I imagine I should start entering the date. Today is the first day of September, Wednesday, 2021. This will be my fifth day in Latin America, and my third day in Colombia.
Late this morning Alonso, my host, took me in his car into Poblado, which is a very well-to-do barrio of Medellín. Check this YouTube video if you want to have a look.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zn84zk6NgXQ
Alonso was on his way to work, and the idea was he would drop me off there and I would walk back to the apartment, only a two hour stroll and change. Just in case you are getting the idea that my friend is cruel and sadistic, it was actually my idea. I would have time to explore the area a bit, and since I enjoy walking everywhere, I thought I would try my luck returning on foot without getting too seriously lost.
He dropped me off in a particularly beautiful area, with parks, lots of greenery, murals and other public art, and lots of high end cafés and restaurants and bars. So I wandered around, trying to get my bearings, then found my way to a park by a rushing torrential river. There is an elegant café there overlooking the river., I stopped in for a coffee and chocolate croissant, which was rather weird because the croissant was black through and through with chocolate syrup and chopped nuts. I have eaten better.
The cafe at first seemed lovely, but then I began to feel a bit uneasy there. My first thought was this: on our way up to Poblado today we passed through a very poor and dangerous neighbourhood that just reeked of destitution and squalor. And this is just a few short miles away. I really thought of the extreme social and economic inequality in Colombia, and before anyone reading this gets smug, it might not be as grave a situation in Canada, but it has gotten a lot worse in recent years, so we don't have anything to crow about.
If having those thoughts spoiled my lovely elegant café experience, then I am alright with that. I have the right to not enjoy something that is simply pretty, but also void of meaning or social value. I can't say that I had a very positive impression of the other customers, who just seemed like well-off jerks, very white and in some cases American. Now one doesn't have to be well-off or American to be a jerk, but it can sure help sometimes. I still rather like the place and might come back, if only to prick my conscience a bit more.
I began the trek back to Alonso's neighbourhood. It took me past a number of indigenous persons, often families, all very poor, who come into Poblado to sell handicrafts or other stuff, or to beg. I am glad they are there. To remind people. I did give some money, the equivalent of around three bucks Canadian to a woman seated on the sidewalk with her little girl. Then I exited Poblado, which is up in the hills, going downhill through very heavy traffic. On the way I saw some black ibises, an interesting wading bird.
I soon was a bit lost, and again asked a series of strangers for directions. Everyone seemed kind and wanted to be helpful, but few were really much help, but eventually two separate individuals were able to help me get back on my route. I still enjoy this way of engaging with locals, because it gives me a bit of an entry into their lives, and sometimes we stop and chat and even become friends. I stopped at another cafe in the big fancy-schmancy shopping mall I was in yesterday, then on the way back stopped to chat with a man from Cali who sells candy on the sidewalk, and bought some more from him. I have since been back in the apartment, taking care of the usual stuff.
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