Estadio (Stadium)

This whole week here in Colombia is a holiday called Santa Semana (Holy Week), so almost everyone has time off. Unfortunately this means all of the stores are closed. In the United States, it's the same feeling as Thanksgiving or Christmas/New Years time when stores close down for a day or two and you have to find something to do with yourself for a little while. Well there is a stop along the Metro here that we always pass by but never visit, and this was the perfect time to do it! The station is called Estadio, or Stadium in English.

It was built in 1953, and has been host to the World Cup soccer, and the 2012 South American games. There is a lot to do around here if you like to exercise, grab something to eat, or watch sports.

View Estadio in a larger map

Metro station marker

Here's the Stadium! There is a nice jogging/cycling track around the outside. 

View of the Estadio area from the metro station. We love the architecture!

This is one of the first sights you see when you walk into the Stadium complex.

There are plenty of vendors walking around to sell you something. These snow cones looked amazing!

Steph opted for the Mango slices with salt and lime 

This stadium complex is among the finalists for hosting the 2018 Youth Olympic Games

The surrounding area is very well kept up with plenty of shady spots to rest under a tree.

Apparently the fountains are kid friendly. This is every kid's dream!

Take a look at the building in the background. What is it for? It looks like there is a design or some texture on the walls, so we went to check it out.

A closer view reveals a nice modern and natural looking texture...but wait....

Getting a closer look, we realized that the design wasn't painted, but it was actually holes punched out in the metal tiles! Genius! Very few buildings have A/C installed, so there are many "open" buildings. There was surprisingly a nice cool breeze coming out of the holes in the building. 

Looking inside the holes, you can see the individual sport areas.

There were two floors on the inside. This place was a LOT bigger than it looked from the outside.

Had to take this picture quick...I think they saw us. 

There's even a little skate park for the kids

Some of the things we didn't take pictures of were: Sand volleyball courts (It looked like a Speedo was required for entry), baseball fields, a few olympic sized swimming pools, cycling track, outdoor soccer fields, outdoor weight training area, rows of vendors selling plenty of different food and drinks.

Memorial

The Memorial of Jesus Christ's death (the Lord's Evening Meal). It's observed by Jehovah's Witnesses, and many who are invited, worldwide on the same day at sundown on the day that corresponds to Nisan 14 on the Hebrew calendar. This year it fell on March 26. 

The Memorial, or Conmemoración in Spanish, had an attendance of 490,538 last year in Colombia, but the worldwide attendance was 19,013,343! We met at a local congregation in the Calasanaz barrio in Medellin because it's close to home and we all wanted to come back home quickly to listen to the talk in an English congregation in California (Thanks for the help Randy!).

A familiar invitation this year. Maybe you received one?

It's always a beautiful full moon on Nisan 14. The picture doesn't do it justice though, because there are mountains somewhere back there. 

The first congregation's memorial is about to end. There weren't enough seats for everybody at that time, so some had to stand outside.

Just waiting outside for the previous congregation to finish up.

Here's the view inside the Calasanaz Kingdom Hall. 

I gotta say... The flowers here never fail to impress 

Auditorium is filling up...and yes, it was packed! On a side note, that little room in the background is the second school.

Memorial emblems. Looks like one glass is a little bit emptier than the others...hmmm

Look at those two....

This Kingdom Hall also has a Colombian sign language congregation that meets here.

I thought it would be a good night with the full moon to photo some of the clouds. They are really interesting here at night with the city lights reflecting off of them.

Rainy Day

The rain has been building up quite a bit here over the past week. This was the rain yesterday. 

It was like a monsoon out there!

 

It rained so much that some black and purple bubbles started backing up out of the drain in the kitchen floor! Disaster control had to come to the rescue and put a bandage over the drain.

