John Causes Drama on the Plane

Time to Travel Again

It is so good to see things finally opening up for travel. John and I are on the road again.

My eldest son Graham is attending university in Sao Paulo, Brazil for the final term of his masters program. John and I figure it’s a good time to explore Brazil, checking out Columbia on our way there.

We say goodbye to our awesome house sitters Carolyn and Dave. We connected with them on the House Sitters Canada website. They are an awesome couple and the pets are already very comfortable with them.

Our friends German and Sandra drive us to the airport. German is also our Spanish teacher.

Pearson Airport

The airport is fairly quiet. No line up at security. We walk and walk and walk to our gate. I really miss my fitbit…just think about all the steps I’m racking up that won’t be recorded. I feel naked without it on my wrist. I miss it’s presence. Sigh….oh yeah, I also miss my wedding rings.

We decided to leave all jewellery and watches etc behind so as to not be obvious targets for any bad guys as some of the places we are going to have issues with crime rates.

The 5.5 hour, overnight flight on Avianca is delayed about 30 minutes. Most of the people around us are speaking Spanish. I find that I can understand a few words here and there. The guy across the aisle is looking at me and I think he just said “boy is she ever hot!” in español. German’s Spanish lessons are coming in handy.

Finally we get to board. My backpack is too heavy. Note to self: put more in my suitcase next time. I shouldn’t have shoved a weeks worth of cloths, two pairs of shoes, a few bags of toiletries, one book and my lap top in there.

A Very Scary Flight

John has us seated next to the exit doors. Lots of leg room.

I hand John a sleeping pill and pop one myself to ensure we sleep the whole flight. I immediately doze off only to be woken by John when our meal arrives…beef and cheese sandwiches, chicken flavored potato chips, a chocolate bar and water. “Vegetariano?” I ask the flight attendant.

“No” the he replies.

I pick the beef out of the bread and hand it to John and immediately doze after consuming my culinary delight.

Something pokes me in the side, dragging me out of a deep sleep. “Get me a barf bag and call the flight attendant. I’m dizzy. I’m going to faint. I feel like I did when I passed out in India” John whispers.

(Those of you who missed that scary incident in India, can click on the link here).

I grab a flight attendant who gets me to grab another flight attendant while she deals with John. It’s about 3am, all the lights in the cabins are turned on. “Is there a doctor on board?” the loud speaker crackles.

No response.

They have John lying flat on the floor with his legs elevated against the side of the plane. He is not throwing up and begins to feel better as soon as his head is down. I’m feeling hot and a little nauseated…probably fear.

Within a half hour, John feels better and we finish the flight (still seated beside the emergency exits) without further excitement.

John says this is how you get to lie flat in economy and recommends it to everyone on their next trip.

Bogota to Medellin

The Bogota El Dorado International Airport is much busier than Toronto’s Pearson.

Collecting our luggage, checking in again and going through security goes pretty smoothly. Columbia is an hour behind Toronto. It’s currently 7:22am and we’re sitting at the gate for our 8:50am flight to Medellin. John is munching on gooey pastries and drinking coffee while booking a walking tour of Medellin. I’m so tired. Time for a nap.

Thank goodness this hour long flight is uneventful. We take one of the white cabs into town and practice our Spanish with the friendly taxi driver who uses his phone translator.

Medellin is known as the city of mountains…and what lush gorgeous mountains they are. The landscape is painted in shades of vibrant greens dotted bright coloured flowers. We pass signs marking different kinds of bird crossings.

It is overcast but every now and then the sun shines through.

Checking in to Rango Boutique Hostel

We are staying in the El Poblado area, which is considered one of the safer areas of Medellin.

Our accommodations are lovely (Rango Boutique Hostel). Our room is all windows on one side overlooking jungle parkland. It is so good to brush my teeth, wash up and get changed. John is feeling much better. We book a couple tours. The sun is out but we are both tired (and I’m hungry) so we postpone the three hour walking tour and head to an area with lots of recommended restaurants.

Afternoon in Medellin

We get a table on the patio of Botanika Restaurant and people watch, then make the tough decision to order healthy green juice instead of a pitcher of sangria. I have a tuna bowl and John the breakfast burrito.

Many of the women here dress in very form fitting, low cut outfits. I ask John to take a picture of me and my meal. He takes a shot of me with these two women in the background and doesn’t even get a bit of my meal.

We are about to get our bill and suddenly the rain pelts down. Our hostel is about four blocks away. “Té por favor” I say. And John gets a cappuccino as we watch the rain pour down.

When the rain is done we walk around the area. I am pleased to note that Medellin’s top vegetarian restaurant is next to our hostel. Bonus!

Cafe Zorba

We both feel refreshed after a much needed nap and check out the rooftop bar (awesome) at our hostel and then go next door to Cafe Zorba for their vegetarian pizza. It is live music night and the place is hopping. There is constantly a line to get in but fortunately we didn’t have to wait too long and the food is delicious. They allow you to order half and half pizzas so between the two of us, we eat two whole pizzas. I was comfortably full on one but it is soooooo good we ordered a second. The staff here skilfully handle the flow of people. They are all really hard workers from the front of house to the people at the pizza ovens. Everyone wears masks when not eating. Click this spot to see a short video of the Cafe.

John and I roll back to our room. I am uncomfortably full. That is what I get for being a glutton tonight.