The greatest Colombian landmark is its people.

Even a beer would welcome you in Pereira, where we were accommodated for a week by our friend Jacobo.

Then we decided for Medellín. Still have a bit of a pity that never had the chance to go to Bogotá, assuming the capital has a different reality from the one I am going to describe but for the sake of our work Medellín was said to be a better and easier option. True, we had one of the highest paid gigs (Colombia has high standard similar to Costa Rica, high living expenses and yet well-paid salaries), even though not always appreciated. Colombia has to "eat a lot of bread" as a Bulgarian proverb says to get out of its post-Pablo Escobar reality which is still a bit far away from ... globalization, I guess.


Dana - light-hearted, cheerful and laid back offered us one of the most beautiful homes and cosy ambience during my entire travel. Such a good person and such a cool guy, who we look forward meeting again anywhere, anytime.

Felipe Jimenez - he's just a manager in one beautiful bar-restaurant called Aguacate. And simple as that he became our impressario and without wanting anything in return he gave us as much gigs as he could at his place and contacted us with all the other places we were contracted until the end of our stay. A real character, full of energy, enthusiasm, stories and God knows why a passion for extreme sports, which I followed and after a bloodless accident lost one-quarter of my precious hair doing rapel.

Gustavo - a sweetheart and one of our biggest fans, who didn't lose a single show of ours nor sense of humor in the joyful nights after that.

Alejo - the sound manager of Aguacate, who treated us like special guests all those months and helped us to record a demo being so useful so far. He is now making a dream come true, travelling around Latin America on a motorbike with his girlfirend, to which I say respect! and wish them a tail-wind.

Finally, finally, just for fun and not to forget them myself, there's a short list of some particular Colombian vocabulary, which I guess it will be curious only for those who are Spanish speakers:
- paisa (means something good from Medellín, it can be cool person or delicious food, or whatever good they want to express, which is with local origin; used for citizens of Medellín much more than Medallo).
- marica (derives from maricon, which basically stands for gay, yet they use it like "man" - "how are you, man?", "oh, man, i am tired.", resp. "¿como estás, marica?, "ai, marica, estoy cansado.").
- si o que? or bien o que? - the usual retoric question, which implies approval from the listener's side or when they ask you how are you and retorically answer their own question. Como estás? Bien o que?
- que chimba! - a bit of a slang, having in mind chimba is a vulgar word for vagina but also means everything which is cool. For comparison in Perú it is expressed by chevere and in Mexico by chido, chingon or padre, none of which has the double meaning as in Colombia.
It is worth going back some day and explore the beauty of Santa Marta, Cartagena and Bogotá, which remain only on alluring photos but a next stop in the land of the most friendly people in Latin America is always worthed, si o que?