Today started off like any other day. I get up (way before anyone else does), I take a shower, and I have breakfast. Since I wanted breakfast to stick to my sides, I opted to cook some scalloped potatoes with onions and tomatoes. Eggs would really go well with this meal, but I think I am afraid. Afraid of high cholesterol. Remember I had eggs EVERYDAY for about 2 weeks.
What can I say it was included in the rate and I could not say no. It was not until the end of the first week that I started to be able to communicate egg whites, lol. Besides eggs in the city are pricey! I know, I know it's all relative, but I am referring to COP (colombian Pesos) when in Colombia!
But not to bore you with the details, the signifance of the above was the interactions that came with me deciding what I was going to eat. A fellow backpacker from Australia, who I suspect just finished his high school studies was an extra talkative young fellow this morning.
I remember leaving him the previous night still pounding drink for drink. I had asked him today if he had been to sleep and he said no. He also referenced that he was hammered after a bottle of the local spirits and some coke. I hope he was playing about the last, but no matter. He just kept talking and talking. Asking were WE going to have eggs and did I need some help and why was I cooking potatoes the way I was and why was I doing this or that. I felt like I was talking to a child who just learned to talk. There was another guy in the kitchen, Sergio. He had just returned from the grocery store then the talkative one decided to attack. He picked up his groceries and then his yogurt in a bag. He went off on a spill about why do Colombians package things in bags.. and what are you supposed to do with it, etc, etc. People like him remind me why I have cut back on drinking significantly.. well at least in Colombia.
I type all this to say I LOVE YOU GUYS, my friends, my wall between making a SUPER ass of myself, the ones who keep me hidden from most public scrutiny. Maybe this is secretly why I've been relatively sober on this trip, lol, so watch out.
Now the kicker was that his drunk/high self decided to walk to the grocery store barefoot. When I asked him why.. he said, why not. The streets are clean. HE did all that to get some..
I love this stuff! I don't drink it much, but I like it better than SunnyD!
So during breakfast, Sergio and I started chatting it up about what just happened and what we had planned to do for the day. I had ZERO plans and I was open for some simple exploration. After an hour of CNN (<-- How in the know I feel now) we were off! It was a fruitful interaction, he is pretty good at English, but there are words he is still learning, and he offered to help me with my Spanish throughout the day. So my vocab has increased 5% (don't ask me what this is based on tho) and I feel accomplished.
We ended up walking a good bit around the University area of the city. Went to the Botanical Gardens saw more butterflies..
I think they were mating... Do butterflies mate? I know I can google this, but I am lazy!
What was interesting was that this lizard, iguana maybe?, came out of nowhere while we were at the Gardens! Now during this time, these two older ladies were soo friendly. They were just chatting it up, mostly with Sergio. I figure I understood about 4% of the whole conversation. One of the senoras, in Spanish, was like got take a picture, go take a picture. I felt soo accomplished that I knew what they said.. So, wearily, I ran in and ran out to take a picture. I was not sure if they were killers, biters, etc, so I decided to make it quick!
Now maybe I should not be surprised, but the cleanliness of the city is fascinating. They are true advocates of recycling.
I learned today they have some of the best tasting water (tap water) around. They use some kind of bacteria to clean the water! Ha.. I wonder why more people have not done this around the world..We tried to visit one of the Universities, but they politely told us NO! The interesting thing is that Medellin is building this huge structure that is suppose to bring more technology to the city. They've decided to engage some local artists to share their talents on a wall surrounding the construction site. This graffiti was awesome!
After deciding that we did not have much to do, Sergio suggested that we go to Santafe Mall. This is the ritzy mall of Medellin. The mall was fancy.. the neighborhood was fancy.
Views from the mall/neighborhood..
Retracting roof..
Sergio!
Views of the neighborhood...
Fancy me..
I am just fancy.. until I saw Frisby's Fried Chicken, lol. Now mind you I referred to how people eat Frisby's earlier (with a plastic glove).. and I figured I wanted to try the chicken and not the glove. I ordered the Snack which was chicken strips and fries. Now I did not take a picture of the chicken, but I wanted to moreso show this quite inventive thing.
Now if we have this, I just haven't seen it.. but genius! My first thought was who needs a cupholder-chicken thingy when most people walk, bus, or taxi.. then I thought maybe it is for the aristocrats of Medellin. Most of them have cars and this does create something rather ideal for them. Albeit, kind of dangerous, but I like it! The chicken was okay, but FINAL VOTE: IT has nothing on Popeye's!
After a great day, we decided to head back! I swang in the hammock (<-- is that correct) did some reading and fell asleep right there! Can you say uber-relaxing! Aww tomorrow is the big day. Since its my last day, I think I can get a pass. Whatever happens, I plan on trying to stay awake and go straight to the airport. There are not that many flights in and out.. can't be taking any chances.
No comments:
Post a Comment