I had three nights to kill before my girlfriend, Stephanie, arrived in Colombia. I had not seen her since I left 5 weeks ago.  I couldn’t wait to see her face, and to explore South America with her.  We plan on spending a night in Medellin, 2 nights in Jardin and 2 nights in Bogota.  After that, we fly to Ecuador and on to more adventures.  But, first I had to kill three days.

Day 1 was easy peasy.  I barely left my bed, except to shower and eat.  Even then, I was kicking myself for not choosing a place with room service.  A plate with a little cover on it and miniature ketchup and mustard jars would have been perfect.  Alas, I resigned myself to reading and napping all day.  And Netflix and chill all night.  The ‘chill’ part would be a lot more fun in 3 days.

Day 2 I set out to explore Medellin.  First stop, the Modern Art Museum.  Well, call me old-fashioned, but I expected the art to be a bit more modern.  It was mainly contemporary Colombian artists.  And the museum was rather small.  But, it was in a cool industrial section of Medellin with plenty of street art.

I did manage to find this one painting, which looks suspiciously like my Grandfather doing his own version of Netflix and chill.

After that somewhat disturbing site, I wandered the city for another few hours, and called it an early night.  Bed time at 9 PM.  Maybe, I’m the grandpa.

The final day, I made a day trip to Santa Fe Antiqua, the original capital of Antiqua.  Since losing the Capital title to Medellin in the 1800s, not much has changed in this sleepy town.  It’s much a colonial village.  I originally planned on spending the night here, and in the end bailed after only a few hours.  The city itself was pretty, but mostly unremarkable.  It didn’t seem to have any of the character that has defined so many of the places I’ve visited in Colombia.  Before I left, I decided to enjoy lunch at a local restaurant.  As I entered, I realized that it was just someones backyard.  Not to be deterred, I sat down and ordered food.  While eating, I had the joy of watching the owner scream at her children and smack the shit out of them.  I continued to awkwardly slurp my soup as the children cried and tried to escape their Mother’s grasp.  I felt justified in not leaving a tip.  That was enough of Santa Fe for me, I boarded a bus and back to Medellin.  Only 1 more night and Steph arrives!

I awoke at 1:30 AM and thought ‘I must be excited’ and rolled over and back to sleep.  At 2 AM, I thought ‘Oh no’ as I realized my stomach was bothering me.  And at 3 AM, well…

I spent the rest of the morning with some minor stomach distress, aka sobbing in the bathroom while emptying my body of anything not tied down.  Not exactly, the way I was hoping to prepare for Steph’s visit.  However, I shuffled my way to a pharmacy and bought some medicine, which greatly improved the situation.  And a few hours later, I was off to pick up Steph at the airport.

Needless to say, I was not enthused to be in a taxi for an hour.  And my attempts to listen to music were continuously thwarted by my portly chauffeur, who seemingly did not care for yours truly.  However, it was a 90 minute drive and by the end we got along swimmingly.  We practiced our Spanish and English.  We exchanged stories.  And we excitedly shook hands goodbye.  ‘Con mucho gusto!’ We both exclaimed as we parted ways.  Another Colombian heart won.  Now, it was time to claim my favorite heart!

20 minutes later, I had her.  3 layovers and 17 hours of travel later she arrived.  The two of us, were exhausted but very excited.