The last thing we wanted to do was ride these air gondola lifts that take one to Parque Arvi that overlooks all of Medellin. Again we took the walk to the metro in stride and noticed something interesting.
Excessive security
Some people go to extreme measures to prevent access into their property. It's not every single person in a neighborhood - it's just little bits of people here and there. So it's not as if a bunch of blocks experience crime. It's either people react very badly to past theft or people prepare very well for it.
When we got to the station, we tried to order tickets for the ride to the bottom of the gondola and to the gondola itself. To our dismay, we were too late to try Parque Arvi. There was some procession going on in celebration of Holy Week so it was too crowded to even try to go up there. Oh well. On another vacation we can get our jollies going up in the air.
Running on Neutral
The picture below is poor, but it is of 3 missionaries who huddled under an on-ramp to tell passersby about Jesus. It perplexed me because Colombia is overwhelmingly Christian. My guess is that the evangelists were something other than Catholic, what 80% of the population is. They must have been saying, "We praise Jesus better. Worship like we do!"
In the background of the photo was a young indigenous mother who was begging for money. This girl looked as if she were 15. This little corner was the only spot we were ever solicited for money or a bit of our time.
More Corsets
Since this was our last day in Medellin we had given all our laundry to the hostel hostess to wash. Unfortunately, we couldn't kill time by going to the gym without our gym clothes. But seeing as how cheap the clothes were, we decided buy new workout outfits at Exito! In the midst of our shopping, we noticed another method of improving our body image that wouldn't have involved as much sweat as going to the gym.
Man + Spanx = Manx!
This line of corsets for men was by a brand named Leo and their slogan was, "Sin excusas," or "No excuses!" Sweat or not, we had the opportunity to make all the Colombians swoon with contoured abs such as Leo could provide.
I'm not sure what exactly the one on the right wants to enhance.
Men too suffer from the Saggy Butt Syndrome!
After a great workout, we had dinner at Medellin Beer Company. It seemed fitting that we would have something so quintessential of the area. It was actually the first time we enjoyed a burrito! It was giant and stuffed with cheesy, meaty goodness. I had chicken wings, which were alright, but I wished I had had Michael's entree.
Drowning chicken wings and heavenly burrito
Packing Panic
Despite having given our laundry to the hostel hosts early in the day, our clothes were not finished when returned. Normally this doesn't matter, but we needed to pack and catch an early flight that left at 6am the following morning. According to Viva Colombia's website, we needed to be at the airport 3 hours before because of the long check-in process. This meant that we needed to be in the cab by 2:15am. The hostel owner himself made sure that the cab was reserved, so all we needed to do was pack.
While waiting for the laundry, Pilar, the girlfriend of our host Alejandro, gave us a little going away gift. It's a candied bar of guava. They had been so nice to us during our stay. Ale was the one who greeted us when we arrived. He was the one who switched us to a different room in anticipation for the loud weekend. He and Pilar also offered us some of the food they cooked in the kitchen. I was really going to miss them! Not because they offered us food, but they were adventurous souls that hung around the hostel and loved to chat. According to their plans, as I write this they've visited the island beaches of Colombia and are moving on to travel the rest of South America before they return to their home country of Argentina.
The other hosts were very nice too. Robin was this tall, quiet young man who always had a smile. When we needed to get our boarding tickets printed, he directed to a neighboring internet shop. Many mornings he would greet me good morning and ask if I wanted some fruit for breakfast. If I did, he would have some papaya or pineapple ready in no time. Dani was this funky, red-dye-haired girl who always smiled. If we ever go back to Medellin, we are definitely staying at Saman Hostel again.
We finally got our laundry at 10:30pm. We packed quickly, but only got 2 1/2 hours of sleep before we got dressed waiting for our cab.
Plane Panic
Wouldn't you know it, the cab was late. It takes one good hour through windy roads to get to the airport and it was now 2:30 am. Ale kept assuring us that the cab would arrive, but we had become accustom to how tardy Colombians are. We didn't bother waiting inside the hostel, but instead parked our luggage out on the front porch, sat down next to them and scrutinized every car that passed by. I finally asked Ale to call the dispatch. He did and it seemed that scheduled driver was not available. WTF?!?!? But Ale settled it and another driver (someone higher up on the ladder of drivers) was on his way.
I was not going to miss the lackadaisical attitude that Medellin people had about time. I don't care about sitting in the airport with my thumbs twiddling. It relieves me to be where I need to be well ahead of time. The uncertainty of arriving at my destination makes my stomach queasy and my whole constitution uncomfortable, I was hoping the other cities would be less tardy, but I was doubting it would come true.
We finally got to the airport at 4am, but the process to check in was lightning quick! It turns out, we never had to do any check-in process. Since we had already printed our passes and were not checking in any baggages, we were able to go right ahead to the security lines to get to the departure gate. Forums online warned that many locals would be checking-in baggages and that security would take forever. Not so! In fact, all our worry for having liquids in the form of after shave balm and hair sprays were all for naught! In the process of putting my bag of liquids in a separate bin, the security guard waved her hand and shook her head and told me that I could just put the ziploc bag back in my backpack. I could have had mousse all this time, but I was too fearful of the security measures! I guess Colombia's lackadaisical attitude comes in handy sometimes.
Getting to the correct gate was comical. The gate signs for the corresponding flights changed every 15 minutes! We first thought we were headed to Gate 1B, after a while, we moved to 2, and then finally to 1A. The disorganization was incredible. One thing that was great, however, was the large supply of outlets in which many passengers used to charge their electronic devices. The free wi-fi was a little weak, but it was strong enough that I was able to pass the time playing some games on my phone.
Boarding a plane in America is quite luxurious compared to the rest of the world. For one, your gate will not likely change ... multiple times. Maybe once, but never as frequently as it did in Medellin. Another reason is that boarding the plane is usually through a covered tunnel without stairs. With Viva Colombia at least, we had to carry our bags down a flight of stairs, exit the building, walk miles (ok, just 1/16th of a mile) to stand in a line in front of the plane for 20 minutes, and then climb more stairs to get inside the plane. I mean, we lived, but it made me realize how comfortable America is.
We settled down in our seats and looked forward to the next leg of our Colombian adventure!
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