Went to work on Tuesday, kept dreaming about La Mojarra, but managed to make it through the day anyway. On Weds we had a panel discussion featuring the heads of all the architecture schools in Medellin and a guest from Barcelona. The topic of conversation was "who will build the cities of the future, and what challenges must they be prepared for?" Beyond a general interest in the topic, the underlying purpose was to begin a discussion about how to educate architects since EAFIT is currently considering establishing a school of architecture. The comments were all quite interesting, and I was forced to pay strict attention since I was the official note-taker for the occasion. Still not sure what possessed them to assign the only non-native speaker to that post, but I did my best and walked out with several pages of notes written in rather horrible Spanglish.
Since that meeting went fairly late into the evening, I didn't get a chance to go to the climbing gym as I normally would on a Wednesday. As a result, I got a phone call from J on Thursday to make sure I hadn't been scared off by the drive back from La Mojarra. Ensuring him I wasn't too terrified to return, I promised to show up after work and struggled through writing up my notes from the meeting into somewhat comprehensible Spanish.
When I got to the gym, J reminded me that they were having a bouldering competition this weekend, and asked whether I wanted to join. I inquired as to how many women were competing and was told 5 or 6. Knowing that they needed 5 just to hold the competition, I figured I'd join in and see how it went. As I was about to leave the gym, several climbers informed me they were on their way to go salsa dancing, and invited me out. Such an invite was rather irresistible, so I did my best to make myself presentable and we headed out into the rainstorm. Arriving only slightly drenched, we turned into a small doorway and continued downstairs into the basement bar that apparently has the best salsa music this side of the river. It was entirely empty. There were precisely 3 other people besides our party, but since there were 5 of us, we took a table, ordered some beers and waiting for the place to fill up. That didn't really happen, but we went ahead and danced on the empty floor anyway. Apparently the rain, which continued to come down hard, was keeping people away for the night.
Now, I've done my fair share of salsa dancing, and didn't think I would have any trouble holding my own, but I was rather shocked to discover how different dancing is here. They don't really keep the 3 count beat I'm used to, but rather move with the music in whatever manner seems to suit their mood. A little baffled, but up for the challenge, I struggled through a few songs before deciding it was too late to be out on a weekday and headed home.
Friday was a rather slow day since I had been out til after midnight the night before, but I managed to make it through to the end of the work day. Then the real fun began. My co-worker had invited me to an art opening at Medellin's Museum of Modern Art, which I was thrilled to check out. Hailing a taxi, we rode over the the city center and got dropped off in front of an old factory building that has been converted into a museum. The mix of old and new was quite well done and provided a very nice backdrop for the art being shown. When we walked in, there were already quite a few people there and more arrived every minute. Half of the main gallery was taken up by a zig-zaging metal frame with floating wood bars scattered throughout. Since this looked like something that could have been set up specifically for the event, I had to ask whether it was part of the artwork being celebrated. In response, my friend took me to one side of the room and showed me a video panel that had a large blinking red skull on it. Upon closer examination, it turned out that the video was a live feed from above and the metal sculpture was set up in such a way as to form a skull when the upper portion was illuminated. Don't know about the choice of a skull, but the effect was quite remarkable.
In addition to this large piece, there were several smaller sculptural objects around the main space and a fascinating exhibit of cartography in the two galleries to the sides. As the night moved into full swing, a DJ stationed in the eye of the skull stuck up an impressive mix of beats that included drum and base, techno and classic Colombian rhythms. Wasn't sure that would ever be a good combination, but he pulled it off rather spectacularly.
An hour or so into the event, I spotted my housemate in the crowd with a couple friends. We partook of the free vodka being served for a short while before heading out on the town for some salsa dancing! This time we were on the other end of the city, so we headed for "The Found Link" (or something close to that, not exactly sure how it translates). This was in the heart of the city central and I got my first real taste of night life. Before going in we stood at a food stand outside and consumed some amazingly delicious empenadas while watching the crowd mill about in the park across the street.
Once we got to the salsa place, I was rather surprised by how small it was, but the dancers there were amazing. We watched a couple who moved in double time and made salsa look a lot more like swing than I've ever seen before. As soon as the couple had finished, my housemate jumped up and commandeered the gentleman who had shown himself to be a brilliant leader and they commenced to dance what I can only describe as a combination of a jig, swing, salsa and Caribbean moves. They're hips vibrated constantly as their feet completed a complicated pattern of hops, kicks and slides. Definitely now what I would have called salsa, but apparently that's the way it goes down here. I tried a few songs and got R to show me a few moves. Was told I wasn't too bad for a gringa, but think I've still got some work to do.
