How did I end up here??

Good question......I get asked on a daily basis why I am living here in Medellin...to be honest it wasnt meant to be this way. Lets start from the beginning.

Medellin View

After my quarter life crisis at 25, I decided to quit the exciting world of 8 hours a day of wishing my life away on Microsoft Excel - maybe including an hour or two of watching funny YouTube videos and a few episodes of Kenan and Kel - and decided to take a year out to travel the world...and "find myself maaan" (*hippy voice*). 

In this time I had already decided I would find life inspiration and basically figure out the rest of my life. This didnt happen...but the year was great. In June 2011 I took off from Cork and 12 months and a few continents and many Euros (and kilos unfortunately) later I ended up in Medellin, Colombia. It has to be pointed out that I didnt plan on visiting Colombia, but I happened to meet an Irish girl in New Zealand who managed to convince me that I should try and squeeze it in - and I couldnt leave another Paddy down.

There was something exciting about being in Colombia - first was that it had a bad rep.....and wasn't a definite stop on the world's Gringo Trail. Thailand, Cambodia, Oz, New Zealand, Peru and Bolivia are all regular stops on the round-the-world trip and they have the must-dos, and are full of other travelers. Colombia on the other hand was a country which didnt really have a must-see sight (no Machu Picchu or Salt Flats) and from a European point of view was more notorious for white powder and getting shot than taking shots on white sand beaches.  Also when I told my mother that I was going to visit Colombia, that Irish mother optimism took hold and she was convinced I would be shot as I took my first step off the plane - Im sure plenty of candles were lit in the church in the following days.

But I had always had a soft spot for Colombia - ever since Faustino Asprilla rocked into Newcastle and started doing somersaults after scoring! (His face arriving in December in the snow of the north of England on Sky Sports is one I see on the face of my friends here when the temperature drops below 20 degrees). So here I was in Medellin in May 2012 - the last country on my trip - aka the country where I would buy all my souvenirs :)

Golllllll

Tino thinking what the fuck

There was something about Medellin from the moment I arrived. The city of Medellin is in a valley in the state of Antioquia. The international airport is about  40 minutes outside the city and the bus trip from Rio Negro to the city is beautiful. When the view of the city came in to sight - it was pretty special. The huge green hills on either side gave way to a sprawling site of colours - from the high view point it seemed everything was orange ( I still felt the same amazement when i took this trip from the airport for 3rd time about a month ago). 

I spent about 5 days in Medellin, really enjoyed it, saw some cool stuff and met some great people. My month in Colombia was a great way to finish my trip - Cartagena, Salento and Parque Tayrona were some of the highlights of my 12 month trip and leaving Bogota en route home I had realised it was a great country and had so much to offer - great people, a diversely beautiful country full of amazing beaches, mountains, cities and rainforests. I also patted myself on the back that I had took the chance to visit here. 

Salento

Cartagena

Parque Tayrona

So in January of 2013 there I was in Vancouver - working as a barman in Earls - a big restaurant famous for Wing Wednesday and hot servers/waitresses. I had been In Vancouver about 10 months and  was enjoying it - work was good, met great people and the cash tips were very nice. I decided I needed a break after all that stress of working for 10 months and planned another trip towards South America. I would fly into Medellin - basically because it was really cheap to fly here from the States and then move onto Ecuador - the country I skipped first time around. I had began looking at what I would do there - seeing Quito and diving in the Galapagos Islands. So yea...4 nights would be spent in Medellin - to see a few friends I had kept in contact with and plan the trip south to the border and into Ecuador.

Well 4 nights turned into 6 months!!!

It had began with lazyness really - after  4 days I decided I would stay the week - then that stretched to two weeks to allow myself the time to plan. After that I strangely began to feel something telling me I should stay. I mean it was crazy right...staying here...What would I do? Where would I live? What would people think? What about Ecuador? But sometimes what seems crazy is actually your gut telling you to do something. For a few days I was a bit of a mess - drawing up lists of positives and negatives as to why I should be in Medellin and not Vancouver. In the end I decided to go with my gut - and it ended up turning out so well - and I kind of fell in love with this place.

So after that de-tour lets get back to the question I get asked at least twice daily - Why are you in Medellin? I think I have already ranted on long enough so for this post Im gonna try to make it as simple as possible and break it down to three main points. 

People:

The People here or the Paisas (Paisa = person from Antioquia, the state where Medellin is located) are ridiculously friendly and welcoming. Ireland is renowned world wide for its welcome - but compared to here we give the kind of welcome a water meter installer gets in Ireland these days. People here are happy, positive and proud - three words I wouldn't describe the Irish as these days. Even when you get on the bus everyone shouts "Buenas Tardes" or "Good Afternoon".  On a few occassions within 5 minutes of entering the local shops or tiendas I had been already offered - Sunday dinner for the rest of my stay, a laundry and ironing service free of charge (because I couldnt be doing it myself) and a few daughters to marry. And these are just a few examples. 

People here are still amazed and proud that visitors come here - and more that some from Europe would want to live here. It has to be remembered that Medellin was a really dangerous and depressing place only 15 years ago - we all know about the cartels, Pablo Escobar, the murder of footballer Andres Escobar, assassinations of politicians and bombs - but thats in the past. 

Botero Statue where bomb killed a number of people in the 90s.

When I tell people I live in Colombia - 9 times out of 10 people react by saying - "Isnt it really dangerous?" In short - No! Every big city in the world has problems and crime - I lived in East Hastings Street area of Vancouver and that was a pretty interesting place. Theres crime in Cork too. Sure theres a bit more risk here - I'm not gonna lie. I will get into more detail about daily life here in another blog! But in short - yes it is safe and the people are amazing  and yes the women are ridiculously hot!!

Celebrating World Cup win v Uruguay

Climate:

Medellin is known as the City of Eternal Spring or "Eterna Primavera" - which in lay mans terms means the weather is pretty sweet all year round - and also differs from Cork - City of Eternal Drizzle and Vancouver - Rain-Couver. The climate is amazing - always short sleeve weather - most days are about 22-25 degrees and "cold" for here is about 15 degrees. Sure it rains a bit as it's in a valley - but the rain is heavy and lasts a few hours - and afterwards you know its gonna be sunny and warm again - unlike Cork and Vancouver where weeks of depressing rain can pass by without any relief. Medellin also doesn't have the humidity and sauna like feeling of Cartagena (beautiful city on Caribbean coast) which makes it more liveable for a pasty skinned Irish.

Culture: 

I'm gonna be brief on culture as again I'll get into more detail on it in the future, but there is something really cool about Latin American culture - its relaxed, optimistic and everyone is making the best they can of their lives. The culture here is really different to Europe and Canada...in the beggining theres the culture shock for sure. There aren't millions of laws and permits - you can drink where you want, sell stuff where you want, find food on every street corner and find a party/music/dancing without having to walk more than a few blocks. Colombia is a country that is passionate about everything they do - whether its screaming on the football team or spending a Sunday casually lounging in the park with the family having ice-cream - when they do something they do it right!

So why Medellin??? All of the reasons above and probably more importantly - "Por Que No?" - "Why Not!" 

In this blog I am gonna try and share my opinions on life here and in the end I hope everyone will be booking a ticket to come here and visit...Por Que No? right !?!

Medellin - Everyone for Life