Conversations on La Playa
A Gringo’s Tales of Medellín
by
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This is my journey back to a wonderfully conflicted promise of youth, forever on the road, failing to fully understand my mortality, even though I always looked around corners and never walked on the sidewalk after midnight. Life in Colombia promised adventure at every turn. My experiences are told through a singular, personal lens. None are dispassionate accountings. They give entry into the world of an outsider who lived in the Colombia of the 1970’s; a country so beloved by its citizenry, yet so compromised by partisan politics and violence.
My Medellín churned with an endless stream of faces and spectacles, and never failed to conjure new possibilities and peril. I dare to call her my Medellín. I considered this city to be my home, and she might have seen me as her adopted child. Certainly different today, she has endured such hardship, and her inhabitants, untold personal tragedy and sacrifice. I’ve waited long to tell this story, fearing that this beast once let out of its cage would consume me. I wasn’t wrong. The faces, vistas, and adventures have all returned, as well as the ghosts.
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About the Book
As a young American university exchange student in the early 1970s, author Robert Hodum found himself in the exotic and mystifying South American country of Colombia. The time he spent there left an indelible imprint upon his life and led him to a career in Latin American history.
Journey back to a country torn by poverty and civil unrest, and travel through some of Colombia’s most perilous and magical settings in conversations on La Playa. With candor and a good dose of humor, Hodum recreates all the sights, smells, and sounds of Colombia. He recounts the subterranean, dangerous world of the city of Medellín, its mist-enshrouded Cordillera neighborhoods, and the haunting characters of its urban landscape.
In addition to his personal journey, Hodum includes an extensive glossary of important people, places, and things as well as cultural and historical information that are indispensable for any traveler to the country. He also gives a complete listing of survival vocabulary and expressions in Spanish that off er a deeper appreciation of Colombia, its people, and their language.
Travel through Cordillera mountain ranges, mysterious jungles and deserts, and endure the travails of life on the road through one of South America’s most exciting countries with Conversations on La Playa.
About the Author
Robert Hodum attended the University of Bolivariana and the University of Antioquia and traveled extensively through Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. He completed his graduate work at Stony Brook University specializing in Latin American history and Ibero-American culture and civilization. The author’s first work, Pilgrims’ Steps: The Search for Spain’s Santiago and an Examination of his Way is a history of the Spanish pilgrimage route and its namesake, Santiago de Compostela. Hodum lives in Port Jefferson, New York.