Medellín

Having totally enjoyed myself, beyond the wildest of expectations, I knew that I was destined to head back to Colombia, and had been eyeing the Fería de Flores (festival of flowers; on a side note, exotic flowers are one of the largest exports from the country) toward the end of July/Early August - when I first learned about the festival, it seemed like a relatively beautful festival to attend in the middle of the Medellín summer; I mean, how do you go wrong with a lush city, filled with beautiful people, architecture, and exotic flowers...

Needless to say, I was then sold on the idea when I found out the festival coincided with ColombiaModa (fashion week) - so, what was there to do, other than to make my way out of the dead of winter in BA and head to the middle of the summer in Medellín... I took the opportunity to move out of my apartment in BA with Lau (it would be the last time we saw eachother, haha, j/k - she got another place and is still in BA), and set out on what would be a 'new' 6 months in the life of Adam, or as I have started to be called by my close friends, Alan (side-story: Lau's parents were in town, and I put my name down for a table a restaurant for all of us, and when the woman called 'my' name, she said "Alan" so since then, Lau & Co have called me Alan as a funny Argentine joke because noone can pronounce ADAM - here, the figure is Adán - as my D and L apparently have a similar sound when speaking Spanish).

As it turned out, a buddy of mine from high school, Paul Anderson, was going to be in Medellín as well, as he launched an import/export consulting business, and had been eyeing textiles from Latin America for importation to the US, so fashion week proved to be a good breeding ground for a potential launch of a Colombian outpost - or at the least, to meet a few groups interested in getting their fashion lines to the US. He and I had caught up beforehand to arrange a few times to get together and meet up for events, parties, etc, so it was a good chance to have a wingman in a foreign place - we each had friends in Medellín, so it was an easy pull the groups together for some joda (fun).

Having already been through Medellín, I had seen most of the cultural attractions, museums, etc, so it gave me an opportunity to explore a bit, on top of the work I was continuing for a project in Baires. It seemed a bit more like a 'real' situation to be in a place (I had rented an apartment for the 2 weeks I was there), versus living from a backpack, bouncing from place to place, as I had the previous trip. As commercially vibrant as I had remembered from the previous trip, which took place during the Inter-American Bank of Development's 50th Anniversary congregation, something about a gorgeous city, with gorgeous people, celebrating a 'local' holiday made the city jump out more - the fact that it was smack in the middle of the summer probably didn't hurt the causa.

From the desfile de caballos - a parade of sorts, whereby each of the communities in Antioquia (the Colombian region/state in which Medellín sits) bring their best show horses - decorated in representative attire, colors, and other cultural elements - and 'treats' for the two week festival, and literally shut the city down for one day, waltzing thru the streets. It is an all-out party day, everyone drinking Paisa beer and micheladas, and eating fresh grilled corn, filled arepas, and chorizo - basically, a carnival's selection of greats foods that are horrible for you.

The feel of the place was amazing, and you could just pop from tent to tent, street to street, and grassy knoll to grassy knoll, meeting new people, 'cheersing' to whatever you wanted, and enjoying the weather and the people (did I mention how good looking the women are in Medellín?)... The energy that continued thru to the evenings was electric, with the entire city seemingly partying without care for the following day - La Fería is effectively a two-week holiday, so it's no wonder the evening festivities were Aguardiente-loaded with house music pumping: in a word, chévere!

The Launch!

Wilshire Hospitality... It's a name that I believe has several meanings, rings true to the core, and sounds pretty flippin' good... To give y'all a bit of background, when the Shindler Clan of LSD (that's Lake Shore Drive people, c'mon) moved from the digs overlooking Belmont Harbor, we crash landed in Wilmette, specifically, 'Hollywood in Wilmette' on a little street called Wilshire Drive East... From there, I think the rest should be relatively self-explanatory, as I was admitted (by the grace of someone's magic wand) to Cornell's 'prestigious' School of Hotel Administration while living on Wilshire Drive East... Some could legitimately argue that my hospitality career began when Carey was born, as that is when Dad opted to take the trip from real estate to hotels... It was probably one of the many Levy-genes that I inherited that got me in to this business in some way shape or form, but it has seemingly all worked out for the best...

However, I digress... I knew pretty early on in my Cornell days that I wanted to be on the ownership side, and in the late 90's/early 00's, the 'in-thing' seemed to be naming your fun after the street on which the office was located, so, I very quickly, and very astutely, selected Wilshire Hospitality as the 'brand' that I would create in some way shape or form (hotel ownership, asset management/services/consulting, operations of hotels/restaurants/bars/clubs, etc...) down the road when I was an adult and could be treated as such and respected by my peer group.

So, after partying ways with Gettys in the summer (northern hemisphere) of 2008, I began some independent, project-based consulting for some previous employers, and had the chance to work with Dad on a few projects he was kind enough to bring me in to, which was great, and quite rewarding. Working side-by-side with him (the client happened to be a father-son team as well) gave me the confidence (not just because he was blowing smoke up my ass) that I actually could work in the industry as a projessional, and that the experience that I had so meticulously charted over the previous years had apparently paid off...

It was pretty soon thereafter that I began using Wilshire Hospitality as the trade name (Adam Shindler d/b/a Wilshire Hospitality), and it wasn't until about 8 months later that I actually got myself up and running with a web-page (I expect to have the next versions published soon), email address, logo, etc... A good friend of mine from NYC, an Argentine guy who has really helped me get comfortable here, has been my designer for everything, and he will probably be fed up with my tendencies for absolute perfection when this process is all said and done, but so far, I now have a brand, I have a mark, I have a client, and I'm working on the rest as it comes together...

I'm pretty excited that I'm still moving toward a goal I had when I was 18, and I'm living the dream every day... Here's to the rest of 2009, and making dreams come alive!

This, of course, is coming from an insider's perspective (p.s. that's my tag line)...