Colombia with 40 Friends: A Vacation Story
Showing up is the highest act of love in a world of distractions and in February, 40 friends and family were gathered by my friend Yves to descend upon Cartagena for a weekend celebrating life. I met Yves 10 years ago at Stan’s in DC on a chance interaction that neither of us wanted to engage in, but that’s another story for another day, the reality is that he’s one of my best examples of a great friend 10 years later and I was happy to be one of 40 on this trip.
My goal for the trip. I showed up with an open mind and with my intentions set on having a good time. I’m a huge believer in setting intentions and on a trip with this many people it’s important to be clear on the type of experience you want to have or your experience will be decided by other people. My mind was set to show up for the homie, have a great time amongst friends and come back better than I left. Spoiler, I did my job.
The characters on the trip. This trip was unique because of the collection of people. I met Yves 10 years ago but some of my Atlanta era friends were on the trip as well that I met in 2008 and there were new close friends that I met as recently as last year on the trip and most humans falling somewhere in between. He somehow got 40 people to actually get out the trip group chat and I knew about 35 of them coming into the trip. These relationships were and are dynamic, ranging from casual to romantic to adversarial, and I experienced some level of all those relationship journeys on the trip.
The backdrop for the trip. Cartagena, Colombia is a beautiful, complex place and we had a time in the city. We had a gorgeous house that accommodated the crew comfortably, we did the beach, visited a tiny house resort (yes, that’s a thing), boat things and took in the night life as well. I can’t emphasize how ghetto America feels when you go out of country and an amazing meal costs between $10-50 US, but both Cartagena and Medellin couldn’t stop reminding me. If you’re looking for a place to relax and do some self-care, Colombia is as good a place as any.
What we did or did not do. I’m not going to write about what we did specifically and in any detail, cause that isn’t fair to the 40. I was going to entitle this piece, Sex, Drugs and Murder. There were drugs but most people didn’t do them and there was sex, and I’m assuming most people didn’t indulge, and honestly, it was none of my business if it wasn’t concerning me. Also, we didn’t murder anyone I think. Aside from those categories, we had a wholesome, safe time amongst friends centered around well planned social experiences, wonderful walks around the old city and vigorous conversations over food. Of all the things we did, the main idea is that we showed up, out of country for our dear friend and with that, we did just enough.
Escaping Colombia gracefully. We all left in a staggered way, and I went to Medellin for a day before heading back to the the states. I’d always suggest doing this as the flight is pretty cheap from Cartagena to Medellin and hotels are super cheap (I literally got a room for $30). I have a mantra about experiences called “landing the plane” which is to be intentionally graceful in how we end things. So in contrast to chaos, I spent Medellin vibing with the homies, getting a pedicure and eating great food before taking the long trip home.
Colombia was a successful trip that I’ll never forget, we did a milestone bday for our friend and had a wonderful time with beautiful weather with interesting people, inside and out and I’m glad I got to be 1 of that 40.