Yeah, I have to take the Sail down when it rains, but the weather cools down quite a bit

To make things worse, Stephany was out getting groceries when the rain started! She was splashed by a few buses on the way home, but she was rewarded for her hard work with flowers :-)

Wind Sail

There is no other way to describe the weather here outdoors in Medellin other than beautiful! Since we live on the top floor of an apartment, there is a certain time of day when the heat below rises up to us, and the sun heats things up inside our place (~85 degrees F inside, and 80 outside). At it's worst, it's not all too bad, but it doesn't feel as nice as it does outside. Houses here don't have A/C, so everyone leaves some type of window or door open.

I noticed that the wind is always blowing through the trees outside, but it blows down the street and not so much inside our apartment. After brainstorming a little bit with materials we had lying around, I decided to build a "sail" while stephany was sleeping of course :-). We had just received our boxes that we shipped here from Florida, so we had some nice strong cardboard lying around. Here's what I came up with....

Enter: The Cardboard Sail

 With its sleek and aerodynamic design, cool refreshing air can be piped right into your living room!

The Sail's large surface area scoops a generous amount of air to keep you and your family comfortable

 Its natural appearance is hardly noticeable by the passers by as it blends in with local vegetation.

I'm pretty sure I heard someone say, "Hey look! Is that a sail? It blends in so well that I hardly noticed it." 

They were speaking Spanish though, so that could be a slight misinterpretation.

To test the Sail, I hung a piece of floss to measure how much air this thing was moving. This is before installing the sail.

This is after.... Clearly an improvement...

This thing works pretty nicely. It's not much to look at on the outside, and there were doubters at first, but they have come to appreciate the refreshing breeze that it brings inside around the hot part of the day!

First Day in the Ministry

We went out in the ministry for the first time last Saturday since we've been here. The territory is the entire city (~3.5 Million people), but mostly the group has been focusing on the more affluent parts of the city where English speakers usually stay. English speakers are scattered about through the city though, so we are always keeping an eye out.

We meet for service at different points throughout the city depending on the territory we're working for the day, so the commute time can vary from 10 mins to 1 hour. Make sure you get your time started as soon as you leave the house :-)

View Larger Map

To start out, we walk a few blocks to the "Floresta" Metro station and take it to the "Poblado" station

Just waiting for the train to come...

View Floresta to Poblado in a larger map

The metro is by far the cheapest way to get to the hall (~$0.83/person)

View Poblado KH in a larger map
There is a little walk from the station to the Kindom Hall, but it's not too far, and the weather is great!

About 45 mins - 1 Hour later, we arrive at our home Kingdom Hall in Poblado

 We meet for service in the downstairs garage for service while the Spanish brothers meet upstairs. 

The territory is very beautiful and mountainous and we have to walk everywhere, so we also get a pretty nice workout. One brother lost 25 pounds just from being in service and walking the territory! 

Stephany and our sister Manuela hard at work. I think they were just making plans to get manicures in the building to the left....

Even in a busy populated city, there are a ton of plants, flowers and trees everywhere!

Colombian Fruit Series: Granadilla

One of the best parts about being here is the amazing variety of fruits that you can try. We'll document some of the cool ones that aren't so common to the rest of the world.

First up is the Granadilla (kinda reminds you of the word grenade huh?). One sister told me that they get their name because when you throw them, they explode all over with their seeds like a grenade (don't quote me on that one, but it sounds legit)! Steph was raving about this fruit on our last visit, and when I tried it, I was amazed! I thought it was such a cool fruit because it's so unique and delicious from any other fruits I've had before. Here's why....

This is a Granadilla. Round, about the size of an apple, and a hard outer shell

Start opening it by cutting around the top of the fruit (hands are also an acceptable tool)

Almost there...

Eureka! Not really what you expected to be in there huh?

The seeds kinda remind us of fish eyes, and they are slimy too :-P

Don't be afraid though. If you can get past the visual, they are incredible! The black seeds are crunchy, and the slime/snot is deliciously sweet and jucy!

It's amazing how Jehovah created a perfect little bowl to eat these out of.

Yep....There's a lot of them in there. 

And when you're done....it still looks cool. I mean...look at it...what are those tentacles all about on the inside?

This is how you will feel after you eat one! 

Make sure to ask for one when you visit us. You won't be able to experience this in too many places.

Ciao!