Colombia

On the plane out of Taipei, the airhostess handed me a meal early on into the flight and mentioned it was a “Hindu” meal. I then realized I had hit the Hindu meal option as a request when completing my booking. My logic was the no beef meal, not thinking a special meal would be prepared for me. To my surprise, it was the best meal I’ve ever had on an airplane. A lamb curry!! Amazing! Eva Air is a great airline, probably the nicest plane I was in, super comfortable seats, gave us blankets, nice beverages, and a great selection of movies. I watched a few movies, one that

I absolutely loved was “Me Before You.” I balled my eyes out. Just cried, I haven’t done that watching a movie in years. It was so good. I got in LAX airport and went through immigration. I got grilled on why I was going to Colombia and when I answered Spanish school the officer looked surprised (probably thinking I was Latina already or something) and let me pass. I grabbed my bags, had to find where the next terminal was to walk to. I finally found it, checked my bags in again. I got to my gate and realized this was a similar situation like when I went to Venezuela. Everyone on the plane was Colombian. The gate called my name and I went up to see what they wanted. They wanted to see my return flight out of Colombia. Are you serious I thought. They said that regardless of not needing a visa they still required a return flight. I went onto the website www.flyonwards.com that I found out about and proceeded to “rent” a ticket. Well, that ticket didn’t come in 30 minutes, so I realized I could book a flight on Air Canada and cancel it. I booked the flight, but it took me 20 minutes on hold with Air Canada to cancel it with an agent. I was getting a bit nervous since they were almost finished booking but I got in on time.

During the flight, I was getting super nervous. Same feeling I had when I went to India. I almost feel because I know some of the languages and look Latina; I should be fluent in it. I asked the guy next to me to help fill out the customs forms but I could hear his accent that he was from Mexico and told me he didn’t know some of the words either. The air hostesses all spoke to me in Spanish but at least the basics of ordering I had down. She also handed me a “Hindu” meal and then towards the end of the flight forgot my Hindu meal and I ate the chicken pasta instead. After she had come with the Hindu meal, a nice channa curry, but by that time I was stuffed. We landed in Bogota and I had to transfer planes to Medellin. I was the only Canadian who got off any of the flights. How did I know that? Well, Bogota has a “special” line for Canadians with our maple leaf sign with “Canadians, please come this way.” I wasn’t sure why, and the police officer also didn’t understand what line I should be in. There were hundreds of people in the other line, so I decided to go to the Canada line. I went straight to the front of the line-up and the immigration guards screamed, “Canadiense?” I said, “Si, mi pasaporte” and showed them my passport. I guess people jump into that line thinking it’s clear. I realized why we get our VIP line. Canadians are the only country who has to pay to get into Colombia. I think it was $80 or something. The immigration officer spoke to English, so I responded to her questions in Spanish. After I went and exchanged some money and Santiago had arranged me to have a ride from the airport to the hostel. The driver Carlos was so nice and spoke a little English while I spoke a little Spanish. He made me feel a lot more comfortable being there. I checked into the hostel pretty late, around 11 pm and went straight to bed.

I woke up the next day and met up with my friend Pablo and his co-worker Yvonne. It was so nice to see Pablo after one year and catch up with him. After I said goodbye to him, I tried to get a SIM card, checked out the grocery story, and then took a long nap back at the hostel. I woke up 4 hours later realizing I was suppose to go to check out the Spanish school. I messaged the owner Lucas and told him I’d go the next day. I headed upstairs to the bar and made friends with a few people at the hostel. We headed out for dinner at a vegetarian restaurant when I realized Medellin is going to be an expensive city. The next day I booked a free walking tour, which started in the morning. It was pouring rain but thank god I kept my waterproof pants, jacket, and umbrella ha ha. I was the most prepared person on tour. The tour was amazing and our tour guide Hernan was awesome.
He was educated in New York and speaks fluent English. He took us around downtown Medellin and told us about Medellin’s history and how things have developed since Pablo Escobar died and the gangs were dismembered.After the tour, I went back the hostel to get ready to go to the Spanish school. I took an Uber since they are much cheaper then taxi’s to the school. I spoke to Lucas, the owner and decided to sign up for a week. He invited me to a free class which I attended the next day. I switched hostels to be 1 block away from the Spanish school. The hostel has been ok so far but I had to tell the owner that he needs a sign, and his Google map location is wrong. I was irritated when I got there because the hostel is in the penthouse of an apartment building so the workers are shouting at you from the balcony to confirm you have a reservation and no one speaks English except Michael. Once everything got sorted, the hostel is pretty decent and has a kitchen I can cook in. I’ve gone grocery shopping to make sure I don’t have to spend so much money eating out. My first day of Spanish class with my professora Yadira was ok but my brain felt overloaded with so much information. This weekend I’m going to relax and maybe watch season 2 of “Narcos.” Ha ha. The girls in my room invited me to do a tour with them of some rock and one of Pablo Escobar’s mansions but I woke up at 5-6am again and left the hostel by 7:30 to walk around. By the time I got back, everyone was gone, but I have lots of Spanish to catch up on so I’ll get on it!

