Medellin end of 5th. week

Hi to all,

Well, lots to report but as usual not sure where to start! Perhaps starting at the beginning or from where we left off before would be a good idea.

Jim's la Gota has improved greatly but has left a residual slight swelling in the left foot and pain in the left knee and thigh which is a bit debilitating. Jean says Jim should be swimming and all sorts of exercise which is all very well but when it's painful it's somewhat discouraging. These nurses have no sympathy!! And the pool seems cold although not being well makes it seem worse. Jean says it's OK and she normally feels the cold. We've since taken the water temperature and it's 23C so not so bad really - although a far cry from Langkawi which later in the day is like a warm bath! However, there has been some walking up the stairs instead of taking the lift and that helps although it is painful at first. But things are definitely improving - in spite of the exercise!

The other issue which has been all consuming has been the on-going and considerable frustration with First American Realty Medellin (FARM). We originally purchased the apartment through them last August 2016 and in the contract we signed they were supposed to have everything concerning the re-furbishment finished and ready for letting by December 20th. However, this never happened. Then at the end of March this year they told us all was finished and it was put on the letting market. However, there were no bookings before our arrival in mid July - and just as well because it wasn't ready then and in fact thanks to our efforts, is only really ready now. We won't bore you with the painful details! We've already mentioned that we identified at least 30 shortcomings (some serious) which meant that the claim that the apartment was ready was at best spurious and at worst fraudulent. So, we have spent most of our initial weeks here berating FARM and then waiting for contractors to arrive to sort out the problems. Sometimes they came; sometimes they didn't. In addition the apartment was in a partially dirty condition when we arrived - black dust on wardrobe shelves and same on the tiled balcony floor. And Jim has just finished going through their invoices and has identified God knows how many errors where we have been overcharged - in some cases for items not here at all. Jean did a detailed inventory and we've emailed all the gory details to them.

This is not how we had envisaged spending our time in Medellin, but now that all the work is largely finished at last, we will be mostly free to do some of the things that we should have been doing over the last 5 weeks.

In addition we thought we had paid all but a very minor amount before we left Malaysia, but they hit us with an outrageous claim just before we left. Our solicitor here has told us not to pay them another peso. We will also be counter claiming for late performance of the contract and our costs of ownership over the past 8 months so there certainly will not be anything owing. As regards the future, we will not be using them to manage the apartment and have changed all the locks. Just as an amusing aside, this involved walking up the road to one of the local supermarkets where there is a locksmith. We had translated our instructions into Spanish and carefully written them down as our Spanish is definitely not up to such intricacies. That all worked a treat and they told us that the locksmith would be there at 8 the next morning. He eventually showed up and the job is done. We do this quite a bit when we need to ask about things; for instance we buy oxtail from the Euro Supermercado and the following is an example of our written query in Spanish which we get off a translation website. "Por favor, diganos si tiene alguna cola de buey hoy. Si no, cuando esperarias tener un poco mas?" We usually understand most of the replies after painful listening and repeating and we are definitely learning a few words but we have decided that we don't have enough time here now to embark on formal lessons so that will have to wait until we are back later next year. There are many places offering Spanish lessons but we have identified the EAFIT University not far from here and we will probably go there.

We have been getting out and about - albeit somewhat more recently. We had been wanting to see the film "Dunkirk" and finally went to the Oveida Mall near Poblado. A great and worthwhile experience - we all know the story but the film certainly portrayed it as never before. We felt a strong association with the fleet of "little ships" as "Tiare Taporo III" is a Gauntlet. They were designed in Lymington, southern England in 1934 and many were built before WWII. No doubt they were well represented in that heroic fleet. Jim anyway felt quite emotional!

Oveida had the swishest cinema that we have seen (reclining seats like airline business class) and the malls generally here are of a very high standard. And not like many in other places with their Versace and Louis Vuitton shops. Just very modern and well presented.

