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Rendezvous Medellín
  • svatfirstsight.com
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Rendezvous Medellín

After a family gathering in Seattle during the first weeks of July, Vicki returned to Florida and I retuned to Santa Marta. We rendezvoused several weeks later in Medellín. Read more
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  • Trip start
    August 5, 2025
    svatfirstsight.comRendezvous MedellínTraveler
    Vicki emerges from immigration and customs nearly 3 hours after her flight landed.
    The morning view from Finca El Refugio ZenDaughter Indi dressed in traditional Colombian dress for the Festival Silletera.Letting "the girls" out to scratch for food. They produce a dozen eggs a day.Dini relaxing with her guitar after morning yoga.Festival de Silletera pays homage to laborers who carried heavy packs in the hills of Santa Elena.

    Santa Elena & Finca El Refugio Zen

    Aug 6–9 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    I arrived in Medellín at noon on a domestic flight from Santa Marta; Vicki arrived at 15:30 on a nonstop flight from Orlando. However, it took her >2-1/2 hours to clear in with immigration and customs! Once out of the airport, we made a brief stop at a nearby asador to refuel ourselves, and then we drove ~45 minutes to into the foothills of Santa Elena, to visit Familia Martinez at their picturesque Finca El Refugio Zen. (We met this adventuresome family in Panamá in 2021, when they lived aboard their Moody sailing yacht, DA CAPO.)
    The next day we went together to Santa Elena’s Festival de Silletera, part of Medellín’s much larger Fería de las Flores.    Read more

  • svatfirstsight.comRendezvous MedellínTraveler
    Ready for the drizzle.
    Several generations of cooks had been making this caldron of soup over an open wood fire all day.Soup's on!Several generations of soup makers gathered around to wish us a safe journey.The sign shows the way to Silletera El Finca de Pensamientos.1Lovely flowers and a lovely lady.1

    Santa Elena & Finca El Refugio Zen ( 2)

    Aug 7–9 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    It was raining off and on today, and so rather than go trout fishing at a stocked lake where they cook what you catch, we all walked to the finca next door where several generations of neighbors had prepared caldos de mondago (tripe broth) for sale to passers by. They had been cooking vats of the soup since sunrise over open wood fires, and the enticing aroma had been wafting our way all day. Several in our group are vegetarians, and so they were served up the soup with the pork meat and tripe removed, but either way, it was quite tasty.

    Afterwards, Vicki and I walked about 1km to Finca Silletera El Pensamientos, which roughly translates to “flower chair farm of memories.” It was a beautiful flower farm with several acres of a multitude of flowers in full bloom.    Read more

  • svatfirstsight.comRendezvous MedellínTraveler

    Juli’s Family, Jardín Botánico & Finca

    Aug 9–10 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    We drove in early from Santa Elena to Medellín to rendezvous with Juliana Gil and her family, Andrés, Antonia, Matías and Maximiliano. Juli lived with us in CT as an exchange student in 1996-96. We spent much of the day at Jardín Botánico taking in the special Feria de Las Flores display. Then it was off to their finca in El Hato Obgregón de Antoquia, about an hour outside of Medellín.Read more

  • svatfirstsight.comRendezvous MedellínTraveler
    A quick farewell dinner with Leticia, Juli, and family.
    Enjoying the farewell double rainbow from Leticia's balcony.The warm and welcoming reception area of 61Prada Guest House. Highly recommended!>1.5m attended the Sillera Parade. We did not. But all the silleras were on display in Plaza Major.Appreciating beauty at Museo de Antioquia.We took the teleférico up from Medellín to Parque Avrí where we had coffee with Dini.Small world. We met this German couple in Puerto Rico in May, and then here and now in Medellín.Botero sculptures are fun to view, except this one destroyed by a terrorist in 1995 with 23 killed.Miguel, our knowledgeable guide on the Post Conflict Historical Tour of Medellín.This delightful lady was our server for breakfast at Multipan, across from Parque Boston.Museo Casa de la Memoria is a poignant reminder of the violent conflict in Colombia, ending in 2017.Casa de Memoria is to Medellín what District 6 Museum is to Cape Town. IYKYK.

    Exploring Medellín

    Aug 10–13 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    After a night with Juli and her family at their finca, we all drove back to Medellín to visit Juli’s mom at her apartment. We hadn’t seen Leticia since 1995 - and she hasn’t changed a bit 30 years! After a quick dinner and saying our goodbyes, Vicki and I went to 61Prada, a charming guest house in the Prada section of Medellín. We based ourselves here for exploring Medellín, Colombia’s second largest city, which has gone from being “the world’s most violent city” in the mid-1990s to welcoming 2.4 million tourists last year. Highlights included the Museo Antioquia, the teleférico to Parque Avrí, several excellent meals, and a stop at Museo Casa de la Memoria just before we started our return road trip to Santa Marta.Read more

    Trip end
    August 12, 2025
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