Welcome to our belated March cocktail hour. We just got home from our trip to El Salvador, Nicaragua and Colombia and we’re slowly settling in at home. I can offer you some chilled Cava or any wine of your choice. Or a Michelob Ultra or Hop Slam. I can also offer sodas or seltzer water of various flavors. Salud!
How is your year going so far? Have you read any good books, seen any good movies, binge-watched any television series? Have you planned any adventures or traveled anywhere? Have you dreamed any dreams? Gone to any exotic restaurants, cooked any new dishes? Have you been surprised by anything in life? Have you enjoyed the simple things in life?
We weren’t home for much of March because we were traveling in Central and South America.
I only managed to finish one book this month, Heaven by Mieko Kawakami, putting me at 10/52 for the year. I always get behind on my reading goals when traveling, so I’ll have a lot of catching up to do to reach my reading goals.
On the first day of March, we went to see the fabulous Japanese movie, Perfect Days, which solidified my yearning to visit Japan again; we hope to do so in October of this year. On the second, I met Darina at Washington Dulles International Airport (where she flew in to join a 3-week program of visiting U.S. schools that teach ESL), brought her to my house, drank Mike-prepared Hugos, and ate delicious chicken tortilla soup (also prepared by Mike). After dinner, we drove Darina to the Washington Hilton, where she would begin her program.She was exhausted by a long day of travel and had to get some sleep before a big tour of Washington the following day.
On Sunday the 3rd, I met my friend Leah at Joe’s Seafood, where we drank Prosecco, ate a delicious King Crab Louis salad, and talked about travels, Leah’s work, and politics.
Finally, on Friday night, March 8, I took off for the first leg of my trip to El Salvador. Mike would join me in Nicaragua on March 14. While I was in El Salvador, Alex turned 33; we will go visit his family in Atlanta at the end of May.
El Salvador (March 9-14)
I arrived in San Salvador’s fancy new airport at 5:45 a.m. on Saturday, March 9. After meeting Mario at his sister Sylvia’s house in the city, we drove up San Salvador Volcano to have breakfast in a breezy restaurant. Over coffee and mushroom omelettes, we fell into an easy conversation about our families and politics and reminisced about all the crazy experiences we had in Oman. We then drove to the top of the volcano and climbed endless steps for a view over the huge caldera. We stopped at the city’s Centro Histórico and saw the buildings surrounding Plaza Libertad, including the Catedral Metropolitana and the spectacular new Chinese-financed library, the Binaes, open around the clock every day of the year. The current president, Nayib Bukele, said that these hours of operation were “thanks to the security that now reigns in the country” following the incarceration of nearly 75,000 pandilleros (gang members) in a new high-security prison. I had my first ceviche at the Cuban restaurant, Cha Cha Cha. On the way to Mario’s house northeast of the city, we stopped for views of Lake Ilopango, a crater lake, from the restaurant Ne-Kal.
I stayed two nights at Mario’s house in the small town of Tejutepeque and enjoyed his sprawling and lovingly-tended container gardens, his hammocks and indoor-outdoor living. I gobbled up a delicious appetizer prepared by Mario of cheese cubes, olives and sweet grape tomatoes (poor Mario didn’t get many!); drank a lot of red wine, as we often did in Oman; and enjoyed a continuation of the meandering and interesting conversations that we started over 10 years ago in Oman. After enjoying a stroll around Tejutepeque, we stopped in Cinquera, which suffered much in the Civil War (15 October 1979 to 16 January 1992 – 12 years, 3 months and 1 day). We proceeded to the charming town of Suchitoto, with its cobblestone streets, colonial houses, iconic church and panoramic views of Lake Suchitlan. Back in Tejutepeque, we walked to an expansive overlook over a valley where Mario told me a shocking story of what he found there a couple of years ago. After our day, we enjoyed a delicious shrimp with garlic sauce (prepared by Mario), relaxed in the hammocks, drank wine and talked until the wee hours with Mario’s newphew, Ever.