We went one day to the Mayorista market where all manner of goods are on sale. Mostly food and the fruit and vegetable markets were so reminiscent of the old Auckland City Markets that were Jim's stamping ground in the Produce Markets Ltd era from 1965 to 1972 when the business was sold. PM had been operating on the same site since 1932. We didn't buy much; it was mostly a reconnaissance mission but we found a seafood restaurant and associated shop selling all manner of marine organisms. The seafood here is mostly fairly disappointing however as in supermarkets as far as fish is concerned they only seem to have local trout, salmon and Tilapia. The latter we avoid like the plague as it is farmed all over the world in often very questionable circumstances. We have seen prawn farms in Thailand and Vietnam and would never buy prawns from those locations. We know too much! However, the trout is local and very delicious. There are many lakes in the area and that's where they come from.

We enjoyed the few parts of the annual Flower Festival that we were able to see. There was a wonderful display at the Botanical Gardens and a few days later the traditional classic car parade was held. Jim was in his element. Mostly American cars of 1950's and 60's but a smattering of much earlier cars including one steered by a tiller. Not sure what it was. Also vintage military vehicles and a few Jaguars, Austin Healeys and MG's. Someone suggested they'd be like the old American cars in Cuba, but nothing could be further from the truth. They are all immaculate, original and obviously cherished. Thoughts are stirring about acquiring something in the US and shipping it to Colombia when we settle here! You can import a used vehicle into Colombia as long as it is more than 35 years of age and has some "classic" quality. Still, not sure about that - fuel is very expensive in Colombia and can't quite imagine our planned trip to Ushuaia in a 40 year old vehicle - but you never know! Maybe an ex US Army Willys Jeep with a machine gun mounted on the back - could come in useful! We saw a few of those in the parade.

There were very colourful floats on commercial vehicles with music and absolutely gorgeous girls dancing. One threw a flower to Jim - must have been the quantity of grey hair that did it! But on that note, the women here in Colombia are for the most part spectacular. A constant source of distraction for the poor old grey headed and bearded whatsit. Not good for the health. And Jean is most impressed with the men too - she hasn't swooned yet, but come close methinks. They are an impressive race, if you can call them that with their mixed ancestry - European Spanish, Creole, Amerindian and Negro. They carry themselves well and are always well dressed and proud of their appearance. And so friendly and helpful as we discovered on our first visit. Our efforts with Spanish usually have them in hysterics but it's all good natured and fun. And that sums them up really - happy and full of fun. Many people openly displaying affection to each other and just obviously happy - even in mundane circumstances. "Muchos gracias" always brings "con mucho gusto" and a big smile. The 24/7 security on the gate of Jardines de la Maria (our apartment complex) are always amused by Jean. One of them is trying to learn English and always says good morning or good night. We've taught him good afternoon as well. We respond with buenos dias or buenos tardes or buenos noches. They usually get a taxi for us and tell the driver where we want to go - probably saying these gringos only speak Ingles! However, there is one taxi driver (Juan) who lived in Miami and New York for many years and he speaks very good English. He has driven us a couple of times now and we have great conversations about all manner of things. We must make special mention of the taxis. They are all small yellow pedal car Hyundais or Chevs or Kias and the absolute maximum that you would pay from one side of this 3 million people city to the other is COP 20,000 - that's NZD9. Usually for our trips it's less than half that - why would you have a car except for the convenience. But the taxis are so numerous that even that consideration is largely outweighed. Then there's the Metro system which we still haven't used. Medellin is built in the Aburro Valley at 5,000' and the Rio Medellin runs south to north through the valley. The Metro parallels the river from one end to the other and by all accounts is very efficient and clean a la Singapore. The bottom of the valley tends to be industrial coupled with older residential areas while the valley sides are populated with high rise apartment towers and even higher up poorer barrio areas. Where we are in Envigado, the apartment blocks are attractively designed and in very leafy streets and generally no more than 10 levels. We are on the 8th. level. Anyway to get a good idea of the city we recommend going to a couple of websites - Medellinliving and googling a map of Medellin which will show Envigado in relation to Poblado and the rest of the city.