This morning I woke up at 6 am, still on Taiwan time I guess. I decided to make the best of the morning by going for a run. Wow, the mountains in Medellin are no joke ha ha. I was exhausted but felt wonderful getting back into some physical exercise. At one point up a huge hill, I stopped in front of a house to take a much-needed breather. After a minute of standing there, I heard a knock on a window. I looked up a man was so nice, he was offering me a bottle of water. I couldn’t believe how friendly he was and how friendly the people of Colombia are. I said no, gracias and continued my run and came back to the hostel to shower and cook some breakfast. I met a super nice young guy named at Victor who also works at the hostel, a local guy from here and we’re working on improving his English daily.

It was nice catching up with old friends as well. I met up with Iriana who I had previously met years ago in Vancouver with my other friends German and Stefi. It was nice to catch up with her and see what she’s been up to. She’s also Venezuelan and when her company gave her the opportunity to work in Colombia and leave Venezuela she jumped on that opportunity. She now works as a lawyer in their offices here in Medellin. I also had the opportunity to celebrate her birthday a few weeks later with a group of her Venezuelan friends at a lovely Italian restaurant.

I ended up staying at that hostel for two months, meeting amazing and wonderful people who stayed there as well. We celebrated Patricia the maids birthday there which was a blast. While staying at that hostel, I did the Medellin Free City Walking Tours. It was probably the most informative and fun tour I’ve done around the world and the best part about it was; it was free! I mean you could pay a tip at the end if you wanted to which most of did because our tour guide Hernan was amazing. He educated us about Medellin and the Pablo Escobar days and also told us what areas of the city to be careful around since there can be pickpockets.

A few days later after the tour, I went with Lotte to see the famous cable cars of Medellin. A cornerstone to the city’sdevelopment with would enable thousands of people who lived up in the mountains to access jobs in the city quickly and safely. We took the cable cars to Santo Domingo and then transferred to the tourist cable cars up to Parque R.V. We weren’t too impressed with the second cable car as the views were mainly of trees and the surrounding forest. We hung over for a little bit in the hammocks at the top and then decided to head down. While we were transferring cable cars to take the Santo Domingo line we were stopped by a group of people asking if we wanted to take a tour of Santo Domingo. I was sceptical at first knowing this was one of the most dangerous neighbourhoods in the city and why put us at risk? We ended up cautiously saying yes to the group whose leader was Casey an English teacher from England. It was a group of teenagers and adults who were learning and practicing their English, giving small tours of the neighbourhood. At the end of the tour, they took us to a lovely empanada shop where we got to try some local delights. After the tour, Casey approached me and asked if I’d like to help volunteer and teach English to the kids in the area. I was so impressed with the effort this organization and these kids were making that I said yes. I volunteered a couple of times a week teaching these young adults for about two months. I really loved helping out but after I started making friends and having different commitments than 1.5 hour travel time there and an additional 1.5 hour travel time back was getting to be too much for me. Casey and other teachers including Andy and Ed were doing a great job keeping the volunteer work running. They had also been volunteering out of a second location in “Comuna 13″ the neighbourhood with escalators. I had never seen outdoor escalators on such a grand scale before. I had heard that as soon as the escalators were up and running, the violence in the neighbourhood decreased significantly. These electronic escalators run night and day and help people so they don’t have to walk up and down the mountainsides.

