Coffee, Hills, and Nightlife

Hola Everyone! So after leaving the hustle and bustle of Quito, I finally returned to Colombia. It was great to get to settle down a little bit and practice my Spanish again. I traveled to the Coffee Region of Colombia, spending a few days in a university city called Manizales. Manizales has the most hills of any city I have ever seen. It was almost impossible to find a flat road within the city limits. It is a beautiful place, surrounded by mountains on all sides, with the impressive Nevado del Ruiz dominating the southern skyline. The first thing that I noticed in Manizales was how many students there are. I think 1 out of every 3 people walking down the street seemed to be a student, whether attending one of the several universities in the city, or one of the high schools. It really does bring a cool vibe to the place. The contrasts with Quito were obvious immediately-- very little traffic, a 45-minute walk from the outskirts to the city center (or a 5-10 minute bus ride), clean air all around, and very little noise. This is just the kind of place I needed after Quito.
I stayed with a family in Manizales, with two daughters. I hung out with the older daughter for most of my time there. She is attending La Universidad Catolica in the city, and even took me around the campus. She is really funny and cool, and despite not knowing English, we had a lot of fun together. My Spanish skills were really tested to the max during my few days there, but I can already tell that they improved just in that short period. One of the most impressive things in Manizales is La Iglesia de la Inmaculada Concepcion. It isn´t a particularly old church (something like 300 years old), but it´s wooden interior provides it with a homey, rustic feel that I really appreciated.

On a funny note, you would not believe the number of mullets I have seen in Colombia! It seems like that is definitely the latest rage with young men from about 12 to 25 years old. If there is ever a Mullet Revolution to bring the mullet back to life across the globe, it should definitely start here!

The drive from Manizales to Medellin, through El Cafetera (the coffee growing region), was pretty spectacular. It is definitely not a ride for those that get car sick, as the road has twice as many switchbacks as any road I have ever seen. The road passes through mountains and hills lined with coffee fields, providing a rich scenery for the entire 5-hour ride. Unfortunately, the road is also just a two-lane road, and because of its curvy nature and the steep climbs and descents, the going is slow. When you add in the fact that every other vehicle is either a bus or a huge truck that stalls to a crawl anytime the road isn't flat (so pretty much the entire ride), my patience was definitely starting to wane near the end. When I saw a sign telling me that we only had 25 kilometers (~15 miles) left, I thought we were good. I didn't expect that last bit to take about 2 hours or so. Needless to say, I was very happy to actually set foot in Medellin.

Medellin is a city with a very dark history. In the 1980s, the infamous Pablo Escobar made the city the world's cocaine capital. The city was marred by murders and violent crime, making it one of the most dangerous cities in the world. There was a lot of money in the drug business, and because of this, Medellin seems more modern to me than anywhere else I have been on this trip. With Escobar's death in 1993, the city turned itself around, and now can be called one of the safest big cities in Latin America.

I can tell you without any doubt at all that Medellin is my favorite place that I have visited so far in either Ecuador or Colombia. The city is surrounded by mountains on all sides, the highrise buildings are all this cool red color, providing a cool contrast to the green mountains around. I am staying down in the El Poblado area, which is the part of the city with all the coolest clubs and bars. It is incredibly fun down there, and there is definitely no shortage of beautiful girls wherever I look. I met a bunch of people for a few nights' worth of fun, going out to the clubs and dancing until 4 or so in the morning. I also just happened to see that the bachata group, Aventura, was giving a concert in Medellin while I was going to be there, and that this tour is billed as the group's last. What a coincidence! I could not pass up this opportunity to see Aventura in Colombia! One of my friends and I bought some tickets and spent the night listening to the bachata sounds pulsating through the crowd at the stadium. Despite the over-exaggeration of the term "Latin time," (the concert was supposed to start at 8:00 but didn't start until 9:30), the fact that there were 4 opening acts, and that Aventura didn't actually start playing until about 1:30 in the morning (bringing our total time at the stadium to a whopping 8 hours!!), it was absolutely incredible! The energy in the crowd was amazing, and everyone was dancing and having a blast. I still can't really believe that I was lucky enough to see them in Colombia! How random is that?

I have also made some really good friends in Medellin, including a British guy I met, and a paisa (people from the Coffee Growing Region) girl and guy. We had a lot of fun hanging out and I will definitely miss them, but hope to see them again soon.

So my time in Medellin has been characterized by late nights at the dance clubs, an Aventura concert that I won't soon forget, and a sore neck from doing double takes at all the beautiful girls here. I have really enjoyed my time here and hope to return again at some point. Now it is back to the smaller cities in the Boyaca region of Colombia, where my Spanish will be tested once again, and I will get a little more taste of authentic Colombian life. Until next time, ciao everyone.

Photos of Manizales at: http://www.photoworks.com/slideshow/album/A8C98523865B?source=pw980
Photos of Medellin at: www.photoworks.com/slideshow/album/A6A1D1338632?source=pw980