Today was the first day since arriving back in Cartagena that I felt in sync with everything going on around me.  I feel like I hibernated a bit after we came home, trying to process the transition back.

When people ask me about living in Colombia, I often talk about the quality of life you are able to have here.  What I sometimes fail to mention about living abroad is the mental energy it takes to live your everyday life.  This is not a whiny rant, so don’t go there.   It can be a real struggle to live your everyday normal life where you still can’t fully communicate and where the cultural customs can still be quite different from what you would choose.  I occasionally have to give myself the “you can do it” pep-talks, but more often, I head into the world armed with google translate, bi-lingual friends and the courage to outlast any awkward situation.

So, today, walking around our city on some solo errands somehow felt like I had found my comfortable place again.   The city is always alive and buzzing and I just needed to borrow some of that energy.

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So without getting to wordy, here is what we have been up to the last month or so…  Swimming, enjoying the coffee and all the views.

It’s also no secret that I love animals.    We have been treated to so many cool and unexpected encounters since we got back. Red Squirrels, Monkeys, Iguana’s, and my favorite was the Sloth.

It may have been a slow start, but that’s ok.  I need to be reminded that even though we are a year and a half in, this isn’t an easy process.  There are good days and bad ones, and most days have a little of both.