Travels and Candles

There are many, many reasons to love working in Colombia. The one that comes to mind right now is the national tendency to have a lot of holidays; I am coming off a string of almost uninterrupted 4-day weeks which has made the lead-up to Christmas seem a)very quick, and b)not nearly as crazy as normal. We had a day off for American Thanksgiving (not a national holiday, as you can imagine), for All Saints Day, and the Independence of Cartagena...

One of these long-weekends however, was enjoyed only by myself as I made my quarterly trek to Medellin for a check-up. The news was good - blood tests all came back normal, and my ever-pleasant doctor says I shouldn't worry. 

Being in Medellin was great, not just to hear a specialist tell me I am healthy, but also because  it satiated to some degree the wanderlust that has been nagging at me lately. I've been craving new a lot, perhaps because Manizales has been so dreary. So I went to see Harry Potter (in English!!) and did a bit of shopping and generally enjoyed being in a different environment for a couple of days, before making the somewhat treacherous trip back home.



I tried out a new hostel this time, in the Poblado area. I would definitely stay there again!



A stream that runs through el Poblado - this is usually just a trickle of water...



What do you mean, too much? In Medellin there is no such thing!

Rain is not just unpleasant and miserable, around here it is a destructive force. Apparently this is the worst winter in over 40 years, and as a result, the highways are not in great condition.  It is 180km from Manizales to Medellin, and on a good day you could cover this distance in maybe four hours, in a car. In a van, when the road is washed out in several places, I discovered, this takes closer to seven hours. We passed under several of these signs on the way:

In some locations it was that the land above the road was not stable, and in one location the warning applied to the land below the road which was at risk of sliding down the mountain, presumably taking with it whatever vehicles happened to be crossing at that moment.  The road had sunk several feet here, and I was less than enthused to be following the massively heavy tractor trailer shown above. 

In several places traffic moved in only one direction because of lanes covered in mud and debris. Below you can see the road has been cleared, but all that mud on the right-hand side of the road used to be part of the hill on the left-hand side.

Whatever the conditions of the highway, the journey is unquestionably beautiful.



Somewhere between Medellin and Manizales.



A little store/home along the highway.

Our most recent four-day week, however, was not a long-weekend but instead an interrupted work week - we had this past Wednesday off, to celebrate the Immaculate Conception. I'm not sure how exactly this ties in with the tradition of lighting lanterns, but that's what we did on Tuesday night. I was fortunate to be invited to celebrate Noche de las Velitas (Candle Night) with some Colombian friends. We lit the home-made lanterns at the house, before heading out into the city to ooooh and aaaah over the lantern displays in other neighbourhoods.


My Colombian family.




The maid built all these lanterns using plastic pop bottles and tissue paper. Inside, the candles are stabilized by a bit of sand. And then, after lighting them, we just leave them there, burning, unattended, for hours...



This was also the coldest night I have ever experienced in Manizales. I have no idea what part of the city we were in at this point...



All in all, it has been a pleasant few weeks. I can't wait to get home!