The other night we went to the August monthly "meeting" of Medellin Living held at a restaurant in Poblado which is the Remuera of Medellin. At least it's what the residents like to think of it as! It's really a cross between Remuera and Ponsonby with all its restaurants, bars and night clubs. The restaurant was noisy with loud music and you couldn't hear yourself think, much less have any conversation. The food was OK but expensive for here and we didn't stay long. Poblado is also quite hilly with narrow traffic and congested streets. In fact the Poblado traffic is so bad that FARM has stopped marketing apartments on a particular road that winds interminably up the hill to a mall called El Tresoro. Great view when you get there but hardly worth the effort and sitting in a pedal car taxi inhaling exhaust fumes and watching the metre inexorably ticking over leaves one feeling a bit grumpy!

We have met so many lovely people. The other day we were having a snack in a café in the Oveida Mall when we started talking to a local (Sebastian) who owns a business which supplies mining equipment. He spoke English very well and was full of useful information. He expressed concern about the political situation with the former guerilla group FARC being disarmed and disbanded and likely to gain some seats in the Parliament in the elections which are due next year. They are very left wing and in his opinion, if they gained any sort of influence, they could well lead Colombia in the direction that Venezuela has taken. That would be an absolute tragedy in this otherwise progressive and proud country. Sure, it's got its problems but which country hasn't? And the inexplicable thing to us is that it is still on the NZ Govt.'s website warning of travel to Colombia! Absolute nonsense - what about all the terror attacks that have occurred in the last 12 months in Europe? The last in Barcelona last week.

NZ is likely to be signing an FTA with Colombia, Peru, Chile and Mexico in the next few months and is also on track to open an embassy in Bogota in 2018, so that's all positive. Air NZ might soon be flying to Bogota - or even Medellin!  Might see some NZ wine and lamb here then. Lamb is one meat we haven't yet seen. Lots of beef - local as well as from Uruguay and Argentina and much pork. Certainly a change in that respect from Malaysia!

We have also met 2 lawyers quite by chance. There was Natalia who speaks good English and we met her at a local café called La Lolita in the La Frontera Mall 2 minutes walk up the road which we patronize for empanadas and excellent coffee. We also buy their ground coffee to bring back home. And also Emma whose parents are NZer's - she was born in Australia. She qualified as a lawyer in Australia and is now practising here in Medellin with her Colombian business partner. Fascinating people leading very interesting lives - just like many of the cruising yachties (and others) who we have met on our nautical travels.

Then there was Juan who is an architect in his 20's living with his family in an identical apartment from ours on the 3rd floor of our building. Juan speaks excellent English also and has been of enormous help and a saviour to us in translating where necessary. Notably this has been in connection with some security netting we've had installed on our balcony with the imminent arrival of the grandchildren in mind. Juan has worked in London and also in Switzerland.

We've had 3 national holidays since we've been here. On July 20th. there was Colombian Independence Day to mark when they finally kicked the Spanish out in the early 1800's. Then there was the Battle of Boyacá Day on August 7th. which marked a famous battle in which the Spanish were roundly defeated. And finally a religious holiday - the Assumption of Mary just yesterday. Colombia is overwhelmingly Catholic and while it is certainly not our thing, it does not seem in any way obtrusive. Even the ringing of the church bells at the little church of Parroquia la Nina Maria which is clearly visible from our balcony, is a pleasant sound - unlike the recorded voices through huge loudspeakers in Arabic of the Muezzin calling the faithful to prayer in Muslim countries. Used to drive us mad at 5 in the morning in Kupang, Indonesia. That's a place we definitely want to forget, but every so often it comes back into the consciousness like a very bad dream.

We still have things to do like Salsa dancing and visiting the famous Salon Malaga where they do the Tango. And tomorrow Perry, Tracie and the grand children arrive for 5 days. We haven't seen them for over 12 months since we were in Miami so for Jean especially it will be exciting! We have a couple of trips out of the city planned which we shall regale you with in a later blog!

For now we'll refrain from any reference to US politics and Donald Trump and certainly from the upcoming NZ elections. No doubt plenty to talk about after the election and when Winston is PM!!!!!

On that joyous note we will leave you dear readers and we'll always look forward to your news.

With lotsaluv from us here in Medellin,

Jim and Jean

Jardines de la Maria

Envigado

Medellin

Colombia       

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