Medellín

Medellin is one of the biggest cities in Colombia. It's situated in the middle of a valley so, no matter where you are, the view of the landscape is breathtaking. From down inside the heart of the city, you're surrounded by beautiful mountains on all sides. Then, when you go up one of the enormous mountains, the view looking down on the city is incredible.




I stayed with Andrea and Natalia, two girls I met on New Year's Eve last year in Rio, and their parents and the four of them treated me like family. I stayed with them for ten days.

We shared countless meals together...

...and, on the weekends, we went on trips to nearby the villages which are beautiful!

One of my favorite days was when we went to Parque Arví. Medellin is the only city in Colombia with a metro system and it has two lines that are actually cable cars that take you up into the mountains. To get to Parque Arvi, you take one of these cable cars and the view is insane!

View from inside the cable car

Once you've passed over the enormous neighborhoods below, you get to the top of the mountain and assume the trip's over but the cable car keeps going another 20 or so minutes over pure nature...trees and nothing else...until you finally get to a little village there on top of the mountain, seemingly in the middle of nowhere.

Traveling over the top of the mountain

When you get out of the cable car, there's a market with tons of fresh fruits and organic products. From there, we went on an hour and a half hike and then ate at a vegetarian restaurant before buying some dessert and settling down for a nap in the nearby hammocks.

 

on our hike

the food at the vegetarian restaurant is all grown right there

relaxing in our hammocks after lunch

Another one of my favorite days was when we went to Gatuape. Yet again, it was a kind of landscape I had never seen before.

Guatape

We took a bus for a couple of hours, then little three-wheeled taxi things to get to the bottom of the rock and then walked up 675 stairs in order to see that incredible view and, boy, was it worth it!

the stairs

It was a bit cloudy (sort of had that Macchu Picchu mystic quality to it) but it was beautiful! I couldn't help wondering what it'd be like to live in one of those houses down below for a few months, swimming or boating every day.

We also went salsa dancing one night which was, of course, super fun. Dancers everywhere in Colombia tend to be pretty awesome but the dancers' attitudes in Medellin seemed to be a bit more humble than those in Cali (not to knock the wonderful Cali) which I really enjoyed.

Also, while in Medellin, I went on a walking tour and learned some interesting things:

1. Despite what many people think, Pablo Escobar is not the reason that Medellin is such a rich city (really...the absolute poorest places I saw in Medellin are nothing compared to Bogota or Rio). Yes, there is drug money in the city and, yes, that was what helped a lot of poor people come out of poverty but that is not the reason that the economy has been so much better there. The drug money only started flowing in in about the 80's. It's actually because of the gold that was exported from there for so many years and then the coffee that's been exported since. Additionally, although the politicians there steal as well, they also invest in the city and that's something that doesn't necessarily always happen in the other cities in Colombia or elsewhere in Latin America. They're perhaps a bit less corrupt and have a bit more pride in where they're from.

2. The hot-spots for prostitution, drugs and porn are typically just outside of churches. Most of the prostitutes I saw were actually leaning against the churches themselves and, according to our guide, it's common for the men who use such services to then go into the churches, ask forgiveness and then move on with their lives feeling guilt-free immediately afterwards. Colombia is a very Catholic country, after all. We also walked through a street market on the side of one of the churches and there was more porn than I have ever cared to see for-sale. And, of course, the churches are in all the big plazas so that's where all the drug fun happens.

3. Many of the plazas in Medellin have been completely transformed, just as the country as a whole has, in the last 10-15 years. Colombia has had a tough past and it's only been doing as well as it is now for a little over a decade. My friends here tell me that when they were very young, it wasn't even safe for them to be out and about in the cities a lot of the time because there were bombs, kidnappings, etc... Now, though, Colombia is one of the most incredible places in the world to be. Between the music, the dancing, the people, the landscapes, the food and the cultural celebrations, this country is just filled with joy. The plazas that used to be the most dangerous have been transformed into some of the safest, most productive and most beautiful places in the city in order to reflect this.

For example, this statue was once blown out by a bomb but Botero, the artist, instead of throwing out the old one, left it along with the new one, in order to remind the people of Colombia of where they'd been and where they are now. 

Other examples were a plaza that used to be extremely dangerous but is now filled with giant lights symbolizing hope and another plaza with an ugly history that is now filled with educational buildings.

