Monthly Archives: October 2016

Halloween Colombia style

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Our first Halloween our of Ghana…as you know in Ghana Halloween is celebrated in the American community so it’s not known in thetypical Ghanaian life.

So this year with our travels we have been able to celebrated Halloween here in medellin colombia. the colombian have some serious Halloween parties… and the kids especially look so cute.

We got the pleasure of being invited to the Columbus school for their Halloween party and it was super fun…it’s not that scary stuff that kids have nightmares for days. the school had fun activities of all ages….bouncy castle and water slides and kids all wearin beautiful costumes. and snacks all over the place.

Great school if you are here in medellin and wants to send your kids to school. they have from K4 all the way to 12th grade all on the same huge compund. also all the kids there speak both English and Spanish so there you go a school that offers it all.

Here are few pictures of our Halloween here…

My son in the iron man outfit waiting to get some snacks…

Our girls in their Halloween custumes

Some games for the kids…you see my son is having a great time …

You talk about school lunch…the lunch at this school is like a 5 star restaurant meal…the chicken was grilled right in front of me…

She is all set for Halloween

And my iron man…

My little miss superstar

And our saviour…star wars

And my pumpkin princess

And now the queen of the clan…

And the king of the clan…and that’s not his costume….

My kids took it to the next level and went to all the apartment doors in our building to trick or treat.
Colombian Exploration Continues . .

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The Rock tour GuatapeĀ 

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Waking up early is really not my thing anymore…I. will wake up if I must but if am given the choice it will definitely be nope…but today we decided to take one of the top tours here in medellin…the guatape tour. 

Woke up at 6am so we can meet our tourist bus at el pobaldo park at 7:30am…bus left on time and we set off. 

The tour includes stops at 3 towns, a ferry boat ride, breakfast, lunch and the The rock tour all for $24…yeap it’s probably one of the inexpensive tour we have taken in any country since started travelling except the free walking tours.

I have some moments here that are breath taking views…enjoy 

That’s our super awesome tour guide who works with the tour company and he speaks English.  And he is on whatsapp and responds very fast to all questions…

Waiting to get on our bus…at el pobaldo park 

Our breakfast stop had a maze decor outside..

This is a town call Penino (probably got the name wrong) it’s only 38yrs since it was formed….

A rock church attached to a house….pretty amazing 

Me and my prince 

Sisters for life 


A dance show at one of the towns we stopped at 

She is developing her own self…

The rock entrance 

That’s the 740 staircase to take in other to get up there…

Time to get the stepping…

Just a peak of the view after 50 stairs up

And we ae up at 330 staircase….exhusted. ..

That’s the beautiful man made lake view…it’s amazing…

She is looking into her future….

They love the view 

She sees posibilities all around her 

I feel at  peace and bliss by just being up there 

She is ready for the world…

A little selfie craziness 

The way up…

The way down…

Guatape town with population of about 5000 people…

The first and only church in the town…the inside is built with wood…

The cute little town…

Inside the church

This is how they roll

This seem to be a public ride…

Churrios in smaller bites….topped with dulce letche 

He was so tired…his sister decided to carry him….sisters rock all the time…

Well so for a full day we enjoyed what medellin has to offer. 
ColombianExploration Continues. ..

Trip to El RetiroĀ 

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So as we travel we make awesome friends and as we make awesome friends in each country we get to spend time with them. 

Today our amazing airbnb Host went out of her way to come and pick us up at 10am thus morning to take us around the city and outside the city of medellin…we spent the whole day with her…now that is awesome or what!!! Thank you so much Paulina…you are a super duper magnificent host and we love and appreciate you so much. 

We started our journey with a stop at plaza pakita…which reminded me of the weekend food markets in south Africa…this place is about 30min from poblado area…worth checking it out on the weekend. It has character and they sometimes have live music. It’s great for kids and going with friends and just chilling around there. Remember it’s a bit chilly on that side so take a jacket… hee are a few pictures of our first stop.

Red cows are cute…

Colombian knows how to make Halloween felt at every place

The play ground at the plaza pakita 

Such a beautiful decor

Check out the lighting decor

Me and my beautiful 15yr old ….

