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!