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Medellín, Colombia
9° 21' N 73° 37' W
Dec 21, 2005 02:13
Distance 650km

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How safe is this!

Text written in: English

To fly into Medallin, Noah and I were originally scheduled to fly into Bogota and then backtrack a bit with a  flight into Medallin. When we arrived at the airport, however, our airline had overbooked our flight and were looking for volunteers to give up their seats. We refused, saying that we had to catch a connecting flight with a different airline to Medallin, and so the airline offered to put us on their direct flight to Medallin, our good luck continues!

 

Upon arrival in Medallin, we were picked up by Noah's friend Marcella and her cousin Pedro, and driven to Pedro's home just outside of Medallin. Once there, we were treated to some lunch, which seems to be very typical here: a flat bread, arrepas, which is not great by itself, but good with cheese or jam or meat, some soft mild flavor cheese, corn, and a great piece of hot beef. After a nap, and some TV, we toasted Pedro, who had just turned 18 (like 21 in the states) had dinner, and then went out to the parque lleras.

 

The Parque lleras is a nice part of Medallin with a lot of bars and restaurants, except for the Spanish you would probably think that you are in the united  states if you were just walking around. It was all lit-up for Christmas and lots of well dressed Columbians enjoyed dinner and drinks. We chose a restaurant that had a good deal on drinks and commenced drinking. In Columbia the national liquor is aguardiente, a licorice flavored alcohol, that is both cheap and potent, for all you Americans it's a lot like jaeggermiester, but its clear. Accordingly, we had to have aguardiente, so we ordered a bottle and began with traigos (or shots). As we drank more, more friends of our host (pedro's older brother kamilo) showed up. They were very excited to talk to Americans who wanted to visit Colombia and wanted to ensure us that Columbia was safe and a good place to visit. Overall, by the end of the night, I was feeling warm with the feelings of well-being that alcohol tends to give and supported by no events that would make me feel anything contrary.