Despite 17 hours of travel for Steph and a harrowing night of stomach distress for me, we set out to explore Medellin.  Our first stop was to Mondongo’s for a familiar and unique Paisa dish.  I don’t know why I never thought to put bananas in soup?  It’s been a revelation.  This will definitely be something I bring home.

After dinner, we walked through Poblado.  I proudly showed Steph the streets of Poblado, and the stellar nightlife.  I proclaimed, ‘Is this what you expected of Colombia’ and pointed out the trendy bars and restaurants.  We continued to walk and explore and stumbled across the Happy Buddha Hostel, where we stopped in for a game of pool and ping pong.

I’ve fully rediscovered my love of billiards on this trip.  And, am looking forward to bringing this back to LA.  The games were close, but there can be only one winner.

Our walk home was briefly interrupted by a couple of young gentleman selling candy on the street.  I thought, ‘a bit of herbal refreshment would be nice’ and politely asked for ‘verde.’ We exchanged funds for goods and were on our way.  Only upon inspection did I realize I was handed ‘white.’  Oops, and I forgot to get a receipt.  I guess there are no returns.  Luckily, I found someone to donate this to.  I got his business card though, maybe I’ll report him to the better business bureau.

The next morning, we had a lovely breakfast on the rooftop of our hotel.  I even broke out my own marmalade, procured from Bahia Solano.  Borojo, my first taste was in Bahia Solano, when the waitress placed a small bowl of it in front of me.  I thought it was a dessert, and started eating the entire thing.  I was politely informed by my friends that informed me it was actually marmalade for the table, not just for me.  They then informed me, that borojo is known as the Colombian viagra.  A fruit believed to improve a man’s virility.  And, I had just eaten almost a tables worth by myself.  Classic Tim.

Speaking of giant lizards, after breakfast we head to the botanical gardens in Medellin and ran into this guy.

After that, it was a cable car to the top of the city for magnificent views.  It was a beautiful day, and along with the views there was a farmers market and a bunch of handcrafts being sold.  We ran into an older retired couple from Canada that has been traveling for the past 6 weeks.

Actually, he had been to some of the places in Peru that I want to visit  So, I was happy to hear his tales of travel.  However, I made the mistake of asking to see a picture.  The next 15 minutes were spent watching him slowly and inefficiently scrolling through his point and shoot.

After my near death experience, we made our way back down to the city.  In the cable car, was an older group of Colombians.  They asked if they could take a picture with us.  The two women with me and the man with Steph.  They were immediately busy on the phones posting photos to Facebook.  I winked at Steph, assuring her that this is common in Colombia.  Why hasn’t the rest of the world recognized my obvious stardom?

Next stop, Jardin!