First things first, in English, we might pronounce the name of this beautiful city of Medellin as Meh-da-lyn. In Espanol, it is pronounced, Meh-dha-yen. But in Colombia and all of South America, it is said as Meh-dha-jeen. Here’s a vital reminder. Medellin, the City of Eternal Spring has not always been so sweet. Remember, Pablo …
Author Archives: janie.weeks
The Botanicals & A Gondola
On track now, we are ready to see some stuff. Like experts, we waked downhill almost 2 miles to Estacion Poblado. We passed shops, the restaurant where we had the Tomahawk Steak yesterday, and Parque Poblado where vendors appeared to be setting up for the weekend. Our purchased Civica Pass metro cards came loaded with …
Medellin
First impression: This city is big, damp, lush green, and very hilly. We waltzed right through immigration and booked a ride with UBER. Finding the car and driver was a challenge but we finally did and as we drove along we found out why. The driver managed to tell us that if police stopped us …
Takeaways
It is obvious. I love being here. I could live here. But the funny thing is I’ve felt that way after spending time in several other places I loved. I could live out the rest of my days in a stone farmhouse in rural Italy where we’d grow our melons, tomatoes and make our own …
Ice Cream Party
Who would imagine throwing an ice cream party on a Saturday afternoon? Our Canuk friends!! Barbara gave Don an ice cream maker for Christmas. I think he’s been practicing because his craft has been perfected. He spent this past week making a different variety of ice cream each day. He used no mix or imitation …
A Will And A Way #2
Ok, we’ve done about everything now. The little white buses and Diablos Rojos buses are no longer a mystery. A modern, plush double-decker bus took us from Panama City to Sabanitas, a tiny but bustling pueblo on the route to Colon. The $4, one-hour ride was quite comfortable. The superhighway bypassed villages and farms so …
A Market to Love
We’ve been here four months and just now, just now, found a market for field-fresh fruit and vegetables that is not located in the rather ominous, Avenida Central. It’s an outdoor but covered tienda in the heart of the restaurant-rich San Francisco area. One the day we made the dry run to Albrook to confirm …
A Will And A Way
Since the first day we arrived in Panama we have seen methods of transportation we didn’t understand. First is the Diablos Rojos. These are colorfully painted and decorated former school buses that have been tricked out with glitter paint, fringed windows, and shining chrome oversized exhausts. Each one of these busses is operated by an …
Still Learning
Preface: We planned to rent a car for two brief back-to-back day trips. We thought we might drive on Friday to Portobelo, a historic beach village just west of Colon. We hoped to leave early so we’d have the full day to explore. In addition to beaches and remaining Congo cultu.re, relics of four forts …
San Blas at Last
Any one of the 350-plus islands in the chain or cluster of islands could be the subject of a dream, could have been home to Robinson Crusoe or even Wilson. Any one of them could be the island where two people in tattered clothing find themselves stranded after a horrific shipwreck. Perhaps looking for a …