Day one at the 20th International Poetry Festival of Medellin, Colombia

By: aromaproductions on 3:25 PM

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I arrived in Medellin on July 5th after a 24 hour journey via France. Medellin is 7 hours behind Switzerland. Left (Home) in Switzerland at 5:00 a.m. and arrived in Medellin at 5:00 a.m. (10:30 p.m. local time). I had a few hours of frustration in Bogata because they didn't put me on the flight I was supposed to be on. They said my 4:30 p.m. flight to Medellin was overbook. And they put me on a 6:00 p.m. flight that was also overbooked and I had to rebook for an 8:00 p.m. flight and kept my fingers crossed. There were many people on standby. At one point during all of this running around I thought I had lost my passport while running back and forth between the connection counter and the departure counter. I later discovered in a moment of calmness, that  I had tucked it away in my handbag. What a relief. It would have been a real sticky situation since my Spanish is really, really rusty. No one asked me about vaccinations and I was happy about that.

When I finally got to Medellin I was extremely delighted that someone was waiting with a sign with my name on it. They (three university students )had been waiting since 5:00 p.m. my original arrival time. They drove me to Medellin which was 45 minutes by car. The city is located in a valley and driving down from the mountain (1,400 meters) it was beautifully lit. There is a lot of contruction going on. There were many quaint block house, some one room only, but with very unique construction along the highway that entered the city. I would love to go back and take pictures of them because I see them as potential contruction art.

 We chatted quite a lot as we drove. The young man who sat next to me is studying anthropology. They are sons of the organizers of the festival. They have a metro system here as well as five universities and Columbia has a Pacific side as well as a Caribbean side but they are not affected by hurricanes like Central American countries in the Gulf of Mexico.

I made some observations while waiting at the airport in Bogata. Colombians are really short (like  Southern Italians) and they are on the slender side. I couldn't help but wonder what their diet is like. But on the other hand, I saw a lot of people boarding planes with boxes of Dunkin' Donuts, so maybe the next generation will not be so slender. These are urban folks of course.

Contrary to what I was told by a friend and poet, who attended the Poetry Festival in 2007, the temperature was 14C when I arrived and people were wearing sweaters and spring jackets. What a surprise. I packed for very hot weather. I am told that Medellin, since it is located in a valley, is much warmer than Bogata. I am told the weather is spring-like . Today the weather is cool in Medellin. It is just after 10:00 a.m, so maybe it will get warmer. It is quite rainy. After a breakfast of scrambled eggs,toast,orange juice and black coffee, I came directly to the front desk find out if they had internet facilities. I have also changed dollars to pesos
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I am having a quiet day and using it to brush up on my Spanish, finish a novel I started (Thrumped by Susan Rose-Pereto), and look around a bit. Tomorrow begins a hectic week. The novel is a page-turner.