Parque Norte

Sorry it's been a while since I've been able to post. I caught a cold shortly after Thanksgiving and just haven't been able to shake it. Kristen was afraid I had walking pneumonia. I still have a rough cough that I gave to Reece, but I'm pretty sure I'm on the mend.

Parque Norte is something of a public parks version of Disneyland lite meets the county fair. It's in the middle of the city and is a bit of an oddity. You pay a couple dollars to get in and can just walk around and have a picnic. Or you can pay $8-10 USD to a punch card or all-you-can ride pass. We opted for the BIG pass.

The ride of the day (IMO) was the log ride (aka Voyage to the Center of the Earth). It had a couple good drops, and you are almost guaranteed to get soaked. Unfortunately none of my photos came out from that ride. There's a really good Hall of Mirrors we hit at the get-go as well.

Next stop was the dinosaur jungle boat-ride. They loves them some animatronics down here.

 



Because we did the all-you-can ride pass we did the airplane as well. This is a "grandma" ride that consists of sitting in an air-conditioned airplane while a simulated flight over Cartegena is shown via LCD screens in the windows. And the seats randomly move. Great for a hot day, but not much else.

The 3D (5D) experiences use old 3D technology that made me a bit sick to my stomach. My advice is to pass on these.

Then we got to the roller-coaster. They warn you to keep your hands inside at all times. Heed the warnings. There are a couple dips where your hands will be taken off if your arms are raised. Also, I would not advise riding this coaster if you are over 6 feet tall for the same reason, except it would be your head. The coaster starts with a solid push by the attendants. Then it is a bit of a Rube Goldberg mousetrap ride. Fun, but a bit scary.

 

The hit of the day was the Super Slide. The kids must have done it 20 times. It is pretty big, but there is nothing "Polar" about it on a hot day.

 

Midnight December 1st, 2015

The city went crazy tonight as we switched from November to December. The city has a fairly new tradition of launching fireworks all across the city as midnight strikes and we move to December. I have read a couple different stories and the truth seems to include all of it. It started with Pablo Escobar and the drug cartels, then also includes setting off fireworks given out in paisas (neighborhoods) by the paramilitaries when they were disarmed and disbanded. Here is a short article about it and a video I shot.
http://colombiareports.com/160164-2/

Fireworks are shot off every night, but this night was something else. Things got going around 10pm and peaked at midnight. The staccato explosions of fireworks kept Darien up until late. Near midnight it changed from a rumble to a roar, and I was still hearing explosions at 3am.

I have a longer video that shows a broader sweep of the city, but it's larger than Blogger allows me to post.

Thanksgiving

It is now less than a week since Thanksgiving, yet is seems so far away....
Nevertheless, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving and it warrants a post. Our good friend Lydia, who is the reason we are down here in the first place, made the time to jump on an 8 hour bus ride from Cali with her friend Paul to join us for a couple days. Lydia and Paul were in the Peace Corps together and stationed in South America. Lydia is currently riding a bicycle from Paraguay to Seattle (I'll eventually get to posting about this).

There was a bit of singing during the day.

Then we enjoyed dinner on the balcony.

In order to find a turkey we had to truck half way across Medellin to La America. I have to say, it's a very nice neighborhood. It's a little up the hill from Laureles and Universidad Pontificia Bolívariana - just far enough away the students don't get everything scuzzy :).

While the ladies were shopping I got into a conversation with a retired English gentleman. He'd been living in Medellin since 2005 with his Colombian wife and was just wanting to speak English with someone. It's a strange concept since Thanksgiving is such a big holiday in the US, but the rest of the world has never heard of it, which in retrospect seems obvious.

Paul woke up with a cold the next morning before his trip home. I got it the following day and still haven't fully shaken it. It is kind of sucky to be laid out, but especially when one wants to go exploring.