Geo Hostel: A Prime Location in Poblado

June 3, 2015 By Nick Milne

The owner of the Geo Hostel has done well on the location front. On the same road as favorite nightlife hangouts such as
On the same road as popular bars such as El Social, next door to a plethora of restaurants (including Lenteja Express) and a hop, skip and a jump from Parque Lleras, the address of the hostel is hard to beat.
The exterior has plants adorned with outdoor tables and parasols while the entrance lobby is more of a cross between a designer shop and boutique hotel.
As you head up the small stairs, you enter a hostel and the more familiar sight of rooms with bunk beds reveals itself.
The rooms are fine, clean and modern. Each room has a digital code to unlock the door. There are lockers and a bathroom inside the room.

Bunk beds

The double bunk beds look like the standard ones you see across the globe, and there are no views from the dorms given they’re on the ground floor.
The hostel has three levels. The first floor has the aforementioned 8-bed dorms, and the layout is relatively cosy. There is a small indoor patio, alongside a well-equipped kitchen.
The second floor features private rooms. This has an altogether more hotel feel to it with TV’s inside the rooms, a modern design and large double beds.
There are double-paned windows to cut down on the noise in the street-facing rooms. This is important as I imagine there is a lot of noise given the central location.

A Private room

There are a couple of nice touches, with a little nook home to a funky looking seating arrangement and a small choice of books, as well two computers (free for use) for those travellers who have somehow lost their iPhones, tablets or laptops. God forbid.
The big surprise/advantage of the hostel is the third floor or terrace. It is infinitely more spacious than the rest of the hostel and is a completely open plan.

Top floor – open plan

Guests can play table tennis or use the lounge area with TV/Playstation and board games.
The terrace has some artificial grass with chaise lounges and views over the city. So now hostels have terraces with comfortable space for sunbathers. Who knew?
In total there are four dorms and four private rooms, so the hostel is on the smaller side. The ambience is relaxed, and purposefully so.
The owners decided to not have a bar to make sure that it is a more “familiar” vibe and not a party atmosphere, however with its proximity to the nightlife, it isn’t a remote getaway and will be sure to attract those keen on sampling the nearby bars and clubs.
The cost of the rooms is reasonable with dorms at 27,000 pesos ($11) per person per night and private rooms starting from 90,000 pesos ($36) for the room. A family room with double bed and double bunk bed is 150,000 pesos ($60).
Wi-Fi is included, as is breakfast that includes an arepa, eggs and cereals.
All your tours to the usual tourist destinations, Santa Fe and Guatape, can be booked from the friendly and welcoming reception.
Although the downstairs dorms make it feel a bit compact, the terrace is a great lounging area and the hostel will be a good choice for those who want to be close to the action, without going all out on the party side.

Joke

A man walked into an emergency room with two black eyes and a five iron (golf club) wrapped tightly around his throat. Naturally, the doctor asked him what had happened. 

“Well, it’s like this,” explained the man, “I was having a quiet round of golf with my wife when she sliced her ball into a pasture of cows.

“Well, we went to look for it, and while I was rooting around, I noticed one of the cows had something protruding from its rear end. Sure enough, when I lifted its tail, there was my wife’s golf ball.”

“And?” pried the doctor.

“Well, that’s when I made my mistake. I lifted the cow’s tail and yelled to the misses, ‘This looks like yours’.”

Monday, June 8th, 2015

I slept well last night despite getting up twice during the night, finally walking/getting up at 9am.

This morning Teresa made her first attempt to make omelettes.  She only made it with 2 eggs but it broke when she tried to turn it, probably because it contained too many ingredients.  It tasted pretty good though and I understand Laura really enjoyed hers.

My right eye is beginning to feel a little itchy so I’m pretty sure it’s an eye infection.  Today’s a holiday so tomorrow we’ll try to make an appointment with the Ophthalmologist.

We were down to 4mil on my cell phone so Teresa called Walter and he added 20mil to my cell phone.

We watched The Butterfly Effect (7.7) and then we started watching The Cabin in the Woods (7.0).

I took my prostate pill at 10pm, my sleeping pill at 11pm and went to bed.

Sunday, June 7th, 2015

I slept well despite getting up twice during the night.

