Ken Sausage - June Newsletter # 5

June is on fire — and so is the new newsletter! 🔥🥵🔥

Jun 18, 2025

WHAT THA HELL HAPPENED THIS MONTH?

Furby GQ
Monthly drawing - COLOMBIA SAUSAGERA
June Playlist

FURBY GQ

This month I received one of the most fun assignments I've had in recent months: an illustration for an article in GQ Spain, focused on collaborations between clothing brands and toy brands — in this case, Furby x HeyDude.

I have to say, these sneakers are fire!

Furby is a character that has obsessed me since I was a kid — I guess because my parents never bought me one, which left me a bit traumatized. Plus, there's that mix of adorable and gross in its look that I love. So it was amazing to be able to create my own version of Furby again, this time with an extra warm Gabbana-style (Calidoso) flow.

MONTHLY DRAWING - COLOMBIA SAUSAGERA

I had the wonderful opportunity to travel to Colombia this past May, with my partner Olivia and two friends, Carlos & Laura, and I completely fell in love with the country.

It was an incredibly inspiring trip in every sense — and on top of that, three of us celebrated another trip around the sun. So much color, food, culture, music, and amazing people we met — and above all, so much love!

During those three weeks, we experienced so many things that I can't even fit them all in my memory, but...Here are some watercolor drawings (and photos) inspired by moments I experienced during those beautiful days.

One of the first things that caught my attention when I arrived in Bogotá was seeing the chivas rumberas—those brightly colored party buses blasting music where people dance while being taken somewhere. Even though we never got on one, it kind of defined my mental vibe of the whole trip.

There, we met up with some of Laura's friends and (as it should be done) sipped some good Aguardiente Antioqueño. The first and second shots are hellish, but by the third, you feel like you're in heaven. Full-on PERROXXO 24H mode.

Something we were obsessed with during the trip was trying ALL the fruits we could find — and I think we actually did it!

After spending a couple more days in Bogotá, we headed to Medellín. The first thing we did was eat a bandeja paisa at Mondongo’s to get some energy back. Mondongo’s is an amazing place, but the food portions were so huge that instead of recharging, we actually had to go rest again just to digest it all.

During those days in Medellín, we decided to visit the Guatapé area. A very unique place where, besides a massive ancient rock in the middle of the mountains, you can find the amazing tradition of personalized zócalos—decorative baseboards that reflect the tastes, jobs, or hobbies of the people living in each house.

It’s a craft I had never heard of before, and it instantly became a dream of mine for the future: to become a Zocalero.

After that, we took a short boat ride through the lagoons—similar to the one in the photo—and later ended up at Alto del Chocho, an extremely eerie place/farm where, at the entrance, they handed you a bowl full of carrots to feed the llamas, and baby bottles filled with who-knows-what to feed the fish. That’s when I finally understood the Christmas carol 'Los peces en el río'—even though they live in water, they’re dying of thirst.

Also, inside the grounds, you could see a man on horseback singing vallenato. Really impressive.

We headed back to Medellín and visited the Museo de Antioquia to see Botero’s work (my own version above), ate suerito with pretty much everything we could, and a couple of days later flew to Cartagena de Indias—our one-day stop before sailing to Tintinpan Island.

An incredible place where we spent three days barely able to walk around, the island was so small—completely surrounded by mangroves, algae, and a marine life I had never seen before. One of the activities offered by the hostel was a night trip to see the bioluminescent phytoplankton in the sea. A truly spiritual experience.

After those days of disconnecting, we returned to Cartagena and had a few beers at sunset. The next day, we hit the road again and caught a small bus to Barranquilla, where we’d make another stop.

Barranquilla—hometown of our friend Laura—is also home to a golden statue in honor of Shakira, and of course, we couldn’t resist shaking our hips a little next to it.

Se sintió lindo!

The next day, we hit the road again to our next destination, Minca—an incredible inland village near the sea, but much more mountainous and jungle-like than any of the other places we had visited before.

In Minca, we went birdwatching, which was truly crazy. Toucans, hummingbirds… and well, about two thousand more species whose names I can’t even remember, but wow! What amazing creatures.

We also did the coffee route, where we learned how the local Minca coffee is grown and produced. We had some coffee, and I left with my heart pounding. But as we were leaving, we met Salsa (that’s the name we gave him), a charming little dog who became our guide for the next two days. A real hustler dog — wherever we went, he’d find us and wait to accompany us everywhere…

One love, Salsa, hope you’re doing well.

Then we set off again, and the next stop was a beach area near Tayrona National Park and La Aguacatera. We went to visit Tayrona National Park, and besides how stunning I found it, there were mosquitoes that must have weighed 300 grams each—and if they bit you, you’d remember it for a whole month…

After spending a few days there, we headed back to Barranquilla, where we would spend the last days of our trip.

As I mentioned before, three of us had birthdays during the trip, and the best way to celebrate was to get together with Laura’s big family—many of whom turned out to be incredible professionals in Vallenato music—and we spent the whole night singing and dancing to life.