"Normaaaal" and not so normaaal

Its been another long time since I last wrote. Up until last week life in Medellín with Lloyd had been what I would consider "normal" however in reality it is far from other people's measures of "normal". But what is normal really? Normal, or better described written "normaaaaal" as to give the spanish accent effect, has become a regular part of my vocabulary or daily speak as it has become an inside joke between my room mates and I. Paisas tend to use "normaaal" frequently as well hence the butt of the joke, however often said after things that may not truly be normal. Therefore the fun of the joke is to through "normaaaal" out after a comment or story that isn't truly normal, its all about sarcasm and irony.


Lloyd and I took one trip down to the southern part of the Antioquia province to two cities called Jardín and Andes. It was a much needed escape from the city life. We didn't do much, but relaxed and soaked in the surroundings of these small towns whose entire income comes from coffee. The landscape is incredibly beautiful, green mountains as far as you can see covered in coffee plants. A local bartender we befriended described that people in that region are very rich, but rich with land and off coffee. Finca (farm) owners have many hectares of land used only for coffee production and since Colombia exports all its good coffee they make lots of money. He described to us that on sunday mornings in the main square of Andes each Finca owner has his only table and the workers come to get paid. These same Finca owners then sit, chat and drink coffee in the plaza all day long throwing out wads of cash. Jardín (means garden) is a beautiful little town also thriving off of coffee production. We walked around, found a river and jumped in. Nothing too exciting but a good trip out of the city, here are some pictures. 

colorful and colonial jardín

mountain views in jardin

overlooking the river contemplating getting in!

after jumping in, hiding out from the rainstorm.

So after a few weeks of "normal" Medellín life: dance classes, English class visits, swimming, soccer games, arepas, rum and sidewalk chats about the greater meanings of life and cultural exchange with university students I boarded a Spirit Air fly to Fort Lauderdale, Florida for Little Elizabeth's (as she is called in our family) wedding. I was overwhelmed with excitement about the idea of seeing my whole family and being back in the good ol'US of A even if it was for less than a week. What first struck me as i roamed through the airport in Ft. Lauderdale was how ugly Americans are (no offense to any of you). Now of course this is a huge generalization and the crowd I was viewing were simply fat out, of shape,  twang speaking tourists and drunk college students on Spring Break in Florida. I would venture to say that California has a healthier dose of natural beauty. I found myself laughing to myself has I overheard various truly American conversations.

family napkin rolling assembly line

at dinner #1

Surprisingly being back in the US wasn't quite as strange as I expected it to be, yes it was different but it was so surreal and short that there wasn't enough time to really sink into the true effects of reverse culture shock. The wedding was an amazing family event, and although I went on a 4 day bender something I haven't done since college I guess that could be expected, it was a wedding after all. Elizabeth was beautiful and the whole ceremony was perfectly planned and organized down to the groomsmen's socks. Grandmother made the trip flawlessly and looked amazing at the wedding, looking years younger than her true age. We reunited with an old family friend Stacia and her daughter Maya which was incredibly fun and funny, bringing me back to the many years Stacia and her husband Jose entertained my sister and I during our visits to LA. My whole family looked radiant and proud as we watched the first of the three grandchildren or nieces make her vows to a great man. The question is when will the next family wedding be? We all danced the night away to the fun and rocking sounds of the Lucky Penny band. I couldn't have been more stoked to be hanging out with Julia and Jonas again and we laughed the days away, making me overly excited for my California return and all the wonderful friends I have at home.

The family at the wedding

yayyyy!

picture time.. jonas and the ladies!

After an epic trip to Whole Foods and consuming two Kombuchas in attempt to cure my wicked hangover my mother, father and I boarded a flight to Cartagena. Again everything was surreal and after a short hop, skip and jump over the Caribbean we landed in warm and humid Cartagena.


Cartagena is a truly interesting place. It is the only place the people really even dared to visit during the years of violence in Colombia and is therefore the most touristy place in Colombia, full of both Colombian toursits and foreigners. Cartagena is a compilation of many different worlds that somehow coexist in what seems to be a fairly functional manner. Last time I was in Cartagena I played the backpacker game, staying in the Getsemaní region (just outside the walled city) which was filled with backpackers, hostals,  dirty, young and sometimes even pregnant prostitutes, people trying to sell you everything you can think of and young Colombian sketchballs offering you marijuana or cocaine (or probably more) on every corner. Many backpackers do not have the greatest of times in Cartagena due to the corruption, high prices and attempts (and often successes) at conning. I will agree that Cartagena is almost too weird a place to really enjoy it, but the old city is so majestic, magical and romantic that I could literally walk around and around it forever. Imagining that I was smack in the middle of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Love in the time of Cholera with horses and carriages trotting around the narrow colonial streets, old wooden terraces overflowing bougainvillea and other flowers, grand churches, old archways, lush plazas and historical statues, bright colored buildings, old doors and door knobs and of course the wall with its look out towers and cannons facing the warm Caribbean. Cartagena is perfectly restored and the old city serves as almost a large history museum. I cannot think of a more romantic and idyllic city. There isn't much to do except look fabulous, wine and dine expensively and walk around the
old city hand in hand with your lover (or in my case, my parents and Lloyd). There is also the Bocagrande sector of the city (where we stayed) which is where all the Colombian tourists flock. It is a peninsula surrounded by mediocre beach chalked full of white high rise condominiums and hotels. Not my first choice for a vacation spot but we got a great deal on an apartment to stay in so it made the most sense.

