1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,560 Welcome to the Once Upon a Trip podcast, where we dive deep into sharing everything 2 00:00:05,560 --> 00:00:12,520 crazy travel stories, dating adventures, culture fusions, and plenty of takeaways to entertain 3 00:00:12,520 --> 00:00:16,640 and feed your inner curiosity and travel bug. 4 00:00:16,640 --> 00:00:23,600 I'm your host, Mary Grace Crawford, travel enthusiast, content creator, ex-Digital Nomad, 5 00:00:23,600 --> 00:00:33,320 avid storyteller, and lover of all things Europe, based now in Atlanta, Georgia. 6 00:00:33,320 --> 00:00:39,080 In light of an upcoming Columbia trip that I will be taking next week with Marco and 7 00:00:39,080 --> 00:00:45,120 some of our good friends, the first week of November, I thought I'd take some time for 8 00:00:45,120 --> 00:00:54,040 today's episode to share a more detailed, candid version of my first night in Medellin, 9 00:00:54,040 --> 00:00:58,880 Colombia story, which is a really crazy and embarrassing one. 10 00:00:58,880 --> 00:01:05,960 If you're on Instagram and you follow my podcast account at once upon a trip dot PC, you may 11 00:01:05,960 --> 00:01:14,740 have already seen my Beware of Colombian Aguardiente real and have a little snippet of the main 12 00:01:14,740 --> 00:01:17,360 parts of this wild story. 13 00:01:17,360 --> 00:01:22,920 If you haven't seen it, you can go and check it out on Instagram and you'll see what I 14 00:01:22,920 --> 00:01:24,040 mean. 15 00:01:24,040 --> 00:01:32,520 If you're in for some entertainment, vulnerability, transparency, and learning all of what exactly 16 00:01:32,520 --> 00:01:40,440 not to do, especially when you're traveling solo, then this episode is for you. 17 00:01:40,440 --> 00:01:47,520 Just a big disclaimer that I do need to throw in here, I am not in any sort of way trying 18 00:01:47,520 --> 00:01:55,200 to endorse my decisions made in this story and you should absolutely not do what I did. 19 00:01:55,200 --> 00:02:02,480 I was really irresponsible and got super, super, super lucky in my certain situation, 20 00:02:02,480 --> 00:02:04,840 which you'll learn more details about in a little bit. 21 00:02:04,840 --> 00:02:11,280 I really do understand that there are so many other people who go to another country and 22 00:02:11,280 --> 00:02:14,200 don't end up lucky like I did. 23 00:02:14,200 --> 00:02:22,800 So be responsible, take care of yourself and learn from this story, but don't copy. 24 00:02:22,800 --> 00:02:28,020 Next week, my friends and I will be going to Cartagena, a different part of Colombia. 25 00:02:28,020 --> 00:02:34,440 I'm feeling really pumped and excited, but hopefully won't be back here sharing a similar 26 00:02:34,440 --> 00:02:40,140 crazy story with Colombian Agualdiente and bad decisions there that we're going to be 27 00:02:40,140 --> 00:02:42,260 diving into. 28 00:02:42,260 --> 00:02:49,720 With that being said, grab yourself a drink, be it a coffee or tea, if it's the morning 29 00:02:49,720 --> 00:02:56,640 time for you, or a glass of wine or a beer, if it's the afternoon or evening now, I think 30 00:02:56,640 --> 00:02:59,520 you'll be getting a kick out of this. 31 00:02:59,520 --> 00:03:05,800 Let's go ahead and start getting into all of the intricate details of this crazy first 32 00:03:05,800 --> 00:03:10,800 night in Medellin, Colombia story. 33 00:03:10,800 --> 00:03:17,400 I went to Colombia in January, 2023 for four days and I went solo. 34 00:03:17,400 --> 00:03:23,640 This was the last really big solo trip that I took before meeting Marco and it went out 35 00:03:23,640 --> 00:03:25,140 with a bang. 36 00:03:25,140 --> 00:03:32,700 I went from Atlanta to Medellin via Fort Lauderdale, Florida and left at about five in the morning. 37 00:03:32,700 --> 00:03:40,260 I met a couple of really great Colombians at the Fort Lauderdale airport during my layover. 