A Mere 12 Hours of Travel to Springtime in Medellin

We left SLC at 6:05 am, a big thanks to Victor for driving us there at such an early hour! All three flights were on-time and fairly easy, around three hours each.
Waiting in Miami I was approached by a friendly man who inquired about my Nook, he had just purchased one and wanted to know how to set it up. I gave him a bit of information before Keith came up to speak with him as well. Fernando had just finished a cruise in the Caribbean with his family (wife and two beautiful children in their 20's). He was so friendly and offered to help us in any way we may need in his home city of Medellin. As chance would have it Keith was seated right next to him on the totally full plane and they chatted, mostly in Spanish, the whole way to Colombia! I'm sure we will be seeing him here again during our stay, a very nice person who has traveled extensively in the states and abroad.




Today we slept late before venturing out around The Art House where we have taken residency for at least one week. We found out about this place from one of the young owners while waiting for our luggage in Buenos Aires. He purchased this house in an town on the outskirts of the second largest city in Colombia and has done a nice job fixing it up 'western style' into a guest house. Named after an art center on the same street, it is filled with interesting paintings. It's comfortable, especially in and around our private room on the roof terrace. The view is wonderful of the lush, green mountains nearby.
Temperature here is perfect, around 80 degrees with a slight wind, it is a little humid which will be good for my skin after the freezing dry air in SLC these past three weeks!
We did wander around the area this morning securing some provisions for breakfasts & other meals in the coming days. The streets are still full of holiday decorations which hang from one side to the other. One street had giant fruit with neon lights and the next street birds, butterflies and flying insects. In the center of the town square was a tree shaped structure with a happy moon face on top, all very colorful and creative.



Our only disappointment today was the cup of coffee we stopped to have to start our day. As you can see from this picture it was nearly pure milk with a little coffee flavor. You will also note how exhausted I look, a true representation. I initiated the first, rather long, nap of this second part of our trip. We are just getting back up and around now!


The fruit here is a huge treat, so varied, cheap and delicious! The supermarkets seemed to carry more choices than in Chile, Argentina and Uruguay as well. We were very happy to see a selection of tortillas, though here they are thicker corn types.

Tonight we will join a couple of people here at the Art House at an intercambio experience where we will speak English with native Spanish speakers in exchange for some English speaking practice for them. Afterwards it's off to dance the salsa at a club with a live band! Good thing we had a good nap!