I’ve lived in Miami most of my life, did travel to various american and foreign cities (most for no more than 2 weeks) after a short 6 month stint in Jackson Wyoming that ultimatly and perhaps providentially ended in failure. I moved to Denver in 2018, it was not the city I chose, in a way Denver chose me. The truth is me and my parents were fed up with each other and I was getting in a lot of trouble, my dad knew someone who could be me a job that would pay double any job I had at the time no questions asked. I was ready to move on and live independently and Denver provided the only oppurtunity for me to do that, I didn’t think I’d stay here very long but 6 years later and I’m still here. Based on that you might think I like living in Denver but the truth is I’ve been dying to leave for at least half my stay. The first half I was just happy to be on my own and although I knew I did not like it as much as my hometown I did like the change of pace it provided, and wanted to at least explore it a bit more.

Now 6 years down the line I can confidently say I’ve seen it all and I know truly that this is not where I want to spend the rest of my life. Recently this has become more clear to me than ever before. I was speaking with a friend recently and he compared Denver to the W.W. Jacobs short story “The Monkey’s Paw” for those unfamilar with the story, the monkey’s paw is a mummified monkey paw that has the power to grant wishes, but there are hellish consequences to those who make a wish using the paw. The story has been adapted countless times and the main jist of the story is to be careful of what you wish for.

To me Denver is a town that is my own personal monkey paw. I had wanted to be on my own so bad I didn’t care where it would be or what I would have to do to achieve it. So when I first moved here I was happy to start living the life I wanted, free from my parents. I took a good paying but dangerous job and on the first day of work got serverly burned with chemicals due to poor training by my supervisor who gave me too much responisbility on my first day.

Instantly ideas of why should I stay here came in my mind, again I thought I’d be crazy to move all my things bascially across the country only to go back after my first setback, so I stayed here despite my burns and did this job for 3 years with no further incidents. That’s the first finger.

To anyone who hasn’t lived in Denver, you might think of Denver as this

but Denver is not like that, Denver is just a city like any other I’ve seen in my life.

The mountains and ski towns are 3 hours away or more depending on where you’re going and what day of the week but as someone whos been to vail many times, even leaving by 6AM can mean getting to first chair by 10AM, not exactly convenient or speedy for what is 70 or so miles away. And the drive back is no more speedy. Many times a vail trip takes up a full day because getting to Vail means 3 hours of traffic both ways. Denver sort of tricks you into thinking it’s a mountain town with deers, moose, and coyotes on any given corner but that is just not true, to much city. Denver is not only pretending to be a mountain town but also masquerading as a food town, I know we have a few michelin star resturants but that’s not my vibe (not that I could afford it anyway) and the food I have tried is the defiention of “mid” I was someone who did not like to eat much fast food I have become a bit more of a fast food customer these days, partly due to my job, but mainly because it’s better than most resturants here. This is the second finger.

Lastly, in true form to the monkey paw, everything in Denver just kinda sucks. I don’t really know how to explain it but compared to what I’d call “world class cities” like Barcelona, Miami, NYC, and Boston. Denver is worse in every aspect, terrible public transportation, agressive homeless (way worse than miami), the food, lack of closeness to outdoors, and quite frankly the lack of true identity, all make Denver for me a flop. Initially I had trouble making friends here and had the idea to join sports leagues but no one seemed interested in hanging out after games so something I did to have fun and my efforts to make friends ended up being a total waste. A typical denver experience.

In a way I am thankful for Denver as I came here a lost boy and I will leave here a found man. I do feel that I grew up here in a way that is more significant to the ways I grew up in Miami, Denver will always be a special place to me for that reason. I can say I now feel like a man who has a clear path and knows the rhythm of my steps, but some how despite my attempts to leave I feel like I keep getting sucked in, its a whirlpool I can float in but never escape from. I wonder if I will ever find away out or just be stuck in a city I like but not love. Not sure about you but I want to be in love with the city I live in, Denver is not a city I love. That is the third finger.

I will leave with a few positives of denver. Red Rocks is a world class outdoor amphitheater just 30 minutes away. Safta restaurant and sushi den have been pleasant surprises. I liked living in Capitol Hill for the 2 years I was there. Nice quaint and walkable neighborhood. But overall I’d rate Denver like a 6/10 maybe a 6.5 on a good day.