38 00:03:40,260 --> 00:03:45,700 They kept me good company and told me that if I needed anything in Medellin to please 39 00:03:45,700 --> 00:03:48,360 call them because they'd love to help. 40 00:03:48,360 --> 00:03:51,400 The Colombian warm spirit right there. 41 00:03:51,400 --> 00:04:00,200 I got to Medellin at about 3.30 in the afternoon and had barely eaten anything all day. 42 00:04:00,200 --> 00:04:06,920 I had planned to eat in Fort Lauderdale, but because of constantly talking to Colombians 43 00:04:06,920 --> 00:04:12,480 during that whole layover, I only had a couple of coffees. 44 00:04:12,480 --> 00:04:20,520 There was no food on the flight because I took Spirit Airlines, AKA as Marco calls them, 45 00:04:20,520 --> 00:04:25,680 Banana Airlines, the cheap airline carrier here in the US. 46 00:04:25,680 --> 00:04:33,000 So here I am now at the Medellin airport on a nearly empty stomach and I'm standing in 47 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:34,600 immigration. 48 00:04:34,600 --> 00:04:40,840 It took forever to get through, probably an hour and 20 minutes. 49 00:04:40,840 --> 00:04:43,040 It took longer than I had planned. 50 00:04:43,040 --> 00:04:46,080 I think I booked a driver in advance. 51 00:04:46,080 --> 00:04:52,660 That driver was waiting for me for a good while and by the time I got out of immigration, 52 00:04:52,660 --> 00:04:56,120 it was nearly five in the afternoon. 53 00:04:56,120 --> 00:05:03,800 He spoke a little English and I spoke only a little Spanish, but we communicated with 54 00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:06,040 each other clearly enough. 55 00:05:06,040 --> 00:05:11,040 The driver and I got in the car and we started heading for my Airbnb. 56 00:05:11,040 --> 00:05:16,360 I had booked a food tour in Medellin for seven in the evening. 57 00:05:16,360 --> 00:05:18,840 By now it's about 5.15. 58 00:05:18,840 --> 00:05:25,600 I had less than two hours to scramble, get to my Airbnb that I had booked and go into 59 00:05:25,600 --> 00:05:28,760 town ready to join this food tour. 60 00:05:28,760 --> 00:05:35,960 I guess that's also why I hadn't been bothered for not eating so much, but little did I know 61 00:05:35,960 --> 00:05:37,960 what was coming that night. 62 00:05:37,960 --> 00:05:45,840 The first thing I noticed when riding in the car in Medellin was how super rain foresty 63 00:05:45,840 --> 00:05:52,080 and mountainy it looked and how it had a sprinkle of palm trees everywhere. 64 00:05:52,080 --> 00:05:56,120 It felt so tropical, cozy and just great. 65 00:05:56,120 --> 00:06:02,920 It started raining pretty hard in the afternoon and basically every afternoon at the same 66 00:06:02,920 --> 00:06:05,040 time after that. 67 00:06:05,040 --> 00:06:11,680 And it was kind of cool to see the lush green rain forest like landscape with these little 68 00:06:11,680 --> 00:06:15,860 shacks as stores and shops on the sides of the road. 69 00:06:15,860 --> 00:06:22,480 So I'm talking banana market stalls, Coca Cola and snack stalls, like that sort of thing. 70 00:06:22,480 --> 00:06:28,560 It definitely felt different and foreign compared to what I had known in the US. 71 00:06:28,560 --> 00:06:32,160 I loved the different environment and adventure. 72 00:06:32,160 --> 00:06:39,040 I got dropped off at my Airbnb, which was really nice and a modern high rise with about 73 00:06:39,040 --> 00:06:41,360 20 ish floors. 74 00:06:41,360 --> 00:06:48,360 I was staying in a studio with an amazing view of the Medellin city landscape and mountains 75 00:06:48,360 --> 00:06:51,600 right outside my window. 76 00:06:51,600 --> 00:06:53,240 Just what I was going for. 77 00:06:53,240 --> 00:06:57,040 I got the keys from the owner, got inside the Airbnb. 