I don’t know if I mentioned this in one of my early posts, but before I left the US I had my vision corrected.  I didn’t qualify for the common Lasik surgery due to: my advanced age, thin corneas, and my high myopia so I went to, arguably, the best ophthalmologist in Chicago and had my lenses replaced.  The last couple weeks I’ve noticed my right eye doesn’t see clearly which might be contributing to my getting headaches.  I’m hoping it’s something easily curable like an eye infection and not a problem with my artificial lens.  

The last few weeks there has been an ongoing discussion among expats on Expat Exchange titled Visa Transpaso.  Friday I received an email from the US embassy entitled U.S. Citizens Need to Replace Indefinite Cedulas de Extranjeria with new Cedula by July 23, 2015.

The text of the email states The U.S. Embassy Bogota would like to inform all U.S. citizens residing in Colombia on an indefinite residence permit, the so-called “cedula de extranjeria (C.E.),” that they need to apply at Colombian Immigration (Migracion Colombia) for a new residence permit prior to July 23, 2015.  Migracion Colombia will issue a new cedula valid for five (5) years.  The requirement to replace indefinite cedulas is part of the measures stipulated in Decree 0834 dated April 24, 2013.  For more information, including supporting documentation to present and fees, please visit the website of Colombian Immigration at: http://migracioncolombia.gov.co/index.php/tramites/cedula-de-extranjeria. 

I took a quick look at the website and of course it is in Spanish but the gist of it is that we have to provide the usual “cedula renewal” documents (passport photo copies, 3x4 cm. photo) and pay a fee of 162,000 pesos (about $65) but I understand the cedula is good for 5 years.  (Nowhere is “visa” mentioned so I assume that still needs to be renewed annually.)

We left the finca at noon and the rottweiler came out a little late, after we had already passed.

We walked across the road and quickly caught a Caldas bus going in the opposite direction.  This time it went into a small town to drop people off before heading to Caldas.

In Caldas Teresa said she was hungry so we stopped at a small restaurant where she ordered a half rotisserie chicken for me and a bowl of fish soup for herself for 23mil.  I only ate a couple pieces and a couple small potatoes with my soda.  Later we gave a piece of chicken, a potato and small arepa to Walter for lunch.  The rest of the chicken Laura had for lunch.

Merkepaisa is less than a block away and we bought most of our food for the month.  

While waiting for Walter to pick us up in his taxi an old lady came by and talked to Teresa.  I understood she was asking for money but I waited for Teresa to tell me what to give her.  At one point she lowered her blouse and bra and you could see she had her breast removed.  I only had 200 pesos on me so that’s what I gave her.

Walter picked us up and took us back to the finca.  On the way down the hill in the taxi the other killer dog followed the taxi and I got a good squirt at him with my pepper spray and he ran off.  Hopefully he’ll remember that when we come by again.

The other day in the Carulla grocery store, Teresa spent some time talking to the young lady who made our turkey sandwich.  Tonight Teresa made an almost identical sandwich for each of us.  I don’t remember if I mentioned that the sandwich includes a thin slice of green apple; sounds a little strange but it is tasty.

Teresa asked Laura to find a movie on Yaske.net.  First she found Gravity but it wasn’t very good and it certainly wasn’t the movie with Sandra Bullock and George Clooney.  After that she found Careful What You Wish For (5.4) which was much better.

Tomorrow is a holiday and I understand also are the next 2 Mondays.

I took my prostate pill at 10pm, my sleeping pill at 11pm and went to bed.

Saturday, June 6th, 2015

Today's the 70th anniversary of D-Day.

Last night I fell asleep quickly but got up at 3:15.  After that I had difficulty getting back to sleep.  I finally woke/got up at 9:30.

Today turned out to be one of those days where reality did not meet expectations.

What I knew: the 3 of us were invited to Vicky & Albero’s son Samuel’s first communion.

What I understood from talking to Teresa: we’re going to leave the finca at 11:30.  First we’re going to stop somewhere for me to get a haircut.   Because of this I assumed the church and restaurant are close to their apartment in Santa Monica.  So I thought the three of us were taking a bus to Aguacatala followed by a bus to Laureles and who knows what from there.  She told me we would leave the party at 4:30.

Guillermo, the neighbor with the killer dogs, talked to Teresa outside the finca for awhile.

