Before I jump in to an activities update, allow me to introduce the people (hosts and guests) of the AirBNB I'm staying at in Medellin.
Julian & Julie: The AirBNB hosts. They are both very friendly and hospitable. Julian speaks more English than Julie, but Julie has made a pretty strong effort to speak to me in English and I really appreciate that she has tried.
Jesus: 28 years old, from Mexico, moved to the U.S. (from Mexicali, Mexico to Calexico, California) when he was fourteen. After his father worked in the U.S. for a certain number of years (I'm not sure if he said 14 or 40...) and received his citizenship, he was able to get U.S. citizenship for Jesus at the same time as well. Jesus had to take a "foreign language" in high school but the only options were Spanish or French and he didn't even know English yet; since taking Spanish would be a waste of his time, he took French. He has traveled a LOT, been to/lived in San Diego, Seattle, Barcelona, Buenos Aires, hiked Patagonia for two weeks, and has had other adventures that I can't quite remember at the moment. He is a computer programmer, I think, so I he is able to work remotely, and this is what enables him to travel so much and live in so many different places.
Daniela: Daniela speaks a little bit of English, but I am trying to just speak Spanish with her, which I like to think is mutually beneficial but it's probably more to my language-learning benefit than anything else. From what I've gathered, she is here for school, and she is studying diplomatic relations.
On Saturday, my singular ambition was to see Plaza de Botero (it's a park that has a bunch of sculptures by that Colombian artist who loves to depict large and round-shaped everything). But here's the deal: I don't have access to data/the internet when I'm not connected to wifi, so it's hard to find my way around once I've left the hostel or AirBNB or wherever my main wifi source is. My strategy so far has been to look up the map and directions on google maps, and then take screen shots of the directions on my phone so that they are saved in the photos on my phone for offline reference. Pretty smart, right? Well, this time it didn't work too well. I got lost almost immediately and wandered around not-that-interesting areas of Medellin for about two hours before finding my way back to the AirBNB by 1:30. I was actually proud of myself for finding my way back on my own and not needing to fall back on Plan B, which was to take a taxi back. (That's the thing -- no matter how lost I get and how far I wander off during the day, as long as I have the address to my home base, I can always rely on a taxi to get me back where I need to be.)
Jesus, Daniela, and I had planned on meeting at 1:30 and then walking to Aeroparque Juan Pablo II for Oktoberfest, which would start at 2:00pm. We knew it was likely sold out, but we wanted to try anyway. Daniela still wasn't back by 1:45, so Jesus left her a note and he and I ventured out to the park. Sure enough, it was sold out, but there were a few people re-selling tickets. However, they were asking $100,000 COP for them, which was about double the original price. Jesus and I knew the main draw to Oktoberfest was the music, but since neither of us really knew any of the bands, we figured it probably wasn't worth the price of admission.
I had heard of a brewery called 3 Cordilleras that I wanted to check out, so Jesus and I made our way over there, which was about a 40-minute walk north. When we got there, we found out it didn't actually open until 7 or 7:30, so we had about five hours to kill if we wanted to come back. Jesus knew I had tried to see Plaza de Botero earlier (and failed), so he offered to take me there.
I feel like continuing to describe this day in a super detailed way is going to be far less interesting as I would like it to be, so I'll just break it down in bullet points. Here's where Jesus and I went/what we did while we had five hours to explore the city before 3 Cordilleras opened:
1. Plaza de Botero: Lots of fun statues in classic Botero style, all with very simple and straightforward names ("hand," "woman," "woman in dress," "Adam and Eve," "horse," "horse with bridle," "man on horse," etc.) Jesus joked that the statues were really just there to teach people a few basic words in Spanish.
2. Salon Versalles: This was an Argentinian restaurant that Julian had recommended, and Jesus said he eats there about once a week. We both got two empanadas (once Argentinian-style and one Chilean-style, both amazing), and a glass of the house wine. The empanadas were large and baked (the crust of the Argentinian one was flaky like pie), and far superior to the small, fried Colombian empanadas that I've had so far. All this for about $4 -- I definitely want to return before I leave Medellin. Also, this small taste of Argentina just solidified my interest in traveling there someday. I know I sound travel-greedy talking about even more places I want to go, but it's true -- Argentina, Spain, Portugal, the UK, sailing around the Mediterranean.... these will all still be travel dreams once the Bonderman is over.
