Medellin - Chapter 3

I'm aware I have been MIA for a few weeks but I've barely had any moments to myself. Lots to catch up on so let's begin.

One of my best friends Jack that I met in Europe a bit over a year ago and lived with him in Argentina earlier this year, came to visit at the end of November (Friday the 25th). He stayed here for a week. The first thing to know about Jack is that whatever people skills I picked up after almost two years of working remotely in foreign countries, Jack has them x10 times. He had just gotten off a plane from New York and he already made more new friends than I had made after 3 weeks of being here. He'll meet people in planes, cafes, gyms, washrooms and just about any place where there are other people around. The caveat is that by the end of the week, instead of finding love, Jack had a phone full of dudes.

Being a Friday and his first night in town, I rallied the troops to show him a good night out on the town. After we had a few drinks with Dan and Daraab, we headed out to one of the most famous clubs in Medellin - Perro Negro. When approached the bouncer, he told us we need girls with us to get in, even though we were buying bottles. We found some and headed in. For such a popular club, this place is really small which I actually like because it's really easy to get to know people around your table as opposed to a giant club where everything is spread out and everyone keeps to their groups. Also, the music was heavy reggaton which is everyone's (including mine's) go to party music here. We had such a good time, we came back the next night too.

Sunday came around and I had saved going to Comuna 13 for when he got here so we can check it out together. This is a neighborhood or "barrio" (as said in Spanish) that used to be the most dangerous city in the world at the height of the Medellin cartel's operations. Today, it's a center for "art and culture", but really, it's just a really long street with graffiti, rooftop bars, and street performers in the heart of a neighborhood that is poverty stricken. As you walk higher and higher up into the mountainous terrain, you can see all the brick, wood and metal-plated makeshift houses that people live in all around this street, which remind you of the reality of most people's lives here. The verdict - skip Comuna 13. It's just an overhyped tourist trap in the middle of a poor neighborhood that probably didn't ask for it to be turned into such and look with enmity upon the rows of tourists mindlessly walking around with selfie sticks and swirly straw drinks.

Monday was here and by this point I had been here over two weeks so my "I'm firing on all cylinders" energy had died down. Unfortunately, Jack, having just arrived, came in with that energy, so the whole week he was here were pretty much dinner dates that I had previously organized followed by nights out with Jack.

Among the highlights was a 20 year old girl that was really sweet but it turned out she had a kid. Can a flag get any redder? The kicker though was that the kid was 5.

Another one was waking up to a phone call from Dan telling me that Daraab was scopolamined the night before. Scopolamine is a drug made from a native plant of Colombia whose name I forgot. It's a powder that when inhaled or ingested, gives you a massive headrush and pretty much turns you into an obedient vegetable for someone to rob or kidnap you. Daraab realized he was feeling off and told Dan who jumped into action to help him out. After we all went over the whole story the next day, it's most likely that it was not scope, but just his body giving up from the lifestyle. But his reaction was exactly how someone should react if they thought they were feeling off. And Dan reacted exactly how a friend should if they're told that. Kudos to them.

Jack left Friday December the 2nd. At the end I asked him how he felt after a week here. He said a week was plenty time in Medellin as this place has too much nightlife temptation and not much else to do, so you can just get caught in an endless loop of partying and chasing tail. Having been here more than a month, I have to echo those sentiments. I've had an absolute ball here with the nightlife. I've improved my Spanish here more than anywhere else I've been. And the best part is that I got to share the experience with some of my closest friends. However, it's also the first place I've been where I feel like I NEED to leave because it is just too much of the same thing over and over again.

The week after Jack left I took it easy meaning no drinking, also because Dan was visiting another city that week, so the squad was fractured. I found myself back in a solid routine of eating healthy, going to the gym and keeping a clear head all week. By the time Saturday rolled around, I was ready to hit the town again, and for the first time on this trip - alone. Even though I've done it before a thousand times in a bunch of other countries, I was kind of nervous because the nightlife here isn't bar-style where you can go and approach whoever and have a coherent conversation. It's more a group setting with tables and deafening music that doesn't make approaching easy. Even more so, I hadn't had a single conversation in English with anyone besides my immediate friends since I got here, so it has been a long time since I tried making English speaking friends from scratch.

I ended up meeting some American guys on the street and we randomly ran into some girls I had known from before and we all hit up a club until like 5am. The next morning I wake up to another frantic phone call from the Daraab & Dan household that Daraab had gotten into some trouble the night before and that they might get kicked out of their Airbnb two weeks early. This came to fruition the coming Tuesday when Daraab called me that he needed a place to crash because his Airbnb host kicked him out. For context, at the time that mistakes were made, Dan was still in another city so he had to find out that he no longer had a home to come back to in Medellin. So now I am with Daraab who is homeless, sick and coughing up a storm in my house and we are trying to plan the week out. Him and Dan are planning to meeting in Cartagena the next day (Wednesday) and I have no plans but I know I want to get the **** out of Medellin. I end up booking a 6am flight for the next morning and my own place the following day for Cartagena. We plan on staying there through Sunday.

