Warning, Christmas is gruesome in Medellin

If any of you are squeamish with things like blood, dead animals, or pig insides, here is a warning to not ready any further (here's hoping the pictures made it below the fold and you have to scroll to see them!).

They're a strange thing, traditions, here in Medellin. From cooking sancocho (an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink soup) to natilla (a pudding-like sweet), Medellinses like to prepare their traditional Christmas dishes on the street, making it a family and neighbor affair. So when Gio and I went for a walk with an English girlfriend of ours on Christmas Eve, climbing up and up through the neighborhoods surrounding the center, we were prepared for some block-party style festivities.

The first pig we saw as we sat casually having a beer at a friend's restaurant. Across the street they were already in the final stages of slicing up the pig and segmenting every bit of it so nothing would go to waste. As soon as Giovanni pointed it out, I turned my head back to my beer and continued my conversation with the restaurant owner. Meanwhile Toni, our English friend, and Giovanni headed over to have a look at the pig, with Toni lingering to ask questions and take pictures, stuck there like at the scene of a car accident that you just can't turn away from.

Later as we continued to walk the streets of the Salvador, Milagrosa, and las Palmas neighborhoods, we saw 2 more pigs in different stages of the slaughtering process. One looked freshly killed, on its back with its legs in the air, waiting to be cut down the middle. When we wandered over to have a closer look, the men, wanting to show off as they always do, proceeded to take the knife and show us how it was done. They pointed out the different parts and explained why they were cutting here (so the intestines wouldn't explode) and not there (they didn't want to ruin the pig!). After that first cut I was done, ready to be a pork vegetarian for the rest of my life, or at least every Christmas. As we were walking away they told us to come back in a few hours to have a piece of the pig in whatever form they chose to cook it up that night. I'm sure the offer still stands, and maybe tonight before midnight when Gio and I go on another walk, we'll take advantage of one of these many invitations.

Babies, marriage, love?

Over the course of 2011, I've had 2 friends get pregnant, 2 get divorced, 1 get married, and 2 get engaged. I am officially an adult.

And alas, last weekend my friend Tanya had her baby, a beautiful boy named Yael Elian (pictures below). I got to see and hold him when he was 24 hours old, a first for me when it comes to babies, besides my younger sister, and I think then she was even a few days old. To honor this moment I figured it was time to put up pics from her baby shower, which I hosted at my apartment in November. Though the turnout was not overwhelming, we were all kept plenty entertained by the likes of a 2 and 1-year old boy and girl, kids of Tanya's friends.

Hannah and I giving Tanya her gift!

Cutie-pie, Tanya's friend's kid, a terror, but also very adorable

Cute, if not a somewhat artistic shot, dontcha think?

Baby Yael!!

Kid opened his eyes for just a half second, whilst breast-feeding!

Lopera family reunion

Earlier I wrote about my mom's family reunion in July in Myrtle Beach, and now time for a rundown of Giovanni's family! Lucky for my college friend Ashley who was visiting in October, she got to experience a once-in-a-lifetime Colombian event - Giovanni's mom's 62nd birthday party! woop woop! We (along with our roommate Geoff) all made the 30 minute taxi trek out to Bello (the suburbs which is really just a huge town/city) where Doña Alba and the rest of the Lopera clan lives. After blowing up 50 balloons, having half of them pop, eating Chinese food (a Colombian, or maybe just a Lopera special occasion tradition), and cake, we have these photos to share. And the tardiness in posting these is actually not entirely my fault this time, they were on Giovanni's niece's camera and since trips to Bello really only occur once every two months or so, it took a while to get them off her.

The gringos + Gio and his cute GRAND-nephew

Gio's mom with her GREAT-grandson, blowing out the firey candle

There's all of us! Me and Gio on the left, next: his nephew, niece and her son, mom, sister, nephews, and son in the bottom right corner

Ashley's visit

Ok, yes I do realize it has taken me a while to post these pics but I have been busy preparing everything for my move to Miami - finding a place to live in Miami, figuring out relocation expenses with work, hassling the National Visa Center people to get Gio's visa appointment - just to name a few, and with a business trip to Brazil and a girlfriend going into labor thrown into the mix, it has been a hectic few months to say the least! But now with the dust having somewhat settled, I am surprisingly calm before the holidays (I got all my [American friends and family] Christmas shopping done in one weekend thank you!)

So let me share pics from when Ashley, my college roommate and best friend, came to visit in October. It had been a while since I had had visitors (over a year since my parents and my friend Kieran). So I was a little rusty when it came to tourism-mode, but Ashley as usual was laid back and let me take her on a fun 6-day ride through Medellin and some of its surrounding towns.

