Spent the day in a barrio (district) with a wonderful Colombian family, celebrating two birthdays (Melissa (20) and Hemelly (9)). Greg's (CS host) Colombian girlfriend invited us. Although language difficulties ensued (need to learn Spanish quickly), the warmth and joviality of this family. With little money but rich hearts, we had lunch, which was specially made for the first vegetarian gringo they had ever met. I showed them Riverdance and how we dance in Ireland. They were curious about Ireland and European culture and thought that knowing three languages was a sign that I was "muy intelligente". The afternoon was spent in a mixture of music and dancing, followed by the "traditional" bursting of balloons.
FMB # 4, the bike forum, had interesting content and ideas over the past few days. Cycle lanes, tactical urbanism, Copenhagen wheel, ciclovía initiative, corporate involvement and bicycle-inspired street art were some of the topics. All inspiring but not all relevant to cycling culture in Europe as they had a strongly South American context.
What really inspired me was the conversations I had with Alain (France) and Neil (UK). On separate rides but both long distance cyclists - 38000km (~40,500km is the circumference of the planet earth), who just happened to be in Medellin at the time of FMB after having been on the road for 3 years each! That doesn't work out as many kms per day but the journey is the destination.
The presentation I gave on Saturday was in an interactive session and lasted two hours, mostly due to the relentless questions posed by the small audience. Lets see if the next BikeSurf location starts somewhere in South America.
Tomorrow night will head to Cali. Planning to volunteer to build a Hari Krishna temple in the jungle nearby. Yoga, vegan food and some good ol' hard work sounds like the antidote to this urban lifestyle.
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