78 00:06:57,040 --> 00:07:01,000 It was already a little past six o'clock or so. 79 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:07,800 By the time I had finished some paperwork and got settled in, I was starving, but didn't 80 00:07:07,800 --> 00:07:15,200 want to eat too much before a food tour because why would we eat before a food tour? 81 00:07:15,200 --> 00:07:19,320 I went to a floor of the building that had a little cafe. 82 00:07:19,320 --> 00:07:24,320 I struggled to communicate with the baristas with my terrible Spanish. 83 00:07:24,320 --> 00:07:29,960 Their equally terrible English was another strike against me, but I did eventually get 84 00:07:29,960 --> 00:07:36,480 the baristas to grab me a protein bar and a cappuccino since I didn't see anything else 85 00:07:36,480 --> 00:07:38,760 there that really appealed to me. 86 00:07:38,760 --> 00:07:46,760 I then went in the elevator, made this short selfie video talking about how much my Spanish 87 00:07:46,760 --> 00:07:48,200 sucks. 88 00:07:48,200 --> 00:07:52,560 Literally while I'm going up the elevator, I'm doing this, got back to my room and then 89 00:07:52,560 --> 00:07:54,200 I started getting ready. 90 00:07:54,200 --> 00:07:58,720 Makeup, proper clothes for going out, all that good stuff. 91 00:07:58,720 --> 00:08:04,800 Since I understood in advance that Colombians and Colombian girls especially dress very 92 00:08:04,800 --> 00:08:13,480 well and I wanted to fit in that way, I managed to order an Uber on Airbnb wifi to ride into 93 00:08:13,480 --> 00:08:20,680 the downtown part of Medellin for the food tour and it was pouring down rain again. 94 00:08:20,680 --> 00:08:27,200 My brown leather flats that I was wearing that night were already soaked before getting 95 00:08:27,200 --> 00:08:33,800 to the tour, but I made it to the tour meeting point on time miraculously. 96 00:08:33,800 --> 00:08:41,120 In this food tour group, there was me and a group of about seven other people from all 97 00:08:41,120 --> 00:08:43,160 sorts of different places. 98 00:08:43,160 --> 00:08:49,680 There was one other American from California, from Laguna Beach, a guy from Germany but 99 00:08:49,680 --> 00:08:56,440 living in London, a French Canadian guy from Montreal, two Brazilians, one local Colombian 100 00:08:56,440 --> 00:09:04,880 girl and the tour guide who was a really cool laid back local Colombian guy from Medellin. 101 00:09:04,880 --> 00:09:11,520 Like I said earlier at the beginning of this story, I went solo and I was single. 102 00:09:11,520 --> 00:09:17,920 So it was natural for me to be scanning the guys and checking them out. 103 00:09:17,920 --> 00:09:25,020 With that being said, there were two guys on this tour who I thought were really cute. 104 00:09:25,020 --> 00:09:31,000 One being the German guy living in London and the other being the French Canadian from 105 00:09:31,000 --> 00:09:32,000 Montreal. 106 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:39,600 However, right from the get go, I just happened to be standing closer, like literally right 107 00:09:39,600 --> 00:09:46,120 next to the German guy and we just got to talking a little faster than with the French 108 00:09:46,120 --> 00:09:47,520 Canadian guy. 109 00:09:47,520 --> 00:09:55,120 This German guy sounded so dreamy when he spoke because he spoke with this very British 110 00:09:55,120 --> 00:09:56,240 accent. 111 00:09:56,240 --> 00:10:03,640 So living in London, I understand why he spoke this way and he was very well spoken and interesting. 112 00:10:03,640 --> 00:10:10,000 I don't even remember what all we talked about, but we just really clicked and we were right 113 00:10:10,000 --> 00:10:13,360 next to each other on the entire food tour. 114 00:10:13,360 --> 00:10:19,720 We hit up a number of local food places in Medellin and had a really good sampling of 115 00:10:19,720 --> 00:10:20,720 stuff. 116 00:10:20,720 --> 00:10:27,240 Colombian arepas, which are these basically very thick flat breads made of corn flour, 117 00:10:27,240 --> 00:10:29,120 which are amazing. 118 00:10:29,120 --> 00:10:36,340 Colombian buñuelos, these chocolate stuffed fried dough balls, among other delicious foods 119 00:10:36,340 --> 00:10:39,240 that I can't really remember exactly now. 120 00:10:39,240 --> 00:10:44,480 But they were really, really small portions. 