It is called "The Water of the Virgin" or "Virgin of Torcoroma." There, it is said that Mary blessed a family of lumberjacks who was looking for a prosperous tree. When we hiked up, there was mass happening, and many people were sitting around the sanctuary. We got to be blessed by the running holy water that flows out of a faucet and we got to touch the holy case that holds a piece of the wood from the tree that Mary gifted to the family. Although I am not religious, it felt very special to experience the holy water and approach the memorial of the story of the sanctuary.
This week during museum visits, I read a lot about the history of Ocaña. Before the early 1800s, Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela were all one state called "Gran Colombia," which was led by a man named Simon Bolivar. Simon Bolivar had a famous meeting to discuss various constitutions of the state.
We played some Uno! at Anita's house! I have never played Uno! this way, but her whole family used a rule called "copy" where if someone plays a card, and you have that exact card, you can throw it down and yell "copy!"
This week, I booked a trip with a group of hikers to go to a national park called "Tayrona." It is 10 hours north of Bucaramanga on the coast of the country!
