Having somewhat recovered from the onslaught of returning to work in a busy period, we moved on from Columbia’s capital to its second largest city – Medellin.  Medellin is known as ‘the City of Eternal Spring’ because of its perfect climate (although my sun-loving self couldn’t help but wonder if there’s a City of Endless Summer somewhere in the world that might be more up my street).  Upon landing in Medellin, I was pleasantly surprised to find it much warmer than in Bogota.

Another thing that Medellin, and indeed Columbia, is known for is its friendly people.  We could attest to a positive vibe so far but what really makes the difference is the chance to get to know some of the locals.  As luck would have it, Darren had a Colombian colleague from work, Diego, who didn’t live in Medellin but a five hour drive away.  Diego and his mum had benevolently offered to meet up with us and be our travel hosts for the weekend.  We were greeted at the airport like long lost friends and the welcoming hospitality continued from there.

In the 80s and 90s, Medellin was considered the most dangerous city in the world, with urban war declared between drug cartels leading to violence and terror on the streets.  District 13 in particular was one of the poorer barrio communities that embodied Pablo Escobar’s Medellin.  Further political troubles ensued in the early 2000s but over the last twenty years, this place has seriously reinvented itself.  

With a Spanish speaking local guide (and Diego for handy translation!), we spent a good few hours touring District 13, learning about the troubled history and experiencing what it had now become.  The community was vibrant and buzzing, street dancers shaking their booty and anything else they could with such vigor and energy.  

There was also a flourishing art scene, with a super cool glow in the dark genre.  My inner 80s chick (the one of mismatched fluorescent socks and sweatbands) was awakened; I was in my element.

Urban escalators took us into the heart of District 13. Just re-read that sentence one more time. I mean there were actually escalators in the streets, i.e. outdoors, leading up the steep valley slopes.  We could probably do with some of those in Scarborough!  The rooftop view down over the city and the forested hillsides really topped off the afternoon.

At the other end of town, they’ve gone one better than escalators with a Metrocable system – six different lines of gondola style cable cars extending up the hillsides, providing transportation to the masses.

A popular day trip from Medellin is the nearby town of Guatape, less than 50 miles away.  But when it comes to Columbia, you have to re-think your expectations on times and distances.  This would supposedly be a two hour jaunt each way.  But that was before they threw in some roadworks.  Add to that the creativity of Waze’s driving app and we found ourselves pootling along narrow winding dirt roads in the back of beyond for three hours.  Diego, as designated driver, had the job of avoiding potholes and rocks and dogs, while keeping his fingers crossed that his car would make it.  Safely tucked away on the back seat, I didn’t mind the country scenery and colorful wildflowers one bit.

For some time as we approached Guatape, we could see the iconic granite rock formation, el Piedra del Penol towering 200m above its surroundings.  

The rock is nestled amongst lakes and rolling hills, a very pretty area indeed.  We made it up the 700+ steps up the side of the rock to amazing views.  It was the coming down that finished me off.  This brought on a bout of ‘jelly legs’, which I think needs no further description.  Luckily, lunch with a view was right around the corner.

Spending a week working in Medellin was just awesome.  Our home for the week was another Selina – so co-working, hotel, cafe and nightlife all in one.  We were based in the affluent El Poblado area, surrounded by chic cafes (and indeed they redeemed themselves on the coffee front after a poor initial showing in Bogota), cosmopolitan restaurants, museums, shopping, and boutique hotels.  And all this was immersed in rainforest greenery, with native trees, tropical plants, bamboo and palms providing green corridors of shade.  Like a city and a jungle at the same time.

Darren’s persistence in negotiating the most convoluted baffling booking process ever eventually scored us a reservation at the fine dining El Cielo restaurant in Medellin.  The executive chef, Juanma, is somewhat of an icon in the gastronomic world, with Michelin stars for his unique culinary experiences.  

I don’t have the time to walk you through all 18 courses of our tasting experience here; suffice to say an experience it was.  A phenomenal one.  OK, maybe just a little insight into one of our favorite courses.

