Let's Take it Back: Colombia

It's time for a catch-up! I know, Colombia feels like forever ago but surprisingly it's only been three months since I was last there. So I will try my best to fill you in on all the gaps that happened.

We'll start with my last couple of weeks of Medellin. As I wrote in my first blog post about Colombia, I took those first couple of weeks to settle into the country and give myself some time. Peru was quite an adventure and one of the most active groups I've ever spent time with. So I was pretty content with not doing too much in Medellin. Much to my surprise, I had quite an adventure last couple of weeks there. I ended up going to one of the final futball matches for two local Colombian teams - and will say I have never seen a more active stadium in my life. We got front-row tickets for about $40 and got rained on with confetti, white and green powder, fireworks, and then actual rain.

A day later, I met a Brazilian girl named Barbara who had a love for swimming just as much as I do. She showed me the local Olympic size swimming pool which is open to the public and completely free to use. It was incredible to swim in and felt so good to meet another kindred spirit (Anne of Green Gables reference.) I spent those last ten days with Barbara and another gal I met through her. We went on beautiful hikes, tasted incredible food and I got to try Acroyoga for the first time! Photos below :)

This dessert is a Gluten & Dairy Free dessert from a restaurant/grocery store called Saludpan. If you are ever in Medellin I highly recommend!!

A 30-minute hike all uphill with a 360-degree view of Medellin

Barbara on the left, from Brazil (she speaks English, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese) & Giada from Italy (she speaks Italian, English & Spanish)

Every Tuesday in Rio Park from 6-9 pm they do a jam session of Acroyoga.

If any of you are confused - Acroyoga is an activity that combines yoga and acrobatics. It involves a partner or a group where someone is usually lift. It is quite an enjoyable activity!!

I know in one of my blog posts I mentioned that I was planning on staying in Colombia longer, was going to teach English to students in a small town called Acacias, and then would jump to the next town/city in Colombia. But as you can see much of my travels are chaotic and can change up! I arrived in Acacias and the hostel/school there didn't end out working for me. It just wasn't what I expected and something I've been working on is not keeping myself in situations where I feel uncomfortable. So after a week of staying there, I ended up jumping on a bus & going to Bogota until I figured out what was next.

They had two pigs and a whole bunch of chickens in Acacias. The black pig was pregnant!

After a couple of days in Bogota things quickly turned around. When I was first in Costa Rica in April I reached out to a hostel called ONDA in Playa Grande about potentially working for them, our schedules ended up not working out and I thought that was the end. Fast forward to July in Bogota, I was messaging with a good friend of mine (Annalee) who lived in Costa Rica and had gotten to thinking about visiting Costa Rica again. So I reached back out to ONDA to see about their schedule, ironically, my friend Annalee knew the girl who ran the Marketing for the company. They had an opening and I saw it as fate. So I purchased a ticket back to Costa Rica! [Reminder this was back in July]

*The next couple of blog posts will be released soon with an update on all I've been up to in Costa Rica*