A Second Listicle of Colombia (Medellin)

1. The lovely German gals and I took the night bus from Salento to Medellin, which, admittedly, was a little rough. A major thunderstorm coupled with winding mountain roads meant that we were handed barf bags. We survived without needing them (#blessed) but didn't get much sleep and then arrived at the hostel in an exhausted mess at 5am. Luckily, some nice fellows we had met in Salento arrived in Medellin the day before us and arranged to have a room ready for us to crash. We got to finish out the night of sleep and didn't have to pay as if it was a night! After a four hour nap and I shower, I was a new person.

2. Medellin is an interesting and funky city. It gave me the impression that someone decided to build a giant city in the middle of the jungle in the mountains. It was super green and diverse. In the 1980's it was the most dangerous city in the world, and has since undergone a huge transformation. While there are still improvements to be made, then main areas of the city that I visited were wonderful. This isn't a history blog, but while much of Medellin's history Pablo Escobar, it's also more than that. If you're interested, I suggest that you Google it. 

3. While I never felt unsafe, I have also never been approached by so many drug dealers. They are early 20s males who walk around carrying boxes of gum and candies like the standard street vendors. As they approach they say "chickles, dulces" and then when they're near, they lean in very close, open their eyes wide like they are sharing an important secret, and whisper, "coca?" Don't worry mother, that DARE training worked and I said no to drugs. 

4. Additionally, I have never seen so much plastic surgery. There was some prime people watching. 

5. The travelers in Medellin were also fancy for some reason. We went to a hostel bar in our standard apparel (shorts, tank top, no makeup - not dressed up but no mud!) and felt significantly underdressed. In a standard bar, this would not be surprising. But in a hostel bar? I did not enjoy feeling so frumpy.

6. In Spanish, "recto" means "straight" and "derecha" means "right". As in, "go straight then turn right at the corner." Something that I am commonly told as I am often lost. I have recently learned that in Colombian Spanish, "derecho" means straight. It took several more instances of getting lost to realize that "derecho" is NOT the same as "derecha". 

7. It's common in Spanish to repeat words for emphasis, for example, "si si si" or "no no no." Heads up, "derecho, derecho, derecho" does not mean "turn right, then turn right, then turn right." That would nearly make a circle that ends in the wrong direction. It actually means "go straight for awhile."

8. A wonderful couple that I had met in San Blas was also in Medellin, so we went to the lovely botanical gardens together. There were fuentes and ponds and flowers and many things that I like. We also had a delicious local meal of rice, salad, chicken, fries, and fresh squeezed blackberry juice for $2.

9. That night my salsa skills were put to the test at a salsa club. They could use some improving. 

10. Passports need to be presented when buying long distance bus tickets. When I got my ticket to Santa Marta, the man at the ticket window was quite excited that I was American, and proceeded to tell me all about his friend's trip to Vegas. People here are very friendly. They love tourists. It seems to be more pronounced in the slightly older generation who grew up in the dangerous Medellin and now have seen us adding to the transformation of Medellin. 

a lovely fuente downtown

cable car to the top of the mountain. it's actually a part of the public transit system as people live up there, so we paid less than $1 to take it up and down

a funky tree in the botanical gardens 

downtown Medellin

typical Colombian breakfast - coffee, eggs, and an arepa (ground corn dough with cheese and butter)

A Listicle of Colombia (so far)

I arrived in Bogota and am currently in Salento! Tonight we night bus to Medellin. Here are some thoughts and highlights - 

1. When I left Panama City I said adios to the front desk worker at my hostel who looked like a Hispanic Joe Jonas, but what named Kevin. WHAT! The mind boggles. 

2. I booked a flight from Panama City to Bogota two days before it was set to leave via a super cheap airline (think: Ryanair or Spirit). While my payment gave me a red RECHAZADA, I received confirmation of my reservation, so I figured I'd clear it up at the airport. While apparently the confirmation was false, I still got on the flight for $150 and paid in cash, the only option. 

3. At the airport I ran into two lovely German girls that I had met in Costa Rica two weeks before, and have been latched onto them since then. 

4. Colombia feels much more Euro than Central America - there are cafes, winding cobblestone streets, a sense of fashion, etc. Some of the outfits that I pulled in Central America (for example, a sarong-turned-dress over a wet swimsuit that gives the uncontrollable-lactation look, paired with muddy hiking shoes) will not fly here.

5. Surprisingly, Bogota is quite chilly and cloudy. It was 55 when we arrived (after leaving 95+ weather) and our cabbie from the airport informed us that it was a lovely day that was quite hot. It's in a mountain, so I suppose the elevation has something to do with this.

