Colombia - Medellin
We
spent a total of 5 nights in Medellin and had a fantastic time. Our
first real trip into the interior of Colombia, having been to the
frontera area just north of Ecuador twice, it was high time to visit a
bit more of this great country. Firstly let me give you the skinny on
where we stayed in Medellin, then I'll give you some info on what we
did while we were in the city.
We decided on the the Yellow House Hostel after checking out
several other hostels online. We made a good choice as this was a
great place to relax and feel very comfortable. Vincent, the owner is
very sociable and is always sweeping, moping, or generally keeping the
place basically spotless in some fashion. His breakfasts are very nice
and filling, whichever one you decide to have off of the menu. He has
two dogs, one a yellow lab and the other a golden retriever are very
friendly and playful...a joy to have around. Vincent does speak
English, as well as his native French and of course Espanol.
The showers are very hot and the water has great pressure. It's nice
to be able to enjoy a good hot shower, especially after a long day of
traveling. The rooms are adequate to more than adequate and if I had
anything to say that might improve them it would be to have a small
fan in the inside rooms. This would move the air around a bit more.
The rooms that are open to the outside already get a nice breeze so no
fan is needed. But
overall our 5 days here were very pleasant and comfortable. One other
nice thing to mention is that this hostal is not a "party" hostal. So
it is muy tranquilo. That doesn't mean you cant enjoy a beer or adult
beverage. It simply means that rowdy or raucous partying does not
happen here. You can enjoy your stay and have a peaceful night's
sleep. Which in some hostals is sometimes difficult. I would recommend
the yellow house for a friendly and relaxing stay in Medellin. One
other note worthy thing is that it is only 5 minutes from the metro
station (Floresta) and there are loads of tiendas, restaurants and a
supermarket, plus more right by the station and continuing down the
street. So everything is within 10 minutes of the hostal. It is also
very safe during the day as well as in the evening. At the time of
this writing rooms were approx COP $20,000 for a dorm and COP $55,000
for a double with a shared bathroom/shower. COP $5,000 more would get
you a double with a private bathroom/shower. So check their website
and/or send Vincent an e-mail for the current prices and to make
reservations. He will also arrange for a cab to pick you up at the
airport if you ask.
Our arrival into the Medellin airport was after dark and the views
of the city from the air were spectacular. We had Vincent have a cab
waiting for us at the airport and as soon as we exited the customs
area our driver was waiting for us with a large sign with our name on
it. The drive from the airport to the city is about an hour and that
made for some good conversation with the cab driver. Once we topped
the mountain and started to head down into the valley where Medellin
sits, well, it was amazing! The views of the city and all the lights
made for some great sensory overload. There are several miradors
(viewing spots, aka Kodak moments) along the road that afford a great
place to just soak up the views.
We
arrived at the Hostel about an hour later and got settled in, had a
bourbon and then hit the sack. The following morning we got up and
relaxed a bit before heading out. Vincent had good coffee made (alough
he had added sugar to it, which I don't normally have in my coffee.
Still, it was good) and we had one of his very filling breakfasts. We
chatted with him a tad to get an idea of the Metro and out the door we
went. The metro station was about five minutes from the Hostel and a
total breeze to navigate. It runs like a spine through the city,
extremely easy to use, very clean and very cheap. There are two aerial
trams that link the higher mountainside barrios of the city and one
even travels to a 17,000 hectare (34,000+ acre) national park that
sits high above the city.
We visited several places during our time in Medellin, including the
aforementioned National Park. The park has many things available from
guided two or three hour walking tours to bicycle rentals to adventure
sport related activities. One thing to mention is that it was much
cooler up there than back down in the city, so bring a light jacket.
Also the chance of rain in the park was also a tad higher, so keep
that in mind too. There were some tasty local vendors set up that sold
local food dishes. They were both really good and very inexpensive, so
take advantage of the culinary delights when you are up there.
Another
place we visited was the Medellin Botanical Gardens. This was a really
well laid out garden complete with a slew of very large iguanas that
roam about freely. Sometimes they were in the trees above you &
sometimes they were lumbering around on the ground, but they were very
colorful and made for some great photos. The garden also had a cool
butterfly house which you can enter and surround yourself with many of
these amazing creatures. You can also see them in various stages of
development, through the windows of the lab in which they are
propagated. The garden has plenty of walking trails and beautiful
trees, I believe that it has been in Medellin for going on fifty years
now. We spent a couple of hours walking around and enjoying all the
greenery & animal life. It was hard to believe that a city of almost
2.5 million people lay just outside it's doors. The Botanical Gardens
was free to the public, and that was a very good deal.
A stop by the Museo de Antioquia was also on the docket. If you
like art you'll love this place. Botero, the world renown Medellin
artist donated many of his sculptures and paintings to the museum. So
many that they had to place twenty
three outside in the plaza. His works are amazing and matched only by
his paintings housed inside. His work is hard to describe, but I would
imagine that you will not see anything like them anywhere else.
Besides Botero, there was a whole slew of other fine works of art. It
was another relaxing way to spend time in this very cosmopolitan city.
The cost for the admission into the museum was $10,000 COP or about $5
US, pretty cheap admission and well worth it.
We spent some time one morning and afternoon walking around the
Poblado area of Medellin. This is the place that goes nuts after dark,
with bars, restaurants and all sorts of night life. We opted to walk
through at a more sane time (while it was still daylight) and enjoy
the relative peacefulness. We stopped at a small place for lunch and a
couple of beers and to people watch. It was a nice afternoon for sure.
One thing to mention is that we took along our cell phone that we
bought to use while in Ecuador. It's just a bit of peace of mind to be
able to call the family in the US if necessary and we can also txt
folks too. Anyway, it's a Claro based phone service and at first would
not work in Colombia. I took it to a cell phone tienda that had a
Claro sign on it and for $5,000 COP or about $2.50 US they installed a
SIMM chip in it that would work in Colombia. Now we had a chip for
both Ecuador and Colombia, so the phone was good to go in either
country. This was a great and cheap option and kept us in contact with
friends and family.
One
final thing to remember is that we felt very safe and secure in
Medellin. Common sense is always smart regardless of what ever city
you are in on the planet. But overall the city was clean, friendly and
very vibrant. It seems to have finally shaken off its past reputation
of being the murder capitol of the world, which is a good thing. After
Pablo Escobar was killed by the Colombian forces back in 1993, the
city finally turned a corner and has not looked back. It was truly a
beautiful city and one that we would like to return to again in the
future.
Ok, I guess this is the real "one final thing"...the family of Pablo
Escobar offers a tour (half day I believe) that highlights a bunch of
places that are associated with Pablo, including his grave. You also
get to tour his previous home, etc. We did not have time to take the
tour, but folks hat have said that it was pretty good. The cost per
person was $55,000 COP or about $30 US. The Yellow House Hostal has
info on it, so you can ask Vincent about it. If you stay someplace
else I am sure that the Hostel owners can tell you all about it also. |