Sane Asylum is part of the Birthday Bash Trip Report.
If you have been reading this trip report, you must have noticed that this isn’t a typical trip to Colombia. TPOL has not disappeared (see Mystery Solved: TPOL’s Disappearance in Medellin), TPOL has not been overly intoxicated (see There’s Such A Thing as Too Much Aguardiente), and TPOL has not been robbed (see Welcome to Bogota). On the contrary, I have come to Medellin and enjoyed the finer things in life, including food, wine, Muay Thai, yoga, golf, an ice bath, and, of course, a fat-freezing procedure.
While living in foreign countries for months at a time is excellent, sometimes I want all of those amenities without the time commitment. That’s why I came up with ‘sane asylum’ trips, a brief interlude to relieve me from the everyday stresses of Puerto Rico (see Why A Second Residency?). Simultaneously, there are some things that Puerto Rico doesn’t have: fresh groceries, Wi-Fi, reliable electricity that I don’t want to travel halfway around the world to find. In addition, I now have new hobbies besides golf and tennis. Since my residency in Melbourne & Bangkok, I’ve taken up the ying and the yang of Muay Thai and yoga. A private instructor for Muay Thai in PR is $100/hour and would require that I leave the bubble. A yoga class on this island is fake stretches at the beach, populated by tourists pretending to connect with nature.
Medellin is a direct flight from San Juan, making it the perfect place to spend a few days, especially now that I am no longer willing to be a squatter (see Hotel vs. Friend’s Home vs. Airbnb). The quality and luxury for the price, along with the friends I have there, make it almost perfect. I use almost because, as stated above, there is still an element of risk in traveling to Medellin and the influx of tourists makes it less remarkable than it used to be (see Manila, Medellin: Too Many Gringos). While I like Medellin a little bit more each time I go, I have never fallen in love with the place. Add in my disdain of mountains, and it makes more sense why Medellin does not make the Residency Directory (see Where I’ll Live And Why). A quick trip is more than enough to satisfy my need for a change of scenery, i.e., to keep me from going island crazy.
