Medellin Living

Last Thursday I met up with Joe (Australia) and Sirley from Couchsurfing for a salsa show at the University of Medellin.  The headlining couples were from Cali, and both pairs were world champions.  Carlo Acrosalsa y Jimena were 2008 champs in Miami, while Genner y Yudy were the 2007 champs.  The theater was about 80% [...]

I think of Mondays as my chance to highlight the cool new bar or club I visited over the weekend, however this past Friday was a much more personal and family-oriented experience. I met Sarah a little over a week ago during my all-too-short night of salsa dancing.  We met up again this past Friday [...]

David’s (Mexico) willingness to forward my teaching advertisement via e-mail to friends and peers lead to my first regular private student.  Just yesterday, he mentioned another person he knows might be calling me soon. Somewhere under those crushed potato chips and egg lies a lukewarm super hot dog.  I think I will stick with the [...]

Last Sunday, Clint invited me to go see the two Medellin professional soccer teams battle it out at the Estadio with him and his friend Jamie. Catching a soccer match in Latin America had been on my agenda since I came up with my ’round the world trip, and though I imagined it would always [...]

I previously wrote about my food mission to Brasarepa Restaurant in Envigado on GoBackpacking.  The restaurant was one of several locations around Medellin used by (my culinary hero) Anthony Bourdain for his travel and food show, No Reservations. As a result of the posting, I was both surprised and pleased to receive a message from [...]

I gained my first two regular students last week, and both were through networking. First, on Monday, I forwarded my teaching advertisement and rates to David, an engineering student from Mexico.  He forwarded them to a classmate, who forwarded them to her friend taking English classes at the university’s language center.  We were introduced two [...]

Independently finding the location of Pablo Escobar’s grave online was easy.  Trying to find the location of the safe house above which he was shot and killed was difficult, giving me all the more motivation to find it first hand so I could share it here.  I went to the folks at PoorButHappy, kicking off [...]

Later this week, Medellin plays host to the 50th annual meeting of the Board of Governors for the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). I recently read on Colombia Reports that American Vice President Joe Biden, former President Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, and Angela Merkel were all set to attend.  Security around the city is expected to [...]

Friday night I went out with Martin, Diana, David and a few others to a salsa club near the Estadio metro station. I would give the name except I saw none at the entrance (update: it’s called El Tibiri). It was a small, basement level bar with a low ceiling, and poor air circulation. It [...]

I’ve heard this song frequently since my arrival in Colombia, and I finally downloaded it to my mp3 player with Maira’s help.  Consider it your introduction to the genre of reggaeton!