Medellin (Colombia)

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Everybody loooooves Medellin... I liked it, but didn’t love it!

From most of my readings I got the impression that Medellin was very much loved by bloggers because it had nice cafes to work, nice bars to go out at night, trendy restaurants, and cheap enough to be able to stay for a couple of months, work and learn some Spanish.

I got to Medellin after a short stay in beautiful Jardin so I think after Jardin any big city would be only “meh!” I picked a Hostel in the city center so I got off the bus near a metro station and took the nice and clean metro to “parque Berrio.” I got out of the metro and I got hit with the reality of Medellin’s city center: prostitutes, drug addicts, men being nasty, and guys cat calling as you walk by. I quickly got to my Hostel which was super nice and clean and went out to explore town before dark.

Welcome to Medellin!

First stop was at Plaza Botero, a big plaza with dozens of Botero’s sculptures.

The place looked a little sketchy but there was tons of police around so I felt comfortable taking my camera out and snapping a couple of pictures.

Mujer vestida (Woman dressed) 1989 and Hombre Vestido (dressed man)

Mujer con espejo (Woman with a mirror), 1987, and Rapto de Europa (Abduction of Europe),1991.

Pensamiento (thought), 1992 and Hombre Caminante (Walking man) 1999

Mujer con Fruta (woman with fruit), 1996

Hombre a caballo (Man on a horse) 1994 and Soldado Romano (Roman soldier) 1986.

From there I walked to a couple of plazas and churches and explored a little bit of the downtown area until it started to get darker and sketchier so I hurried back to the Hostel and told them I was leaving the next morning.

Women's march

The following day I moved to a nicer part of Medellin: Poblado. This neighborhood is called “gringolandia” as most expats live there and is full of tourists and people learning Spanish. It was like night and day, the place had trendy restaurants and was safe to walk any time of the day, no more drugs and prostitution!

I had heard about the metro and metro cable (like the mío cable in Cali) so I decided to go on an adventure and spent almost the whole day riding the metro and getting on and off to take in the view from the platforms. I found a great guide in a blog and followed it.

Botanical Park from the metro!

Explora park view from the metro platform!

First I rode from Poblado to Acevedo where I changed from regular metro to metro cable, direction: Santo Domingo.

Just like in Cali, the view was impressive! Looking down and seeing all the houses below really showed me a little bit of the reality of Medellin.

At Santo Domingo I changed to a different line, direction: Parque Arvi!

The gondola ride to this park far from the concrete jungle was amazing! I went on top of trees and forest for what seem like forever! It was such a nice surprise to see that a beautiful forest was so close to Medellin.

Once I got off at parque Arvi I decided to go for a nature walk at one of the trails (well, actually the only trail I could do without paying.) It started by being a little confusing since I had to go on the road and it didn’t quite look like it would lead anywhere.

My thought: Am I ever going to find a path?

I kept going until I saw a little opening and what looked like a path. As I entered I saw a girl sitting and I asked her if this was the trail and she said “es solo para caminar, va hasta la estación de carabineros” (it's only for walking, it leads to the police station) so I went.

There were no signs and the path from where I started wasn't well marked so obviously I got lost a couple of times until I got to the main path (thanks to maps.me!)

Finally a sign!

The walk was soooo nice, between trees and nature, I could hear the birds singing and even came in front of two pájaros barranqueros.

As I walked I came to a sign to hug a tree... I did! 😁

The whole park Arvi adventure lasted about two hours and then headed down back to town and guess what? I kept riding the metro, this time to a different part of town: from san Javier to la Aurora.

This part of the metro cable was really impressive. We went up and down mountains full of houses, over a highway and a river, then up to another neighborhood and back... such an amazing experience and a magnificent view of Medellin from high up!

Found it amazing that the public cable car system can really take you very far!

View of the housing situation under the Medellin cable car!

I spent the whole day riding the metro and it cost me about $6... that’s a good deal!

The following day I went to the famous city of Guatape, a 2-hour bus ride from Medellin (and $10 bus, transportation is “expensive” in Colombia!)

First I had to get to terminal de Norte and then go to booth #9 to pay the 14,000COP for my ticket and relax for two hours while looking out the window.

I was left by the driver at the peñón entrance. The peñón is a huuuuge rock with 659 stairs to go up and see “The most beautiful view in the world.” I paid the 18,000COP fee and up I went with my new friend, Gabriel from Canada.

To be honest the stairs looked scary but it wasn’t all that bad.

Once up the view was pretty great and reminded me of Uganda and beautiful lake bunyonyi!

Then it was time to visit the famous town of Guatape... but I wasn’t impressed!

Guatape is yet another beautiful town full of colorful houses and tourist shops. I read in one of the boards in town that there was a movement to get the city beautiful and attract tourists, hence all the colors and super clean city. The town is for sure colorful and they have the most fun to look at tuk-tuks (most of them with images of virgins and saints.) I spent an hour or so walking around, taking pictures, saying hi to the locals, and wondering around the small shops.

In the plaza!

Very colourful tuk tuks!

So many colours!!!

Now back to Medellin...

About Post Author

Andrea

Hi! It's me... Andrea! In 2016 I decided to drop everything and take a year to enrich my life and travel around the world. It turns out the world is just too big for 12 months! Still on the road and sharing my experience as a solo female traveler around the globe!