Holy Cow, Here We Go!

Nothing like a brain tumor to give you a swift kick in the butt right? So what do you do when with that experience? As many of my faithful readers know, I thought that should be taking sailing lessons and buying a sailboat. When the boat deal fell through, and finding the right boat seemed to be stretching into the distance, my husband and I had to have a serious talk about what to do. I could feel myself sliding back into habits of over working and high stress as my health improved and I went back to full time work. It was clear to me that I needed to do something big and now.

Welcome to our 2 month adventure living in Colombia! Why Colombia? Well, my hubby did a study abroad in Chile while in College (which is how he fell in love with wine, if you are not familiar with the Vivac Winery start up story) and spent time traveling to the nearby countries...except for Colombia. As an avid traveler, and fluent Spanish speaker, the enticing country he had yet to explore called to him. The hugely varying climates was intriguing to all of us; high altitude (10,000ft) cities, the charming colonial towns, the gorgeous beaches and the lush juggles. My son, a 45yr old man trapped in an 11yr old's body was drawn to the land of Gabriel Garcia Marques (one of his favorite authors). And me? I wanted something that would take me out of my comfort zone and be an adventure.

We decided to fly to Panama City, Panama where we would stay a couple days, then board a 52ft sailboat (with crew) to sail to Colombia. The 6 days of sailing includes visiting some remote islands and a 2 day blue water crossing (that means no land in sight for 2 full days). We land in Cartagena, Colombia the day before Christmas Eve. We plan to spend a week in the old city of Cartagena, enjoying the Christmas activities and then go out from there exploring the various areas of the country. We hope to find a cool little town to settle into and become a part of for at least a month. Since my son graduated from 7th grade in one semester, by working his butt off at his extraordinary school, his only job is to learn about the cultures we are enveloped in and enjoy himself. My job, is to take all of you on the ride with us!

So buckle your seat belt and away we go!

-Cheers from the Vivác Winery Family!
www.VivacWinery.com