After five months in Ecuador, we thought we had a decent grasp of Spanish, but then we landed in Medellín and when our driver spoke, we found ourselves wondering what language he was speaking! Spanish in Medellín sounds nothing like what we heard in Ecuador. In Shell, our little town on the edge of the jungle, life moves a little slower and so does the speech. In the area we were living, Ecuadorians have a beautiful way of speaking with inflection so the sentence has a fluid up and down sound and you can hear individual words. In Medellín's fastpaced city of 4 million people, there is little (mostly no) inflection and the words are smushed into one supercallifragilistic word! As a result, we stood there like a deer in headlights trying to pick out a familiar sound.
We rented an apartment on the 21st floor of a high-rise in Alejandria, part of Antioquia, in the city of Medellín, Colombia. It's commonly called the Poblado barrio. We shared it with our friends Alan and Sofie.
Being around so many people, lights, music and restaurants was overwhelming after living on the edge of the Ecuadorian jungle for the past 5 months where food options are limited. The incredible variety of food options was a welcome change.
We found our favorites and returned to them often. LaVocaderia sells
Even avocado on chicken and waffles!
Avocado everything!
Crepes and Waffles - everything was amazing, and they serve desserts the size of a human head.
We enjoyed a fantastic steak dinner date night at LaTRES Uno!
Walking around downtown was never boring. People are very smart about making money any way they can. Some dance in the street during red lights. This man quickly stretches a rope from pole to pole then juggles while balancing on the rope. Just before the light turns green, he jumps down, unhooks the rope and collects any money that drivers hold out for him.
This is the metro station where we would pick up the train to other parts of town.
We happened to be in Medellín for Colombia's biggest event of the year, La Feria de las Flores, the festival of flowers. This 10 day celebration brings with it 150 events including a parade and concerts.
I took the kids to the event at the botanical garden. The variety and sheer numbers of flowers were very impressive. Some of the designs felt like we'd fallen into a Dr Seuss story.
There were so many large iguanas in the gardens. We had fun trying to spot them in the trees and around the lake.
There is really so much for kids to do here. We spent two days at the science center, two days at the indoor trampolines and ropes course and a day at Divercity, a child-sized town run by kids. They try out different careers, and earn paychecks which they can deposit in the bank. They were paramedics, police, firefighters, factory workers, astronauts and more. We were told a typical wage in Medellín is about $271/month for a 48 work week, Monday thru Saturday. On Sunday, employers are required to pay time and a half, so most businesses remain closed on Sundays. 
Summit Medellín Trampoline Park was a fun place!
Of course I enjoyed birding while the kids had fun playing in the local parks.
Daddy and our kids took two weeks of classes and I thrived thru four weeks of private classes. By the time we left I had moved into their "advanced class".
We learned there are quite a few words that are only used in Medellín, and other words that we'd learned in Shell that aren't used in Colombia. (Similar to the regional difference in using the words Soda, pop, coke in the US.) Confusing!
Going to miss this pool and amazing view!
No comments:
Post a Comment