Colombia Forum

jooks
Joined 2019
Posts: 293

5 years ago

Installment 2

5 years ago

You need like 18 eyes to walk around the streets of this town. I definitely would be dead at least 10 times if it wasn’t for Manuela grabbing me. The pedestrian is last on the food chain. Then the bicyclist and motorbike. The car is king. For the moment, at least until I get the guts to ride a bicycle here, I am a lowly walker. Pedestrian cross walks are more than a suggestion if you want a better than 50-50 chance of surviving. But they’re meaningless to cars. To cross a street, you need to look left, right and all angles in between for turning cars. Cars have the unspoken right of way. You also need to make sure you’re looking down to avoid the cracks in the sidewalks and the steps that seem to come out of nowhere on the sidewalk. I have scraped knees to prove it. Paisas seem to have a sixth sense and it simply is the way it is. If they came to the civilized world, they would probably be in shock when a car actually stopped for them at a crosswalk.

I refer to Mariana as the daughter I’m happy I never had. Jokingly of course. She’s a 22-year-old space cadet and smart as a whip. And funny as heck. We became friends on one of my earlier trips. She introduced herself as “Lucy.” Why? I have no idea. But if anyone remembers Lucille Ball, she’s her twin except she doesn’t have red hair. That is, today. We bonded over music, politics and much more. I’m blessed to have Mariana and Manuela as my friends here. Mariana’s hobby is growing mushrooms for uh, medicinal purposes.

I had no idea how to use Google Maps before I came here. It’s a requirement for visitors. I used to be terrified to take walks unless it was in a straight line so I could find my way back. Google Maps has liberated me. While google often gets confused by the calles (CL), avenidas/carreras (Cra), circulars (Cq), transversals (tr) and a bunch of other designations, it eventually gets you where you wanna go. I can’t imagine how lost I’d be without it. Carreras run east/west and Calles run north/south. Or maybe the other way around. The other stuff was invented to confuse. Like, circulars are not necessarily circles. And just this morning, I was taking a walk on calle 44 and google maps said to make a turn on calle 45. How can that be if calles all run north/south? The equivalent would be making a right on 45th Street from 44th Street in NYC. Like many other things, it seems Medellin’s city planners had a rock-solid plan but abandoned it at some point. But it makes the town endearing.

It literally took Michele about 15 hours to pack my suitcases. And I had everything laid out for her. It was mind boggling at how thorough she was. Most everything got wrapped in saran wrap or zip locks. Even shirts. She was meticulous. Really, this should be her career. But alas, much of it was for naught. 6 days later, I’m still coming across missing things. Thank you TSA. But the thing I was most concerned with, my iMac, survived the trip. Who cares that it took Manuela and me an hour to get it out of its box. Thank you Michele!

And my long-time college friend, Aaron. Thank you for your support and for help with mail.

Mis gatos, my cats. How I miss Ben & Jerry. For a while, I thought I was gonna have to bring them with me and subject them to third world cat food. After all, I refused to separate them and they’re old men at 12 years. No one wants old cats. Chaz and Camile in my building stepped up, thank God, and took them in. I will be eternally grateful, especially since they have a better home than I was able to provide. They now have a full family of four that has taken to them. A win/win for everyone. Thank you Chaz and Camile!

So, how am I doing? Better than expected and happy to be alive. And grateful to so many people.

William Russell

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William Russell

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William Russell

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