We visited La Puerta del Diablo, or The Devil’s Gate, in Panchimalco, where we had beautiful views and then visited the old La Iglesia Santa Cruz de Roma, with its ancient statues and elaborately carved altarpieces. We enjoyed “the best pupusas” (according to Mario) at Los Boomwalos and then I stayed in a hotel in San Salvador while Mario stayed with his sister. Tuesday morning, we visited Cihuatán, a major pre-Columbian archaeological site from about 950-1200 AD. We had typical El Salvadoran food at Restaurante Jardin del Sabor. Later, we visited the UNESCO site of Joya de Cerén, which features a pre-Columbian Maya farming village which was established on top of the ash from an eruption of Ilopango Volcano. We had our final dinner at The Green House near my hotel, where again we shared a bottle of wine and chatted and laughed about everything under the sun. We spent our last day at Mario’s favorite beach, Playa Costa del Sol, where we bought a day pass at Hotel Tesero Beach; I mostly cooled off in the pool. Then Mario dropped me at my hotel near the airport for my morning flight to Nicaragua.
Nicaragua: Isla de Ometepe (March 14-21)
I arrived at Augusto Cesar Sandino Interacional Aeropuerto in Managua at 9:10 a.m. on Thursday and between waiting for Mike to arrive at 12:45, driving 2 hours to San Jorge port, taking the hour-long ferry to Ometepe and then driving an hour to Balgüe, where Adam lives, we didn’t arrive until 6:00 p.m. After checking in to Totoco Ecolodge, Mike picked up Adam, Maria and the girls — Cristy, Andrea and Mia — and we had a dinner together at the hotel, our first time meeting Adam’s new family. They announced that the baby they are expecting in mid-May will be a boy, and Adam plans to name him Michael Christopher, after his dad (the Michael part).
On Friday, Maria made us a lunch of fresh lake fish which we ate on their front porch. That afternoon, we brought Andrea and Mia to our pool at Totoco and spent the afternoon relaxing and playing with them. Cristy had school and fútbol practice after school so didn’t come along. In the evening, the girls performed a folkloric dance for us with costumes and music and then we all went to dinner at Pizza Mediterránea.
Saturday, we all went together to the Saturday market and in the afternoon Mike went to play poker at Cafe Campestre with Ben (the owner), Adam and another expat guy while I relaxed by the pool for the afternoon.Mike and I had dinner together on our own at Cafe Campestre, where I had a delicious green chicken curry. The girls needed some down time, and of course we respected that the family had their own schedule and obligations.
We started our Sunday with a lot of weeping as one of the rabbits Adam had bought the girls, Rabbititte, had died. This was their first pet, and they were heartbroken; Adam arranged a little funeral service. Though everyone was heavy-hearted on our way to Ojo de Agua, it wasn’t long before the girls were swimming happily around. We had a big lunch platter and some Coco Locos. The family was tuckered out after the outing, so Mike and I ate dinner at Totoco Lodge on our own.
Monday afternoon, we took the girls clothes shopping at a second-hand store and then went to Moyogalpa where Adam and Maria shopped for some housewares. Then we went to Punta de Jesús María, a sandy point that stretches out into Lake Nicaragua. We enjoyed the impressive views of Volcán Concepcion from there, then drove back to Balgüe where we had to wait an hour for dinner at Cafe Campestre, making for some grumpy little girls.
On Tuesday morning, Adam took us to Finca Magdalena, one of the oldest coffee farms in Ometepe. Mike and I took a walk on the beach and had lunch on our own at Büstavö, a Mediterranean Cafe. We spent the afternoon at the pool and were supposed to go to Adam and Maria’s for dinner, but when they cancelled at the last minute, we ate a quiet dinner at Isla Bonita.
On Wednesday, we walked on the beach and relaxed at the pool because the family makes a giant pot of beef stew on Wednesdays that they sell to people in Balgüe. Maria served us some of the stew in the afternoon. We had a farewell dinner together at Pizza Mediterránea.