My daughter and our host…

Our second stop was a parque Ecológico el salados…it’s really a place you can plan a whole day there. For about $3 per adult you can get a boat and also a train ride around the park…also your kids can play on the swings and playground…really great greenery place to have a nice picnic with friends and love ones. And it’s about 45min from medellin…here are a few pictures 

This is how they picnic…taking it to the next level…

Such a beautiful romantic moment at that parque

The precision in setting the picnic stuff up is amazing 

The whole place is set up for a romantic but yet kid friendly feel…

Time to take a ride on the boat….

Ready to paddle 

The beautiful view…

Now our 3rd and final stop was a little town call El retiro and this town reminds me of a town in cusco called Urubamba…such a small cute town…here are those memories too

So it’s basically like a square and in the middle they have some stuff for sale…and around it they have also some stores to buys gifts ect. 

The little stalls in the middle…

We stopped for this sweet snack…

So they take this crispy waffle like and they put either dulce letche or chocolate spread in it and then top it with another piece….it was yummy and cost 50 cents…

That’s what I got to bite into….

This beautiful handmade wall butterfly decor..the lady makes it right there…

Look at that woodwork….so talented 

That priceless smile from my angels 

Well that ends our day out of medellin and it really was a beautiful day to be able to do all this and thanks to our host we have seen somthing out of medellin….

Colombian Exploration Continues. ….

Exploring Medellin with new LLF’SĀ 

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Today is a holiday in colombia..when I askeda colombian she says it’s called the discovery holiday. 

So while kids and I was having our morning workout routine we decided to walk from our apartment to the sante fe mall which is about 15min walk away. 

We got to our main street and the whole street was blocked and people are running and riding their bikes and fresh fruit stands all over the place. I was super excited. I found out that every Sunday they usually close that road for a couple hours so people can just walk around. But since today is a holiday they decided why not block the street again….

The kids loved it…freedom to run on the street…

AND since today is a holiday our new LLF decided to organise a group meet up…so that our family can meet other families living in medellin. 

So we made some sandwitches and went to spend our beautiful after at the botanical garden of medellin…it’s so beautiful to see a place like that in the middle of the city…Lots of trees and flowers. It’s started raining but there have another side of the garden that had shelter so we moved there and still enjoyed each moment. So great making and meeting new LLF’S( Life Long Friends ).

Spending our afternoon witness our new LLF’S 

That’s suppose to our beautiful funny face. …

Kids just enjoying the garden 

The mama’s enjoying a nice conversation 

Colombia and the Manns 

The 3 guys just chilling 

My girls got hold of my phone

Absolutely adorable at 15yrs 

Colombia is a beautiful country and medellin is a amazing city with beautiful people and so nice to us….
Medellin colombia Exploration Continues. …

Medellin Colombia arrival

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We arrived safely in medellin after our 8 hour journey. 

We flew copa airline which is a colombia airline. We had some issues with our luggage. BUT it was because they said each person will have to have 32 kilos and can be spread out into 2 suitcases.and we had only 7 suitcases with 25 kilos each. So we just had to move stuff around just to get 32 kilos in each suitcase. Which is just a procedure that don’t make no sense to me since all our ticket was on one family name. Anyways it all went well and we did not have to pay anything. 

We arrived in medellin at 8pm and thanks to our airbnb Host we had a driver with a van waiting on us. From the airport to our apartment was about 1hour ride. 

We arrived at our apartment and it was all set up and ready for a warm shower and a great night rest. Our host knew we love fresh juices so she had bought us some orange juices. So grateful for awesome airbnb Host we have had in all our travels.  

The next morning we had some new LLF’S come by to visit us. So great to start creating memories already. 

Colombia so far is turning our to be a fun country. 

Going through the airport with our luggage

Great feeling when you can see your luggage been loaded on your flight 

Our arrival in medellin airport 

Marcus new LLF’S gave him an about that time to cut your hair moment….

Creating fan moments with our LLF’S kidos they are so cute 

Mj making new LLF’S 

Our first day swimming at our apartment pool and enjoying our new LLF’S 

Walked to Sante fe mall….

