Sunday, June 8th, 2014

Last night I went to bed at 10:45 and it seemed like I got up every 2 hours for a trip to the bathroom.  I finally woke/got up at 6:45.

I left the apartment at 8am and stopped at Los Mejores.  Today I saw something new in their display case – chocolate covered donuts.  I bought one to go with my coffee and it only cost me another 100 pesos (5 cents).  I was hoping it was a cake donut but it was yeast and though it was a little messy it was tasty.  There were a couple ladies sitting on the steps of the house next to the bakery.  One came down and got in line behind me while I was eating my donut and she tapped me on the shoulder and said something in Spanish.  I finally figured out she was asking me how I liked living in Medellin; I said I really liked it.  She bought a bag of pastries and went back to the stairs to share with her friend.  It was obvious from the smile on the other woman that she was flirting with me but I had no interest in either of them.  Not my type.

I walked back towards my apartment and by 8:25 I caught a Simon Bolivar bus.  Because it was Sunday there was little traffic and we were downtown by 8:50.  I walked across the street to the Parque Berrio metro station. 

Parque Berrio

Parque Berrio metro station

ditto

There was some type of announcement made by a policeman but I had no idea what he said.

I was very surprised that the train didn’t stop at the University station.  Maybe that was what the announcement was all about?

I got off at the Acevedo station at 9:15.  You can see the cable cars in the background.

Looking east at the cable cars from the Acevedo metro station.

 (So, it took 1 hour 15 minutes with breakfast or it would have been 1 hour without breakfast.)  Teresa arrived right on time.  Today there was no wait to get on a cable car.

We took a cable car to Santa Domingo then transferred to another cable car to take us the rest of the way to Parque Arvi.

Looking down at the Acevedo metro station.

Would you believe someone actually climbs these towers?

Looking straight down at one of the poorer neighborhoods.

Looking up at the new library buildings.

(What’s interesting is that you can pay 1,900 pesos (about $1) and get on the metro at one end of the valley and take it all the way to the other end of the valley and get off and without paying again and take it back.  You can also continue your ride on one of the cable cars to Santa Domingo and back without paying anything extra.  You can also transfer to other spur lines without any extra payment.)  The ride from Acevedo to Santa Domingo takes 10 minutes and it’s another 20 minutes from SD to Parque Arvi.

Looking down from where we came.

A nice clear view of the mountains.

Almost at the top now.

 Now its a straight level run to Parque Arvi.

See the corn fields?

Now its just a straight run to the park entrance.

There's the Parque Arvi cable car station.

We stopped in the big tent with the booths selling food and souvenirs and shared a cup of strawberries then a cup of salpicon (fruit salad in its own liquid) and then something I’ve had once before but I don’t remember the name.  It’s like a very thin crisp crepe sandwich with cheese and arequipe and other things inside.  It is tasty.

 

Looking from behind one of the booths.

Is this the official park welcoming sign?

We walked over to where the chivas bus was last week and after a 20 minute wait it arrived.  In the meantime we bought a small bag of caramel corn (without the nuts and without the prize) to share on the bus.  It waited another 5 minutes until it filled up.

Chivas buses are always fun to ride on.

 There was almost no wait this time to buy our tickets to get into the main part of the park.  

Entrance to the fun part of the park.

That’s Teresa on the right – hey, she’s supposed to be standing in line!

This time they gave me a receipt that I could keep – it cost 1,300 per person (about 70 cents).  We walked a different direction on the trail; it’s so nice to get away from the concrete and asphalt of the city.

Teresa on the trail.

We came to a very fancy looking hotel high on the hill with beautiful views of the lake.

Fancy lobby.

View 1 of the lake.

View 2 of the lake.

Walkway between areas of the hotel.

Me between the hotel and their garden.

Hotel garden.

 I love this picture of Teresa sitting with the hotel on one side and the flower garden on the other.

My Teresa.

We walked back down to the lake where we saw a very interesting bridge.  It looked like a ticket booth near the entrance so I’m not sure if you had to pay extra to use it.  Maybe it was for renting the little boats that are out on the lake.

Short suspension bridge.

Boats on the lake.

This picture of Teresa is pretty nice also.

Pretty lady.

Me at the lake.

Looks like a little flooding on the path.

It must be June; I saw a baby goose.

We had another nice lunch in the same restaurant as last week but this time there was no line – a nice change.  We each had the chicken plate and juice – a lot of food for a total of only 25mil (about $7 each).

We walked around the area some more and then put our coats down on an incline and curled up and took a little nap.

We left about 3:30 and on the chivas bus back to the metro station I briefly met a couple from Florida – he’s from Jacksonville and she’s from Miami.  They are thinking of retiring here.  I gave them one of my business cards.  By 5:30 we were back at my apartment.

We stopped at LM where we each had a bowl of chili with a glass of juice at El Comedor de Chava.  Teresa thought it was too spicy. Colombians are used to spiciness like Mexicans are.  I introduced her to Lucas and he introduced us to his girlfriend.  I asked Teresa if she would be my novia – I sure hope it means girlfriend.  (I think amiga is a friend who is a girl, like amigo is a friend who is a boy.  I think novia is a girlfriend – more on the romantic side.)  Of course she said yes.  I like that lady!

We were going to take a bus back to Aguacatala station but a man in a car talked to her and for the same as the bus fare we got to ride more comfortably, and with fewer stops, in the back of his car.  He stopped at another bus stop and picked up another woman who sat in front.  He repeated that once more and this lady sat with us in back.  Each of us gave him 2mil and he returned the 300 pesos in change just like the bus.  He let off one woman down the road and picked up another for another 1,700 for him.  He repeated that 2 more times before we got to our station.  I understood that Teresa goes back to her finca in Amaga – probably for the week.  According to Google Earth it’s southwest of Envigado.

I caught my usual bus back to the apartment and started uploading my photos.

T-shirt of the day: Flying high.