121 00:10:44,480 --> 00:10:48,320 They didn't fill me up that much at all. 122 00:10:48,320 --> 00:10:54,000 And remember, I hadn't eaten much all day up to that point. 123 00:10:54,000 --> 00:11:00,440 We were all getting kind of soaked since it was raining on and off, but there I was getting 124 00:11:00,440 --> 00:11:02,760 kind of soaked with this German guy. 125 00:11:02,760 --> 00:11:09,080 We were always splitting and sharing whatever food we were trying on the tour together. 126 00:11:09,080 --> 00:11:15,800 At some point, we all end up at a little bar that we can grab a drink at and try something 127 00:11:15,800 --> 00:11:17,680 local if we wanted. 128 00:11:17,680 --> 00:11:21,760 This tour guide, like I said, was really chill and go with the flow. 129 00:11:21,760 --> 00:11:23,440 So he did what we wanted. 130 00:11:23,440 --> 00:11:29,640 I sat across this small table from German guy and what does he do? 131 00:11:29,640 --> 00:11:36,820 He orders this massive bottle of Colombian aguardiente, which if you are not aware of 132 00:11:36,820 --> 00:11:39,520 what this is, it is poison. 133 00:11:39,520 --> 00:11:41,880 No, I'm just kidding. 134 00:11:41,880 --> 00:11:44,720 But basically it's a lot like tequila. 135 00:11:44,720 --> 00:11:52,760 If I had to compare it to anything very smooth, when you take a sip like water, so agua, but 136 00:11:52,760 --> 00:11:58,760 then it burns like this potent fire diente. 137 00:11:58,760 --> 00:12:06,640 Once you swallow and it goes down your throat, hence the name aguardiente water fire. 138 00:12:06,640 --> 00:12:08,360 Basically is what it's called. 139 00:12:08,360 --> 00:12:15,200 Anyway, German guy orders this massive bottle of aguardiente and asks for a bunch of shot 140 00:12:15,200 --> 00:12:19,040 glasses since you know, the more the merrier. 141 00:12:19,040 --> 00:12:25,560 I will go ahead and say here is my first mistake that I made. 142 00:12:25,560 --> 00:12:33,000 The local Colombian girl in the group actually said to someone else about aguardiente, be 143 00:12:33,000 --> 00:12:35,280 very, very careful. 144 00:12:35,280 --> 00:12:37,280 This is very strong. 145 00:12:37,280 --> 00:12:43,760 You only need a little of this, but what does my dumb ass in flirty mode over German guy 146 00:12:43,760 --> 00:12:44,760 do? 147 00:12:44,760 --> 00:12:49,480 I completely underestimate what she says about the aguardiente. 148 00:12:49,480 --> 00:12:55,960 I took one sip of it and it really didn't seem all that strong like she was saying, 149 00:12:55,960 --> 00:12:58,480 at least not until it hit my throat. 150 00:12:58,480 --> 00:13:05,200 I knew intuitively that I probably should listen to Colombian girl, but I wanted to 151 00:13:05,200 --> 00:13:12,680 appear like a bad ass to this German guy since many Germans drink a lot and this guy I could 152 00:13:12,680 --> 00:13:14,980 tell was one of them. 153 00:13:14,980 --> 00:13:16,960 I was just like, you know what? 154 00:13:16,960 --> 00:13:21,740 I came all the way here to Columbia and I'm only here for four days. 155 00:13:21,740 --> 00:13:26,640 I'm going to make the most of this trip and this night. 156 00:13:26,640 --> 00:13:28,080 Yolo. 157 00:13:28,080 --> 00:13:31,760 And I just took a shot whenever this German guy took one. 158 00:13:31,760 --> 00:13:37,200 We then took one shot as a group of seven or eight with the tour guide in addition to 159 00:13:37,200 --> 00:13:40,200 whatever shots I took with this German guy. 160 00:13:40,200 --> 00:13:46,560 By the end of that part of the tour, I had already taken at least four shots of this 161 00:13:46,560 --> 00:13:53,200 Colombian aguardiente on a not super full stomach and icing on the cake. 162 00:13:53,200 --> 00:14:00,000 I'm more of a lightweight when it comes to alcohol, but none of this really hit me until 163 00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:03,720 quite a bit later that evening. 