Where's Andrew

MEDELLIN & GUATAPE, COLOMBIA - JUL 27 - 31

It takes about 45 minutes to get from the airport to Medellin by taxi. The airport is located on a plateau above the city and we have a real nice view as we come into the city. Medellin sits in a large valley about 1000m above sea level and it is much bigger than I expected. I would guess the population is around 1 million. Almost all the building are made of unpainted red brick which makes the city look a bit plain as we descend into the valley. It is much cooler than the coast with way less humidity which is a real welcome change. Medellin is infamous as the city of Pablo Escobar but since his death, it has made an amazing transformation into a vibrant and modern city. Mitch, Thierry and I find space in a hostel called Casa Blanca.The hostel is OK other than the beds; the mattresses are the worst I've slept on my trip and they feel like they have cement in them. There are some really nice hostels in the area but they are all full because there is a big festival in a few days time called Feri de las Flores. The hostel is unusual as it has more Latino guests than gringo travellers and most of the staff only speak Spanish which is a first as well.

We meet an English guy named Max. He's flying back to Europe the following evening and talks us into heading to a sports bar in the nearby entertainment district to watch the Olympic Opening Ceremonies. He is also looking for a few wing men for a big party night on his last night in South America and lucky for him, we are up for the task. The entertainment district is 3 or 4 square blocks and is full of restaurants, bars and night clubs. We watch the Opening Ceremonies, which are pretty good, and head back to the hostel to shower and to get ready to head out for some partying. We end up eating dinner at a specialty burger restaurant and then go to one of the bars for a couple of hours before hitting the clubs around midnight. The women of Medellin are unbelievably beautiful. By far, there are more attractive women here than anywhere else that I have been. It's Friday night and the streets, bars, restaurants and clubs are packed. We all have a few too many shooters and beers. By about 2:00AM, I am the last to leave except Max who is still going strong. I jump into a cab and ask him to take me to Hostel Casa Blanca but he does not know where it is but he talks to another cabbie and we are soon off. He end's up taking me to an apartment building called Casa Blanca. We then drive around for the next 1.5 hours looking for the hostel. He stops and asks every cabbie he sees and we even stop at the police station and ask them for directions. It finally becomes clear to me that the cabbie is never going to find the hostel so I get him to drop me off at a Holiday Inn. I get the desk clerk to look up the hostel street address on his computer and write it down for me. So now I am actually able to get a cab back to the hostel.

The Stairs of El Penol

The next morning when I wake up, I find out that Mitch, Max and Thierry had all been stricken with the flu. Mitch and Thierry had actually felt a bit sick much of the night and we believe they all had food poisoning but somehow I got lucky and did not get it. Mitch is feeling so bad that he moves his flight back to LA up a few days to the next morning. So, we all take it pretty easy all day on Saturday. The next day Mitch is gone, Thierry and I decide to catch a bus to see La Piedra de Penol which is a huge rock near a town called Guatape. It's about a 2 hour bus ride from Medellin to El Penol. We get there around 2:30PM and the rock is much bigger than I thought. It's at least 150m high. There is a large crack in the rock and a staircase winds its way up to the top in the crack. Thierry and I walk up the stairs. We are at about 2000m above sea level and we walk up 657 steps. If you include the building on top of the rock, there are over 725 steps to get to the top. Did I mention it is at 2000m above sea level?

Andrew & Thierry and the View From El Penol

The view from El Penol is spectacular and we can see Guatape below which is another 3 or 4km down the highway. The area around El Penol is rolling hills with a large man-made lake that winds around the hills. The lake was created about 45 years ago when a large dam was built. The dam creates over 70% of all the electricity used in Colombia. There is another nearby town also called El Penol which had to be relocated from it's original position because it was flooded by the new lake. The steeple of the main church is still visible today just above the level of the lake. The view was worth all the steps as you will be able to tell by the numerous photos in my gallery. Thierry and I then head to Guatape for dinner.

Custom Painting On House in Guatape

This town is a pleasant surprise. It is right on the lake and has narrow cobblestone streets. All the town's houses are painted bright colours and they all have customized paintings just above ground level on either side of the main door. There are planters with flowers hanging from the eaves every 10metres or so and there is a beautiful central plaza and church. It is Sunday afternoon, and the town is full of people but there seems to be very few gringos.

Thierry and I have a very nice dinner in a restaurant right on the plaza and it is one of the better meals that I've had for a while. I had been trying to arrange for Spanish lessons in Medellin. I want to take lessons over a 2 week period for 3 to 4 hours a day. But now that I've seen this beautiful town, I want to come back and stay here if I can find someone who teaches Spanish. Thierry and I spend an hour after dinner trying to find a hostel or hotel that knows anyone that teaches Spanish but without success.

Plaza Principal - Guatape

We catch the last bus back to Medellin at 7:00PM and I plan on doing some online research about Spanish lessons in Guatape when we get back to the hostel. The bus ride ends up being quite entertaining. There are 4 people who get on the bus that had obviously been partying. There is one couple sitting beside Thierry and I and a couple of women in front of us. The both have a bottle of Aguarediente which is a local liqueur kind of like Ouzo. They have some shot glasses and are drinking as we travel back to Medellin and they are passing Thierry and I shots. One of the women really takes a liking to Thierry. Thierry is 25 years old, Swiss and a good looking guy. But unfortunately for him, this woman is about 35 and well past her best before date if you know what I mean. As the Aguarediente disappears, the attention paid to Thierry increases. And soon this woman is at the fall down drunk stage. It does not seem to matter to her that Thierry cannot understand much that she says. After about 1.5 hours, a couple of guys sitting near us who speak English ask Thierry if he wants them to tell this woman to leave him alone and he gratefully accepts the offer. But now the women is pissed off and she continues talking to Thierry but the woman's tone is now a little more hostile but we have no idea what she is saying. Thierry is very relieved when these 4 people finally get off at their stop but I was pretty entertaining from my seat.

