Buddy in SA

Don't worry. I did get robbed with a knife, but all's well that ends well. I'll tell that story shortly. Neil, callum and I arrived in Medellin about 2 weeks ago. After a bad experience with a hostel employee at The Palm Tree in the Suramericana barrio, we decided to move to barrio Poblado, the Zona Rosa. This place is jumping every night, but especially on Friday and Saturday. The clubs here are a bit expensive, though, so when we went out, we generally would buy beers for 2,000 pesos ($1US) and sit in Parque Lleras, the park around which all of the clubs and restaurants are situated. Good times. We took a 3 day hiatus to visit a small town outside of medellin called Santa Fe de Antioquía. Santa Fe is a beautiful town, if ... read more

I don't know how I'm going to pry myself away from this city. Most of the people I've talked to in the US about travelling to Medellin either have never heard of it, or have only heard of it because of the legacy of Pablo Escobar and his infamous drug-fueled reign of terror in Colombia centered in Medellin. Those people think that I'm either nuts or extremely brave for travelling here. News flash: Pablo Escobar is dead. He was killed by the Colombian government in Medellin in 1993. Since then, not only has Medellin become the incredibly safe, clean, beautiful, fun city it was previously, but the drug trade has also seriously tapered off. In fact, many of the residents of Medellin I have talked to about the American perception of their city and Country resent ... read more

I added 49 pics to the prior post, since most of them corresond to it. I also added a video of dancers/street musicians from Taganga. The next post will be in a couple of days. I think I'll leave for Cartagena tomorrow. Enjoy the pics. ... read more

At around 9 this morning, Ale and I went to a futsal club (they call it futbolito around here...little futbol) to meet some of his friends and play. It really is a little futbol and little field. It´s a little bigger than a basketball court, covered in supersoft rubber flakes, and they play 5 on 5. For those of you who don´t know, I do play back home, but I was a little worried that I was gonna get housed here! Thankfully, I held my own very well, scoring 4 goals and making some friends. They were all very friendly and tried to practice their english with me while I practiced my Spanish with them. SHOOT! They would say. Mala Mia, I would say (My Bad). Good times were had by all. I did suffer a ... read more

It's 7:30 AM. I'm sitting in my office at work. It's my last day here. This job's been good to me. I've made more money here than any other I've ever had, and I've been endowed with full day-to-day control of every aspect of this furniture store's operations. Being the boss is good. But this is not my purpose. I'm quitting the best job I've ever had so that I can travel through South America for 4 months. About a year ago I stepped back and took a look at my life. I had recently gotten promoted to Store Manager younger than anybody else in the company. I considered most of the other managers and was a little frightened of what I might become. Boring, stagnant, repetitive, and old. I was not ready to resign myself ... read more