Ok now the money is a bit confusing for me…they talking in millions….which is really worth $50 usd….money smart time..

Thank God there is a gym inside our apartment. Time for some routine…7am….kids in the fitness program too


Getting some cadio workout in the mix

I am happy when I know I have served myself first…

Colombian Exploration Begins

Colombian Exploration Continues. …

Journey to Matchu Picchu (one of the 7 wonders of the world)

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And the planning for our trip to Matchu Picchu was intense as we tried our best to make sure we stay within our budget. Thanks to our host Sue and Eddy for helping us make sure we did not pay that over priced outrageous prices for the journey up to the top..

So here is the deal. the Train ride one way from the Sacred valley to Aguas Calentes ( the town in matchu picchu) was $97 one way. the cheapest was $64 but that is around 9:30pm. and its just 1 one way price. with a large family like mine it can break a bank for sure. and then once you arrive at the small town you will then take a bus up to matchu picchu for $12 round trip for kids and $26 round trip for adults and the bus up is about 30min ride. the train ride from sacred valley to aguas calentes is about 2 hour ride. So you see our family of 6 could not possibly take the train up and back down and the bus ride…and also to pay the entrance for the main event matchu picchu…

Thanks to our host we came to the conclusion of renting a private van for 2 days and go up there but the van can only drop us off at a place call Hydroelectrica. because only the train can go to aguas calentes which is the town that you have to go to get to matchu picchu.

But there a challenge…after the van drops us off at hydroelectrica we must walk 3 hours on the train tracks all the way to aguas calentes…which is a pleasant walk but the mosquitos will eat you up….yeap they will have a field day with your body. Anyways we did it and since we had the private van we where able to stop for lunch and also stop at a town call Santa theresa and got to jump into the hotsprings there which was so lovely. and oh if you don’t have a swimsuit don’t worry they rent them there. for $1 you can rent a swimsuit and jump in the water.

so after about 2 hour stop for some hotspring time we then drove to our stop and we started our 3 hour walk.

we also found out that if you are travelling from Cusco you can get the public van from cusco to hydroelectrica for $20 round trip… so you see the train is a bank breaker for sure.

Oh and if your buy your matchu picchu entrance ticket online you will be paying a whole lot but if you go to the cusco office you will be paying way cheaper just make sure to carry along your passport. and kids 7yrs and under are free and from 7yrs up to 18yrs is half the price.

now hotels at the small town that you get to before making your way up to matchu picchu are very cheap and seem to be available even at the last minute so you can choose to wait and arrive there to decide which place you want to stay. we stayed at an ok hostel and it was clean and had wifi and cable tv.. and it was only $12 a night for two people in the room and includes breakfast. prices in the town was pretty cheap.

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while on the road

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at the top it was cloudy and rainy

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aguas calentes town

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our 3 hour hike…ended up 4 hours going but 2 hours coming back…

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Market day in Urumbamba/livestock Market Experience

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Market day is usually on Wednesdays and Fridays. So we decided to take a trip. its about 10min drive from the place we are staying.

We first visited the livestock market which is 2min walk from the regular market day.

here a few pictures of what its like to visit a livestock market… pretty amazing…

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super hot out here

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breakfast is served….

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thats their breakfast…chicken in the stock

we purchased this ones here as pets for our girls and they boxed them up for us for $4 total...and our kids named them Rain and River

we purchased this ones here as pets for our girls and they boxed them up for us for $4 total…and our kids named them Rain and River

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they are for sale…but not for pets…

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little bunny enjoying a moment with marcus

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live stock market is awesome

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fresh produce from the sellers farm

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all that onion for 50 cents….

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our lovely host

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serious fresh hot pepper

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want some chicken…freshly skinned

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one of the reasons our kids fell inlove…this cute dogs

a sad moment.. couple of days after rain and river was bought...Rain died and our kids held a burial ceremony for him...they named him Rain Manns....

a sad moment.. couple of days after rain and river was bought…Rain died and our kids held a burial ceremony for him…they named him Rain Manns….