Hosteling

I must apologize for the slow updating. Things have gotten into full swing here at the hostel. Large groups coming and going, people getting to know each other. There was a mixer last night, the hostel did a beer pong tournament. I was paired up with a Colombian girl named Sandra, we lost but then I filled in for a player who had to leave and then won the tournament with my partner who was another Colombian guy who shows up every Friday and usually wins. It was a lot of fun. People of all different nationalities, some learning the game for the first time. I’ve only played it two other times. Since I lost first and then luckily paired up with the best player I decided to donate my small winnings back to the bar. The 25,000 peso pocket was enough for 8 shots of aguardiente that I asked the bartender to pour.

Most of you that know me pretty well, know that I don’t typically go out that often, especially to night clubs. Thurs-Saturday is big for the nightlife in Medellin so a group of us have been going out. I’ll spare you all the details of every night but it has been a ton of fun. The best part is that by the end of the night my wallet doesn’t feel any lighter. We did a college-type club on Thursday night called Babylons. You pay 30 mil pesos which is about $15 for cover then have a seat at any number of tables. The waiter eventually shows up and brings you bottles of whatever you want until you don’t want anymore. The popular choices are aguardiente, rum or vodka. You get free mixers all night. So once you pay your cover there is no reason to open your wallet again. I was with Tyler, an American from Indiana and Johnny, an Australian-Ghanan guy. The experience was a lot different than at home. Within a few seconds of sitting down a table with three girls made eye contact. Johnny and I speak very little Spanish and the little bit that I know is difficult to use in a club with loud music. Tyler took the lead and eventually we sat with them, drank, attempted dancing salsa, and just had a general good time. It was pretty mellow overall.

Yesterday morning I woke up and wanted to go to the metro cable which is a “skyride” of sorts like at an amusement park. The metro cable was meant to service the slums of Medellin that are spread out across the foothills near the outskirts of town, but now it has become a popular tourist attraction. I paid about 1500 peso (.75) for a ticket from Poblado to Acevedo station and then changed to the metro cable line that runs east-west. There are about 3 stops that drop you off at Santo Domingo station where you can get off or just circle back around. I decided to get off and have a coke and check out the views. The weather has been overcast all week so i haven’t gotten any really good photos yet. I also lost all my photos from the day yesterday when I tried to transfer them over to the computer. I’m not too upset about the cityscape pictures because I can go back and take them again when th sun is out but I took a bunch of photos of graffiti that I don’t think i’ll get back to. The afternoon in total cost me about $2. Can’t beat that.

I had a late afternoon snack at a Lebanese restaurant in Parque Lleras. I just had some pita and hummus and an orange drink. Every place in Parque Lleras has wifi so if anyone wants to visit Medellin who is self employed and has to do business, this is a good place be.

I made my way back the hostel where the beer pong would eventually start. It was a pretty good deal. The buy in was $5 and they filled the cups halfway with the micro brew that they have here from the tap. Which reminds me, I never made it out to the beer brewery the other day. There are three types of the micro brew, Cordilleras, an amber, pale ale and wheat. All three are very good. After the beer pong it started pouring so we sat around and waited and then most of the people in the hostel headed out to a club called Blue. The hostel is really cool in that it has some backpackers, some ex-pats that come here and then a mix of locals that enjoy it too so even though I’ve spent some time here I’m still getting to meet a lot of good people. I’ve gotten some good advice on working and moving and made some friends that would be a good source of info in the future.

There is more but I am tired of writing. I’ll probably do another “quick notes” update either today or tomorrow. They work better for getting out the little things that I don’t remember when I’m writing. The weather is looking pretty dreary today and I’ve done most of the tourist things inside the city. They’re throwing a birthday party for a backpacker that is here and we’re probably gonna watch some bowl games.

Tyler and I are trying to get a group together to go to this soccer match tomorrow. It is a playoff game and might actually be the final. We may go down to th stadium and get tickets for tomorrow.

Paragliding Monday probably.