By Mike Huber
Having a battle buddy in Colombia was great. Not just for company but for safety. Matt and I had met while backpacking through Asia and kept in touch as we both traveled throughout the world. In January, we coincidentally found ourselves being neighbors in Medellin, Colombia.
For almost three months we would hang out a few times every week. Usually just getting some beers and people watching around our neighborhood. There is never a shortage of sights to see in this city (see my previous blog and the photos here). At the end of each night, we would always text to let the other know we made it home safe without missing a kidney or being kidnapped. The tradition of checking in with each other continued even when my travels brought me to my next destination, Ecuador.
Matt informed me a few Sundays ago he had a date and would catch up via text after the date. I never received a text that night. OK, I thought he probably fell asleep as he starts work quite early on weekdays. He is a lead project manager for a communications company in the United States. One of the things Matt and I clicked on is he has been working remotely for 5 years, and during that time he traveled most of the planet while his company thought he was based in Seattle. Of course, from my previous life working remotely and doing the same, I totally dug his perspective on that.
As Monday came and went still with no word from him, I decided to reach out to one of our mutual friends who was also in Medellin. She returned my text quickly. She had found him unconscious in his apartment Monday morning. He was in pretty bad shape. She managed to have a doctor come to the apartment and administer an IV and look him over. Outside waiting for the drug to work, there wasn’t too much that could be done.
It took four days before Matt was able to walk without falling, and his speech was still slurred by the time I was able to speak with him on Thursday. His laptop, phone, and credit cards had all been stolen. What’s worse, they got him to unlock all his bank accounts and those were drained.
Being a solo traveler myself I had to find a way to help him. Fortunately, they had left his passport. With no phone there was no way to PayPal him money, but with his passport I would be able to Western Union him some cash to at least give him some reprieve financially as he slowly began to untangle the mess. This was a mess that that would continue to spiral in ways neither of us could even imagine.
In my travels there have been only really three places that blew my mind. The expansiveness and emptiness of the Australian Outback, the expansiveness and density of Tokyo, and the expansiveness and curves of the women in Colombia. Yes, my writing is probably not politically correct. I honestly don’t give a shit as it’s true. Medellin, Colombia has some of the most beautiful women on earth. On any given night there are monchichis in battalion formation. A sight to behold for sure.
Iceland has been on my bucket list for a couple decades and for one reason or another it just never came to fruition. I decided to go against all common sense and make it happen (yes, in late November). Packing nothing but a small backpack, I was off the following day on a nonstop flight to Reykjavik.
A pod hotel is just that. It was a giant room filled with about 50 or so small containers like sleeping pods that are stacked two high. It is absolutely like sleeping in something you’d see in an 1980s sci-fi movie. This particular pod hotel had three floors of pods, and then on the top floor, an onsen (Japanese hot springs), a cold bath, showers, sauna, and a large dayroom for hanging out. For the price (approximately 40 USD) it was perfect for my 4-day stay in Tokyo.
I am usually comfortable with no planning, but before arriving in Tokyo (one of the largest cities on earth), I was feeling overwhelmed. Within 30 minutes of landing I learned there was no need for those feelings, though. Tokyo is one of the most organized, safest, cleanest, and well laid out cities I have ever visited. As I traveled through Japan for the next five weeks, I learned the people are some of the most beautiful in the world, and that is coming from someone who has seen quite a bit of the world.
This would be the Vietnam I was looking for. No congestion, no traffic stops, just miles of mountain switchbacks. This new chosen path didn’t come without a bit more adventure, too. Over the next five days I didn’t see one Westerner or tourist. None. The village homestays I chose were so far off the beaten path I don’t even think many of the locals had ever seen a Westerner. Communication was strictly between my charades and some Google Translate. The more rice wine I drank at the end of the evening, the less I relied on Google and the more colorful my charades became.
