An Ordinary Day Around the Hostel In Medellin, Colombia
I was too much the early bird this morning and went out about 8 a.m. to try to breakfast at Juan Valdez Cafe. Silly me. Nothing opens till 10 a.m., so I sat on a cold stone bench in the lovely green park opposite, writing in my journal. At nine, I gave up on Juan and found another place for a hot cafe-con-leche and a yummy puff pastry for $1.50. When my stomach begins to think about lunch, I shall sally forth to take my pick from the many excellent restaurants in the neighborhood. Eating is one of the great highlights of each day when the world just lies waiting for you. I saw a Lebonese place; a sushi place; Mexican; many pizza spots. It´s all just on the Latino timeframe. Later, man, later!
Fawn, who blogged about me on her www.hardwonwisdom.com blogsite, posed a list of questions for me to answer as I go. Let´s pick up on those again:
- What am I feeling?
Very happy, casual, laid-back, friendly and natural with my hostel-mates, striking up good conversations so easily, unworried and unhurried, as ready to go take a nap as to sit around and read or explore. Today has turned cloudy and cooler and I´ll wait till that clears up to go city-exploring with a good map. This way I can spend time on the internet here at the excellent facilities right in the hostel…reading the news of the world, answering email, and talking to you guys on the blog. Life is good and all is as it should be.
- How far the money goes?
Pretty far, so far. I have changed a little over $300 into pesos. Some of it was the supply I brought in and $100 was from my bank account by debit card when I couldn´t locate a Cambio (money exchange) in Bogota open on a Sunday. So, now I have this stash of high-figure pesos that I use out of and it will carry me for quite awhile. On January 14, a week from now, my bank account will refill with the Social Security check and that will provide a good cushion. My hostel private room here costs $25 a day and food maybe $10 – $15 a day, if that. So, the budget may run about $40 per day at most. My RTW budget was $65 per day. The cities and tourist places that I´m in right now are more expensive, naturally, and this is high season. But, it´s all very affordable.
- Is it harder than last time?
No, not at all. It feels very much the same, even though three years have passed. Body-wise, I am just the same in every way. I just easily slip into the routine of lugging heavy stuff, trying to find my way about, watching out for my valuables, and communicating with faulty language skills. Very familiar.
More later.
Tags: 1, Details of Hostel Life, Tag Index
lindajbrown
January 8th, 2009 at 8:06 pm
Keep the information coming from Colombia. I have visited there several times this past fourteen months. I fly into Cartagena on Spirit Air from Myrtle Beach. My girl friend from Barranquilla meets me in Cartagena. I really like Cartagena but we always go back to BQ. On one trip we spent several days in Santa Marta.
I love Colombia and plan to retire there one day. Carnival is coming next month to BQ and that is lots of parades flowers costumes and noone works that month.
Woodie Wallace Charleston SC
January 8th, 2009 at 8:09 pm
oh yes. there is a hostel in Medellin the Tiger Paw. Owned by a gentleman from Charleston. I have not been but it seems to be real nice from his website.