Life in Colombia....the beginning.
After landing in Colombia (Pereira Airport) the funny thing I always look back on was how I was about to get into a truck we owned that I've never seen in person (a family friend handled it before we got there, found online) to see our new farm that I've never stepped foot on, and to meet our new dog we never met in person (my wife found in a local shelter, she fell in love with the picture). Who does this? We did;) Our adventure had officially started! But, the first few days/weeks/months weren't all that exciting as we had to live with my wife's mother until we figured out our living arrangements on the farm. The home on the property was structurally ok, but needed a lot of work and the family living there at the time (who still does) was the farm manager Javier's (wife & son).
We decided we wanted to build a tiny home on a great spot with the best view of the area, but how long will this take? After consulting with a family friend who did construction (that we hired for the job) we found out it would take about 2 months to build. 2 months living with my wife's mother in town wasn't the most fun sounding time (wife's family & mom are wonderful but really anxious to live on our farm) but we had to it. Building here is a little different, since our farm is in the mountains, rural area, regulations aren't as "strict" so it didn't take to long to decide on a floor plan (very simple) and get construction started. The fun part (not) was the daily drive to our farm to oversee construction and work on the farm. The distance from town isn't that far (about 4 miles) but the road is mostly dirt, very bumpy, up and down & around mountains going about 5-10 mph on a very narrow road and when someone is coming the other way you both have to move over to the side as much as possible to fit. 4 wheel drive is the preferred vehicle on this road but cars can make it, weather permitting and if the road is in decent condition. The trip takes about 25-30 minutes one way and when it's over...you're glad it is.
I love Colombia, I love the beauty, I love being in nature here......but living in town (city) is not my favorite place. First off, people here are HORRIBLE drivers, I'm sorry to say this but it's true. The worst are motorcycles, they follow no rules, they pass on the left, right, middle, anywhere there's a opening they'll shoot through with no regards of safety or if it's "legal". People driving cars here aren't much better but the funny thing is you rarely see accidents. Back home in AZ during my daily drives I'd always see people in accidents in one form or another but here it's a rare occurrence , strange but true. Cities are so crowded here, traffic is horrible, drivers are terrible, they're noisy, polluted air (from cars mostly) all in all not my favorite place to be. But once in nature here everything feels right.....peaceful, quiet, serene, beautiful, everything we want to lead a simple life together in nature. We are at a point in our lives now where we want to be away from the crowds & noise of a "normal" life and do things are own way, at our own pace, in beautiful surroundings being one with nature (and animals of course, which we love;) and enjoying each other's company. We truly love being together.
Oh yeah, about the dog my wife found online at a local shelter. When my wife talked to them about Maximus (his name) they mentioned they had to keep him apart from the other dogs because he was "hard of hearing" and was obsessed with rocks (he loved to play/chew on them). So when we finally got to meet him (my wife's mother watched for a couple weeks before we arrived...and boy did she have fun with that;) we noticed he wasn't hard of hearing, he was completely deaf! He was also very crazy, no manners, just a wild pit bull mix that needed a lot of attention and love. The first few days we were really worried we bit off more than we could chew with this dog as he seemed to challenging to train. It turns out we bought the best tool we could have ever used, something we thought we'd never buy, a shock collar. I know, I know, these things are cruel, bordering on animal cruelty right? Wrong. We bought a good one that vibrated and shocked at different levels (from a light tickle to holy crap that hurts) and immediately put it to good use. Max learned real quick what being a good dog was, or a bad dog, or when to come when we wanted him to...this tool worked perfectly! Turns out Max is a very smart, sweet dog that just needed love to be a great dog and now we love him dearly.
Ok, this is long enough for today so I'll stop here. Next post will be about the home construction and other stuff at that time before moving in full-time at the farm.