
ReplyDeleteMom (If I don't "sign" my name it looks like it's from "Harold". You can probably tell who wrote it by the way I rattle on :)