Bocagrande by night

parents on the beach in Bocagrande

Cartagena is one of the 3 principle port cities of Colombia and home to a large naval base. Therefore there are consistently large yahts, container ships and cruise ships coming in and out of the bay. All these aspects combined with its huge tourism industry also make for a very interesting dark side of Cartagena. In general Colombia is known for sexual tourism and drug tourism, but Cartagena particularly. In our week in Cartagena we saw way too many dirty old men with hot young hookers or escorts, sleazy tourist men taking young afrocolombian girls on romantic trips to island resorts, dirty Colombianas in thong bathing suits asking innocent tourists to grease her up and girls on the street working. Most the night clubs in Cartagena are brothels in disguise with underground drug scenes. Drink prices are high and sex prices are higher. The dark side of Cartagena is much to evident and obvious, therefore making Cartagena a less desirable, dirty and uncomfortable place for the discerning tourist. However, this is true of all large cities these days especially those with lax enforcement of such things. However, Cartagena still has its perks.

the parents in the old city

Further proof of the extremely multifaceted city that is Cartagena are the outlying islands surrounding the city: Isla Barú, Tierrabomba, and the national park Islas del Rosario a set of coral islands now filled with island resorts, owned my rich and famous Colombians, or foreigners married to Colombianas. This is where we spent the majority of our week in Cartagena: Cocoliso Isla Resort. We were quite weary as we arrived, but it ended up being a great choice and fabulous experience. We were lucky enough to catch it on the off season and windy season. So this meant, few tourists, no heat stroke and no bugs! There were times when it truly felt like we had the whole place to ourselves, especially after the day trip boats left taking toursits back to Cartagena. We spent four days there, swimming four to five times a day in the lagoon, warm clear ocean and the pool, snorkeling along an amazing coral reef, sunbathing, reading, eating fruit, fresh fish and talking to the many locals there to serve us and offer us there many touristic services and artistry. The main livelihood of the people who live on these islands are fishing or tourism. After getting screwed over by the government and the rich and famous of Colombia, the locals have smartened up at overcharging, and creating ecofriendly ways to give tourists what they want while making a living for themselves. Our snorkel guide explained the life on Isla Barú perfectly: "We are no longer ignorant, we are educated and smart. On our island we have everything, grocery stores, schools, atms, stores, taxis, buses, cars and motorcycles. We live a simple live but its a rich and enjoyable life." On Isla Barú there are 8,500 people and despite many obvious differences my parents and I found some strings of similarities between the island life described by the locals and our own simple, tourism driven lives in Elk.

Cocoliso Resort

Hammock napping parents

On our last night in Cartagena Lloyd, Amalia (a beautiful and wonderful Argentine) and I sent the parents home and went to meet up with our roommate and dear friend Meg, her boyfriend (a Cartageñero) and some friends of his. We sat around at a large DJ set watching music videos from Colombia (particularly Medellín) and listening to music. Meg has gotten a wonderful insight to the true life of young artistic Colombians through the life of her hiphopping, breakdancing boyfriend and the non-violence trainings she has been in charge of throughout the country. I sat watching the videos and absorbing the moment we were in realizing what a, for lack of better words, "gangster" place Medellín is. There is a large hiphop community and a large population of poor youth whose lives have been rampaged with corruption, crime, violence, death and drugs. However, they are fighting, wishing, hoping and rapping for a change. The deeper i fall into my knowledge and experiences of Medellín I realize how freshly "recovered" it is from the Pablo Escobar days. The worst of the drug lords have been killed or locked up but the lower ranks of the cartels are still alive and thriving, they have simply been pushed out of the view and lives of the upper class and tourists and downtown city of Medellín, but are still thick in the poorer barrios and in the lives of many youths. All Colombians (not just Paisas) have lived unique and for many difficult lives. As I absorbed last night's environment it brought me to an interesting realization. Despite Colombia's long Northern coast along the Caribbean, water activities are minor and underdeveloped. There is little to no surf on the Northern coast and the most common water sports are jet-skiing and booze cruising in yachts and sailboats. Therefore the coastal youth do not have water sports to channel their energy, skills and creativity, to fight and speak out against the corruption, poverty, violence and difficulties of their lives and barrios (neighborhoods). So instead they turn to hiphop and breakdancing to express themselves, to make changes and to relieve their minds of the daily happenings and fights they must overcome. Ecuador is different, yes I am sure there is a strong hiphop community somewhere in Ecuador, but on the coast you find a strong surfer and water activity culture and scene. I clearly fit in and can relate to the Pacific water activity culture much better than a hiphop culture, but the work, talent and activities taking place in the hiphop community around Colombia is amazing, touching, powerful and rewarding. On the way home I sat in the front of the taxi thinking about the three distinct neighborhoods we passed through on our way back to the apartment. We left Ruth's house in a middle class, residencial, normal Cartagenan neighborhood, into the beautiful and majestic walled city that takes my breath away every time and into the high rises of Bocagrande attempting to look like Miami.


We (my parents and I) are currently sitting in the Cartagena airport waiting to board our flight to Medellín. I am excited to go "home" to Medellín and for my parents to see the contrast between the coast and Medellín and to see the unique beauty that is Medallo. :)