The return to the eternal spring city, Medellin. We were here two years ago and loved it. But the forever long winding line at immigration was a horror (again).

Then a miracle happened. We were maybe about 47 rows back in those back and forth lines and some official type guy started rattling off a bunch of Spanish at me. I turned to someone else in line and asked what is he talking about??? The lady said he is telling you that you can get out of line and come with him to the very front of a special line for children, elderly and disabled. Wow. We went with him and he took us directly to an immigration agent who stamped our passport and we were done just like that.

The airport in in a valley next to the one that Medellin is in. There is a mountain in between. It used to take an hour or more to wind up and then down that mountain. A couple years ago they opened one of the longest tunnels in South America to go right through that mountain and saves nearly an hour on the trip into Medellin.

And when you come out of that tunnel you get your first view of Medellin.

Our neighborhood in Medellin is called El Poblado (the town). Here is a view of where we live from a bit higher up the mountainside. There is an arrow pointing to the building we are in.

We started out staying in the same apartment we were in two years ago. A huge balcony and trees all around. Here is a tour.

After a month, we moved to the apartment you see right next to us. It was a bit cheaper. Had a dryer. Better hot water a better work space and a small balcony on the side.

One of the big reasons to come to Medellin is the inexpensive and very professional health services. We had a team that would come to our apartment with a big pile of equipment and do EKG’s, blood work, IV vitamins and much, much more. They also took us all over town to specialists – heart specialists, urinary tract/prostrate specialists, hearing tests and more.

One of the offices we could walk to was Smiles International. This is where we had a lot of dental work done last time we were in Medellin. We went here for follow-up and a dermatologist. They have a very nice natural waiting room.

The whole city is like this. In the last few years they have planted hundreds of thousands of trees and over two million plants. Not only has it made the city look and feel so nice but it has lowered the temperature in the city by over 4 degrees. Here is a typical example of what they have done to some buildings.

Another beautiful part of the city are all the mountain streams coming down the hillsides.

And the bamboo groves.

The above video is in the neighborhood called the Provenza. The streets are all blocked off for pedestrian only and in the evening the place is packed with people out for a good time. Drinking, eating, dancing – just a big party every night.

Walking on the streets and sidewalks around here is like walking through a garden much of the time. Here is a typical sidewalk.

A tree along the main road was full of brilliant yellow flowers. Didn’t last long. A week later the tree was bare.

I was raised in Minnesota and on some highways you would have a sign that told you it was a deer crossing area. Never saw one of these growing up.

Trees here sometimes have a lot of roots.

We’ve heard some bird sounds we can’t identify. Sounds like they are coming from some pretty big birds, though. This guy was right outside our door.

Medellin has a virtual army of people keeping the streets and sidewalks cleaned up. But we found a few places that apparently nobody is assigned to. We put on our Basura Busters gear and went after it.

Sometimes you find some coins picking up trash. We once found a $20 bill cleaning up the streets in the Fondren neighborhood of Jackson, Mississippi. But at first it looked like we found the motherload of street cash.

Three USA hundred dollar bills. After close inspection we were convinced they were counterfeit. Got us excited though.

We happened to be in Medellin during their big annual festival, Feria de las Flores. In one of the malls they had a 25,000 flower display. A seahorse surrounded.

At the end of the over a week long festival, there is a big parade with people carrying these large circular flower arrangements. Nearly every business had one customized to be represented in the parade. This is for the Alchemist Restaurant where many of their drinks smoke and sizzle.

While we were in Colombia, Charlotte celebrated her 80th birthday. She had a great and memorable day. Here we are celebrating at a Peruvian restaurant named La Causa. Their edamame is the best and their whitefish is also terrific.

A special Peruvian drink. Pisco Sour de Verano.

Here Charlotte is with a friend, Darci, that we met here. They got matching hats at Le Brunch Nairobi Restaurant.

And then there was a surprise!!

Even the gal who runs the little cafe in our building, Vivi, got in on the fun. She came to our apartment with a hot coffee, a treat from her coffee shop and a feliz cupleanos balloon.

You meet the most wonderful people in these travels. It is so fun to share stories and adventures. This is Rob and Darci from Phoenix who were also enjoying Medellin.

This is a genuine smile lady. Giving them out for free every day all day. We gave her a nice donation to support what she is doing.

We saw this guy almost every day. He has beautiful flowers. They were a bit expensive for us, so we just gave him money.

Every Sunday along the boulevard turned into a walking and jogging there is a free jazzercise program put on by a store in the Santa Fe Mall.

About that Sunday boulevard blocked off for walkers and joggers and bicyclists and dogs. There must be well over 10,000 people taking advantage of these several miles of tree lined streets. Entertainers and food and art stands line the way.

When you adventure outside your country, you will inevitably run into foods you have never seen before. You won’t be brave enough to try everything (particularly true if you aren’t a meat eater) and probably a fair number of the things you try, you will not like. But I can say that Dragon Fruit is a real favorite of ours.

We don’t have a car but we often rent rides in Ubers or the equivalent around the world. Sometimes you see the most amazing things at stoplights. 0

One morning, we were just having some quiet moments when all these fireworks started going off. We finally went to the window to see what was going on. This huge hot air balloon had been shooting these rockets off in all directions. The video misses most of the excitement, but you get an idea. Turned out it was celebrating Colombia in the COPA futbol tournament finals against Argentina.

All kinds of arts going on here. Wall murals. We walked by this one nearly every day.

At our local ‘fresh market’ grocery store they have regular cooking classes for kids.

Then there is the, “Who let the cows out?” They had been grazing out in the mushroom field and really look it.

Back in the 1980’s when Escobar and his drug gangs had the city on high alert, security guards would have never had this relaxed an attitude.

Sometimes the words of the prophets really are written on the subway walls. This one says inner peace equals outer peace.

This outer journey is getting all the attention, but Charlotte and I are also on a more or less invisible inner journey too. Charlotte likes to get inspiration from masters when we do our daily and Zoom group meditations (about 15 hours a week).

I intend to do a Post to go into more detail about this inner journey. Here I want to invite you to join us in a book club we have started called the Masters of Wisdom Book Club. It’s free and we have a Zoom get together at the conclusion of reading each book. You can join here:

https://bookclubs.com/join-a-book-club/club/masters-of-wisdom-book-club

This bring us up to date. We head out for a night in Miami next week and then on to Tangier, Morocco for three weeks. Two weeks in Malta and then on October 13 we start another three months in Torremolinos, Spain. Come visit if you can. Peace. Out.