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Published: September 8th 2009
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Monte said today, "I know it has only been a week, but it almost feels like we live in Colombia now." It's hard to explain what he means, but I feel the same way. Some things are so dramatically different here, and our schedules are so much changed from our normal daily lives, that I've forgotten what it feels like to drive a car, watch tv, cook dinner. Also, Monte and I were so concerned with blending in and immersing ourselves in the culture from the very beginning of this trip, that we let go of a few
americanisms along the way.
Today was hit and miss with the activities. We started out with a miss. A few tickets had been left for us to check out the Medellin Botanical Gardens. Although not super excited to view plants for hours, Colombia, and the Antioquia region in particular, is a huge flower producing area. In fact, if you've ever gotten a bouquet of flowers, especially roses, there's a good chance they came from Colombia. Maybe this garden would be impressive and beautiful, so I wasn't going to complain. However, when we arrived we were informed that the main attraction, a huge
and award-winning orchid greenhouse was closed for the day. To be honest, even with the orquideorama, I'd say the Norfolk Botanical Gardens is far better, and that's pretty sad. It was hot and boring, and we knew we had mere hours left to enjoy the city before our flight to Bogota tomorrow.
To fit in a little more family fun, we visited another of my dad's cousins south of Medellin in El Retiro. Beatrice (Tatice) and her husband are producers of avocados, and their mountain property is covered with avocado trees as far as the eye can see. One would need an atv to navigate the area due to its vastness and rough terrain. We indeed took vehicles down to a pond for an aguardiente and beer (what else?) picnic until dusk, then took the party back to their house.
Just when I thought that was it, this is the end of my Medellin experience, my second cousin, Maria Teresa (Tere), had a surprise for us. She took us to this amazingly cute little restaurant called La Queareparaenamorarte. The long name is a clever play on words which loosely translates to, "what do I have to do to
make you fall in love with me?" This was so special because, although we had no list of things we must do in Medellin (we wanted to be easy going and let the locals lead us), I had mentioned this restaurant as a request if possible.
Monte and I love
Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations on the Travel Channel, and the show actually came to Colombia last year and visited this restaurant, which specializes in indigenous food from various regions. The chef and owner is actually a food anthropologist (my dream job in another life), so stopping here was very cool.
Not everyone in the caravan wanted to stay out any later, so it was just my dad, Tere, Monte and me who enjoyed a sampling of dishes. Tere told the server to give us a tour of Colombia through small dishes, so we had a plate of house smoked chorizos, arepas, four types of empanadas with different sauces,
patacones, and
aguapanela. I was in heaven. It was great way to spend our last night in Medellin.
I also hope Tere and her family come to the states soon to visit. My overwhelming feeling upon leaving this city
is that I really look forward to repaying the enormous kindnesses we encountered here. I will not soon forget how much more amazing an experience this has been so far because of the people that made it so.
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