Medellin finally lifted the covid lockdowns after almost six months, but (perhaps by design) only once the rainy season had started, and most indoor activities were still closed so it barely made any difference. It was therefore a joy to get out of town last weekend for a weekend in the ‘Magic House’ in Santa Elena, a town on the ridge above Medellin.

Sandra had seen the house on a YouTube video by an Australian tourist and loved it immediately. It was in a rustic style with a log frame, mud walls and an open fireplace, but with earthship elements like a river stone floor in the bathroom, and glass bottles embedded in the walls to allow light in. It was one of three cottages, each surrounded by dense forest. I loved the shaded hammock chairs just outside the front door, and Sandra loved the dog, Canela, who came to share breakfast with us. Apparently she was a rescue dog and had taken to a lazy lifestyle with loving owners. Walks were something they demanded of her rather than the other way around.

We had a couple of activities planned, but loved the place so much that we ended up spending most of our time there rather than bushwalking or exploring the too-small town. Sandra took plenty of photos while I read in my hammock chair. Around us, long-tailed blue birds and red-breasted birds flitted and glided through the trees, and an aqueduct poured water into a pond nearby.

I tried to demonstrate my firestarting skills on the Friday evening, and became extremely frustrated by paper that wouldn’t catch until I finally pulled everything out and relaid it in my own style. Perhaps there was a trick to the way the staff laid it. The second night I built it myself and managed to start it without paper at all. Manhood restored.

The owners had provided three heavy woollen blankets to help ward off the cold, but it seems that I’m still allergic to wool so Sandra saw me at my worst, sneezing constantly, sniffing, snoring and generally restless all night. I’d brought our own cotton bedspread just in case, so once we worked out it was the woollen blankets and replaced them, things got better.

Santa Elena itself is tiny. It’s basically a square on the main road with shops around the other three sides. Too small for Sandra to consider living there, but too cold as well, so it wasn’t ever a real option. We found a cosy vegan restaurant for lunch on Saturday and the owner told us how she’d lost a business in Park Arvi to the lockdowns, but had managed to get all the furniture for her restaurant for nothing so she could start again. Her dog Jojo had claimed the sofa and would push customers off if they sat there when she wanted to use it.

We finished our weekend with lunch at the Cerro Verde lookout, which has panoramic views over the (very quiet) international airport in one direction and Medellin in the other. The lunch was delicious so the minimum consumption charge required for entry worked well for us. Drops from the dark clouds overhead finally turned to heavy rain as we walked back to the main road, and we were very happy to jump on the bus to head home for the evening.

I had big plans for Sandra’s birthday this year – or at least many small plans that would add up. Unfortunately, most of them failed.

The idea was to spread out a number of things that she was craving over the week. The list included an Indian dinner, salsa dancing lessons, tiramisu and quality new earphones for teaching her classes.

We had noticed two salsa schools near home, and I was determined to do the leg work to arrange our first class. Sandra doesn’t need lessons, but I’m still awkward beyond the basics, so we thought that learning together would help. The first school turned out to be a dance academy that required auditions to enter. Not for us. The second doesn’t have an obvious front door (it’s above restaurants) and hadn’t updated their website in 2 years, but the facebook page advertised lessons starting soon. Unfortunately, by Sandra’s birthday they hadn’t responded, and they still haven’t.

I went to the tech centre to find the earphones. Sandra needed something with a microphone that would last all day and wouldn’t be too hot on her ears. Lasting all day meant a cable, and not too hot meant preferably earphones like those made for a phone. I bought the best quality ones I could find, but when we tested them, Windows couldn’t pick up much sound from the microphone. They worked fine on Linux and on my phone, but that was no help for Sandra, so we ended up going back a few times over the following weeks and battling with the shopkeepers to get help finding the right earphones.

We wanted to order an Indian meal a few weeks before her birthday, but the only place with a decent menu wasn’t answering the phone, so I promised her that I’d sort something out for her birthday. I contacted them through their web page and asked whether they’d be open on the night of 6/10. ‘Yes,’ they said. ‘Send us the time and number of people’ and they’d book us in. We turned up at the restaurant wearing our best outfits, only to find all the lights off. I looked on google maps and found they have 2 locations in Medellin, so presumably it was the other that was open. I wrote to check, but they still haven’t responded weeks later.

Never mind, I thought. I’d done some research and discovered that Crepes & Waffles, one of Sandra’s favourite restaurants, had tiramisu. I’d planned to order it on the following night, but there was a C&W right across the road from the Indian restaurant, so we might as well go tonight. We ordered our favourite dishes and when time came for dessert, I ordered the tiramisu rather than our usual small waffles. A few minutes later, when I was finally satisfied that one of my gifts would work out, the waitress came back to say that there was no tiramisu tonight.

Thankfully Sandra appreciated my efforts as much as she would have the gifts, and we enjoyed each other’s company. I ordered a tiramisu the next day, and left her to eat the whole thing. She felt sick before she finished.

I managed to surprise her a couple of days later by buying some prosciutto, baby spinach and a few other things to make pre-dinner nibbles of the kind she might have had in Australia. Happy birthday, Libélulita.

In this time of Covid   nothing is better than doing a jig-saw puzzle. This was our second time. It was  especially challenging for me because Murray is very familiar with puzzles, which means he’s very good at them.  

This one was a beautiful, colourful, classic Japanese garden, where tiny details like colours and shapes are easily confused. The white clouds with the snow,  the nuances of the pond water, the tree branches, the leaves, the similarities in some structures such as the bridge and the pagoda, and the variety of flowers  which merge into one another. 

We started with the border which is the golden rule, and then grouping  colours to make the process a little bit easier.  At some point I felt absolutely frustrated, because we were working together and  I was so slow compared with Murray. So, I asked for some  time out to do a part by myself and find my own way.  

As usual Murray was so kind and supported me, giving me some  tips to success, but especially  understanding that I have my own pace. 

Finally, we came back to work together as a team and we did it. It feels awesome to see our achievement.  

We have different strengths and things to improve, so we welcome these simple opportunities to grow. 

Ready for the next one! 🙂

We were hopeful that the quarantine would be lifted in time for us to celebrate our anniversary in a town with a river or pool. Failing that, at least a dinner out or a picnic in a park somewhere – anywhere but at home. After 100 days of quarantine, we were sick of feeling trapped.

Sandra looked online and found that the Botanical Gardens had opened for visitors again, so a picnic at least seemed possible. When she called up to make sure, they told her that we could go as long as we kept 2m between each person, and only on our designated shopping day. Unfortunately, our shopping days are different due to mismatching final digits on our IDs.
Perhaps a picnic in a local park. But we keep reading about how police are targeting foreiners, and it would really mess up our celebration if one of us were to be arrested for breaking quarantine.

So we decided on dinner at home on Saturday night. Determined to do something we wouldn’t normally be able to do, Sandra called a Lebanese restaurant in Poblado and was told they were prepared to deliver to Laureles. So we enjoyed a delicious Mediterranean dinner at home in each other’s company. That’s all we really needed.

As part of our ‘try something new every day’ initiative, we decided to try cooking some healthy desserts. One of Sandra’s students put us on to a web-based fitness site, which has 300 workout videos and 800 recipes. We chose a carrot cake and a tiramisu. Both turned out really well and weren’t too difficult to make. We even cooked the carrot cake on the stove in a pot.