Even More In Medellin

Well I got back home yesterday morning at around 09:30 and after a short trip to my mums for her birthday party I came home, thought I would have a quick kip to rid myself of any overdue tiredness and then slept for fifteen hours. Wow, I never realised I was that tired but the travelling must have totally knocked me for six, as I've not slept that much undisturbed sleep in years.

And then as soon as I woke up and checked my blog I realised, Oops, I didn't really finish the last post properly, so here is the rest.

The people, ahhhh, the people.

I've been to quite a few places now, but the friendliness and warmth that I felt from these wonderful people still takes my breath away.

I had chosen to visit Colombia because a good friend at work, Paula, is from Medellin and she said it was the best place on earth. Knowing how few true friends I have made from work and the fact that I've already met her friends, brother, mum, dad and even cousins, when she suggested I go to her home city and meet more of her family I could not really say no and I am sure glad that I went.

From the moment they met me at the airport to the moment they dropped me off again I felt like I belonged. At no stage did I feel like I was a stranger among them, nor that I was a foreign VIP that they needed or deserved to receive any special attention. I was just at once part of their lives.

I did my best to speak Spanish wherever I could, which was more and more as I continued to create many new mini sentences by dredging my memory for every last word I knew, and I always introduced myself properly in Spanish before adding the line about my Spanish being poor.

The fact that I tried and kept on trying I believe was one of the big reasons why I didn't feel out of place, as they felt at east speaking in Spanish to each other and to me, unless they had something they really wanted to get across to me without any chance of confusion, when they would turn to David and he would translate perfectly for me.

The other reason was that I have always tried to be a good guy, honest, trusting and humble. I do not go throwing around me past, successes or money in other peoples face, and am happy most of the time to applaud others for there's.

So anyway ... after I was met at the airport and a long drive through the most idyllic countryside imaginable, we made it to central Medellin and to my friend Paula's aunties house.
Colombia and Medellin are not as poor as the media like to make out, and just because they are in South America, do not be fooled that the property or staying in a hotel will cost you pennies.

A good night in a decent hotel in Bogota would still cost you a tidy sum and to buy a large estate with a fancy town house on it you are still talking more than the average westerner could afford on their normal salary.

Sure, the Colombian government are selling off some of their cheaper end of the range apartments for around £20,000 but then you can go the the worst place in Liverpool and do the same thing, just without the hot weather, the superb mountain backdrop or the friendly natives.

And the women. Boy oh boy, I never believed Paula when she said that back home she was just one of the girls, not until I had seen it here with my own eyes. Here in Medellin was the home of the sexiest women on the planet.

Now I don't want to sound rude or arrogant but this just isn't a normal city. Ive met stunningly pretty Chinese girls but wandering around China the average woman was fair but nothing special. Same about English women, Spanish, Romanian ... go anywhere else in the world and you will meet a few sexy women but the Jane average of their cities are exactly that, average. Not in Medellin.

Here it seemed that almost EVERY woman was a knockout. The woman selling T-shirts, the woman behind the grocery counter, the barmaid, the neighbour, the neighbours younger sister, the woman pushing the pram down the road ... everywhere I looked was a vision of beauty, that I would be equally proud to have on my arm. Everyone with curves, long dark hair, olive skin, slim, pretty face and an air of happiness that I have never experienced anywhere else in the world.

Why the first time a guy goes out there with a girl he would have to be wearing blinkers like a workhorse not to have his eyes stray, though I suppose in time any amount of beauty becomes common place, but for a tourist or visitor ... it was paradise!

And the guys ... well I'm straight, but the guys here are no slouches neither, and I'd be willing to bet that the young ones would have no problem finding a girl in any part of the world they were in.