Cartagena is a coastal city on the Atlantic ocean and is the second most touristic city behind Medellin. Even though it was 730am, I had gotten no sleep, and I had a 9am work meeting, I couldn't have been happier to be in a city that was not Medellin, especially one with a beach. I go to the hotel to check in at 8am and they tell me they won't have a room ready until 3pm. Okay well at least I can keep myself busy with work. I had a 9am where I had to turn on my video so I went to the hotel restaurant but quickly realized that there we're no angles where there wouldn't be people walking behind me and it was noisy from the TV's. I asked the manager if I can use an office. Nope. I tried the lobby washroom. Still too noisy. I go to the rooftop pool but then I realize that they would be able to hear the wind in my headset. With Olympic seconds left to find a spot, I end up settling for the 3 x 2 foot bathroom on the rooftop that was at least 40 degrees. So sitting on the floor of a hotel bathroom at 9am in 40 degree heat, I was still happier than not being in Medellin in the moment.

The rest of the stay in Cartagena was fantastic. The hotel was in a fantastic location right in the heart of the center, the rooftop pool was a great place to work during the day and jump in when it got scorching in the afternoon. I hit the beach everyday at like 1 and found an awesome watersports rental shop that had a common area with a bar and beachside seating. I tried surfing there against the suggestions of the people that work there and they were absolutely right. The waves are big but they die so fast it's almost impossible to ride them. I got my first windsurfing lesson every which is a much, much harder sport than surfing because you have to have great balance and know how to position the mast to have the wind push you in the right direction. The nightlife was lacking, but after Medellin, most places will shy in comparison. We still made the most of it and had a great time each night.

Some of the highlights include a visit to one of the most well-known Salsa bars in the world called Havana. Whatever I thought I knew about Salsa went out the window here. People were moving their legs so fast you couldn't even see them. I made a fool of myself for about 45 min and probably sweat off a full 5 pounds before calling it.

Our last full day there (Saturday) we took a 45 minute boat ride to a famous beach club called Bora Bora on another island like 35km away. It was like 2:30 when we left the mainland and we were pumped and ready to spend. We blasted music the whole way there, crushed some beers and when we got there at 3:30, it turned out that everyone left at 3. So what we thought would be some crazy booze powered, foam mosh-pit style rager turned into a quiet honeymoon-like sunset swim on beachside beds. Honestly, it was better like this. The interesting part was the ride back. Even though we we're moving between islands, this was still the ocean. And the ocean can be a harsh mistress, especially at night. About 10 minutes into our ride back on our tuned-up fishing boat, the sun set completely and we were bouncing over 5 or 6 foot waves at 60km/h in complete darkness. I was holding on to the railing for dear life the whole way because if you weren't holding on, you would have been bounced off in seconds. I've never gotten air in a boat, but we got it here dozens and dozens of times. At first it was exciting and we were all laughing and taunting each other. After 30 minutes of it we were in a miserable silence looking ahead for the slightest sign of civilization.

We made it back to land with our clothes soaked and possible signs of concussions, but I was still determined to make it out for our last night in Cartagena. I got Dan to come out and loaded him with Red Bull, Vodka and Tequila. Daraab, feeling left out, eventually joined at like midnight and so we were back in full swing.

Overall, I was probably more impressed with Cartagena than I'd normally be, just because I was coming from Medellin where I was so sick of being. What stood out to me is how big of a difference it was being in a place with a beach and great weather. My mood shifted instantaneously. While Medellin is still shorts and T-shirt weather, it rains almost everyday. It's in short bouts, but still. And there is no beach. The layout of the center in Cartagena is also a lot more pleasant to walk around because it feels less like a tourist trap, and more a place where people live. Narrow streets, colonial architecture, and a lively core. The city has much more of a personality than the area in Medellin where I am staying (El Poblado) which is pretty much bar, bar, restaurant, bar, club, club, restaurant, restaurant, etc. The sunsets in Cartagena are also incredible.

All this being said, my Airbnb in Medellin is up this Sunday and I was debating whether to spend the rest of my time abroad in Cartagena or Panama. While Cartagena was a great weekend trip, I would get bored being there a few weeks so I settled on Panama.

I've got a couple more days in Medellin so I am going to try to enjoy as much as I can. Dan and Daraab are in San Andres right now which is a Colombian island next to Nicaragua. Dan wants to come back to Medellin tomorrow so he will crash with me. We're going to head to Guatape on Thursday and probably have a massive last night on Friday. Daraab is about as fed up with Medellin as I am so straight from San Andres, he is headed to Dubai and then back home to Pakistan.

I will be alone again starting Saturday so I won't wait this long to post again. Next time you hear from me I'll be in Bocas del Toro.

I totally forgot it is the holidays. It doesn't feel like it when you are spending your days in tank-tops and shorts. This is probably my favorite time of year in Toronto so I hope everyone is enjoying themselves and has mentally checked out of work.

Many more stories to come.

-MS