Saturday morning I decided I needed to do a little shopping, so R and I headed first to a nearby mall and then to the down town market in search of comfortable, but classy shoes. The mall wasn't all that exciting, but the market was quite entertaining. It was situated on a walking street in the heart of the city and every few feet held an opening with stalls lining both sides and displaying their goods in any and every way possible. Along the street itself were carts full of various trinkets and foods and on every corner someone would step forward to ask what we were looking for and ensure that they had the best possible price and knew just were to take us. Ignoring most of these we meandered at our own pace and picked up a few things before heading home.
The climbing competition was scheduled to start at 4pm, so the boys (my other housemate and R's boyfriend) whipped us up a delicious feast as soon as we got home. I cleared my plate, packed my bag and headed over to the gym. This was to be the first of a two day event, and saturday's portion consisted of 2hrs of open climbing where you tried to climb as many routes as possible. Everyone marked what they had completed and the top 5 in most categories, but the top 4 in women's, since there were only 5 of us competing, would move onto the finals on Sunday. There was a distinctly festive air with many of the observers sipping beers as they shouted encouragement. I wandered around the space and did my best to climb as many routes as possible. Saw the other girls trying really hard routes, but didn't have the stamina for those, so stuck to the midrange. After we all handed in our scorecards, I was quite surprised to discover that I had come in 2nd for the day, which meant I would be competing on Sunday in the finals. Exhausted but happy, I joined a big group for a beer at the corner store before heading to my bed.
This morning I woke up and crawled out of bed with every muscle in my body screaming in protest. Appalled that I would have to climb again today, I slowly stretched out my aching body and prepared a nice breakfast. Then I tried to catch a bus over to the gym, but ended up in going the wrong direction. Not wanting to waste more time trying to find the right bus, I got off and hailed a cab over to my destination. When I arrived, they were just finishing up the pre-master's division and were about to commence the woman's competition. Everyone else seemed just as sore and we spent quite a while warming up before the new routes were in place. Unlike Saturday, today's competition was for onsight completion. Which meant that we got 8mins to look at the 4 routes we would be trying to complete, and then 2 chances of 2 mins each to climb, but we couldn't watch the others in our division. Sitting around the corner as the first lady worked on the first problem, we could only determine her success by the level of cheering going on.
When it came to my turn, I was rather annoyed to discover that the first problem required a rather strenuous, dynamic move over the lip of the wall. I tried it a few times without success and returned to the waiting area with red forearms. As the other ladies tried the same problem, we all ended up with matching bruises on our right arms and lamented the fact that men had set our routes! Nonetheless, on my second session I managed to land the move only to put my foot on the wrong hold and have to come off the wall. Oh well, there were 3 more to go.
The second problem included a real dyno (mom, you might want to skip to the next paragraph here...). This route started off with a series of balancy moves up to a two handed jug. From there you had to leap across to the adjoining wall and land both hands on a large hangboard before moving over to another wall and topping out. Not a big fan of dynos, but not willing to skip it either, I got set up, check that I had a good spot and went for it. I missed the first time but landed it the second round. Man, that felt good! Couldn't finish the rest of the route, but managed to get halfway, which gave me some points. Unfortunately the girl after me didn't have as good of a spot, missed the board and landed on her elbow. That put her out for the rest of the comp, and subdued the mood for a little while.
I couldn't make it past the 2nd move on the next route and thought for sure I'd place last (which was 3rd now that N was sitting on the sidelines with a ice pack). However, having seen the last problem, I was hopeful that I could do well with that, since I was all crimps and balance, which happen to be my forte. My prediction was correct, and on my third try I managed to make it all the way! At that point I became the first girl to complete a route. I was hoping E would finish as well, since she's become a friend and is certainly as strong as I am. Unfortunately, she didn't make it past a hand match on a nasty little crimper.
Once the scores were tallied, I came out first (of 3). I stuck around to watch the men's division, which was quite impressive, and was given a gold metal at the end of the day. Not sure what that's gonna do for my friendships among the ladies, but felt good to give it my all nonetheless. Now my arms are aching and my fingers need a rest, so I'm done for the night. Hopefully the coming week will bring as many exciting diversions!
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