If you’ve spoken to me in the last two weeks or have read my blog posts before, you know how much I love Colombia. Once in Bogotá last summer, and after bussing with Hannah from Ecuador to Bogotá last winter, I put Medellin on my bucket list for a variety of reasons. The 10 days spent there were nothing short of spectacular, and once again, I know that I’ll be back in this beautiful country before too long. I’ve broken up this trip into two posts because I have a lot to write and didn’t want everything to drag on in one post.
This trip was a post-graduation gift mixed with uber-cheap flights from Chicago and me constantly calling my Mom to ask her to go with me. Hannah was supposed to come, too, via bus from Ecuador- but she didn’t figure out her visa application in time!! So it was just Mom and I. We flew out of Chicago, which is easy to get to with public transport from Kalamazoo. We drive to Michigan City and catch the South Shoreline commuter train, hop off at Millennium Station and walk two blocks to the blue line metro which arrives inside O’Hare. Simplicity! We had a short layover in Panama City, landed in Medellin, and had a Venezuelan refugee take us from the airport to the city which is ~45 min drive.
Our first day we walked the 2 miles from where we were staying, the up and coming neighborhood of Laureles/Estadio, and to the city center of Medellin. Unlike many other South American cities, Medellin does not have many historical buildings or architecture because it was either destroyed or replaced for “newer” looks, which is a bit sad. On the other hand, it has its own charm because it stands out as different than other cities. We started out with our favorite free walking tour through Real City Tours, because that’s the best way to get oriented to the city when first arriving. 
The tour started off by talking about ‘the criminal’ Pablo Escobar, because that’s what most visitors immediately associate with Medellin. His name is not spoken in public, and the people desperately try to forget this history, although that’s hard to do, especially with shows like Narcos (yes, I have still watched it). Regardless, we continued on the tour to learn about how democratic architecture has improved the city’s bad areas and poor neighborhoods, learned about Fernando Botero as one of Colombia’s most famous artists, about the paisa (anyone from Antioquia region) pride and culture, and the history of the Metro system. Medellin is the only city in Colombia who has a metro, and let me tell you, it is the nicest metro I’ve ridden.
Bogotá has been trying to get a metro for years but is unable to do so with the state’s unstable politics, and that city has 12 million people! At 3-4 million people, the people of Medellin treat this metro with the utmost respect. There are two lines the run north-south and east-west, then there are also gondola style cable cars that carry the working class people up to their homes on the mountainside- a huge feat to connect the poorer areas with the valley center. The metro is incredibly clean, the people do not push and shove to get on, you can safely wear your backpack on your back as a tourist, and people give up seats to elderly or disabled without a second thought. Lots of tourists go on the metro just to see the city, as we did. We rode up, down, and all around including the cable cars for the flat rate of about 65 cents- worth it.
The next morning, we walked further into the Laureles neighborhood to find a fantastic coffee shop Rituales Cafe, where we continued to go for the next 4 or 5 days for cafe con chocolate (melted at the bottom, yummm). We then went to Crepes + Waffles, our favorite and one of the only chain restaurants we’ve found in S. America. In the afternoon, we took the metro north to Acevedo station where we transferred to the cable car bringing us on a 30 minute ride up to Parque Arví. This is one of the best spots for time away from the city within a shorter distance, and we had no clue how large it was until we got up there. We perused the farmers market, walked to the small waterfall, and enjoyed the cooler weather up above the valley. For me, Medellin has perfect weather – around 80 deg and sunny/partly cloudy most days, and because it’s so close to the equator, the weather doesn’t change much. My mom thought it was quite warm, and after it rains, the humidity sky rockets. She had to ask for a fan at our Airbnb because she got too hot, but for me, perfect!
At night, we went to Poblado, which may as well be called Gringolandia. ALL (okay, the majority) of tourists stay in this area. With upscale restaurants, cafes, and hostels, the area draws in all the gringos, and it’s beyond evident. Most people visiting Colombia are younger, and many are just there to party- and this all happens in Poblado. We did get a good dinner and coffee, but we knew right away this area wasn’t for us. It’s way too congested and disheartening to see more gringos than local Colombians. To top off this night, we walked the mile to the metro in pouring down rain, took the metro, walked the 10 mins to our home, and got home sloshing wet. Mom made fun of me for making her walk in the rain so much, but it’s good memories.
Sunday mornings are days for Ciclovía in the city, when roads are closed to cars and only open to cyclists and/or walkers + joggers. Many large cities in S. America do the same thing, and it’s usually a large turnout. If I were stuck in a city without much green space all the time, I also would be taking advantage. In the afternoon, I made Mom climb up Cerro Nutibara to get a view of Medellin. She is not a fan of all the stairs that are everywhere, but as I kept saying, we were in the mountains, what do you expect?! It was all good exercise, especially being able to walk or take public transport everywhere. At the top of the Cerro is a model of a traditional paisa pueblo, which is essentially a look alike town from a few hundred years ago in this region. It’s all very touristy, but we were able to get a good view of the city before a downpour came and we waited it out. After a while, we headed down, made some delicious fresh veggies and guac for dinner and chilled out while one of the soccer teams of Medellin played at the stadium in view from our apartment.
The last day on this blog post details our trip to Guatapé. This town is about 2 hours outside of Medellin, and it’s known for being the most colorful city in Colombia as well as having La Piedra de Peñol right outside it’s center. Mom and I headed on the metro to Caribe station, walked across to Terminal Norte, and took the bus 2 hours and got dropped off at this monolithic rock. This rock is a destination because of it’s views at the top of a man-made lake region. After seeing all these countryside homes, I got the grand idea of wanting to invest, in a few years, in a small home in Colombia. The prices right now are so so affordable, but within 10 years, the tourism industry is going to explode in Colombia thus driving all prices up. Gotta do it while it’s cheap! The rock was roughly 700 steps to the top plus ~300 to get to base, so Mom killed it! We thoroughly enjoyed our time at the top with some ice cream, realizing we got burnt on the way up on the cloudiest day.
Afterwards, we walked about two miles with some other nice tourists to the town of Guatapé- what a beautiful walk that most people don’t do and just catch a 10-minute bus ride into town. We walked around and took pictures of the beautiful colors, enjoyed a nice lunch in a much more tranquil atmosphere, and found some quality coffee. I’ve mentioned it before, but the quality of coffee in Colombia isn’t that high because they end up exporting their best. However, recently, the movement of keeping the best quality and serving it in smaller cafes is become a stronger movement, one that we are thankful for! We left Colombia with over ten bags of coffee, so that ought to last us at least a little while. You can’t go to Colombia without getting coffee and it’s even better to support the local farmers who aren’t part of the big producers/companies such as Juan Valdez (their version of Starbucks).
If interested in reading more on Medellin, the next post has greater detail on the day trips we took, including the old Antioquia capital, a cacao tour, and the previously most dangerous neighborhood in Colombia- the good stuff!