Off to Coffee Country

Well, I have not blogged much from Colombia. You will just have to come see for yourself, ha ha ;-)

Tomorrow I am off to coffee country. I am headed to Salento, a beautiful small town surrounded by amazing landscapes and coffee ranches. Hey, someone has to do it! I plan to hang out and down a few "tintos". Tinto literally means red in Spanish, but in Colombia it also means a black coffee. Vino is also tinto here. Coffee is an important part of my life and I want to examine the process up close!

Anyway, I will be writing up and posting some notes on Colombian culture soon (dancing, regionalism, machismo, economics, etc.). I have talked with and observed the people here and learned a lot. Unlike Asia, I can communicate with everyone here and it makes a big difference.

I have been doing a lot of dancing over the last week (both lessons and real dance places). Luckily, the girls that took me dancing were very patient! Also, I took some videos of people dancing here including a stop at a "fonda" which is a traditional countryside dance place. I wish the video quality was better so I am not sure if they are blog-worthy.

I have really enjoyed Medellin -- enough that I might come back to live here for awhile next year.

Every time I think I have advanced in my Spanish something happens to humble me. A Spanish-only speaker calls me on a cheap phone and I can barely hold a conversation. Or I have to ask the waitress to repeat something several times. Sometimes the simplest stuff can be hard to understand in a foreign language.