Medellin Colombia

Took the red eye from Denver via Houston to Bogota and hopped onto Avianca to reach Medellin on a Sunday morning. I just realized that I had not been back to South America since 1995.

A friend had put Columbia as a bug in my ear and it piqued my interest to go check it out. I read a lot of great travel accounts of how much people love this country but the night before leaving a YouTube video was served and it featured huge safety concerns, so much so that I almost canceled my trip.

I'm glad I didn't because as I took a taxi to the drop off spot in town, I was walking and found this leftover party from the flower festival and a music performance attended by locals I didn't see a single tourist, just perfect. Nice lunch too. What a great way to be welcomed here.

Off to the hostel to take a good nap, there wasn't enough sleeping on the airplanes. Then I went for an afternoon walk and was back in the hostel by 8:00 p.m. Mike, a hostel resident has been here for 9 weeks as he is in therapy to overcome losing his wife to cancer 7 years ago. We talked for 2 hours, he is just one day older than me. He's gone through a lot but it sounds like he's finally on the road to recovery.Read more