Medellin, Colombia Part 1

My second day in Medellin was full!  I actually have a lot to accomplish while here.  And since James and Mark have been in town for a while, they know where EVERYTHING is!  First stop was to the KTM Moto Shop to organize a gigantic much needed service.  I need a haircut, banking, normal life stuff.


The boys take me on my errands. While out we went to their favorite lunch stop. A crepe restaurant, I have to say is a new thing for me.  For whatever reason, I think of crepe's as being breakfast food.


We had these awesome crepe's filled with good stuff, mine was a bit like a spinach pizza! (which is not worthing blogging about).  What IS worth blogging about is the awesome desert!  The menu was HUGE!!!  Any sort of flavor ice cream you can dream of is right here! And it's not the cheap nasty chemical colored stuff, it's really good!  James is the number one ice cream connoisseur and I am listening to his suggestions.  However!  Out of the entire menu, I kept coming back to my all time favorite, the brownie with vanilla..  I know, I just had this a few days ago.  But... OMG!!  Twice in one week is beyond unusual for me, this is by far the best one I have ever had!

Actually we are all in love with our desert choices and fighting for photo taking space rights.. ;-)


Medellin is a motorcycle riding mecca.  Big bad news once I arrived here.  Annie, the lady from Scotland on our boat to Colombia had a horrible accident on her way to Medellin with her Harley and a public bus.



From what I understand, she was trying to pass a truck or bus on the left, she said she mis-judged the timing to pass and stopped completely as the oncoming bus was coming toward her.  It either didn't see her or just simply failed to slow and give her room inbetween.  So essentially she got squished between the two.


The Harley she was riding didn't come off with too much damage, but Annie has fairly severe damage to her wrist and ankle.  The ambulance ride from her accident site was 12 hours to Medellin WITHOUT pain medication.  She deserves a medal for surviving that alone!! The good news is that she had her insurance as well as some of the top "motorcycle" surgeons in the world.  As you can imagine with all the motorcycles on the streets here, the doctors operate on riders all day every day. So Annie was put into the assembly line of body repairs and was in good hands.


Albert on the right (also from Scotland, proud owner of one of those KTM's in the back room ;-)), who has an office at the Shamrock Pub where I stay) brought Annie a bottle of wine.  James, Annie, Mark and Conor.  Motociclistas Unite once again!

The next day we go and check out Annies' bike.  She is due to be released from hospital and moving into the Shamrock Pub for at least a couple months of recuperation.  Not a bad spot to be for this! 


This lady blew me away with her super strong good attitude "I'll be back on the road in 6 weeks", and plenty of smiles.

We were hanging around the pub for afternoon beer.. and guess what!  Kevin shows up!  We knew he was on his way. He had sent me an email yesterday saying he had misjudged the route he was taking, and wanted to know where we were, coordinates, etc.  When he arrived after 11 hours in the saddle today, we all gave a big cheer.  I forgot about the last few days and was very happy to see him, especailly after his email, and that he made it here okay.

Annie got some good news too.  The hospital service delivered her a wheelchair.  The only 2 places she has seen since arriving Medellin is the hospital and the Shamrock pub.  She tells me her new plan is to hire a young good looking Colombian to push her around town.. smart lady!! ;-)


We all went to dinner and it was nice.  Since my big escape, Kev and I went for a couple beers alone after.  Bottom line, he was not happy I left him like that in Taganga. Fair enough, and we left it there.

The next day is a BIG motorcycle day!!  Look at my bike!!  Or what is left of it!  The boys at KTM are really checking everything out!


As I was in shock to see my bike like this, a few OMG's kept coming but they all were laughing. And we begin our never ending search to find Kevin tires for his Buell Ulysses that can have at least a bit of tread and be dual-sport.  He knows there is more and more dirt coming up as he explores South America, and Federico who runs the shop here is trying to help him out.

Kevin, Federico, and James

We sort of left Kevin to it and the three of us (me, Mark and James) left to do other things for the rest of the day.

That night at the pub, Kevin shows up again.  That's were all us riders hang out and so it wasn't totally unexpected, but I'm still feeling a bit uncomfortable.  Just for my own sake I was keeping my distance and talking to somebody in the bar.  Kevin comes up to me.  He's looking kind of strange, and he finally asks, "Are you hungry?"  I just look at him like why are you asking that... "Do you want to have dinner?"... Words just would not come out of my mouth.. then he says, "With me?" .....  

I agreed...... sucker I am! ;-)


Just so happens the guy I was talking to in the bar gave us some excellent advice right then.  If you want to go eat, there is a very good restaurant just a couple blocks up.  They are usually full, but see how you go.  If you know Scottish Kev, this restaurant name was made for him!

And they certainly were!!!!

Whenever my Mom would ask me what I wanted for my birthday meal as a kid, it was always barbequed ribs.  I have not had this for dinner in many years.  Somehow it turned in to an awesome date night. After dinner was a couple beers in a cozy pub..

Kevin is still playing with the new camera he bought in Panama.. being artistic I reckon ;-)

And later was live Reggae music and even a bit of dancing to the early morning hours.  Eventually road maps for South America came out while swapping ideas and plans for what's next. 

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