Guatapé/el peñol rock, outside of Medellin. My 4th climb, Ashley's 1st.

The "barrios" (neighborhoods) are built into the mountains, it's a steep climb!

Ashley was a good tourist and took lots of good food pics. This is a pan de queso I think...

Metro ticket

The oldest church in Medellin (a fact I'm pretty sure I found out during Ashley's visit..)

#Familyreunion2011

In July I made the effort to go back to the US for the bi-annual Locke family reunion. Since I missed the last one in San Francisco, I had to make the effort this time, seeing as I hadn't seen a lot of these family members for over 5 years. Luckily I was able to spend more time with my cousin Tina while traveling to the US for work previously in the year; before my first trip I hadn't seen Tina since we were kids. Also, I was fortunate enough to see my Aunt Shelli and Uncle Rob in Austin Texas in 2010 for work, where they took me out to a great Texan BBQ dinner (unfortunately I have no linkage back to this documentation since these things happened in 2010 when I was lazy and lapsed in my blog writing, sorry!).

Anyways, this year, the family reunion was fun and...enlightening! We went to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina where we rented a house one block from the beach. It was the first time all of the cousins (except for 1 we were all there!) were adults so that was fun/interesting! We all got to meet the first great-grandchild (though neither of my maternal grandparents are alive, but I still consider my generation the "grandkids"). And although the youngest of us grandkids is 21 and the great-grandkid is 6 months old, we went to the usual family reunion-type attractions including Medieval Times, Hard Rock Cafe, and the Ripley Aquarium. Being able to relive those chilhood moments was pretty fun (with cheering on our knight and horse at Medieval being the most-fun obviously, especially after Jagermeister shots), but I must say I really enjoyed reminiscing about old times and viewing slides my mom put together from pictures my grandma took on their many family vacations. It's so cool to see sites the Grand Canyon back in the 60's and 70's!

Cousins Megan, James and their adorable 6 month old baby

The Sellers - Aunt Shelli, Uncle Rob, Meredith, Logan (missing cousin Curtis)

Cousin Tina and her mom

Everyone at the family reunion traditional restaurant - Hard Rock Cafe

From old slides - my mom, her brother, and my Aunt Linda, so cute!

Such cool looking jellyfish at the aquarium (NOT beach)

Mumsy and me, love her!

Aunt Shelli and my mom doing what they gotta do at these family reuniones after not having seen each other for 2 years!

Tina's closet. Let me remind you we were there for 1 week - less than 7 days!

If this is not the cutest baby in the world than I don't know what is. Mine will look just like her, just caramel-flavored.

Friends are here!

One of my best friends from my hometown came to Colombia (finally!) with her boyfriend during Thanksgiving. Instead of actually doing a Thanksgiving, we decided to go to the beach so they could get some sunshine before going back to snowy Colorado. Both of them were troopers, trying all the food, beer, local experiences like 12-hour bus rides, and being patient with Colombian tardiness.

Maria trying on a local "tomate de arbol"

Tango in Medellin

All this food just came for 1 dish - mondongo!

Cartagena!

The old wall that the Spaniards used to keep out the English

Looks kinda like Miami no?

Lover!

Roller coaster or just a wild boat ride?

Lunch on playa blanca

I think this was the only pic that we have of the whole trip with the 4 of us!

Look how Josh blends in with the scenery!

Fixie bikes, never heard of 'em...

Even though this year has been the year of the bike for me, where I've learned how to ride with no hands and joined a group that goes out to explore the city for 3 hours every week, up until a few days ago I had never heard of the "fixie" (fixed-gear) bike. Apparently these are the bikes that the real bike enthusiasts ride, like New York and San Francisco bike messengers, because the way the bikes are made you don't have any brakes and the way you pedal determines the direction you will go in (yes you can go backwards!). Not only are these bikes mechanically neat, they're usually colorful and a mix of parts. Our Medellin bike group met up with the Bogota fixie group last Sunday to see what the fixie was all about, and to try our hand at Bike Polo.

Semi-Halloween Party

Since I didn't get my act together in time, our Halloween celebration ended up being an intimiate affair. This was mostly due in part to it being a dry weekend in Medellin (elections for mayor, governor, and local senate are today) and so any hope of putting on a costume and dancing a stifling hot club was dashed.

Instead, we opted for a minimalist evening, luckily my American friend Ariel is a big Halloween fan. She made her own tutu! She also made dairy-free candied apples that tasted of dream-like fudge, and Giovanni got to carve his very first pumpkin!