Valley Lodge

Today we moved from the orphanage to Valley Lodge (about 40 minutes away).  We will stay here for the next 2-3 weeks as we continue to complete paperwork.  We are unable to connect to the internet from our room so I am sitting outside (in the dark) as close to the reception area as I can.

Valley Lodge is a small establishment catering to Western tourists.  Each of the 10 rooms is a suite with a living area and kitchen downstairs and a loft bedroom upstairs.   When we arrived the "fully equipped" kitchen consisted of a microwave and a small refrigerator.  On request they were able to supply us with a 2 burner stove with a mini oven (and a power strip so the refrigerator, stove, and microwave could be plugged in at the same time).  Then I had to request dishes, silverware, and glasses.  Clearly, they were not expecting guests to actually use the "fully equipped" kitchen.  We converted the desk to a table and asked for a third chair so we could all sit down to eat.

The facilities themselves are nice but are clearly not set up for 2 year old guests.  The stairs to the loft are very steep and outside is a beautiful inground swimming pool with no fence or barrier of any kind around it. 

It was a somewhat frustrating move but I think we are now supplied and will get settled in here.   Miranda was fussy all day and cried easily.  I think she was confused by the change in surroundings.  She would be playing then look around the room and see that it was different and start to cry.  I'm sure this must be very scary from her perspective.  She enjoyed being outside and we did take her for a quick splash in the pool.  Hopefully, she'll adjust to this new place quickly.

Here's a picture of Miranda waving for the camera when she was playing outside at the orphanage a few days ago.