Back to the mountains! (phew)

(Sept 18, 2012)

Sorry to post late!  We are currently on a banana farm near Armenia (I love couchsurfing) and the internet is only from 3G (our host kindly allowed us to use his 3G modem).

We didn't want our dedicated fans to worry though so we're posting as soon as we could.  There are two posts today so stop reading this one and scroll down to the next one before coming back.  Pictures won't be posted for a few days so check back later this week!

And now the post!

Medellin is a beautiful city of approximately 3.5 million sitting in a valley 1500 meters above sea level.  It turned out to be a welcome reprieve from the suffocating heat of the coast and we were happy to arrive to temperatures of only ~25 degrees.

We were picked up from the bus terminal by our gracious couchsurfing host in Medellin, Sergio (a bioengineering student and professional rugby player on team Colombia!), and taken back to his parent’s house.  On the drive back to the house, Sergio informed us that his father was a doctor and suggested that he take a look at me when he came home for lunch.  How lucky am I?

With Robin as a translator, I was diagnosed with a stomach infection (probably lingering from being sick on Monday) and prescribed some antibiotics.  Robin and Sergio fetched me the antibiotics and then headed out to explore Medellin’s public transit while I rested at the house.  Upon return, Robin was very excited and espoused Medellin’s progressive Metro Transit system. More integrated than Bogota’s TransMilenio, the Medellin system included a raised train system (think Sky Train), with a rapid bus transit system (just like the TransMilenio), AND (the piece de resistance) a set of cable car systems (like enclosed gondolas) set up to improve transportation to the poorer neighbourhoods that climb the steep slopes of the city. She seemed very impressed that such an apparently expensive project would be dedicated to servicing the needs of the working classes. To top it off, she recounted the views as breathtaking as she looked down on the bustling city nestled in a lush green valley. 

Sergio’s family were incredibly generous hosts and proceeded to give us one of the best experiences we’ve had in Colombia.  The first day, after a fantastic breakfast, we headed out to see the local market in Medellin.  Robin loves markets and tries to explore as many as she possibly can but she attests that this was one of her favorites.  We wandered the stalls and chatted and while Robin purchased every unknown fruit she could find (well, two purchases and one gift - one seller was so taken with Robin’s enthusiasm she gave Robin the strange fruit. We still don’t know what it was).

Later that day we met up with Sergio’s wonderful and enthusiastic sister, Carolina, (a law student) and took the MetroCable to see more of Medellin as well as the Bibliotheca San Antonio (Momma, I took pictures for you!).  The public library system in Medellin is publicly funded (of course) but instead managed by a private company.  This (non-profit) company runs many community services in Medellin such as public parks, recreational facilities and libraries.  I tried to figure out what advantages the government gained from having a private corporation manage their libraries rather than run them publicly (as in Canada).   Perhaps you have some insights, Mom?  Here’s a link to some (somewhat biased) English information on Comfama (link: http://dukeengagemedellin.blogspot.com/2009/07/comfama-like-all-non-profits-in-us.html).  After our tour around, we met up with Sergio and Carolina’s brother for dinner before heading back to bed.

Just before bed, Robin received some very sad news: a great friend of hers from high school had passed away earlier that morning. As she fondly recounts, Gareth had a wonderfully adventurous and passionate spirit throughout his life. He was on his way to finishing a business degree at Western and had just returned from a wild adventure through Africa. With his death, Robin was reminded of how incredibly fragile life is...

...So we decided to go paragliding the following day. [Editor’s note: Here’s to you, Gareth – you would have loved it]

Sunday proved to be our most exciting day yet.  We got up early to drive up the valley walls to try our hand at paragliding.  I had been hang-gliding, skydiving and bungee jumping before but never paragliding so I was excited.   The wind turned out to be perfect for paragliding and we eagerly flew away (safely attached to our tandem pilots).  Medellin was a great place to paraglide because the wind is good and the views over the valley floor are amazing. Also, it cost $40 rather than the $200 in Canada.  Robin got some great photos which she’ll post soon.

The paragliding flight we paid for was meant to last 20 minutes and, as I had taken off first, I was also lined up to land first.  We circled around the landing area for a few minutes getting lower and lower and losing speed in order to land.  However, as we came in for the final approach and swooped down my pilot shouted “Oh shit!” and pulled up sharply.  NOT something you want to hear when you’re paragliding!  It turns out we had been coming in at too steep a descent so we gained some altitude and came back around a few minutes later for another pass.  This time we landed without issue.  Don’t worry, Mom!

After paragliding, we headed back to town for a traditional lunch from the area (Bandaisa Paisa) and then headed to the botanical gardens for a stroll.  At 3pm we headed to watch a futbol (soccer) game between Medellin and Armenia (where we’re heading today).  The game was lots of fun and the fans were quite manic!  The local fans sang the ENTIRE game (except for the intermission where they all left to the parking lot and the stores outside the stadium to drink more beer, no beer allowed at the match).  It was impressive.

We were getting tired after our packed day so we went for a casual drink and then headed back to Sergio’s for dinner and to watch a movie.  We got up early, early, early this morning to buy fresh flowers as a thank you to Sergio’s parents.  I was still exhausted when we got home and collapsed on the bed but luckily Robin is made of stronger stuff and stayed up to arrange the flowers before coming back to bed.  We had a last meal with Sergio’s family, discussed some future travel plans and then headed off to the bus to Armenia (where I’m surreptitiously typing this post).

We’ve found a couchsurfer to stay with in Armenia (which is in the Cafetera or coffee growing region of Colombia) and after we plan to head to Popayan before heading down to Ecuador.  Less than a week left in Colombia!

Thanks for all your comments, we really love to hear what you think about our blog posts.  And sorry this one is so long!