Note, we already had clean hands from a previous table-side hand washing ritual, followed by a few courses that involved some hand-food interaction.  At this point, we were presented with large bowls on the table in front of us and I was requested to remove my rings.  With our hands cupped over our respective bowls, the waitress poured warm melted 70% chocolate from a height into and onto our hands, some of it dripping teasingly into the bowl below.  We ‘washed’ our hands in the slick chocolate, to which was added generous spoonfuls of sweetened coffee grains.  This was designed to evoke a joyful childhood sensation of playing in a sandpit!  There was a seductive cacao aroma in the air as we massaged the silky smooth chocolate and the fine grains of coffee ‘sand’ into our hands, and only then were we invited to taste and lick the deliciousness from our hands.  I have to tell you… probably the best chocolate I’ve ever tasted.  We both did a very decent job of licking our hands clean until the waitress returned with a jug of warm water to finish the job.  

And now you see why I don’t have the time to cover all the courses of ‘La Experiencia’!

Not quite to the same level of gastronomic delights as El Cielo, but there was no shortage of great food and drink across El Poblado.

By this time, we were halfway into December and it wasn’t feeling very Christmassy.  I rather like to be inundated by festive Christmas songs, decorations and lights in the run up to the big day – but the samba beat was definitely winning out against Chris Rea.  

We tried to address this with a visit to the Christmas lights at Parque de la Luz in Medellin. As it turns out, Christmas in Columbia isn’t all about Christmas trees, snowmen and Santa Claus.  Time to readjust our expectations and just enjoy the lights.  Quite spectacular lights at that, although I struggled to quite dig the Disney Encanto theme, all boats, flowers, and larger than life characters.  

All in, we managed to fit a huge amount into our Medellin visit.  And we’d go back in a heartbeat.  If Columbia is even remotely on your radar, then the City of Eternal Spring is where it’s at. Oh and give me a heads up if you’re going, I’ve got a favor to ask… there’s a certain denim jacket back there with my name on it.

South America sounds kind of close to North America.  Believe me, it is not.  What it also is not is due south of North America, although in my simplified mind that’s exactly where it was.  Guess it’s a while since I looked at a globe.  Not only that, South America is massive, and when you’re all the way down in the south of the South, it’s a long long way not only to Tipperary but also to California.  The answer: break up the return journey.

Work restrictions limited our choices, but one country stood out as being a promising option – no work permits needed and pretty much as close to our time zone as we could get in South America.  It also wasn’t on our previous 2003 global adventure itinerary and so was new to us: Columbia.

I have to admit when Darren first proposed Columbia I was a tad skeptical.  Guns and drugs and gangs and shootings.  An unsafe place where we could be robbed at gunpoint, umm, no thanks.  I was assured that my impressions of the country were at best outdated.  The country had come a long way since the days of Pablo Escobar and we’d be just fine.  And just like that, we were going to Columbia.  The plan: to work a week in Bogota, work a week in Medellin, work a week in Cartagena, and finish up with a week’s vacation (somewhere in Columbia) over Christmas, flying back in January to start the new year at home.

Bogota was all a bit of a blur honestly.  After leaving the ship in Ushuaia and flying north, we had a long layover in Buenos Aires and then an overnight flight to Bogota. We rocked up all bleary eyed ready to start work on a Tuesday morning.  Our destination for the week: Selina – the Digital Nomad Hotel Of The Future (according to Forbes).  Beyond the promised creative living and working environment, we were actually very pleased to be greeted with an included breakfast, random though it was.

Also rather impressive was the proximity of Selina to the nearest brewery.  Literally right next door.

So we made it there and not too much further honestly. Although we did partake in the excellent local restaurant scene, with a nice meal out or two.  

And we embraced the Selina lifestyle where our hectic working days blurred traditional boundaries with coffee shops, bars, and the World Cup final. Good job we were so tired when we went to bed for when the late night live music finally ended, the DJ kicked it up a notch. The paper thin walls did little to keep the tunes confined. The Latin salsa beat ran through my head as I drifted off, music and sleep forging an alternate dream-state where penguins pirouetted with footballs in my head and formed a drug-fuelled conga to party the night away.

Our Bogota visit coincided with a national holiday on 7th December: The Day of the Little Candles.  Unofficially, this marks the start of the Christmas season by…. you guessed it, lighting candles.  I’m sure it’s a very lovely and traditional way to bring family and friends together to embrace the upcoming festivities.  For us having very recently arrived in a foreign country, it was a somewhat subdued affair on the hotel front doorstep.  After all, it doesn’t take very long to light a candle.