Gondola Transit in Medellin

When we get back to Casa Blanca Hostel, we book para gliding in the mountains above Medellin for the next afternoon. It is only $80,000 pasos which is about $40US and I thought it would be a fun way to close out a year because my birthday is the following day. I also spent an hour researching Spanish in Guatape and find a website for Lake View Hostel which offers private Spanish Lessons for about $10 and hour. As the name suggests, it is right on the lake just across a bridge from town and I can get a private room there for about $15US per night. So after para gliding tomorrow, I will head back to Guatape the next day for a couple of weeks.

On Monday July 30th, Thierry and I decide to spend the morning exploring Medellin. We catch the Metro downtown and get off at a station where there is a park in the hills above the city. We take a gondola up the hill that is part of the transit system and we pass 2 or 3 stations before getting off. There are a number of gondolas throughout Medellin and they seem to be a good way to get people up and down the steep hills that surround the city. The park is smaller than we expected and it surrounds a very modern building that is a library. The neighbourhood on the hill is one of the poorer sections of town and the houses are quite small and many are in poor condition.

We don't spend too much time here as these neighbourhoods are supposed to be run by gangs and most are still part of the drug cartels as Medellin is still the centre of the cocaine trade. We then go back down the gondola and head to the downtown centre for lunch. The streets are packed with shoppers going to small stores and large malls and we find a small comida tfor lunch hat specializes in roasted chicken.

Our Take-Off Above Medellin

After lunch, we head back to the hostel to meet a taxi that is taking us to the para gliding. I'm a little nervous but looking forward to it at the same time. We drive for 30 minutes to the top of one of the surrounding mountains about 1200m above the city. We then have to walk up a steep pathway to where there is a clearing where we will be taking off from. More stairs, a couple of hundred of them; just what we needed after all the stairs yesterday. By the time we get to the clearing, I'm out of breath but surprisingly calm. We wait about 30 minutes for a breeze to start blowing which will make it easier to take off. We get our harnesses and helmets on and I meet Alejendro who I will be tandem para gliding with. The breeze comes up just like we need, I'm quickly connected to my guide and the para glider.

I´m Flying!

We take a step forward and the chute lifts up above us and Alejendro yells for me to start running down the hill and after about 5 or 6 steps we are airborne. I'm surprised how calm I am and my heart rate remains slow and normal. The feeling of gliding around is awesome. For the next 20 minutes we glide around he upper part of the mountain in the updrafts and we actually gain altitude. Thierry is soon flying around beside us on his tandem para glider. We keep doing slow circles like a soaring bird and there is actually 5 or 6 vultures soaring around with us. I was trying to get a photo of one of the birds but they were always moving so fast but I did take lots of pictures of Medellin and a few of Thierry's para glider.

Thierry Above Medellin

It was fantastic gliding around and when we start down, Alejendro asks me if I want to go regular or freestyle. I say freestyle and he starts swooping to the left and then to the right. Every time we make a sharp turn, it feels like I'm leaving my stomach behind. It takes about 15 minutes to slowly drop down to the valley floor and we land in a large field not far from the Metro and Thierry lands a couple minutes after us. What an awesome experience and it was great to have one last adrenaline rush before my birthday.

Thierry & I Just Before Take-Off

Thierry and I head up to the entertainment district for dinner and end up eating at a very nice Thai restaurant. Rice, beans, a fried plantine and some small portion of meat is starting to get a bit boring. Food is often a big topic of discussion with other travellers and in particular, we tend to discuss what foods we will eat first when we return home. My list consists of a real good deli sandwich because the sandwich meats, cheeses and breads are not very good here. Sushi, Chinese food and curry are also high up on my list. Some good wine with a variety meats, cheeses and crackers is also right up there. A nice steak or prime rib would be great too but I am hoping to find some good beef in Argentina in a few months. There is also a complete lack of good spices and seasoning here. I have been very surprised that there is not more hot spices in the food. Belize and Guatemala had some spicey food but every country south of Guatemala has had very little spice. Even the hot sauce is not very hot. I always thought that the food in all of Central and South America would be hot and spicey but it turns out that most locals don't like hot spice.

Downtown in Medellin

Thierry and I leave the hostel late the next morning. Thierry is heading to the coffee region of Colombia for a few days then he's off to Bogota. I'm catching a 2 hour bus to Guatape. I get there in the mid afternoon and walk to the hostel. I meet Nick and Greg who own the hostel and there is a Spanish lesson going on when I arrive. I book a nice room and Spanish lessons starting the next day. I also need to get my sister Kelly to send me a replacement credit card as one of mine got cancelled because the credit card company thought there were some fraudulent transactions but it was only me using the card. This happened way back up in El Salvador but I did not know it was cancelled for over a month and have not been anywhere long enough for a card to be sent to me. Matercard would only send the new card to my home address so Kelly needs to courier it to me. Hopefully it will get here within 2 weeks, but down here you never know.

Hasta Luego.