We decided to spend Christmas with Sandra’s mother this year, because we hadn’t seen her family since last Christmas. As always, they were very welcoming. We arrived on the evening of the 23rd, went to bed early, and took it easy all day on the 24th so I’d have the energy to stay awake through the evening. Latino Christmases are like Australian New Years Eves in that the party climaxes as the day begins.

We didn’t want Sandra’s mum to cook, so we bought some potato tamale’s (mashed potatoes with chunks of meat and vegetables all boiled inside a banana leaf) for dinner, which, thankfully, we ate before midnight. My family called, so the two families finally met, though neither spoke the other’s language so it was a simple exchange.

I ended up lying on the sofa for the last hour before midnight, unable to keep up with the flow of Spanish so late at night, and then it was present time. We each took turns selecting a present from the pile and presenting it to whoever it was meant for, then all enjoyed the joy as the present was unwrapped. There were a lot of great presents given out, and I felt thoroughly spoiled because I received a number of presents when I’d only been expecting one or two. All of them were very personalised to the point that Sandra’s mum even knew exactly which bottle of whisky to give me.

I was in bed by 1am while the rest of the family stayed up until nearly dawn, so Christmas Day itself was very slow. I did learn how to play Parquet, which is like a more complicated version of Ludo that Sandra’s family loves to play (and they play fast!). We returned home on the 27th, grateful for our first chance to spend time with family in a year.

Sandra wanted a sunbaking holiday, so we decided to retrace our steps to our first weekend away together. We booked the cheapest AirBnB with a pool we could find, and caught the bus for a 3-night weekend, something we can do easily now that Sandra is working independently. The house turned out to be much bigger than we thought, with 4 bedrooms, a living room, a bathroom and an open-air kitchen / dining area around a garden with a 2-storey mango tree. Our room was one of two ensuites out the back around the small pool / spa and a garden.

It all inspired more ideas for our home whenever we manage to find one. The idea of open air living really appeals to me, but it seems like keeping critters out of the kitchen would be more difficult and Sandra probably wouldn’t cope with all the insect bites.

While Sandra baked in the sun by the pool, I hung out in a hammock on a covered patio on top of the second ensuite. I was half-way through the fourth book in a favourite fantasy series, and was keen to finish before we got home.

Aside from our respective forms of relaxation, we ventured out into the heat a couple of times each day to eat and explore. Night time was best with cooler air and Christmas lights decorating the various squares around the town, and we had dinner one night beneath the unrestored wall of the cathedral.

At first, the heat seemed muted compared to the first visit two years ago, but by the last day, we were looking forward to returning to our relatively cool home in Medellin.

The 7th of December is Candle Day when households place an array of candle lanterns in front of the house and often gather outside for dinner.

Last year, we didn’t get out act together and ended up melting a few birthday candles into a dish on our balcony. This year, with more need to celebrate after being locked down, we went to the market to buy paper lanterns and attempted to hang them from the pole we use as a clothes line on the balcony. The wind soon put paid to that idea, but they made a beautiful image on the floor.

Looking over the balcony, we saw many families sitting on the footpath picnicking the evening away, and were glad we could participate in our own way.

Sandra normally writes the jigsaw posts, but she’s been busy so I’ll write this as a placeholder.

I chose this puzzle as being different from anything we’ve done before, but also as one that had lots of detail that would help Sandra pick out the pieces more easily. I was wrong. It was quite a challenge because it turned out that the details were often repeated, but in different combinations. The cunning artist has included at least two painters, all the flowers are red, red coats with tails flapping abound and the metal ornaments all look very similar when you only see a single arc.

Sandra took all this in stride, though, and did almost the entire left side of the puzzle on her own while also helping me with parts of the right side. I can only claim the sky and roofline as entirely my own.

There’s a second part to this picture – a daytime scene to the left – which we may attempt in future.

Sandra did a much better job with my birthday than I did with hers. She began on the previous Saturday, which happened to be Halloween. A girl from the gym came to paint our faces in the style of the Mexican Day of the Dead. We then went to Enigma escape room, which thankfully had survived the lockdowns and had recently reopened. This time, we had to escape from a serial killer, and the game began with Sandra locked in a room and me outside but in handcuffs. Sandra had the knack of it by now (her third time) and aside from some problems with the room setup, we managed with very few clues.

On Sunday morning, she took me to Crepes and Waffles as a change from our usual Sunday morning pancakes, though those were an option as well. I chose an Australian Breakfast (sourdough, poached eggs, bacon, baked tomato etc) and Sandra chose Eggs Benedict, which I suspect made this as much a present for her as it was for me.

Sandra then cancelled all her classes on Tuesday (the actual day) so we could spend it together properly. She made awesome pancakes for breakfast, cooked steak bistec (which is one of my favourite Colombian dishes) for lunch, and then took me to a Korean restaurant for dinner, so I could enjoy some spicy food. It was a great week.