Medellin is a HUGE city. Thus, you get all the sights, sounds and smells that you'd expect; garbage, exhaust, grafitti, traffic but as I discovered yesterday, it's also very beautiful. For one, this city is known as the city of eternal springtime. It's true. The weather is - on average - between 60-80 degrees fahrenheit all year round. Sometimes it rains, but not for long. The trees and plants are always green.
Yesterday, Jesko and I spent the whole day walking around the city. First we had arepas con queso and coffee at a nearby cafe. Now, I'm used to taking my coffee black; no sugar, nor milk, nothing. I learned when you order coffee here, it comes with LOTS of milk and sugar - to the point where it doesn't taste like coffee anymore. Not exactly what I expected from Colombia - don't they have amazing coffee here? Well, yes and no. I don't think you can find it in the big cities and most of it gets exported to Europe and North America.
We also walked through the Jardin Botanico de Medellin, saw lots of butterflies, even an iguana - but it was too quick for me to take a picture.
That's another thing, I haven't been taking too many pictures because I already stand out enough as it is and it really isn't smart to draw attention to yourself as a tourist - only because people think you have money to share. Other than that, the people are very friendly here - maybe its the 360 days of sunshine. :)
We also climbed up to Cerra Nutibara - a replica of a typical Colombian town for nostalgic city folk - and walked through Plaza Botero - Botero was born in Medellin. But my favorite part of our walking tour was discovering the music school.
The school for music is near the university. Jesko and I took a free walking tour. The building was converted from an abandoned parking garage, now its a place for students to continue their music lessons, rent instruments, play in orchestras, and practice. We got to take a peek in some of the practice rooms and heard a youth symphony orchestra rehersal - I recognized a piece from Shostakovich. There isn't a performance hall in this building, but sometimes they make performances on the roof or in the park just outside! And today, as Jesko and I were walking home, they were playing outside. They had set up chairs for a free, public concert. It was certainly and unexpected and magical experience to have here in Medellin.
After being on our feet the whole day, we were pretty tired - well, I was. I took a long nap until Jesko woke me up around 22h to tell me it was time to go dancing! The salsa place that we had planned on going to was pretty dead - it being Wednesday night - but we found a nice place to have a drink and sooner or later people started dancing and so we joined it. Again, the people here are so friendly, great dancers and know how to have a good time! The music is contagious and I don't know how anyone could hear it and stand still! One man had this hug jug of Aguardiente and was giving everyone shots on the dance floor! Luckily, cabs are everywhere and a very cheap and quick way to get home. It only cost $3 to get from the bar to Jesko's apartment!
I slept like a rock, but this morning was a little difficult. So, what did we do? Hiking, of course! There is a large nature park about an hour away and up in the mountains. The metro cannot go up so far, so the only way up is by cablecar! Each cable car seats six comfortably. It's a nice opportunity to meet locals and talk to them. They are always open to have a conversation. Luckily, Jesko is fluent and everybody has been saying how perfect his Spanish is. I'm jealous. I can understand some, but I can't speak worth beans. And yet, I feel included in the conversation. Usually, the first thing they want to know is where we are from, then it's, "are you a couple?" and then they are confused that we say we are just friends. Then they usually say that Jesko's Spanish is very good and that I am linda. One man even asked to take a picture of me, I guess because I look exotic to them. Sometimes, I do feel like I'm being stared at, not in a leering way, more out of curiosity. I guess it's good practice for the Peace Corps, where I'll stand out even more.
The narture park was great! First of all, the air is so fresh! Second, there are so many butterflies! Honestly, I've never seen so many butterflies - all different sizes and colors! And last but not least, I got to check something off my bucketlist; ziplining! I know, I know, pictures or it didn't happen. Well, I do have pictures, I'll post them when I get a change to sort through them, promise.
Some of you might be wondering what the heck I'm eating. Let's be honest, this is not a country for vegetarians. So, I've had to suck it up and try new things. Today, for lunch I had bandeja paisa this is the traditional dish in Colombia. It includes bean soup - with mystery meat, arepas, rice, plantains, sausage, etc. One thing I've learned quickly here, is that Colombians love to eat - very large portions. I ate until I couldn't eat anymore but I still couldn't finish. Not only is it a lot of food, but it's also quite heavy food. So, I think I'm doing pretty well for a gringa like me.
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