Since this started as a travel blog, let’s return to traveling!

At the end of March, I added a third visited continent to my travel map and went to Colombia! It’s wild to me that I spent the first 22 years of my life on the East Coast when, in the last year, I visited South Africa, Japan, and now Colombia! And that I’ve lived in California two separate times. Now, I’m being greedy and want to move to another country for a year or so, but that has been a scheme waiting to be hatched for the last ten years. 

Back to Colombia. 

Every year, usually a few times, Jack’s classmates plan multiple treks. Since we had a blast on the Japan trip, we knew we wanted to sign up for another during spring break. His classmates from the proposed spring break country will plan an itinerary from a local’s perspective so that we see everything they love and recommend. It’s been a great way to do some touristy ventures while enjoying a local’s recommendations. Our Colombian friends did NOT disappoint. They planned both a thoughtful and entertaining trip. 

We landed in Medellín and quickly settled into our hotel. And by settled in, I mean we went to the pool and ordered drinks. We stayed at the Hotel Dann Carlton in El Poblado, which was in a pretty good, central location to everything we had planned on doing. Our trip started a couple of days before everyone else showed us with the intention that we’d use that time to relax. Relax, we did not. I was anxious to get going, so aside from some brief pool time, we started exploring. However, it was not all successful. 

Hot tip if you’re also a tourist in this area, do not give out free shots of your piggies. Aka do not wear sandals around during the day in Medellín. I was repeatedly stared at like the tourist I am for wearing sandals that fully displayed my feet both day and night. I ended up buying a cheap pair from the mall to blend in slightly more. Wear sneakers or some sort of closed toed shoes my friend.

We explored the Laureles neighborhood, which has been voted one of the best in the world. It was fun to walk around, but it reminded me of  Tijuana since it was mainly a strip of bars and restaurants where soccer games were played, and people were drinking.  

We headed back to El Poblado at night, where we watched a local dance performance at the park and then had dinner at Alambique. Before I dive into everything we ate in Colombia, let me preface it by saying the food is a gastronomic delight. I rarely ate something I didn’t like or that wasn’t good. The food was incredible, fresh, and plentiful. I found that we often over-ordered, but because it was so good, I didn’t feel horrible when I inevitably tried clearing my plate. Pork and seafood are prevalent. The national dish of Colombia is bandeja paisa, which typically contains pork belly, beans, rice, plantains, sausage, avocado, rice, and sometimes a mini arepa.

The following day, we ventured to the busier part of El Poblado to Pergamino Cafe and had our first delicious coffee. We ended up visiting this location twice, and my favorite drink was the cold brew naranja, which was exactly that: a cold brew with orange. It was smooth to drink and incredibly refreshing for a coffee. There are a lot of cute shops and “vibey” restaurants in this area, but it surprised me how slowly everything opened up. We arrived at 11 AM, and most stores were still closed. I did end up going back to shop at Agua Bendita later on when everything opened to snag a handmade bathing suit and dress, but I wished I had more time. Colombian brands are so much less expensive in Colombia (shocker) than in the USA and I always regret not setting enough time aside to shop on trips. BUY IT ALL!

Next, we went to the botanical gardens to walk around. I didn’t love this activity, but it was free and interesting to see how the public uses these gardens to host birthday parties, picnics, and groups of kids. We also saw quite a few 15th birthday celebrations with girls in full Miss (Latin) America gowns. Of course, we also stopped for a fun lunch in the middle of the gardens. I should mention that we also went to Plaza Minorista, the largest market in Medellín, thinking it would be similar to markets in Europe. It was not. I didn’t feel unsafe, but I did feel out of place in my strikingly white sundress among all the dusty fruit and vegetable stands and endless shelves of knockoff sneakers. Also, there were groups of people hacking scrap metal with a machete, which was slightly intimidating. I would not recommend going unless you actually need produce or meat and are dressed less like a princess.

Sunday was lovely. We left our hotel and were immediately greeted by the local farmer’s market with stalls lining the street. It was also the day for Cyclavia, where they closed the main roads down. Everyone around us was running, biking, and rollerblading down the two main roads in the city. We attempted to go to one of the nearby malls, but after I sweated through a dress I was trying on and popped a button off a skirt, we quickly returned to the pool and I accepted defeat.

Here are some more food shots because it was all incredible and I could eat out at restaurants here every day.

Our first official event on the trek was the coffee tour. We went outside Medellín to a local coffee farm, where our host took us around the property to show how coffee is made from the beginning to the end. We also did a coffee tasting and saw all the different ways cultures around the way we prepare coffee. That night, we took a chiva — a traditional party bus– around town for an hour before heading to the club. It was full of Bad Bunny and aguardiente. If you’ve never had aguardiente, do yourself a favor and keep enjoying a life without it. It tastes like black licorice mixed with death, and our Colombian friends loved to pour it on everyone’s faces on the dance floor like clockwork. 

How do you like to spend your mornings after a night of heavy drinking and dancing? Nursing a hangover in a dark room? Getting some coffee and fresh air? How about waking up at 6 AM to soar through the sky hundreds of meters above sea level? Because that’s exactly what we did. We embarked on a thrilling adventure of paragliding for the first time, which was equally exhilarating and nerve-wracking. And nauseating since quite a few of Jack’s classmates threw up :)!

And because there was no time to rest, we went straight into a Medellín city tour, where we ventured into Plaza Botero full of mostly curvy, nude sculptures and prostitutes (yes, I’m serious) and then took a cable car to Comuna 13. This area was once one of the most dangerous areas in the world used for drug trafficking and the subsequent wars. Though it’s still a poor and not completely safe neighborhood, it has been significantly improved by a push from the community and government. It now features bright street art, murals, and food and art stands throughout the neighborhoods. We snacked our way through this area, including some cheesy arepas, guava popsicles with lime and salt, and other little fried goodies.

On our next and final day in Medellín, we drove a couple of hours outside the city to Guatapé, where we slowly climbed 650 concrete steps for breathtaking panoramic views of the lake and nearby towns. And, of course, we cracked a celebratory beer on top of all our troubles. 

We then headed into the colorful town nearby for lunch and were greeted by a band in the small plaza. They started with Coldplay and quickly went into an array of songs—both English and Spanish. It was an awesome surprise that the tour guides planned, and we were happy to jump in and start dancing. The day only got better as we had a traditional lunch before boarding a boat cruise. Little did I know, this boat cruise would turn into another full-blown aguardiente waterboarding session complete with a grand UCLA by Grimes finale. Thankfully, the day remained relatively tame and we were still able to make it to our last lovely dinner in Medellín in good form.

That was a quick recap of Friday – Tuesday, but we ventured on to Cartagena for our remaining time in Colombia, so stay tuned for that update!