My time in Medellin was incredible and, as usual, I owe it all to the amazing people I was with! Natalia and Andrea, I will never be able to thank you and your parents enough for such an amazing ten days! I can't wait til we get to meet again!! <3

Life in the Caribbean

I've been in Cartagena for three days. Like I said in my Couch Surfing in Colombia blog, I realized I was being a bit ridiculous by being afraid to couchsurf with guys so I have now officially remedied that.

Daniel and I became friends as fast as I have with everyone else I've stayed with so far. He's an architect that actually lives in Bogota but he's staying in Cartagena for a month and graciously invited me to stay with him for a few days. Besides having my own room with a high-power fan (necessary in this 88-degree weather) and private bathroom, the house's balconies are covered in flowers, the Caribbean Sea is literally right outside the window, and he's got the two most comfortable hammocks set up in the living room.

View from the hammock

The freaking PERUVIAN CEVICHE Daniel made for us yesterday!!
I'm literally in heaven right now.

We've walked the whole town multiple times in the last few days (Cartagena is as beautiful as they say and, unfortunately, my pictures don't do it any kind of justice). I've officially become obsessed with champeta (a musical genre from Cartagena) and I can't get enough of the rest of the music here either. My favorite genres and songs come pumping out of every plaza, store, restaurant, bar, car and cell phone I walk by...and I keep coming across new songs I love!!

EVERY house in Cartagena is this freaking beautiful.
I think I probably need to live here at some point.

Yesterday, we met up with a friend (and ex-student) of mine from Brazil who's here for a few days as well (I didn't even know she was coming!) and we checked out the pre-carnaval festivities together (Cartagena's Carnaval starts today, something else I didn't even realize when I bought my plane tickets to come here!). I was supposed to leave here this morning but Cartagena is just too amazing and I needed more time. Daniel invited me to stay for a few more days and there was no way in hell I was gonna turn that offer down!

The kids in the city had a pre-Carnaval parade a few days ago

We woke up this morning, had some fresh tropical fruit and coffee, took a long walk along the beach and then took a swim in the freaking Caribbean Sea. I don't know how this is my freaking life!! The water is clean and much calmer than the beach I lived by in Rio so it was super relaxing. Afterwards we laid in the hammocks to read/nap before we got onto more productive things (and by that, I mean I'm drinking delicious Colombian coffee for less than $2.00 in an air conditioned cafe and blogging, bahaha!).

I'm obsessed with these hammocks...the only problems it trying to force ourselves
to eventually get out of them once we've gotten in. We've had to start setting alarms!

I still can't believe this is my life. I am free of the burden of material junk, I'm meeting incredible people and getting to see every corner of this beautiful world. I can change my plans whenever I want, I can work when I want and don't have to when I don't want to. I'm learning how to think in different ways by looking at life through the different perspectives of other cultures and making new friends everywhere I go. I'm taking advantage of every opportunity that comes my way and am truly appreciative for every single one of them.

In light of all that, I am painfully aware, especially this week, of how easily this perfect life has fallen into my lap. I haven't experienced racial discrimination or a system that holds me down because of my nationality, skin color or religion. I grew up in the nation that arguably most oppresses others in order to stay on top, with the only color of skin that doesn't suffer from racism and in the religion that is in charge of my government. I have the opportunities I have because I was lucky enough to be born into such a situation and for no other reason.

I will continue to be grateful for every minute of this journey but I promise that I will not for one second ever think that I did anything to deserve this more than anyone else. There is no person on this earth that I don't wish could have these incredible opportunities as well and I will spend my life working toward making that equality a reality.

I am sad today for the U.S.'s situation but I still have hope. I have hope because of all the incredible people I've met along my journeys and because of the inspiring educators and academics that I am friends with that I know are spreading messages of love and tolerance. I have hope because I wake up every day to see the beauty in this world and because I know so many people working to make it even better.

Okay...back to enjoying the hell out of Cartagena!

Salsa in Cali

I got to Cali, what Colombians call "the salsa capital of the world," all bright-eyes and bushy-tailed, super excited to make up for only dancing a maximum of once a week for the last year and a half.

I spent my first few hours with Angie, my couch surfing host and a girl who is the same person as me but 10 years younger. We became besties the moment I got to her house. I put my bags down and we started talking and kept going right on through as we ate breakfast and lunch together before she had to go to class.

Our first day out to lunch

I had already deemed her the same person as me when I read her CS profile but, in person, I found the similarities almost hilariously overboard. Even the types of notes and goals she writes for herself and posts around her room are literally things I've written to myself before. Crazy.