On Thursday, we drove Adam to Altagracia to pick up two 100 lb. bags of rice to feed the dogs, the pigs and the chickens. After enjoying some coffee at Pan de Mama, we took Adam home and made our way to the ferry in Moyogalpa, where we turned in the rental car and took the ferry back to San Jorge Port. On the mainland, Dani met us and drove us two hours to Managua. We had a 5:25 a.m. flight to San Salvador and then on to Bogotá on Friday morning.
Bogotá, Colombia (March 22-26)
Our Friday traveling to Bogotá from Managua started at 2:45 a.m. as we had to take a flight from Managua at 5:25 a.m. to San Salvador and then on to Bogotá, where we checked in to BioHotel Organic Suites, a nice hotel in the Usaquén neighborhood, in the northern part of Bogotá. After getting settled in, eating some soup, and getting some groceries at the supermercado, we went to Usaquén Park, where we had a delicious meal at 80 Sillas.
Saturday morning we took a half-hour Uber ride to downtown Bogotá to see the magnificent Museo Botero, primarily housing works by Colombian artist Fernando Botero Angulo (April 19, 1932 – September 15, 2023); it also includes work from Botero’s personal collection. Besides the Botero Museum, housed in beautiful colonial houses with courtyards, other museums are in the complex, including the Colección de Art, which we also perused. We visited the Iglesia de la Candelaria and Plaza de Simón Bolivar (Bolivar was a Venezuelan military and political leader — 1783 to 1830 — who led what are currently the countries of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Panama and Bolivia to independence from the Spanish Empire). I did a little raw emerald shopping (Colombia is famous for emeralds) and then we returned to Usaquén where we perused the fabulous craft market held in the park and ate sushi at Osaki.
Palm Sunday wasn’t nearly as pleasurable as Saturday because of the huge crowds out and about for the beginning of Semana Santa (Holy Week). We took a bike tour that was horrible for many reasons, and I wanted out early so we returned the bikes less than halfway through the 4 1/2 hour tour. We perused the fabulous murals at the Plazoleta del Chorro de Quevedo after returning our bikes. After a delicious but heavy lunch, we went to the Museo del Oro (The Gold Museum), where they were handing out free tickets because it was a Sunday. Thus, it was packed with people, making the visit challenging. It didn’t quite match up to our experience in the Gold Museum in San Jose, Costa Rica last year (a nicer museum and fewer people).
Monday was also a holiday, so we encountered endless snaking lines to get up the teleférico to Monserrate, a mountain that dominates the capital city. Even at the top, there were huge crowds. The priest was giving a sermon in the church which was broadcast loudly on speakers. We had hazy views of Bogotá and its 13 million people (metro area) and did the Stations of the Cross in reverse, by accident. Luckily we topped off our day with scheduled massages at the hotel and a dip in the hot pool on the rooftop. In the pouring rain later, we made it to dinner at Wok, warming ourselves with hot bowls of ramen.
Medellin, Colombia (March 26-27)
For once, we didn’t have to get up at the crack of dawn for a flight, as our flight to Medelllin was at 1:30; we arrived shortly after 2:00 on Tuesday. We were dropped by a driver at our apartment in El Poblado, a very upscale part of the city, way more upscale than we expected or are used to. The whole hilly and verdant landscape is dotted with modern high rises where apparently most of the wealthy people live. We went to a fancy restaurant, Niku, for dinner and then took a stroll through the adjacent mall, El Tesoro, where we got lost and couldn’t find our way out for quite some time.