6. I took my first hot shower since I started traveling, and it was possibly the longest shower of my life. Though I must admit, I didn't really realize how much I missed the hot shower until I had one. Something about having seven layers of sweat and no signs of cooler temperatures made me not mind the cold showers.

7. In Bogota we went to a free art museum that featured Colombia's pride and joy, Francisco Botero. He paints mostly oversized things and people. I enjoyed this museum very much because it was 1) free, 2) small, 3) bizarre, and 4) had a fuente in the middle.

8. If you are so inclined, it is possible to purchase a quick photo on a llama that is wearing ribbons and decorations like a four year old girl's bicycle. 

9. According to our map, which also had fun facts, Bogota is know for it's "dirt cheap" beauty salons. So in an effort to pamper for the first time in awhile, we got $7 mani/pedis. You get what you pay for, and the pedi was done with my feet situated on her lap. Poor thing.

10. I've tried my darndest to eat and drink all the "traditional" dishes while traveling, but sometimes you just need to treat yourself. So I had spaghetti at 11am and it was delicious (this is something that I am also known to do in Chicago due to my limited groceries and laziness on weekend mornings). 

11. The bus ride from Bogota to Salento (with a transfer in Armenia) was gorgeous. We traveled through the mountains and they are quite green and amazing and I like them. The bus played the Hangover III in Spanish (followers of my previous blog know my hatred of dubbed movies). When it ended, apparently someone accidentally hit fast forward because the next six hours screened three movies in fast forward mode. So I spent some time deliberating which is worse: dubbed movies or fast forwarded movies. I didn't come to much of a conclusion expect that I don't like either. 

12. It's official that I prefer Sprite to 7up. The "light" versions do not exist here. 

13. Salento is one of my faves. It's in a valley of the Andes and has a main square and streets branching off of it with cute shops and such. It's colorful and chill and the people are super friendly. 

14. Yesterday we hiked in the Valle de Cocora and it was one of the highlights of the whole trip. I wasn't so much looking forward to it after the Ometepe nightmare (see "intense hiking story" blog post for full details), but this experience made me feel much more positively towards hiking. Instead off rock climbing and/or mud, there was an actual path! As it turns out, that makes quite the difference. The highlight for me where gigantic palm trees in the middle of the mountains.

15. There is delicious coffee in Colombia. 

16. At the hostel one night, a group of six of us grilled steak and veggies and made rice and salad and had beer. After totaling everything up, we each paid just over $3. 

La Candeleria - the neighborhood we stayed at in Bogota

Botero's museum fuente

Botero's version of the Mona Lisa

A fancy llama

View of Bogota from above

A lovely walk outside of Salento

The beginning of the hike when we were still in the valley

A hummingbird sanctuary in a mountain

A view from the top!

Looking down on the valley

Random thoughts that I've had

1. What did that person JUST tell me that their name was?

2. How do you say "teary eyes" in Spanish? Ah well, I'll just say waterfalls. 

3. They must be from England. Whoops, nope, Australia. Whoops, nope, South Africa.

4. When was the last time I pooped?

5. I wish those American girls would stop yelling "WOOOOO"

6. Is today Monday? No. Thursday.

7. Oops. There goes my bus. On the other side of the road.

8. CHOCOLATE!...is melted.

9. What country am I in?

10. My wet swimsuit has absolutely made it look like I peed my pants. 

11. I know they are speaking English but I can literally understand nothing that they are saying. 

12. This food will probably make me sick.

13. I wish I could stop pooping.

14. What a funny looking dog.

15. I still do not trust a man with a pinky ring.

16. Enrique Iglesias is basically a God. 

17. I have no idea how much I just paid. Currency math shouldn't be so difficult. 

18. Where am I going to sleep tonight?

19. How is this my life? Everything is awesome. 

A Listicle of Panama

Another new country! In Panama I've been to Bocas del Toro, Panama City, and the Guna Yala Islands (aka San Blas). 

1. Without fellow traveler knowledge before we embarked, I am quite sure that we would not have been successful in crossing between Costa Rica and Panama. To leave Costa Rica, we had to stop at a little bodega shop a block around the corner from the bridge to pay our exit tax. This looked like a family owned 7/11, not a government facility, and was very easy to miss. Then we climbed several flights of stairs to the bridge to receive the exit Costa Rica stamp, which required the receipt of our tax payment. Then we crossed the rickety (honestly, a little scary) bridge. On the other side of the bridge we paid an entry to Panama tax, once again into a random cash box that could have belonged to anyone. This tax receipt was a passport sticker, but no entry stamp. So we descended some stairs and looked for a sign or any indiction of immigration stamps. A random taxi driver pointed us down a block and around the corner, where a very bored but very serious man stamped our passports. We could have easily accidentally illegally entered without our stamps. Our bus was stopped by police and we had to show our passports, so phew for finding all the right pieces and not being sent back!

