Alone in Medellin

I'm 30 years old and its the first time I've ever stayed at a hostel. Before I arrived I imagined 20 year olds drinking, smoking and looking for a good time, I was wrong. Traveling to a city in a different country provides one with numerous adventures and attractions, but one of my favorite parts of my little adventure in Medellin has been sitting around the table downstairs talking, laughing, sharing and discovering a wide variety of personalities and perspectives. Its Friday, I had a ruff Thursday night and today I'm enjoying the company of my housemates, many of which on several occasions have planned their departure but failed to leave, you see once your here a few days, you form bit of a family and inevitably every stays far longer than they planned. Being alone is a fear of mine and here I am alone but I have not yet felt lonely. Its those of us here that are unaccompanied that benefit most, we share the fact that we are each on our own and that brings us together. So far I've met an English writer, he's maybe around 50 or so and he lives in Spain and was born in Africa (his family is English). He came to a Wedding in Quito and decided to take a look at things up here in Colombia. He's interesting, quite smart and always jolly. I met another guy that arrived here on bike, he's maybe hitting 4o, Australian and he came from Buenos Aires and has biked 20,000 kilometers. He feels he might take a break and stay here awhile, Medellin does that to you. Hopefully, he'll finish his journey. Another guy is a banker in Switzerland, he's Swiss-Italian, maybe in his mid 30s speaks 5 languages and he's been traveling since August. Every morning I head out the door, he's always hanging out on a red sofa that sits in front of the hostel, I say to him, "What's the plan today?" and he responds, "I'm taking off, " and so I say, "Good Luck," and then when I arrive at the end of the day, there he is hanging out, talking, laughing having decided to stay yet another day. Then there is Matt. On Tuesday I arrived from the school and found the hostel quite quiet, I had not yet spoken to anyone and so I sat with my Laptop in a dark room, dark because I could not for the life of me find the light switch and at this point I was still nervous about asking. Shortly after came Mat, yet another Australian. He sat across me with his Laptop and curiously asked why I sat in the dark, I explained and he could not find the light switch either. That is when we both met the Swiss/Italian, who after spending more than a few days here, knew where to locate anything and so we had light and conversation and I was happy. Matt is sticking around for 3 years, he just arrived, he's here to learn spanish. He studies in New Zealand, he is a Finance major, but his University has given time and money to come down here. He likes it here, he says its tuff to get around with all the "boobs" in the way. Certainly he was not referring to mine. He laughs, he can't believe how big they all are. Jimmy is another character I've met, he's spiritual, young and German, but he speaks Spanish like you would not believe. He currently lives in Barcelona. He recently spent a few weeks in the jungles of Peru cleansing himself and says he now cannot drink alcohol or have sex. I found this quite amusing, if I was male,blond, blue eyed, six foot two and celibate I wouldn't come Medellin, one too many women, one too many outrageously good looking women. Good Luck to Jimmy. Yes, there's lots of men here, I guess that's not a bad thing.

Here we all cook together, we eat together, we drink together, will laugh together and we plan our departures, except no one leaves. Today several new travelers have arrived, its a younger crowd, they're here to party, it is Friday after all.



Lesson learned today: Yes, it is true that the company of a friend is priceless, but I have found that the company of strangers is food for my soul.