Wednesday morning we took the free highly-rated Real City Walking Tour in Medellin. Julio, a former college professor, was our guide and told us about the history, growth, tragedy and “resurrection” of Medellin. Julio grew up in the 1980s and 1990s, when the Medellin drug cartel under Pablo Escobar wreaked havoc on the city. The tour was excellent not so much for the sights we saw, but for Julio’s informative talk about the city and its struggles. After the tour, we ate at Hacienda Junín to try one of Medellin’s typical dishes of Bandeja Paisa. Then we went back to the Museo de Antioquia, where there was another big collection of Boteros which we weren’t allowed to photograph, and a huge permanent collection, as well as a special exhibit by Dora Ramírez which I loved because of the bold women she depicted in sumptuous fabrics. After our museum visit, I had to search out Janethy Moda, a “tienda de ropa” (clothing store) I’ve been following on Instagram for years. The store was under construction but that didn’t stop Alba from welcoming me in, stuffing me into a hot corner dressing room, and bringing me large handfuls of clothes to try on. I bought five shirts! 🙂
Guatapé, Colombia (March 28-29)
We went on an overnight visit to Guatapé, about 2 hours east of Medellin. There are two big attractions in Guatapé: a large rock that visitors can climb, El Peñon de Guatapé (aka La Piedra, or El Peñol); and secondly the famous zócolos (murals) that adorn the colorful buildings in the town. We went to the town first and wandered around being charmed by the colors, the murals and the motochivas (like tuk-tuks but much cuter). We ate lunch at Donde Sam, an Indian restaurant our Belgian driver Peter had recommended. We took a motochiva back to our hotel after a while and lounged by the pool enjoying drinks and a lovely dinner at the hotel.
On Good Friday, we got up early to begin the climb the 720 steps up El Peñol by 8:00, hoping to beat the crowds. For once our strategy worked and we got up there with no lines or hold-ups. The day was overcast and the lakes had been drained visibly from a 6-month bridge repair project, but we still enjoyed the views.
Then we returned to the town again, soaked up the charm, and happened upon a Good Friday parade with a bloodied Jesus carrying a heavy cross. We had arranged a driver to pick us up from our hotel by 1:30, so we returned by motochiva to the hotel, packed our things and headed back to Medellin.
Medellin, Colombia (March 29-31)
Back in Medellin, we had dinner out at an unusual place, La Mayoría Restaurante: Donde Bailan Los Caballos (Where Horses Dance). Cowboys brought around horses to pet, pranced around on them to music, sang songs atop and beside them, and then brought around llamas and cows. The food wasn’t the star attraction although it was pretty good.
Saturday morning, we climbed the hills of El Poblado, straight uphill for a mile to Museo El Castillo, built in 1930 in the Medieval Gothic style. We had to take a crowded 45-minute tour of the house in Spanish; sadly no photos were allowed. On the grounds, people annoyed me with their photo hogging of scenic spots. I quoted Mario to Mike: “People ruin everything!” We visited a little market in El Poblado Park and ate lunch at Tacos el Tigre, then went to the Santa Fe Mall near our apartment, where we bought some things and again got lost in the huge place with its 450 stores spread out over five floors. We had dinner at Saludpan in Laureles, and then beers at BBC (Bogotá Beer Company) where we met three people from Netherlands and had a nice conversation with them.
We figured that EARLY on Easter Sunday would be our best bet for visiting Comuna 13, once the most violent city in the world. It was where drug cartels, gangs and paramilitaries operated and killed or displaced thousands of people. Notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar controlled it in the 1980s and 1990s, but even after his death in 1993, drug cartels sought control of the area, leading to more violence. Since 2002, after a military operation, it has gone through a slow rehabilitation and now is an area with colorful murals, graffiti and painted steps as well as escalators to make the climb easier.
Thinking we’d like some fresh air after all that intensity, we visited the Jardín Botánico de Medellín, which was okay but nothing exciting. Finally, we had our last dinner in Medellin at an atmospheric restaurant with hints of The White Lotus: Alambique. What a fabulous experience.
For some reason, I slept better during our travels than I ever sleep at home. Especially at Totoco Ecolodge on Ometepe, where we were situated high up on the Volcán Maderas and felt fresh breezes under our mosquito netting all night, we slept several nights for 10 hours straight. It gets dark at around 6:30 p.m. every night of the year on Ometepe and the sun rises around 6:30 a.m. leading to 12 hours of darkness and a mesmerizing urge to sleep. I also had more dreams than I ever do.
At this point in our travels, I was bowled over by Colombia’s culinary scene. I would never have imagined such creative approaches to food, presentation and ambiance.
We left Medellin on Monday morning, April 1, for Cartagena.
I hope you’ll share how the new year is panning out for you, and what plans you have for 2024. 
~ wander.essence ~ 
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