I continued with Spanish classes and my professora Yadira and I became really good friends. Another student named Joe and I also became good friends too. One day Yadira messaged me telling me she was not continuing with classes and that a new professor would take over the next day. I was shocked and saddened and tried to embrace the new change but it was difficult for me at first. I met my new professor Edwn and slowly I was able to become friend with him as well. He taught Kim from Germany, Johnny (who I became great friends with), and myself. I was in classesfor about two months and then I decided it was time for a change and hired both my professors privately. Yadira would teach me 5 times a week for two hours each day and I felt like I was learning loads more with her. Edwin would sporadically come and we would practice speaking. Yadira would be so kind to take out time from her personal schedule to show me around different neighbours in the area and help me buy products when I had no idea to find them. She has been an amazing friend showing up to any of my parties and always on time ha ha. I have even had the opportunity to meet her friend Santiago who might start doing some language classes with me.

I met the lovely and beautiful Sarah from Australia at the hostel as well. She became a great friend quickly. We went out to watch our first football together and tried to get hammered but the beers didn’t seem to have an influence on us that day. She came with me to one of my Spanish class parties and we also went to Guatape together. What a memorable trip! I loved Guatape, a small town preserved in old traditional Colombian ways. She was great in telling me how to pose in ridiculous ways for the photos, ha ha. I was sad to see her move on but she left me with great advice on diets, fruits, and vegetables. Smart girl!

Off to Bogota! I went to Bogota to meet Adriana and Santiago. Adriana was a good friend from Vancouver and Santiago, my ex from Vancouver as well my but we still remain good friends. I took VivaColombia airlines to Bogota, was a mess of a company. I got Victor from the hostel to print out my boarding pass because I was aware that they charge 25,000 ($11) pesos to print it at the ticketing desk. I got to the ticketing desk and they said I had printed out the wrong thing, my itinerary instead of the boarding pass and I became enraged. They could have been more understanding but nope, they didn’t care. When I arrived Bogota, I took an Uber straight to Adriana and her boyfriend Ben’s apartment. What a lovely space they live in. Since I was only there for the weekend, we spent time having a couple of dinners, lunches, and breakfasts together. There are somereally great restaurants in Bogota. We went downtown to check out the famous Botero Museum, the square, and the
president’s palace. I met with Marcela one evening who is Adriana’s sister. It was good to see her and catch up as well. On the Sunday, Santiago took us to the countryside to have a traditional Colombian meal.. I got to try some Sancocho a hen soup and some tasty traditional bbq. In my mind, I was leaving Sunday in the evening to go to back to Medellin. Santiago dropped me off at the airport and when I got the gate the security guard told me my fight was not today, it was tomorrow. I immediately called Santiago back and asked him to come and pick me up. I swung by the Viva Colombia booth thinking I would check to see how much it would cost to change my plane ticket. No one spoke English but I managed to get the cost and it was around $50, too much for me. I told the agent I’ll be flying tomorrow. She said I would have to print out my boarding pass again because she had changed the ticket in the system and that’s when I turned into a dragon. I couldn’t find another printer in Bogota and just because she was searching for a new ticket price she checked me out of my flight? I was furious and when I got her to try to speak to Santiago on the phone to explain exactly what was going on, she refused to speak to him. Finally, a manager who had been standing there spoke to me in English and explained the situation. I told him I was not going to print out another boarding pass and finally he said he would make the note in the system. Santi dropped me back off at Adriana’s house and we all laughed at my error. The next day I went back to the airport and as I walked through the gate my boarding pass did not work and they had double booked my seat. The manager, of course, had never entered a note in the system, but thankfully we took off with no problems.

At the hostel, I had met with Victoria from Brasil. She was just the kindest of girls and we would spend a couple of weeks together chatting and having great times. I had also met Kim from Sweden who was living with his Mexican girlfriend in Mexico at the time. He had introduced me to Memphis, the iconic Menu del Dia place. One night Victoria had to meet a friend of hers named Johnny. She asked if we would like to come along as well and we agreed. This night would be a game changer for the time I’ve spent in Medellin. Johnny wanted to learn English and I wanted to learn Spanish so from that day forward we would meet up with each other every few weeks. He would meet me in different areas of Medellin to see the sights and we would share beers and laughs. I have no idea how he understands my Spanish; my tenses are all incorrect but he gets it all. I feel bad because we speak 100% in Spanish and no English. It’s just easier for me to speak to him then teach him the basics onwards. Johnny has become an important part of my friend’s circle here in Medellin.

