Sandra’s father hasn’t been well, and was due to have a heart operation soon. I wanted to meet him before then in case anything went wrong. He lives in a town a two-hour bus ride from Bogota, though to call it a town is an understatement. It felt as big as Wollongong, but without any tall, built-up areas. He lives with his wife in a townhouse in a gated community, and leaves the TV on all day whether they’re watching it or not. He was very happy that Sandra had a partner, and then very disappointed when the restaurant he chose to take us to for lunch didn’t live up to his expectations. The next morning I found him scrubbing my shoes to get some long-ingrained foliage stains out and, embarrassed at the servitude, I grabbed them back and finished wiping them down myself. This turned out to be the wrong thing to do because he thought I was angry at him for touching my shoes, but we got past that. Sandra tells stories of a wild man in her younger years, but now he’s a quiet, doting father and it was nice to see Sandra pouring affection on her dad.