Twice Colombia

Adventure, Friendship, and Adoption in the Andes Mountains

Patricia Woodard had always wanted to live and work in a foreign country, but the dream seemed to be elusive. Then in the summer of 1975 while she was teaching summer school in her hometown of Whiteville, North Carolina, she received a telegram offering her a teaching position in Bogot, Colombia. Excited and stunned to finally be realizing her dream, she accepted the offer and set off for a year high on a plateau in the Andes Mountains. Several years later, she returned to Colombia, this time to teach in sunny Cali, and along the way realized she had fallen in love with the country and its people. Twice Colombia shares the realities of being an expatriate in a developing country during turbulent political times, and the pleasures of discovering a foreign culture. From the capital city of Bogot to the lively city of Cali, she not only embraced the country but eventually adopted a child there. Her excursions included a trip down the Amazon River, where she learned a novel way to open a bottle of wine, an Andean music festival featuring traditional music played on traditional instruments, indulgence in the succulent Colombian cuisine and weekends with Colombian friends who welcomed her unconditionally to their country. Throughout, she gives the reader a view of a country that few Americans have experienced firsthand.