164 00:14:03,720 --> 00:14:11,220 After we go to this bar and have these aguardiente shots, we move to a rooftop bar nearby since 165 00:14:11,220 --> 00:14:13,840 that's what we all wanted to do. 166 00:14:13,840 --> 00:14:18,120 I was feeling lit, but not that lit just yet. 167 00:14:18,120 --> 00:14:22,620 I'm still there with German guy and we're grabbing even more drinks. 168 00:14:22,620 --> 00:14:24,160 He asked me what I want. 169 00:14:24,160 --> 00:14:28,360 I tell him that I'm feeling like a frozen margarita. 170 00:14:28,360 --> 00:14:33,640 So he goes up to the bar, he gets me a frozen Marg, he grabs the same and I'm just there 171 00:14:33,640 --> 00:14:40,400 having a ball because this rooftop bar with the beautiful serene mountain landscape and 172 00:14:40,400 --> 00:14:45,700 lights everywhere in Medellin are so romantic and beautiful. 173 00:14:45,700 --> 00:14:51,280 Then when you throw drinks and then you throw some cute person in there with that, Mwah, 174 00:14:51,280 --> 00:14:53,000 shabskis. 175 00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:58,760 At some point I finished that frozen Marg and I returned the favor to German guy. 176 00:14:58,760 --> 00:15:04,060 So I go up to the bar and I get him and myself a second round. 177 00:15:04,060 --> 00:15:06,760 You can kind of see where this is going. 178 00:15:06,760 --> 00:15:13,000 The icing on the cake was there was a hookah station at this rooftop bar. 179 00:15:13,000 --> 00:15:19,820 The other American from California and Colombian girl in the group were passing it around. 180 00:15:19,820 --> 00:15:23,660 And again, I was like, YOLO, whatever. 181 00:15:23,660 --> 00:15:27,340 So I inhaled a few whiffs of some hookah also. 182 00:15:27,340 --> 00:15:33,520 Your girl Mary Grace then really was lit and it was showing. 183 00:15:33,520 --> 00:15:39,660 I was taking all sorts of stupid videos of myself jumping up and down and getting crazy 184 00:15:39,660 --> 00:15:40,880 for a while. 185 00:15:40,880 --> 00:15:44,600 And then I finally took a bar stool seat and just sat there. 186 00:15:44,600 --> 00:15:48,560 I started instantly realizing at some point. 187 00:15:48,560 --> 00:15:55,120 Yeah, I have had a little too much to drink because I'm starting to feel sick. 188 00:15:55,120 --> 00:15:57,560 I really need to throw up. 189 00:15:57,560 --> 00:16:03,480 I remember getting off that bar stool seat, walking and stumbling and again feeling super 190 00:16:03,480 --> 00:16:04,480 sick. 191 00:16:04,480 --> 00:16:08,000 I then took a seat nearby this couch. 192 00:16:08,000 --> 00:16:13,520 Colombian girl was near me this entire time, came up to me and said, Oh honey, honey, are 193 00:16:13,520 --> 00:16:14,880 you okay? 194 00:16:14,880 --> 00:16:18,600 And before I knew it, I really was throwing up. 195 00:16:18,600 --> 00:16:23,040 I don't remember whether or not there was a trash can nearby. 196 00:16:23,040 --> 00:16:29,140 I really in my subconscious hope that there was, but I then went to the girl's bathroom 197 00:16:29,140 --> 00:16:33,360 and that's one of the last things I remember. 198 00:16:33,360 --> 00:16:39,900 And once again, reiterating this, I am telling you all of this, not for you to copy. 199 00:16:39,900 --> 00:16:43,280 This is so irresponsible and stupid. 200 00:16:43,280 --> 00:16:50,600 The next thing I remember is waking up the next day in a totally foreign, but very clean, 201 00:16:50,600 --> 00:16:56,160 peaceful Airbnb studio in the middle of beautiful midi. 202 00:16:56,160 --> 00:16:58,840 But it wasn't mine. 203 00:16:58,840 --> 00:17:07,260 I woke up with clean white sheets on me completely alone in this cozy, pretty big bed sleeping 204 00:17:07,260 --> 00:17:12,740 on top of my passport and phone with an empty trash can next to me. 205 00:17:12,740 --> 00:17:17,120 It was probably about six 30 in the morning when I woke up. 206 00:17:17,120 --> 00:17:24,480 I looked around and thought, of course, uh, where am I? 207 00:17:24,480 --> 00:17:30,040 I then look across this small Airbnb studio room. 208 00:17:30,040 --> 00:17:37,580 I see a guy sleeping and slowly starting to wake up on the couch that was directly across 209 00:17:37,580 --> 00:17:38,920 the room. 210 00:17:38,920 --> 00:17:42,240 It wasn't the German guy from the tour. 211 00:17:42,240 --> 00:17:45,840 It was the French Canadian guy from Montreal. 