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 Bogota, 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...

Ava is seven years old when her grandmother offers her a very special trip for her birthday. She lives in New Bern, North Carolina, but her grandmother's gift gives her the chance to visit Cali, Colombia. Ava is thrilled but also a little hesitant. She doesn't speak much Spanish, and she's never been on a long flight across the ocean before.

But her grandmother used to live in Cali, and Ava has heard all her amazing stories and becomes curious about the country of Colombia and its people. Will they be very different from Ava? Will she fit in? When she meets SalomE--also seven years...

Ava is seven years old when her grandmother offers her a very special trip for her birthday. She lives in New Bern, North Carolina, but her grandmother's gift gives her the chance to visit Cali, Colombia. Ava is thrilled but also a little hesitant. She doesn't speak much Spanish, and she's never been on a long flight across the ocean before.

But her grandmother used to live in Cali, and Ava has heard all her amazing stories and becomes curious about the country of Colombia and its people. Will they be very different from Ava? Will she fit in? When she meets SalomE--also seven years...