Annual Christmas Festival Of Lights

The Lights Of Medellin

Dec. 14, 2011, Medellin, Colombia: Medellin, Colombia’s annual Christmas Festival of Lights is something to see.

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Dear Live and Invest Overseas Reader,

Here in Medellin, Christmas seems to be all about the lights. They're draped everywhere--on palm trees, pine trees, lampposts, doorways, highway signs, shop entrances, park benches...

Driving back into the city last night after our day in the mountains in El Retiro, it was like entering fairy land. Parque Poblado is ablaze with strings of white lights, and the river is lined with elaborate recreations of Christmas scenes (reindeer, elves, gingerbread houses) created from lights of every color.

I was last in Medellin a month ago, when crews were hard at work erecting the riverside displays. Now I see the fruits of their labor and understand why people come from around the region and, indeed, around the world for this city's annual Christmas Festival of Lights. It's something to see.

I'm in the city for just a few days this week to check in on the progress of our apartment renovation. There are further delays and more unexpected costs. In other words, everything is on track as anticipated.

The bad news is that it doesn't seem the place will be ready in time for our Live & Invest in Colombia Conference taking place here in pretty Medellin in January. If it is, though, we plan to invite VIP attendees over for a drink.

[I'm reminded to remind you that the Early Bird Discount for January's event expires tomorrow, Thursday, Dec. 15. More information on the program and the costs are here.]

The good news on the ground this week is that the work done to date in our apartment is what we were hoping for, and Carlos, our contractor, seems to have things under control. The place is a beehive of activity, with crews working in every room and on each terrace.

While they lay parquet inside and clay tiles outside, Carlos has been driving my assistant Marion (here with me as official translator) and me around in search of the remaining materials and fixtures required to finish the job. We spent most of yesterday in El Retiro with our cabinet-maker Gustavo. After two hours of reviewing drawings and redesigning window shutters, Gustavo pulled out a bottle of Medellin rum. The next two hours of further discussions were somehow less stressful.

On the way back to Medellin from Gustavo's workshop, we stopped at a stand along the side of the road displaying Christmas crafts and bought two handmade wooden reindeer. We'll put these at the front door of our office when we're back in Panama City this Friday for our Christmas Open House. That's how you'll know where to find us if you're in town and able to stop by for a glass of rum punch or eggnog. Look for the two green-scarfed reindeer out front.

Hope to see you there.

Kathleen Peddicord

P.S. Panama, too, was dressed for the season when Marion and I left town Monday morning. Sunday was the big Christmas parade through the center of the city, and Monday morning, as we drove out of town to the airport, crews were cleaning up from the previous evening's event. I was impressed by how organized this affair seemed to have been. Streets closed Sunday afternoon had detours clearly posted (a first). Coca Cola stands were placed along the parade route, as were portable potties. And, by the time we passed through at 9 a.m. Monday, nearly all the trash and debris had already been cleared away.

Sunday, too, was the day Daniel Noriega came home. Leaving the city Monday morning, I wondered what he must think of his home town, 22 years later? Panama City today, with its high-rise towers, including the tallest in Latin America right now, its Cinta Costera stretch of parkland along the Bay of Panama, and its well-managed parade routes, looks nothing like the Panama City of more than two decades ago that Noriega left.

Some are worried that Noriega, back in his homeland, might try to stir things up. The images I saw of him arriving home Sunday showed a frail old man. Alongside these, the local media showed photos from 25 years ago of a much more bellicose, machete-waving, fists-in-the-air kind of guy.

Noriega won't be in prison in Panama. Panamanian law says he's too old for that. He'll be under house arrest for the duration of his sentence--in other words, likely for the rest of his life. This bothers some Panamanians, too. They think he should be in jail with other criminals.

Noriega's old white house is two blocks from our office in Panama City. We pass it almost every day. It's been vacant since Noriega was removed, and, today, it's a ruin. The state confiscated the place years ago and has tried since to sell it. No buyers to be found, probably because no one wants to risk entanglement with Noriega and his heirs over rightful ownership. Meantime, current President Martinelli says he intends to tear the place down to build a park...

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