The cold eclipse of my sour mood quickly passed as I strolled the wet streets of Medellin. The city is large and sprawling, prone towards light midday showers and brick architecture, which creeps up vegetated mountainsides in beautiful, chaotic avenues. It resembles Portland, Oregon in the building style, the weather, the surrounding terrain, and the Metrocable.

I met Steve at an empanada stand after taking a series of incorrect busses to visit the Metrocable. He overheard me fumbling with Spanish, trying to comprehend the appropriate route, and offered to show me the way. This is one of the most annoying and frequent hit-ups for money that a gringo encounters in Colombia, besides a simple “hey you, give me money.” But Steve had a different aura. He didn’t want anything. He had pure eyes, and I sensed good intent. So off we went, stopping at the botanical gardens along the way.

Medellin is clean, calm, cultured, and cool. Artsy, contemporary fountains and sculptures decorate the metropolitan plazas and parks. Steve’s girlfriend met up with us and we all rode the rail to the Metrocable. The Santa Domingo neighborhood was a dangerous ghetto for many years until the city built the Metrocable up the hillside to a new, modern-styled library which looks like a medieval castle.

We checked the place out. A group of young school kids waited in line for the internet lab.
“Hey you,” one kid said. “Hey you.”
“HEY YOU!” I said, giving him a look so freakish he’ll probably pee a little every time he thinks of hey-youing anybody ever again.

Anyhow, back at a hostel now, preparing to start job hunting.
Resumes, emails, apartments.