I met another lovely Brasilian girl name Jainara at the hostel for the night. She was going to start attending classes the next day at EAFIT University. I quickly took her contact information down and would occasionally message her. Jai introduced me to the Women’s Expat group and we would meet up every couple of months for brunch to meet other gals in Medellin which was a great motivation. Jai would also quickly become one of my closest friends attending my birthday, Christmas, and other fun events.

Now on to the subject of cooking in Medellin. I met Phil and Anniekwho had been travelling for a couple of weeks together at the hostel. Anniek and Phil would do a lot of sites seeing together and we had all become friends. Phil had brought some spices with him from India. I was a bit shocked that he loved Indian food so much. He had ignited a fire in me that had laid dormant for over a year now from my go-go-go travel lifestyle. I really hadn’t realized that now would be a greatopportunity to cook again, one of my favourite subjects in life. Anniek from the Netherlands was just the sweetest of girls, but she had left for a bit to travel around Colombia. She mentioned she would return again. Phil from England and I became the best of friends, spending each daydreaming about new things to cook, watching cookie videos, searching for spices around the town, what a great adventure. Anniek returned after a few weeks and was able to enjoy the lovely surprises we had created altogether. Phil became one of my closest and endeared friends and I can’t wait to see him again in the future, perhaps in Spain 😉

Johnny from the class was from England as well. He also would turn out to be a grand and dear friend. He endedupstaying a few nights at my hostel as well and met Phil and a bunch of other people. Joe from class would come around from time to time as well. We all would spend evenings leisurely drinking or eating together, what good fun. Our regular meet-up spot was Memphis hostel where we would all enjoy Menu Del Dias on the patio. On occasion, maybe a couple of times a week we’d all head out to Parque Lleras to do some partying. When in Medellin, right? One of the nights we went out bar/club hopping, we were in a club/bar that was more accommodating towards Gringos. We were dancing when all of a sudden I bumped into Casey and Andy from the volunteer group we had a pleasant exchange and then we headed outside on the balcony. I took a seat next to someone who would change my outlook on things in the future. Sanjay was a friend of Casey and Andy’s. Actually, they all taught English together. He was British as well. We struck up a conversation and talked for a while about different subjects. As I got up to leave, he had asked me for my number so I programmed it into his cell phone with a quick Whatsapp msg. A few weeks later we became extremely good friends learning from each other on various subjects like cooking and Internet businesses. He started buying some online courses and getting me to take them with him for potential business opportunities. We celebrated Christmas and New Years together with friends and roommates, which was super memorable for me since I haven’t spent those occasions with anyone special for years. I’ve been super lucky to have met him and other incredibly special people during my time in Medellin so far. Individuals who have helped me grow, succeed, and just put a smile on my face.

I met Tatum and her friend Hannah who are both from Vancouver. Tatum was filled with energy and I loved it. Such a smart young girl with a bright future ahead of her. We went drinking one night and Tatum unfortunately; the poor girl had a seizure at the liquor store. I felt terrible for her, but she eventually went back to Vancouver to get medical help. Tatum went on to other South American countries and had a love for street dogs and salsa, but she definitely made a memorable impression on me.

I had a very special visit from Clair and her boyfriend Kik from Winnipeg, Canada. They have been travelling the world for a few months now and came to Medellin to visit and take in the sights. I was happy to see them and get the chance to show them around Medellin. It’s not very often I get visitors..ha ha. I took them on a volunteer tour in both Santo Domingo and Comuna 13 where they loved learning about the students and the culture of the neighbourhoods. Thanks for visiting guys, lots of love xo

Then there were the separate nights that I met Ingrith from Colombiaand Carolina from Argentina. Both of these women managed to get incoherently smashed and become great pains to deal with ha ha. Getting them both back to the hostel on both occasions proved to be quite the mission. The one night Joe came with us and decided to get some whiskey called “Wild Turkey.” Him and Ingrith turned into wild turkeys for sure both needed help to get back home. We won’t mention Joe’s gardening story, ha ha.

