at Universidad Nacional – Medellin  open air auditorium (The medellin campus is famed for the lush greenery)

So I am back in Medellin, Colombia for several weeks – but this trip is different from all of my previous visits.  It’s the first time I have come here without a specific purpose.  I’m not here to interview surgeons, attend surgical conferences or even ColombiaModa.

No Colombia Moda this year for me. 😦

Medellin has become so familiar to me, that when I needed a nice tranquil space to work on a non-Colombia related project – I headed here to get away from the thousands of distractions of my stateside life.  While I am here, I am also determined to enjoy and explore more of Colombia since I have just seen the bare minimum of life and locales.  So next week, I heading off to one of Colombia’s best known natural wonders, Cano Cristales.

I’m going as part of a group (which is something I’ve never done before).  It’s sounds like it will be a great trip – flying to Meta, Colombia in a small plane – to a community with limited electricity and no cellphone or internet service.  That doesn’t sound like a big deal, but as I writer, I have gotten used to almost always having computer access – almost anywhere in the world.  So this will be a nice break from the ordinary for me.

I don’t have my trusty Nikon this time around, which is a shame since Cano Cristales is famed for its beauty but I will attempt to take some pictures with a tiny camera (that packs well).  It’s weird because I tend to lose my confidence when I don’t have my big, heavy camera.

Naked without my Nikon? Not a great visual, is it?

La Tierra del Olvido (2015 version)

In the meantime, I will continue to work on my current projects, relax a bit and enjoy Colombia.  Carlos Vives, one of my favorite Colombian singers, along with Medellin natives Maluma and J. Balvin, have re-made one of Carlos Vives most popular songs as part of a Colombia tourism promotion. It’s lovely, lively and catching – and features several other well-known Colombian entertainers and Colombian landscapes – so I hope you enjoy.. (Thankfully, no Sofia Vergara!)