3. Parque Periodista: This is a "park" -- not a grassy park, but more just a plaza with a bunch of plants and benches meant as a gathering space -- where the "alternative/hippie/bohemian" crowd hangs out. For some reason, the police seem to allow all kinds of illegal activity to occur here so there's a high tolerance for public drug use (mostly marijuana) and alcohol consumption. During the weekdays, businessmen in suits will even go there to smoke or drink after work. It is also a place that is very friendly to LGBT people. Basically super-tolerant all-around. Jesus and I bought some Club Colombia Oktoberfest beers and drank them here. (He also offered me a joint, but I know myself well enough to know that I do not enjoy getting high that much, especially not in public and ESPECIALLY not in unfamiliar places with people I barely know, so I declined.) When we were done with our beers, we just left the bottle on the ground; it's okay though, don't freak out -- there are people who gather up the bottles and make money by recycling them or selling them back to the beer companies for reuse.
4. Parque Bolivar: Again, not a grassy park -- more of a plaza where a large market was set up. We passed by a vendor selling Muppets puppets and packets of snack ants, and Jesus bought a bag of ants (I'm guessing there were about 30 of them in there) for us to try once we got to 3 Cordilleras and had some beer to chase them down with. They were curled up and looked like potato bugs/rollie-pollies, but they were really just ants with big booties (because of course even the ants in Colombia would have more "junk in the trunk" than I do).
5. Parque Poblado: We hopped on the Metro to get to the "Poblado" stop, and walked through another park/plaza area called Parque Poblado, which is basically a local gathering spot for people to have a beer and meet up while they're figuring out what to do the rest of the night. We didn't spend much time here -- just passed through it on our way to Parque Lleras.
6. Parque Lleras: I had read about this place on the Nomadic Matt travel blog post for Medellin, but I hadn't planned on trying to find it until later in the week. However, I don't think I'd have been able to find it on my own, and it exceeded my expectations, so I am very grateful that Jesus showed it to me. It's hard to describe.... imagine a neighborhood on a hill with small streets and very little traffic, lined with brick and stone sidewalks, with bars and restaurants lit up everywhere covered in small decorative lights, enough trees and other plants to provide a bit of a wilderness/jungle vibe, vines even lining the walls in some places, people eating and drinking outside sitting on cushions on tree stumps, and the smell of delicious food coming from pretty much every direction. When I heard that Parque Lleras was recommended for the nightlife, I had imagined someplace more douche-y and less interesting, honestly. However, even though it had an upscale feel, this place also had plenty of beauty and magic in it.
Jesus and I sat down on some tree stumps outside a bar called 37 Park, and got a beer each, and a shot of aguardiente (Colombian licorice-flavored clear liquor) to share while we tried the ants. When I popped the first ant into my mouth, I just imagined I was eating a peanut, because I expected it to have about the same crunch to it. The texture was not exactly peanut-like, but it wasn't bad at all. The flavor, however, was stronger than I expected, and, um.... unpleasant. No me gusta. I immediately had to wash it all away with some beer. I tried one more, just to be sure I didn't just have a bad one before, but it was the same and that was enough for me. Jesus, however, had about ten before he decided he'd had enough.
I'm not sure how it got brought up, but somehow we ended up talking about and reliving scenes from television shows we love: The Office, Parks and Recreation, Master of None, Game of Thrones, Arrested Development, and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. I just love how popular American television is in other parts of the world and that I can use it to bond with people. Same with American music, especially classics from the 80s and 90s (Nirvana seems to be especially well-known here).
7. 3 Cordilleras: Finally, it was time to head back to the 3 Cordilleras brewery. When we got to the door, we learned that they were having a special event, and if we wanted in, we had to buy tickets for $26,000 COP ($9), and this would include five beer tickets. I thought this meant that Jesus and I would SHARE 5 beers, but it was 5 beers EACH. They weren't full pints, but they weren't beerfest-style sample sizes either -- probably about 12 oz each. Throughout the night, I had to pour at least 1/3 of each of my beers into Jesus' glass so that I could try them all without getting drunk. I'm glad I paced myself and got to try a bunch of them; the beer was great (much more flavorful than Club Colombia or Aguila), and there was live music as well. The first group was a cover band, and they played Johnny Be Good! So random. I loved it.
Once the music was over and we still had beer to consume, Jesus and I played a drinking game that involved flicking a coin across the table using four chances, and trying to get it to land so that part of the coin was hanging off the edge of the table. If you could do that, then you flipped the coin up and tried to catch it. If you caught it, the other person had to drink. I'm sure that makes no sense unless this is a familiar game to you already, but it was great fun, and I think I won, which made it even greater-funner.
Finally, we took a taxi back to AirBNB, and finished the night by singing Pearl Jam and Nirvana karaoke from my computer.
A very long, good day in Medellin. Six more to go.