I spent the first few days settling in and looking for a volunteer job at a hostel. I walked around door to door, knocking at every hostel in San Antonio (the most beautiful part of the city and where all the hostels are), asking for volunteer work. A few places accepted me and I ended up moving into a hostel that is also a Vegan Food restaurant.

My job was to clean "5 hours a day" although I think I only actually worked a total of two hours in the four days I lived there. Likewise, though, I'd been promised (what I thought would be an awesome) three meals a day and actually barely received anything more than rice for the most part when I asked for food. I spent five hours per day in the hostel, though, just in case I was needed and didn't feel the exchange was very worth it...or very much fun.

The hostel was super pretty, though :)

I wrote Angie, who lives with two other friends, again and asked if I could pay something small and come back to live with them a little longer. It had been so much more fun and I wanted to be able to spend more time with my new friend! She and the girls offered to let me stay for a verrrry small amount and I helped them a bit with cleaning and their English! It was perfect and we had a great two weeks together!

Two of the girls I stayed with <3

 As I got more settled in, I started to go out more but the beginning of my salsa adventure was a total failure. All I wanted to do was dance but I'd get to a club and the Caleños (people from Cali) would see my gringa face and pass right by me. No one wanted to dance with me. At the verrrry end of each of the nights I went out, someone would finally (presumably) run out of options or get bored or something and ask me to dance. Luckily, one of these times it was an amazing salsa teacher named Carlos.

Side note: no joke...each of the times someone danced with me, the conversation literally went like this:
Caleño: Where are you from?
Me: The U.S.
Caleño: But you can dance.

"But." lol

A couple days later, Carlos invited me to come be his "assistant" at the salsa classes he teaches in a couple of hostels. (Bonus: there were Brazilians in both classes so I got to speak Portuguese, too!) I'm no Caleñan salsa dancer, but if I'm teaching gringos at hostels, that apparently doesn't matter. (Flashback to that time I got paid to teach bachata lessons at my hostel in Peru...How does this keep happening?!)

Giving the classes, I also met John, Carlos's other assistant. John is an amazing dancer and I started seeing him every time I went out after that. We danced together a bunch and, no joke, once people saw me dance with him, everyyyyone started asking me to dance! I didn't sit out for another song the entire time I was in Cali. I guess someone they trusted had to accept me first? It was dumb but, once I was finally dancing, I didn't care anymore.

Out dancing in Cali!

I spent the next couple of weeks learning about Cali's unique salsa culture. It was actually quite different from everywhere else I've ever danced. The differences?

1. Tennis shoes instead of salsa shoes
Only at one place do some people wear salsa shoes but the rest wear gym shoes. I wore my soccer shoes (until I played a game and busted them wide open and had to go back to my heels).

 2. No eye-contact/smiling
Okay, some is alright...but apparently here if you look at your dance partner and smile too much (which is the polite thing to do in every other salsa community I've been a part of), they take that as flirting and think you're up to something else. This was particularly difficult for me so there was a bit of confusion between some of my dance partners and I.

3. Couples dance with each other...
...often exclusively. Everywhere else I've been, you dance with your partner a bunch, sure, but also with other people. Here, if I went out with a guy friend, people assumed we were a couple and therefore didn't ask me to dance. (Don't worry--only made that mistake once!)

4. It's all about the feet!
I knew this ahead of time but it's even more extreme than I thought. I ended up taking classes during my last week in Cali and saw the behind-the-scenes. They focus almost exclusively on footwork which means everyone is able to switch between these crazy-fast footwork patterns with ease but, at the same time, most people don't know the simplest of turn patterns.

Liliana, another amazing friend I got to make through couchsurfing (for the weekend that Angie's parents, who don't know she hosts surfers, came to stay), took me to a Kizomba class that turned out to be one of my favorite parts of Cali! Every Sunday there is a class that costs just over $1.00 and the teacher is great!

Liliana & I

At the end of the class, there's a salsa/bachata/kizomba social which is pretty much my dream come true. The funny thing, too, was that I, again, ended up teaching the others some Dominican-style bachata because the only type people know here is modern. It was really fun that they were willing to learn!

Three weeks in Cali was, overall, a great idea and I could easily stay more time. Anywhere there's such amazing music, friendly people and so many opportunities to dance, I really can't complain. Cali, I'll be back as soon as I can!