You'll miss Cabana Del Recuerdo in Envigado if you're not watching out for it. It's one of many businesses in the neighborhood along Caldas-Envigado (Cl. 38 Sur).
A single step inside and whoa. Where are we again? Who are you guys?
Eight or nine musicians come in and out of the group, sometimes for a song or two, one time with a hand made harp, then back in the car onto to other places.
I heard songs are about love and saw friends together, people on dates and men having genuine non-sexual caring friendships. What the fork? Hugs, not back slaps. It's going to take me a while to get used to seeing this kind of humanity.
The expression of love is common and varied, starting with the casual I like you, man (te gustas), on to te quiero (you're important to me, I care very much about you) and finally te amo, mi amor.
There's no cover charge, not even if you want to pay. You have to consume alcohol.
When the drinks are served, they come with these uniquely flavored snacks that go great with alcohol... a mix of flavors I haven't had in this combination.... tart, spicy, sweet, juicy, delicious, fresh, savory, crispy, salty, fruity, veggie. The carrots were lightly vinagered and not exactly like the carrots I'm accustomed to. Happily, there's many different varieties of mangoes here. It was all a bit of an adventure to eat. I was so happy to taste each unfamiliar flavor and mix it with another.
The drink of the night was Arguardiente, a traditional Colombian anise flavored drink. It's made from the sugar care that grows everywhere here, even wild, and has at least 29% alcohol. It's a favorite flavor of mine: the smell was ever present. The rain made the air heavy with it.
People were getting pizza delivered from the restaurant across the street, Artica Pizzeria. The Colombians here don't seem to think twice about this kind of generous hospitality. I decided to appreciate it with a second dinner.
One musician played a different kind of percussion with almost every song.. maracas, castanets, seat drum, some kind of stick thing. Spoons. How awesome are spoons as percussion?!
And spoons in traditional Colombian music was the best.
Pictures of Jesus are ubiquitous in the Medellin. Here's just one of the ones that were on the walls at the bar.