2. I'm now accustomed to hostel hopping. I thought the Hostelworld app (for making hostel reservations) would be a valuable tool, but instead I've gotten fellow traveler recommendations before entering a new city and then looked at each to book the best one. This may seem time consuming, but most towns are so tiny that the hostels are only a block or two from each other.

3. Hostel dogs seem to be a thing sometimes. While they are precious, they are dirty. And sometimes loud.

4. Panama has been a relief from bug bites. My legs are returning to their normal, non-splotchy color!

5. Banana pancakes continue to be served as the hostel breakfast. One hostel must have figured out that this is the cheapest breakfast solution and then it spread through Central America like wildfire, because I have never seen pancakes served anywhere in Central America outside of hostels.

6. The grocery stores in Panama are run by people of Asian descent. Rumor has it that they came over to build the canal and then couldn't get jobs so they started their own businesses. However, in the Panama Canal museum, when listing the countries who contributed, Asian countries aren't listed. So it's a mystery!

7. We took the overnight bus from Bocas del Toro to Panama City, and for the first time on my trip I remembered what it felt like to be cold. Freezing, actually. That AC was on full blast for 11 hours. A good learning to dress warmer for future overnight buses!

8. Panama City has been the first city that I've been to on this trip, and it was has been quite refreshing. Stores have air conditioning, and there are normal pipes which means throwing toilet paper into the toilet instead of the garbage can. 

9. Guna Yala aka San Blas was quite the opposite - no electricity, no running water, no mirrors. Bathing was entering the ocean, and tooth brushing was from bottled water that we brought with us. I didn't wash my face or wear shoes for four days. We could walk around the entire island in about 30 seconds and it was only white sand beach, palm trees, and thatch roof huts. It was beautiful and refreshing to be unplugged. 

10. It's fun learning slang from other travelers. South Africans call shacking having a "napover", Australians say "I'm keen" when they're game for something, and Brits use "nice" as an adjective for absolutely everything, which means that Europeans who speak English as a second language also use "nice" to describe everything (people, places, food, movies, etc). 

11. I haven't figured out Panamanian food - it seems to be rice, beans, and meat, but most restaurants are more diverse. In San Blas, however, together the island ate chicken & rice for lunch, and fish & rice for dinner.

12. I get ready for the day in 10 minutes. I put on the outfit that smells the least terrible, go to the bathroom, rinse my face, and brush my teeth. I haven't worn makeup since I arrived (I consider this a personal feat). Fewer belongings means shorter get ready and organization time. 

13. Mentally converting Celsius to Fahrenheit has become very quick and easy. Hint: it's ALWAYS hot.

14.  Saying that I'm from Chicago tends to illicit one of three responses: 1) Doesn't it get really cold there? 2) Chicago Bulls! 3) The Windy City! Doesn't it get really cold there?

Interestingly, when I was living in Spain the response was always related to Obama. Not a single person that I've met in Central America has brought up Obama in relation to Chicago. 

15. Speaking of Obama, the US education system is all messed up compared to the rest of the world. I always knew this, but it seems even more so when talking to foreigners. How did it even get to that? A question and discussion for another time. 

16. Enrique Iglesias is very loved here. Which is wonderful, because I also love him.

17. The currency is the US Dollar, which makes budgeting things amazingly simpler.

18. My (lime green) sunglasses seem to live on the top of my head. I tend to forget they are there and then someone points them out to me at 11pm. The sun never sets on a badass, right?

19. Snacks are a travel essential. Therefore, I have acquired a jar of peanut butter that travels with me - it's healthy(ish), filling, and the dipping options are so vast! I didn't realize how super American this was, but have been told that more than once. #LONGHAIRDONTCARE.

20. At a restaurant in Panama City I randomly ran into a girl that I went to high school with ten years ago in The Netherlands. I continue to run into travelers that I met weeks ago in other countries. I look at a map and see the minuscule amount of the huge world that I've managed to see in a month, yet am constantly reminded that it's actually a quite small world after all. 

The border bridge between Costa Rica and Panama

the secluded Boca del Drago beach

sunset over bocas del toro

upping my snorkeling game 

The Panama Canal

A big door in Panama City. This is the only time that I've worn a raincoat on my trip and it barely rained

Our island

small hops in San Blas