Laura left the finca at 10:15 so that meant we weren’t taking a bus together from the finca.  I heard La Estrella mentioned so I assumed we would meet there.

I put on my new clothes we had recently purchased in El Tesoro.  Teresa didn’t want me to bring my Nook and its tech bag or my fanny pack so I took out my cedula and package of toilet paper for Teresa to keep in her purse.

We left the finca at 11:45 and got past the killer dogs undetected.  After a short wait we got a ride from a private car owner.  In the car I asked Teresa if he is taking us to La Estrella.  I understood from their short conversation that he wasn’t going there.  He dropped us off in Caldas across the street from 4 taxis.  Teresa talked to a taxi driver and then he took us to La Estrella station where Laura got in.  He took us to Niqua station and I checked on the map and it’s the northern end of the metro line.

Teresa seemed like she was lost so I asked to see the invitation again.  No address, just the name of the restaurant.  Figuring the restaurant must be close by I suggested we give the name of the restaurant to a taxi driver and have him take us there.  After a 15 minute wait I understood we was waiting for someone.  She made multiple phone calls to Vicky, Monica and the person we were waiting for.  Several times I heard her ask “where are you”?  We walked out of the station and took the bridge over the expressway to a park.  After a total of 1 hour and 15 minutes waiting, her nephew Mateo and his 4 year old son Manuel finally showed up.  Teresa said he was “enferma” so I didn’t know if there might be some learning problem with him.  

We all got into a taxi and he took us about 15 minutes further north to the restaurant in the town of Copacabana.  (So we went from south of Medellin to north of Medellin.)  We finally arrived at 2:25 so I figured we were too late for the church service.  (After questioning Teresa later I found out the communion was at 8am that morning.)

It was a large open air restaurant with a thatch roof covering half the building and vines covering the other half.  There were about 15 children and about 60 adults.  Food was good (chicken kiev, potatoes and a small salad) although there was an occasional rotten smell coming from behind the restaurant, like stagnant water.  They had someone there entertaining the children at a separate table so they were kept busy for hours.  They also had what looked like a professional photographer.

With Laura’s encouragement, Mateo started talking to me in English.  He told me his father works as a waiter in New York.  He said he learned English on the internet.  When I pressed him for the exact website he said PerfectEnglishGrammar.com.

I watched the end of a soccer game between JUV and BAR.  I thought the latter team abbreviation referred to Barranquilla until I recognized Messi (arguably the best soccer player in the world) and then I realized it was Barcelona.  I still don’t know who JUV is; I’m not that much up on soccer; I still find it a little boring with games often ending 0-0.

Sometime after lunch they brought everyone a glass of Sangria, later a dish of cookies & cream ice cream and a little later a slice of communion cake.

We finally left at 5:45.  

In our taxi, on the way to Envigado, at Calle 44 (San Juan) we had to take a bridge to temporary lanes on the other side of the river.  You can see a lot of work going on at ground level for the new river park so there must also be a lot of work going on underground for the new highway tunnel.  We finally crossed back to the other side of the river at Calle 30 so it’s going to be a large park area.

After a 15 minute wait we caught a Fredonia bus.  (Teresa told me some young people at the station had been waiting 90 minutes for their bus.)  There was only a seat for me until we got to Caldas and then I had to give up my seat.  We finally got back to the finca at 7:45.

I watched D Day: The Lost Files on The History Channel.

I took my prostate pill at 10pm, my sleeping pills at 11pm and went to bed.

Friday, June 5th, 2015

I slept well, getting up once at 6am, finally waking/getting up at 8:10am.

I checked this week’s movie releases but there isn’t anything new I want to see.

Locally, I would like to see:

•     Mad Max: Fury Road (9.0) but it isn’t playing at any convenient times.
•     San Andreas (6.6)which is only playing at Oviedo, in 3D, at one convenient time.
•     Tomorrowland (7.3) which is playing at El Tesoro.

I received an email from MBE that the Hot Shapers and 2 other documents are waiting for pickup in El Poblado.

While I was putting Peter in the shed I felt a couple raindrops and it was very overcast so I insisted on bringing the large umbrella even though Teresa said I didn’t need it.  (I didn’t; it cleared up later.)

We left the finca at 12:10pm.  It appeared the killer dogs were waiting for us until I saw Don Carlos with his dog by Guillermo’s house.  We walked with them up the hill and the killer dogs didn’t dare come closer.