212 00:17:45,840 --> 00:17:50,880 The second of the two guys on the tour that I thought were cute. 213 00:17:50,880 --> 00:17:53,160 This was his Airbnb. 214 00:17:53,160 --> 00:18:01,000 And of course, I'm just like, Oh my God, what the actual hell did something happen 215 00:18:01,000 --> 00:18:02,140 last night? 216 00:18:02,140 --> 00:18:04,540 I have so many questions. 217 00:18:04,540 --> 00:18:06,240 Like what is this? 218 00:18:06,240 --> 00:18:12,480 French Canadian guy woke up a few minutes after he realized that I was awake and he, 219 00:18:12,480 --> 00:18:18,400 along with WhatsApp voice messages from the tour guide, basically told me everything that 220 00:18:18,400 --> 00:18:24,640 happened the night before and why I was there in his Airbnb. 221 00:18:24,640 --> 00:18:28,280 This is what he and the tour guide told me. 222 00:18:28,280 --> 00:18:35,000 The tour guide sent me voice messages to wake up to and said in those messages that he hopes 223 00:18:35,000 --> 00:18:36,800 I feel okay. 224 00:18:36,800 --> 00:18:43,080 He and French Canadian guy said that I basically went to the girls bathroom at some point on 225 00:18:43,080 --> 00:18:44,080 my own. 226 00:18:44,080 --> 00:18:45,520 That part I remember. 227 00:18:45,520 --> 00:18:51,600 He said that everyone in the group noticed that I was gone for a long time and they wanted 228 00:18:51,600 --> 00:18:56,080 to check on me to make sure that I was okay in the bathroom. 229 00:18:56,080 --> 00:19:01,360 One of the other guys on the tour said that apparently there were two random girls who 230 00:19:01,360 --> 00:19:06,920 were trying to get into that bathroom that I went into, but the door was locked and they 231 00:19:06,920 --> 00:19:08,360 couldn't get in. 232 00:19:08,360 --> 00:19:16,440 So they got someone who worked there to basically punch the door open to get inside and there 233 00:19:16,440 --> 00:19:21,360 I was basically sleeping on the bathroom ground. 234 00:19:21,360 --> 00:19:26,440 One of the girls working at this rooftop bar helped take me out of the bathroom and moved 235 00:19:26,440 --> 00:19:33,200 me to a couch out in the open and she tried to give me water, but I just threw up even 236 00:19:33,200 --> 00:19:34,200 more. 237 00:19:34,200 --> 00:19:40,740 Then eventually the food tour people wanted to take an Uber and go home and get me back 238 00:19:40,740 --> 00:19:47,780 safely to my Airbnb, but the problem is they did not know where I was staying. 239 00:19:47,780 --> 00:19:54,400 So French Canadian guy offered to take me into his Airbnb to make sure that I was safe 240 00:19:54,400 --> 00:20:00,800 for the night and I was told by both the tour guide and French Canadian guy that following 241 00:20:00,800 --> 00:20:08,900 morning that the German guy I was with was definitely not helpful at all. 242 00:20:08,900 --> 00:20:13,280 Apparently the German guy started freaking out the second he saw that I was throwing 243 00:20:13,280 --> 00:20:22,880 up and unfortunately I must have gotten a little vomit TMI on my blouse and he didn't 244 00:20:22,880 --> 00:20:24,720 want to touch me at all. 245 00:20:24,720 --> 00:20:28,800 He wanted nothing to do with this and basically peaced out. 246 00:20:28,800 --> 00:20:34,520 That's when French Canadian guy told me never to speak to German douchebag guy again because 247 00:20:34,520 --> 00:20:42,040 he didn't care to help and was literally there whining, complaining and freaking out, not 