At Teresa’s suggestion I took my jacket with me; I can
always leave it in the car (and actually did).
Julian and Ana Maria showed up at 9:30 and we piled into the
back seat of his Chevy coupe. It took an
hour to get to Santa Elena – the town nearest to Parque Arvi. I told Julian a number of jokes on the way.
Ugh, I forgot my camera.
On our way Julian showed us on the east side of town where
they have what look like fancy new trolley cars or monorails to carry
passengers.
In Santa Elena, a small town that doesn’t look like much
(and isn’t), Julian parked the car, we walked across a road, and walked around
a few “restaurants” forming a circle around the church. After completing the circle he asked where we
could get coffee and hot chocolate and we were sent towards one of the stands
we had already passed. I had coffee and
a sausage and the others had various other things. After a while we went back to the car and
Julian drove to a nearby finca. There
were a couple men playing guitars and we saw a man make a simple silletero
(this year is Medellin’s
56th annual flower parade). I
had my picture taken wearing the traditional Antioquian hat and poncho and
carrying a silletero on my back. It
wasn’t particularly heavy but I wouldn’t want to carry it for any distance.
We saw a couple groups of about a dozen people each perform
skits. One showed people on the metro
and first a handicapped person and then a woman with a baby getting on and
people giving up their seat. The best
was a skit of people on a bus where a young man got on, hopped over the
turnstyle, and tried to sell candy from a bag.
As usual he gave a free piece to the driver. Later he stole someone’s cell phone and
several people chased after him. It was
all pretty funny.
I was told they were making 2 large pots of Ajiaco but we
were not included.
We got back into the car and drove past a few restaurants
that had no parking available.
Eventually we backtracked and found one with a parking space. I had my usual chicken breast with salad,
French fries and a mango juice. There
was a small dog there and I gave it some of my chicken (it wasn’t interested in
my dog biscuits).
After we finished eating we gave up our table to another
party. While sitting on the grass nearby
waiting for our check I heard some of them speaking English. After they ordered I asked where they were
from – San Diego and Montana.
We decided to head back to Envigado. We stopped on the way at the equivalent of a
Quik Mart where Julian ordered a latte, I ordered a vanilla latte and the
ladies had ice cream bars. The grassy
area behind reminded me of a driving
range or golf course and there was parked a Jaguar XJ6 with some British
insignias on it. There was a young boy
there with his little dog Folksy who I gave the last of my dog biscuits to.
We got back to the apt by 5pm.
T-shirt of the day: Why is Friday so far from Monday?
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