An area to the road had been cleared, probably because there are a lot of fincas on top of the hill.  I believe we’ll go for groceries Sunday or Monday.

We didn’t have to wait for a bus to El Poblado.  The taxi driver who took us to Habitacion CC recited all the English he knew and I understood he was pretty funny.

We got to the mall in just enough time that we were able to have lunch at Frisby for 31,700.  I had some of her Frischuleta along with a Friburrito for me.

Teresa was in the beauty shop for 3 hours having her hair colored and her nails done.  She also picked up a couple hair products.  We walked over to Zona Dos to the Carulla grocery store.  It reminded me a little of a Whole Foods store.  

Teresa was a little hungry so we shared a turkey sandwich with a drink for each of us for 17mil.  We picked up a few things we needed right away which Teresa paid for with her monthly food budget.

We took a taxi to El Poblado and quickly were on a bus back to the finca.

I used to know exactly when the sideroad to the finca was coming up, even in the dark.  I used to count: “greek” restaurant, right turn, double left turn, right turn, double left turn, right turn, left turn and there’s the road to the finca.  With the straightening of the highway the last  turns have been straightened making it harder for me to know when the sideroad is coming up.  Luckily I don’t have to figure it out alone.

The killer dogs heard us coming, which was a little dangerous seeing as we’re carrying bags and we’re walking in the dark.  Luckily Guillermo came out and yelled at them and they backed off some.

Back at the finca Teresa finally realized I was supposed to be getting a haircut while she was having her hair done so I understand we will take care of that tomorrow before communion. 

I finished the 405 page The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins.  I highly recommend this book for everyone – religous and non religious.  I downloaded The Truth About the Shroud of Turin: Solving the Mystery (252 pages) by Wilcox.

I took my prostate medicine at 10pm, my sleeping pills at 11pm and went to bed.  That timing seems to be working pretty well towards my getting a good night’s sleep.

Thursday, June 4th, 2015

I slept well, finally waking up at 5am as Laura was leaving.  It took me a little while to get back to sleep, finally walking/getting up at 8:35.

We left the finca at 10:45am and only one killer dog (not the rottweiler) complained of our presence.  At the bottom of the sideroad the old highway was torn apart and they are using the new road.  The fact that the highway was in pieces means that Walter wouldn’t be able to get his taxi through if we went on a food run.

We quickly caught a direct bus to Medellin.  The 2^nd span of the bridge is nearing the first and they’ve started another lane for the 2^nd span.  In El Poblado we took a taxi to El Tesoro CC.

In Mac Center I got their price on a new iPhone 5S of 1,779,999 ($712).  I was thinking people might exchange their old 5S for the newer iPhone 6 but she told me they don’t do that there.

I withdrew some cash at Citibank.

Teresa had some clothes to exchange.  She didn’t find anything she liked in Zara.   She exchanged something in Touche.  

We had a nice lunch at J&C Delicias.  I had a crunchy chicken salad with mango juice and Teresa had a beef salad with mango juice for a total of 51,400 ($20.50).

Finally it was my turn for clothes.  At Arturo Calle we bought 2 short sleeved shirts for 47,749 ($19) & 43,017 ($17), 2 pairs of khaki pants for 60mil ($24) & 71,466 ($28.50), and a black/brown reversible belt for 45,431 ($18).  So I’m all set for the communion on Saturday.

There was a booth set up selling the new Samsung 6 phone for about 2 million pesos.  Again Teresa cautioned me not to get an expensive phone as it’s too dangerous to own.

We stopped in the food court and Teresa had a chicken pastry with Mandarin juice and I had a Dunkin Donut and strawberry juice.

In the last store before we left the mall, Teresa finally found a nice blouse she liked.

We took a taxi down to El Poblado station and very quickly we were on an Amaga bus back to the finca (although we had to sit over the transmission in the front of the bus).

At the side road they had all the rubble cleared away but it still appeared there is a small dropoff between the old and new roads.  It will probably all look different tomorrow anyway.

The killer dogs heard us coming and gave us a hard time.  I forgot to bring my pepper spray but, finally, Guillermo came out and yelled at his dogs.

I took my prostate medicine at 10pm, my sleeping pills at 11pm and went to bed.