Medellin, Colombia:
After a week or so we decided to go to Medellin before launching Sojourn as it would be safer and the barnacle growth at anchor is horrible – especially after putting new bottom paint on. We were fortunate in that we didn’t have to pay the $300/gallon as it was a warranty claim with Interlux. We had to find cruiser friends coming from Curacao (500 nm) to bring it to us as Interlux does not sell it in Colombia.
We stay with our Colombian friend Maria’s (who lived with Judy & Larry) family. It was WONDERFUL! It is the capitol of Antioquia, second largest city set in the valley of the Sierra Mountains with spring temperatures all year round. It is a very modern city with convenient metro train including a tram that takes you up the hills to surrounding barrios. It was a nice break from living on the hard in the heat/humidity of a marina.
We timed this trip so we could see "el dia de las velitas" (day of the candles) and "los alumbrados" (festival of 15 Million Christmas Lights that continues until early January) which begins December 7th. We took a 12 hour bus trip (ended up taking 15) in order to see some of the country. It was a beautiful trip traveling through the Sierra Mountains, small colonial towns, etc.
We returned a week later via a night bus in thoughts that we could sleep BUT with the MEAT LOCKER temperatures of the bus we were afraid that if we did sleep we wouldn’t wake back up. No seriously, it was very cold and spent a lot of our time trying to keep warm as we didn’t bring enough clothes/jackets/blankets to do that. I even resorted to spending time in the smelly toilet in order to warm up as it wasn’t cooled — lodging myself between the walls as the bus would round another curve.
After several times of asking driver to turn the air conditioner lower, off, etc. occasionally it felt like it was getting abit warmer and then ON it was again in full force. How is this possible that the driver can not regulate the temperature? How is it that I was the only one complaining when everyone else was uncomfortable? I did see that they were MUCH more prepared for this temperature than we were with BLANKETS, HATS, etc. So it is obvious that this is a culture thing that has gone on for a VERY long time. This seems so odd…… It was a relief to finally get back to Cartagena and off that cold bus. I felt like we were prisoners being punished. Well enough of that…..
Let me give you abit of a history lesson about what these 2 events are.
Día de las Velitas (Day of the Candles) is one of the most observed traditional holidays of Colombia. It is celebrated on December 7th, on the eve of the Immaculate Conception. This is the unofficial start of the Christmas season in the country.
On this day, people place candles and paper lanterns on their windows, balconies, porches, sidewalks, streets, parks and squares, in short, everywhere they can be seen, in honor of the Virgin Mary and her immaculate conception.
The celebration of the Day of the Candles dates to 1854. On December 8, Pope Pius IX solemnly defined as dogma the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, published in his constitution Ineffabilis Deus. In anticipation of this decision, people lighted candles and paper lanterns to show their support and belief in this idea, a long-held tradition among them. The Catholic Church of Colombia kept alive the celebration and made an annual tradition of lighting candles the night of December 7th.
Los Alumbrados – Is the celebration of Christmas by illuminating 15 Million lights with music, water and normal lights EVERYWHERE. It is beautiful and most impressive as they recycle the water obtained from the river that runs through Medellin.
Maria’s parents (Oscar and Amanda) are delightful, warm and kind. We stayed in their apartment which is very easy to take a bus to the metro and get around that way. What was wonderful is that they drove us to their finca (farm) about 1 hour away in Guarne pueblo. They took the long route which took us all day to get their stopping for church service, colonial villages, eating, seeing sites/churches, etc. About a year ago they stopped operating their rainbow trout business along with his accounting business in Medellin. They have a stream running through their property and are in a beautiful setting along with all the rest of the farms that grow strawberries, blackberries, beans, corn, dairy cows, flowers, guayaba, tomate de orbol, granadilla and lots of other fruits I hadn’t tasted before. I thought that this couldn’t be possible as I have seen a lot of fruits in our 3-4 year cruising of the Caribbean. But that’s what is a lesson in any life is there is ALWAYS something else to learn, taste and see!
I was able to practice my limited Spanish but with dictionary in hand we got by reasonably well as Oscar does understand some English but communicate mostly in Spanish. I loved being in the country around farmers and only wished that I could ask all the questions in Spanish that streamed though my mind. I guess that is still my goal. It just seems my brain just doesn’t want to cooperate as fast as I want it to. I did have a brief but heartfelt conversation with an elderly farmer. Tom endured and would attempt to look up words in Spanish as well. He didn’t get to humor them with his jokes which he loves to do. We did briefly meet Maria’s sister Paula the evening before we left which was nice as she does speak English quite well. Oscar and Amanda have attempted to visit Maria but visa was declined so they were sad about that. One does wonder what is up with our country. Not many countries are as restrictive as our just to come and visit!!
We got back and in 2 days FINALLY returned Sojourn to the water. We just stared to get to know the Bosque area where the marina was by taking early morning walks, drinking jugo con leche (fresh juice blended with milk), eating arepes (deep fried thick corn tortilla stuffed with egg and meat), seeing all the local businesses/labor do their thing. As near the anchorage it is abit more upscale. Interesting in that during our stay we were the only cruisers from USA, rest from Europe. But that is what happens as you get closer to the Panama Canal. We will probably start heading toward San Blas Panama this week. So we will email you with our SSB address as we won’t have internet access. We believe we will be there until end of March when we hope to travel to Costa Rica to visit past cruisers that have property there.
Got to go and get this published as we will be busy provisioning, looking at cruising guides, charts and seeing who else is heading in that direction. Plus tonight I got last minute tickets from another cruiser to go to the ballet at the convention center in old Centro which is supposed to be lots of cultural dance, costume, etc.
So off we go again. Keep in touch with your life!!! We miss and love you ALL. Happy Holidays!
Keep your dreams ALIVE!
Rose & Tom