Day 10 - Dinner with Cody - "¡No dar papaya!" "Don't give Papaya!"

Chef Julia made scrambled eggs and papaya with bananas and passion fruit for breakfast (we bought everything yesterday). Both our laundry came on time, and our taxi honked 5 minutes earlier than ordered at the gate. The Swiss 🇨🇭 influence is clearly visible 🤣.

The flight with Viva Colombia was 50 minutes delayed. By the way, they are very strict at the security check: 1.5 liters of water, 400 ml of shower gel, and the large tube of sunscreen, all in hand luggage (we only had this) ... no one cares here! You just have to know it beforehand, but I already sent the advance team in July.

In Medellin, we first charged the cash reserves and then drove to Cody's. Until dinner, we used the time for organizational matters. Julia went to the bus station to buy tickets for the night bus. Exceptionally, I booked accommodation in advance for tomorrow because I don't feel like looking for a hostel after a 7-hour bus ride. In addition, we were able to secure our photos in the Dropbox with relatively fast internet. Otherwise, we watched Colombian soaps at concert volume with Cody's Mexican roommate - incredibly exciting 😏

The dinner with Cody was funny, he's a crazy guy - but that's another story. We were at Julia's favorite restaurant Zorba, a farewell dinner from Medellin, so to speak.

At 10:30 p.m., we got on the bus - destination Salento in the Zona Cafetera (which will explain itself).

Since we are leaving Medellin now, a few words about safety.

In Colombia, there is the saying "¡No dar papaya!", which means "don't give papaya". Roughly speaking: do not show valuable things carelessly. Almost everyone called me crazy to travel to Colombia, of all places. And then to Medellin, the once most dangerous city in the world.

The fact is, so far there hasn't been a situation where I felt unsafe. If you walk around with open eyes (at least with one 😜), it's half the battle. Of course, there are shady characters here - in some corners, even a lot of them. There are also neighborhoods that you leave at dusk - your instinct tells you. You also don't hold your iPhone with two fingers a meter away from you in the crowd to take a selfie. And at the bus station, you don't count your bills among hookers and drug dealers - unless you are a hooker or a drug dealer. It's all actually logical and not my invention, but you do see some idiots walking through the streets.

Follow a few rules, be cautious and careful, and you can minimize the risks very much, which doesn't mean that I couldn't be robbed or threatened tomorrow. Additionally, I believe that confident behavior helps in all situations. I think that just like dogs can smell fearful people, criminals can also recognize insecure "victims".