By the end of the week, we had recovered sufficiently to spend a little time before work doing something touristy.  And the most touristy thing to do in Bogota is take the funicular up the Montserrat mountain that dominates the city.  

When you’re immersed at ground level, the hustle and bustle of the city is all-consuming.  There’s a sense of urgency peppered with beeping and honking of impatient traffic, weaving of motorbikes, and yelling of street side vendors.  The funicular on the other hand took us into a different world.  The views were breathtaking and the change of pace like a weight off our shoulders. For the first time we were able to “see” Bogota.

Speaking of Christmas decorations, they were very much getting into the spirit of Christmas up this mountain. Well, they had decorations with lights (it really was so very tempting to come back at night) but they were not not your average traditional Christmas decorations. More of a jungle theme going on. We were literally surrounded by colorful monkeys, bears, snakes and anteaters.

They also had various effigy re-enactments of scenes from the New Testament featuring Jesus Christ. Not in the spirit of Christmas, these were permanent statues. Funny enough, they didn’t seem out of place surrounded by tropical plants and thick rainforest – it added an air of pensive tranquility as we wandered the grounds. I didn’t even mind the Christmas lights draped tastefully across the scenes.

Although I feel they went a step too far when they tried to marry the religious statues with the jungle flora and fauna. And there you have it… my overarching memories of Bogota are this series of ”Jesus and the [random animal]”.

After five of the most memorable days of our lives, all that remained of our Antarctic adventure was the return journey through the Drake Passage.  The swaying and the side to side shuffling along corridors was back.   The nausea was kept at bay by the sea-sickness patches, replaced with a resigned sleepiness.  In fact it was a welcome guilty pleasure to catch up on some rest after such a hectic week.

Meanwhile, my teddy bear was having the time of his life.  During the cruise while we were off galavanting, he’d been happily amusing himself with iridescent sea shells, just for the fun of it.  On another evening, we’d returned to our suite after dinner only to hear from outside the door that a movie was playing in our cabin.  Curiouser and curiouser.  We stepped in tentatively… Turns out my bear was in his element, sprawled out on the bed like a furry Homer Simpson with popcorn and beer, watching a Disney movie.  Having the time of his life.  And finally as we forged northward leaving Antarctica far behind, here he was – the center of attention, loving it up on our crisp white duvet.

And then in true Seabourn style, the team totally pulled it out of the bag on the last evening at the Officer’s Epicurean event out on deck.  The waters had calmed throughout the afternoon and as the Venture breezed northward through the Beagle channel, we were happy to lay our eyes on land again.  We ensconced ourselves at the open patio bar to take it all in.  One of those “the holiday’s not quite over, gonna make the most of it” moments.  Chatting with bar tenders and passengers alike.  There seemed to be some untold affinity between those who’ve visited Antarctica: a shared dream, a mutual respect.

We got caught up in the set up of the evenings proceedings, as the staff busied themselves with the set up of cocktails and hors d’ouvres.  Out came the caviar, smoked salmon, and leg of jamon ready to carve.  And out came the whisky and bitters for the Old Fashioneds.  Along with the centerpiece of a perfect 1,000 year old mini Antarctic iceberg.  Just in case you have any doubt precisely which continent you just visited.  This is one time I absolutely want ice in my drink, thank you very much.

It is not lost on me that Antarctica is something lifelong dreams are made of.  I feel intensely privileged that we were able to do this trip and I’m humbled by the experience.  Wildlife does that to me.  Yes, even penguins.  Absolutely penguins.  Penguins with their comedy antics, where waddling inevitably ends up with a face plant. (There’s a life lesson there somewhere I’m sure).  It’s not about ‘seeing’ something and ticking it off.  It’s the watching and waiting, it’s experiencing, and it’s just being there and enjoying the moment.  Or moments.

And the final word – or photo(s) – goes to Daniel Fox the professional photographer.  I’ve featured a few of his pics from our cruise in the blogs already.  There’s a few that didn’t quite make it, but it would be a shame not to share.  So the last little round up – Photos by Daniel; Collages by moi!