A very special trip to Sonsón. Every year Silvia's family make collections, raffles etc in order to buy Christmas gifts for the poor children. This year we went with the family to Sonsón to help prepare and distribute the gifts.
Sonsón is a major agricultural zone in Colombia, with an altitude of 2,475 m (8,120 ft). Due to the altitude the climate is normally cold with an average day time temperature of 14 C and at night 11C. We were very fortunate as it was 23 C in the day and 19 C at night.
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| Our first hotel. |
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| Rio Ariba - Stopped here for Chorizo and Arepas. |
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| Sweet Corn |
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| Silvia and her aunties, Beatriz and Luz enjoying Rio Ariba |
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| El Paramo |
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| Inside our second hotel. It is like staying in a museum |
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| Some of the Christmas Gifts for the poor children |
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| We had over 2,000 gifts to distribute at 6 different locations |
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| One of only 2 giant sequoia trees in Colombia |
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| Sonsón still uses alternative forms of transport |
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| Wall designed by the famous Colombian Artist - Pablo Jaramillo |
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| A horse used to collect milk from the small farms in the area. |
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| Cultivation |
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| Field full of onions |
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| Entrance to the Cemetary |
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| The Cathedral |
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| Sonsón is a major corn grower, and displays can be seen all over the town |
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| This home is now a museum dedicated to past citizens of Sonsón |
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| In the museum you can see the doctors bag that belonged to Silvia's Grandfather who lived in Sonsón |
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| Corn hung to dry to make flour. |
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| Orchid |
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| Preparing to load the gifts for distribution |
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| We used a 'Chiva' to transport the gifts to the remote mountains |
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| Silvia on the Chiva |
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| Coffee growers farm house |
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| Three waterfalls visible on the journey to the mountains |
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| We arrived at our first destination, and already people were starting to gather. |
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| Later many more people arrived. For many of the children, the gifts will be the only ones they receive for Christmas |
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| We spent many hours the night before preparing sandwiches, biscuits and drinks for everyone |
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| New shoes donated by Silvia's Auntie as gifts for the mothers |
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| As you can see this area is very remote |
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| One of the children receiving her gifts |
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| This boy was extremely happy with his gifts. |
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| A group of girls admiring their gifts |
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| A you can see, this event was very emotional, not only for the families but for ourselves as well |
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| Silvia giving a gift to a very happy little boy |
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| His happiness with his gift was there for all to see. He played with this horse for hours |
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| In the evening we went to a bar called 'La Jonda'. The following pictures are from the bar. |
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| Perparing the gifts for another event. |
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| Children waiting for the distribution of the gifts |
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| A family receiving their gifts |
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| A boy receives his hobby horse |
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| A group of happy children |
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| We also distributed gifts to older people who were identified as poorer members of the community |
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| The gifts included a food box, blanket, slippers and other small items |
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| Another very emotional time for everyone |
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| The joy on the face of this lady is evident. She recently achieved her 91st birthday. |
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| Gifts for another event |
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| More shoes for the mothers |
