My Return to Medellin:  The first time was March of 2015 fast forward two and a half years and I am baaackk to this beautiful city.  As much as it’s the same it is different this time the journey wasn’t about seeing one attraction after another which I personally think is an utter waste of a vacation.  This time I spent time with a good friend and over the last few days he’s taken me to some the spots I didn’t see my last visit among them was El Penon de Guatape (The Rock of Guatape).  

It takes 750 steps of winding concrete steps to reach the top and every 50 feet in bright yellow it tells you what step you’re on.  And everyone now and then there are places to sit but until you get to the very top they are few and far between, but once you reach the top the views are breathtaking and worth all of the 750 steps it took you to get there.  And you can also buy yourself a beer as a reward.  

And that is something else I love about Medellin and Colombia in general, the country is so laid back – of course you’ll always have the corporate world where everything needed to be done yesterday.  But when more than half the population live on $8 – $10 a day what else is there?  It is not the cleanest country and sadly there are more homeless than I’ve ever seen – and a part of the city known as ‘the real Medellin’, the part of the city hidden, the ghetto, the forgotten child.  And here is another example of a government that has turned its back on their own people.  Something that will always be internal.

But when I do visit there is something in the air, an energy that will always keep me coming back.  One thing I’d love to do one day is travel to some of the poorer countries throughout Central and South America and find out what, if anything, keeps you happy – because whatever it is – the rest of the world could use it.

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