248 00:20:42,040 --> 00:20:44,640 wanting to touch or move me. 249 00:20:44,640 --> 00:20:50,280 There is actually a photo and of course I can't publish this anywhere of all of us from 250 00:20:50,280 --> 00:20:56,240 the food tour in the elevator mirror after leaving for the night and the French Canadian 251 00:20:56,240 --> 00:21:05,440 guy is shown in this picture basically holding my entire body weight because I'm passed out 252 00:21:05,440 --> 00:21:12,160 and German guy is purposely cut out of the shot, not laying a finger on me. 253 00:21:12,160 --> 00:21:18,160 The French Canadian guy was the one who took me in and didn't care about a little vomit 254 00:21:18,160 --> 00:21:25,000 because there I was this naive stupid girl who drank too much and just needed a little 255 00:21:25,000 --> 00:21:26,000 help. 256 00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:31,400 The tour guide ended his voice messages to me with he is sorry for this ending to the 257 00:21:31,400 --> 00:21:37,520 night and that he just wants to make sure I'm okay because to a great degree I was under 258 00:21:37,520 --> 00:21:39,440 his responsibility. 259 00:21:39,440 --> 00:21:46,200 I also apologized to him saying I'm so sorry, it's really not your fault, it's mine. 260 00:21:46,200 --> 00:21:52,400 The reason I was sleeping on top of my passport is because when the French Canadian guy took 261 00:21:52,400 --> 00:22:00,080 me into his Airbnb from the Uber, the check-in people needed some form of ID on me to be 262 00:22:00,080 --> 00:22:04,920 able to let me stay there and he used my passport in my purse. 263 00:22:04,920 --> 00:22:10,480 I guess he didn't know where to put it or he didn't think to put it back in the purse 264 00:22:10,480 --> 00:22:12,640 so he just put it under my pillow. 265 00:22:12,640 --> 00:22:18,760 The empty trash can next to me was just in case I threw up even more but I didn't. 266 00:22:18,760 --> 00:22:24,800 French Canadian guy let me have his entire bed and he slept on his couch directly across 267 00:22:24,800 --> 00:22:32,160 the room so I really swear nothing happened at all that night between us, nothing bad, 268 00:22:32,160 --> 00:22:38,880 nothing promiscuous, nor ever in the following days of that Columbia trip to follow. 269 00:22:38,880 --> 00:22:43,920 I had realized that morning that one of my earrings was missing and my phone charger 270 00:22:43,920 --> 00:22:50,680 was also missing but luckily I still had my purse, my wallet, with all my credit cards, 271 00:22:50,680 --> 00:22:54,840 my passport, and my phone, the most important things. 272 00:22:54,840 --> 00:23:01,880 I was really in awe of all of this shit that happened because of me being irresponsible 273 00:23:01,880 --> 00:23:10,620 and naive and I really do mean it when I say that I was extremely lucky to have been taken 274 00:23:10,620 --> 00:23:15,140 in by someone who wasn't malicious or with bad intentions. 275 00:23:15,140 --> 00:23:21,360 I was extremely fortunate also that the tour guide cared enough to check in on me the next 276 00:23:21,360 --> 00:23:27,280 day and make sure that I was okay and that he figured that I would be confused when I 277 00:23:27,280 --> 00:23:28,360 woke up. 278 00:23:28,360 --> 00:23:34,860 This could have gone a totally different way had I not been out on this food tour with 279 00:23:34,860 --> 00:23:39,720 other people and if no one had cared about me at all. 280 00:23:39,720 --> 00:23:45,120 The ending thing with the German guy was definitely a bummer and he showed his true colors real 281 00:23:45,120 --> 00:23:53,080 fast but he ended up leaving on a 6 a.m. flight to a whole other part of Columbia anyway that 282 00:23:53,080 --> 00:23:58,280 morning so that wasn't ever meant to be something lasting anyway. 283 00:23:58,280 --> 00:24:05,640 French Canadian guy and I end up grabbing breakfast together at a local spot in Medellin 284 00:24:05,640 --> 00:24:12,160 before we set off to one of the biggest tourist places around the city for the day, Guatapé. 