Speaking of Joe, what a sweetheart to bring back a bag for of stuff I ordered from Amazon back from the States.Stuff I desperately needed and couldn’t find in Colombia. Things here are expensive, wow. Joe attended a ton of activities with me, including my thanksgiving party, bday party, Santa Marta (future story), and the David Guetta concert, which was amazing. Joe worked a lot with his online businesses but was usually available for a great drinking session with Johnny, Phil, and I.

During this period my friend J.R. from Toronto came to visit with his friend Amit. We had a blast together that weekend. The one night at the restaurant I saw J.R. turn into a lion at the waiter, it was awesome. The waiter had spilled wine all over J.R., the floor, and chair and didn’t apologize. Had some great times partying and went to Envy Lounge, a fancy rooftop restaurant/bar to have some wicked sushi. Both Johnny’s came out to play and so did Joe. J.R.’s always been an inspiration in my life, thanks for visiting buddy!

The day after Joe’s birthday, him, Johnny and I head to Santa Marta for a final weekend of Hurrah! Santa Marta was super hot but we all enjoyed each other’s company. The hostel was great and had a nice “crisp” swimming pool as Johnny would refer to it, ha ha. We met lovely Scarlette there from Australia who was going to a yoga/eco retreat. We toured the city and the beaches. The one night we went out dancing when Joe’s wild turkey side appeared again. The song at the dance club stopped and we all watched in great amusement while Joe poured a full bottle of beer over his head in the middle of the dance floor. We knew it was time to go home after that spectacle, LOL! He was suffering the next day a bit, but we still managed to go to Minca the next day. We went up to the town Minca and checked out their not so impressive iconic waterfall. We went to Parque Tayrona one day and wow, what an awfully dangerous boat ride. We were heading to Crystal beach for some snorkelling and relaxation. I sat between Joe and Johnny and held onto for dear life. I have never seen waves that large before and we were bouncing outta our seats. Then Joe and Johnny tell me to hold on cause this next wave is a huge one. Jesus, I saw this sheet of white coming over the boat and the next thing I remember, I had flown out of my seat and thankfully not into the treacherous ocean. I stayed down on the floor next to some other tourists. The guy behind me also went flying. I had some muscle ligament damage from the boat ride for a few weeks to follow. Snorkelling was ok but the water was a bit rough but having drinks with the guys was worth it. That was our last night there and we went out for a great meal at Trip Advisor’s number one recommended restaurant in Santa Marta. A meal -that Johnny and I would pay so dearly for. Ceviche food poisoning was not fun for 5 days after that trip. Johnny headed off to Bogota and Joe and I back to Medellin. The next Joe headed back to the U.S. to spend the holidays with his family and Johnny back to England. The thee of us had a blast together, great memories.

It was time to move from the hostel; I needed a closet desperately. Yadira helped me search for a room and I found a place near Estadio metro station. A large shared one bedroom apartment. I had roommates for the first time in a
while. I met Racu from Canada and Fran from Cartagena. Cecilia and her brother Ricardo from Venezuela. I also met their lovely friends Sabrina and Emma who lived upstairs. Sabrina’s from Miami and Emma from England. The one day, all of us played an Escape room game together, which was so much fun. Racu and I became good friends quickly, always a great girl to get advice from or just hang out with. I’m looking forward to seeing her when she returns to Colombia. She teaches English here in the same organization Sanjay does. Fran was a sweet young boy who was taking acting classes at the local school. The two of them pretended like they were a couple to share a room and save money, lol. Ricardo and his sister shared a room because of Venezuela’s current economic crises. Ricardo works for a few
restaurants working his butt off. For a brief time, Matteo from Italy lived with us as well. Racu and Fran went back home for the holidays and since our landlord wouldn’t give them a discount for the month of December, they moved out. Matteo left as it was too loud in our apartment from the street noise. Then another brother-sister duo came in. Bill and Joyce from the U.S. They are such nice and lovely people. They always have great advice and lend their ears to my problems, ha ha. They bought a toaster oven, which I’m making great use out of right now. I’m looking forward to seeing what other adventures will come my way as I continue living here and enjoying what the city has to offer.

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