5am is a good time to go to bed

I am no longer worried that I have become a social recluse, a fear I began to cultivate last summer when I pretty much stopped going out and would instead stay home and read a book. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I had previously enjoyed the company of large groups of friends imbibing beers, shouting, laughing and dancing until last call. But for one reason or another, the last few months that I was in Juneau I found myself more often than not turning down the invitation to go out. Even on this trip I haven't really taken advantage of the night scene very often. But Medellin turned it around to the point where for four nights in a row I went to bed at 5am.

Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday - every night a different adventure. Most began with a stop at the park in Zona Rosa, a club zone of Medellin, where myself and some friends I've made at the hostel would strike up conversations with whomever locals were around and go from there. Several of these evenings involved spontaneous group rapping/sing-alongs. Sunday night involved a stay at the farm of a local who personally fought against Escobar. I heard way more about those days and the drug trade than I am at liberty to share, and the whole time my friends and I were listening I was in awe of where I had ended up. When we woke up the next morning, the maid made us breakfast and we picked tangerines from the trees before being driven down to the metro stop.

Sticking with my trend of being the slowest traveler in the world, I have now been in Medellin for over a week, but will be leaving for Cartagena tomorrow. It's official - for the rest of my trip I'll just be in Colombia, which I couldn't be happier about. I get back to Juneau on April 11th. I spent almost a week in Bogotá before arriving in Medellin, largely in the company of an American Doctor (in psychology) from Texas who I met in St. Augustine and who has a house and a cafe in Bogotá. He is an old hippie and has been living in Colombia on and off since the 70s and has a lot of stories about how the country has changed. I truly believe that the tourism business will continue to take off once people figure out that Colombia isn't as scary as they think it is.

Once again I've taken too long since writing an entry, so it's harder to get into many of the little details, but suffice to say that I am having a blast. I think I'll go for some more literary snapshots to give you an idea of what I've been doing and experiencing:

*Homemade milk and fresh coconut popsicles, fruit smoothies and cups of fresh pineapples and strawberries - all for under a dollar.
*A professional soccer (futbol) game I attended where the exuberant Medellin fans sang cheers and jumped up and down for literally the entire game.
*Going to Mangoes with a group of ten guys from my hostel, a famous cowboy-themed club where barely-dressed girls (and some guys) perform dance routines on the bar. Midgets are also part of the attraction, and in the course of the evening we danced in a congo line in addition to bringing back the chicken dance and the macarena.
*Fly fishing in a nearby town with two guys from my hostel who are fishing guides in Northern Alaska in the summer. I never knew there was so much to talk about (or so many new vocab words) when it comes to fishing. Also, I suppose I didn't really fish - I just watched them. I'm also happy to report that I have discovered a love for seafood, my most recent fave being snook.
*Being given a homemade artsy rooster earring by a girl I met in the park so that I could report on how nice and not scary the people of Colombia are.
*Talking for hours about books with this guy about my age who I met in the cafe owned by my Texan friend. Meeting up with him and some local girls the next night and talking for another six hours. Note to self: read more e.e.cummings.
*Meeting a guy about my age from the states who has been doing independent journalism in Colombia for about a year and being re-inspired to really pursue journalism as a career.

So that's what I've got for you for now - alive, well and living it up in beautiful Colombia.