Can I catch lightning in a bottle again?

When I first returned to the U.S. before Thanksgiving, it felt like the seven weeks I would spend there couldn’t pass fast enough, and at times it felt like life was moving at a snail’s pace. Now that I’m back in Medellín, the interim between trips here seems like a blur. Or maybe a blur with a blip.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m glad I went back even if some aspects of my time back in the U.S. weren’t quite what I had hoped. The Thanksgiving dinner I was looking forward to with my sibling in Denver was sort of a bust because I came down with a cold my last night in Medellín. That ended up lasting about two weeks so I had to skip the big meal. Fortunately, I was able to join them for Christmas Eve for good food and great company. For New Year’s Eve, I elected to chase excitement by booking a one-night trip to Los Angeles for an afternoon event that I hoped would turn into more. It didn’t, and I spent the night on my own, taking in some live music and then sleeping in the top bunk at a hostel. That experience was as unappealing as I remember it from my youth.

Other than the holidays and a trip to Nashville to visit Mom, my time in the U.S. involved catching up with neighborhood friends and traveling well-worn paths to my regular haunts. There’s nothing wrong with well-worn paths. They just offer little in the way of surprises or new adventures, which can make life feel a little slow in the midst of it for an adventure junky like me.

Then, three nights ago, a red-eye flight to Panama and a short connection dropped me back in Colombia, and my seven weeks in the U.S. instantly went Gaussian. I was just here, I thought.

That’s where the blip comes in because I was here, generally, as in “Medellín here.” But Medellín is a big place, and I’m in an entirely different part of town this go-around. My first stay was in the area known as El Poblado (or just Poblado) and more specifically in the neighborhood of Provenza. El Poblado is an expensive (for Medellín) part of town southeast of the city center, and Provenza is an almost non-stop party zone. Seriously. It’s hopping there just about every night.

This trip, I’m staying in Laureles-Estadio on the west side of the city center. Laureles is still a very nice area, but it’s far more affordable than Poblado. It’s also much more residential (and quiet!) than Provenza although in Medellín commercial areas are never that far away, from what I’ve seen. I chose this neighborhood on purpose because I wanted to get a better sense of what it would be like to live in Medellín than what I experienced staying in a hostel full of travelers two blocks from party-town.

Perhaps the most telling difference between Poblado and Laureles may be the fact that I haven’t been offered cocaine or approached by a street hooker once in the three days I’ve been in Laureles. In Poblado, both of those things happened at least a dozen times in my first three days. Which is fine. I’m not really into either of those things. I’m just saying the vibe is different in Laureles.

Thus begins my experiment in learning whether my first six weeks here was a fluke or Medellín is as great as I thought it was the first time. It’s off to a pretty good start.

• Not 5 minutes after arriving at the condo where I’m renting a room, I realized a woman I met the first time I was here is staying at the same place, and her son works at Semilla, the co-working place where I decided to set up shop for my remote job.
• After work my first day, I easily walked to four different gyms and selected one four blocks away from the room I am renting. Animal X Home Templo probably isn’t the place I would pick for a lifetime membership, but the convenience for now can’t be beat.
• My first day at Semilla, I ran into two friends from the Yagé ceremony I participated in on the first trip. I’ll be joining them in Santa Elena next Saturday for a BBQ thrown by the guy who organized that ceremony. Can you say “instant community”?
• I’m excited to be re-starting Bachata dance lessons tonight. The options for that are much more limited in Denver.
• Finally, just look at the cazuela (casserole) I had at Doña Lechona for lunch today in the photo at the top of this post. Pinto beans, shredded pork, chicharrones, chorizo, plantains, avocado, corn, and some sort of fried veggie or potato strings all in a bowl, topped with an onion-y pico and some rice to mix in. It’s basically bandeja paisa in a bowl.
• And finally-finally (because my phone rang before I could finish this post), I just got invited to a happy hour gathering of friends at Juan Valdez Café, a couple blocks from from where I’m working at Semilla. For a TV addict like me, I’m not sure it can get more Colombian than Juan Valdez!

So, we’ll see how it goes, but I’ve got a while before I have to worry about any well-worn paths again. I’ll miss my friends in Denver, but adventure awaits!