¡Feliz Año Nuevo! This Christmas was our first major holiday in a foreign country and we’re so glad to have experienced Christmas in Colombia. As did many Colombians, we headed out of the city for Christmas. We traveled to San Rafael, a small-town east of Medellin. We took a 3-hour bus ride along the winding highways up and over the mountains. San Rafael is a town with a population of just under 60,000 people. It is not a tourist town,…
Last week, our blog focused on Christmas in Medellin. This week, to continue the Christmas theme, we need to talk about holiday food. Colombians have their favorite traditional foods and treats for Christmas. We have tasted a few of the more popular favorites below. Greatest Donut of Colombia A very popular snack in Medellin and throughout Latin America is the Buñuelo. Buñeulos are fried dough balls made with shredded cheese, corn meal, eggs, milk and a little sugar. The dough…
We have been in Medellin for three months. Since we arrived in October, we have been excited about Christmas in Medellin because Colombians celebrate Christmas in a big way. This will be our first major holiday in Colombia; and in fact, this will be our very first holiday in a foreign country. For weeks we have heard about the Christmas traditions here and the month of activities that start on November 30 and don’t end until early January. La Alborado…
Medellin has been a divided city with high rates of poverty and unrest. This was definitely true for those who lived in the underdeveloped barrios high up in the mountainsides overlooking the city. They faced isolation and lack of access to jobs, healthcare, education, and supplies. That changed when the Medellin Metro Cable was opened in 2004. Suddenly, Medellin’s most impoverished people had a chance to escape their isolation on the steep hillsides and had access the city center where…
Comuna 13 was once labeled the most crime-ridden neighborhood in Medellin because it had the highest homicide rate in the Colombia. In the last 15 years, Comuna 13 has been transformed into a livable neighborhood safe for residents and tourists to walk the streets. So how did this transformation happen? History Medellin is made up of 16 comunas (neighborhoods). Comuna 13, also known as San Javier, is a crowded, low-income neighborhood which crawls up the west hills of the city…
The people of Minnesota like to spend their week-ends, vacations and holidays going to “The Lake” to camp, fish, swim, and relax. Well there is a lake that people from Medellin go to that can be called “The Lake”. I am referring to the “Reservoir of Peñol” (Embalse Del Peñol). This reservoir was created when a hydroelectric dam complex was built on the Nare River to supply hydro-power throughout the country. The reservoir has created water recreation and an economic…
The city of Medellin has always had street vendors selling cell phone minutes, candy, ice cream, fruits, juices and chips. They sell from carts (carretas) of various shapes and sizes and are located throughout the city at street corners, near businesses and parks. Street food is referred to as “gastronomía callejera”. Since 2014, many food vendors have upgraded to food trucks. Of course, food trucks have been popular in United States for quite some time. However, in Medellin the number…
Reaching Out in Spanish One month off the plane and I am speaking Spanish with native Colombians. My Spanish is starting to improve. At least, I am not petrified to speak out loud anymore. I guess that four years of conjugating verbs in Spanish class is finally paying off. I speak to every Uber driver and I answer the questions posed by the grocery store clerks. “Gracias. Pero no quiero puntos.” – “Thanks, but I don’t want the grocery store…
That’s a Bunch of Garbage! That’s how the old saying goes. But for thousands of people in Medellin, that bunch of garbage is home. In the Moravia neighborhood of Medellin, there are thousands of inhabitants literally living atop a mountain of garbage. “El Morro” Municipal Garbage Dump In 1977, the “El Morro” garbage dump was established to service Medellin. The dump is located in the Moravia neighborhood located in the northeastern zone of the city. The site was used to…
It has taken us a long time to get here, but we have finally arrived in Colombia. I’ll admit that when we told our friends and co-workers that we planned to come to Colombia to see if we would like to retire here, we heard statements like these: Is it safe? Are you going to sell drugs? Why would you go there with all the crime? But, our son who lived in Bogota, Colombia for ten years told us that…