María, Full of Grace

Howdy folks, Matt here in Medellín. I know i´m getting a little behind on blogging, but I had quite a busy weekend and start of the week. My next few posts will deal a little bit with the culture here, so that those of you who are considering adoption or are in the process can understand a little bit how things are here.

On Sunday, I got up around ten and had a nice breakfast with the family. We left for mass around eleven thirty. Most of the population here (more than ninety percent) is Catholic. I have been to many a mass in my life, but not in many years, so I was not quite sure what to expect. My church that I attend in Myrtle Beach is a rock out, dance kinda church, so I knew it would be different. I was pleasantly surprised with how heartfelt and beautiful the service was. It was only about forty five minutes long, and included all things that any American Catholic would expect, and the people were all so nice and so so faithful and it seemed like they really meant it when they turn to one another and said, ¨peace be with you,¨or ¨God bless you.¨
After church, we went to eat at an amazing restaurant on the side of a mountain looking over the whole valley, where I had the ¨típico¨ (typical) that is eaten in Colombia, which includes on a huge plate steak, sausage, an arepa (best compared to a fried tortilla), fresh avocado, rice, beans, banana, and my favorite, chicharrón. Chicharrón is best compared to the fatty part of the bacon, cooked until crispy, just how I like it :). Needless to say, I was quite full and satisfied.
We then walked around the mall for awhile. Turns out Medellín is a world center for fashion, and it shows. There are more than twenty malls here, many of which specialize in high class clothing. Being that the peso is such a weak currency, I would recommend traveling here to check out your next Dolce and Gabana or Prada or whatever it is you ladies are into these days.

Another thing that is amazing is the climate. I know I have mentioned this before, but it is so awesome that people don´t use air conditioning here. I´m sitting at this computer with the windows open in the house, yea a car goes by every now and then, but the view is amazing, and there is always a light breeze blowing through the valley. Also, all of the malls and restaurants are open as well. It is just really relaxing to sit here and take it in.

I´ll write more, but I think this is enough for one blog post. Que dios les bendiga - God Bless