285 00:24:12,160 --> 00:24:17,840 I had actually been scheduled to meet early with a personal tour guide to go to Guatapé 286 00:24:17,840 --> 00:24:24,960 but because of what happened I had forgotten and didn't show up to that and ended up going 287 00:24:24,960 --> 00:24:32,000 on my own tour with French Canadian guy who apparently hadn't had plans for the day. 288 00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:41,000 We took the local bus from Medellin to Guatapé, climbed up 725 steps to see this gorgeous 289 00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:48,520 lush water and green landscape among the overcrowded chaos of other tourists, rode horses for a 290 00:24:48,520 --> 00:24:55,880 while around Pignol Rock which is right in the Guatapé area, grabbed Colombian street 291 00:24:55,880 --> 00:25:01,360 food at some local market stalls and ended up seeing each other a couple of more times 292 00:25:01,360 --> 00:25:05,320 for dinner during my short remaining time in Columbia. 293 00:25:05,320 --> 00:25:11,960 I eventually lost touch with French Canadian guy since he was on an extended work break 294 00:25:11,960 --> 00:25:17,680 in Montreal and decided to stay in Columbia for two or three more months and we just went 295 00:25:17,680 --> 00:25:24,720 our separate ways when I returned to the US but I do still remember the luckiness I experienced 296 00:25:24,720 --> 00:25:31,060 on this wild night very much thanks to French Canadian guy and the other wonderful people 297 00:25:31,060 --> 00:25:34,640 minus German guy on my Medellin food tour. 298 00:25:34,640 --> 00:25:41,000 What I hope you got out of this crazy episode today is really not to let the euphoria of 299 00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:47,320 a short-lived trip or any person for that matter, no matter how into that person you 300 00:25:47,320 --> 00:25:52,720 may be in the moment, get the best of you and your judgment and safety. 301 00:25:52,720 --> 00:25:59,360 I made so many mistakes on this first night that could have been avoided from eating a 302 00:25:59,360 --> 00:26:05,280 little more earlier in the day by packing some snacks to munch on at airports, to taking 303 00:26:05,280 --> 00:26:12,280 Colombian girls advice about Colombian aguadiente a little more seriously, to not taking more 304 00:26:12,280 --> 00:26:20,120 than a shot or two of aguadiente to start with and to really not rely on the luck and 305 00:26:20,120 --> 00:26:25,160 goodness of these other people in my food tour group to take care of my irresponsible 306 00:26:25,160 --> 00:26:26,560 choices. 307 00:26:26,560 --> 00:26:32,200 There has never been another time on any other trip that I have ever taken where I have done 308 00:26:32,200 --> 00:26:38,920 something this crazy, luckily, and once was definitely more than enough. 309 00:26:38,920 --> 00:26:44,560 Moral of the story, again, take care of yourself. 310 00:26:44,560 --> 00:26:49,960 This now wraps up today's crazy and embarrassing episode of Once Upon a Trip. 311 00:26:49,960 --> 00:26:55,440 If you enjoyed this story and learned a little something, please take a minute to give this 312 00:26:55,440 --> 00:27:01,820 show a five-star review and share with anyone you know who may need a little extra entertainment 313 00:27:01,820 --> 00:27:04,400 and wake up call in their day. 314 00:27:04,400 --> 00:27:13,640 Let me know your additional comments and feedback on either my podcast IG handle at OnceUponATrip.PC 315 00:27:13,640 --> 00:27:17,940 or on my host account at MaryGraceCrawford. 316 00:27:17,940 --> 00:27:23,360 Thank you so much as always for tuning in and listening all the way up to now if you're 317 00:27:23,360 --> 00:27:24,400 still here. 318 00:27:24,400 --> 00:27:30,860 I can't wait once again to be tuning in with you next Tuesday for another fun, adventurous 319 00:27:30,860 --> 00:27:35,840 trip.