One day in Medellin, David (tired of walking) decided to stay home. Brent, Stephanie, and I hopped on the metro and rode it all the way through the city, nearly to the end of the line. We switched lines and got on the cable car to go up the mountain.
The map made the cable car part look like such a short little ride! But it was at least a good half an hour. We went through three stations, and actually had to change cable cars at the last station for the final ascent up the mountain and to Parque Arvi, a national park-like wilderness area.
The views of the city while riding the cable car were impressive, and the park itself was beautiful.
Right at the top, there is an informational station and a little market, where we enjoyed a variety of food for lunch. Afterward, we joined a 90-minute guided hike through the forest. It was so cool and comfortable. There were these two apparently stray dogs hanging around the market area, and they joined our hike -- having a blast the entire way.
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
Monday, August 18, 2014
Cleanliness is next to....
Medellin is a striking city for many reasons, but one that we just couldn't get over was how CLEAN it was.
True, we're coming from Panama, where things are definitely not clean. As Stephanie put it after using a pay-to-pee public restroom under an overpass, "That was cleaner than the one at the bank in Panama."
The bathrooms were clean. The metro system was spotless. One day while we were in the city center -- a somewhat crowded and urban-feeling area -- a man was wiping down the phone booths. We passed numerous workers cleaning the streets.
The people of Medellin are definitely proud of their city -- and it shows.
True, we're coming from Panama, where things are definitely not clean. As Stephanie put it after using a pay-to-pee public restroom under an overpass, "That was cleaner than the one at the bank in Panama."
The bathrooms were clean. The metro system was spotless. One day while we were in the city center -- a somewhat crowded and urban-feeling area -- a man was wiping down the phone booths. We passed numerous workers cleaning the streets.
The people of Medellin are definitely proud of their city -- and it shows.
Friday, August 15, 2014
Flowers? What flowers?
By happy accident, booked our tickets to Medellin over the exact same week as the city's annual flower festival, which was apparently a big enough deal that we had a hard time finding a place to stay. (After several stressful search days back in July, I found us an apartment in the Poblado/Envigado area, where we stayed after our first night in the hostel.)
We browsed the event schedule online and decided we needed to go to Santa Elena, because there were numerous events going on up there and we figured it would keep us busy all day. We thought it was like a street or something, but when we finally found it on the map we realized it's a huge area in the mountains outside the city. No big deal -- doesn't look TOO far. So we hailed a cab.
He said it would be about a $50,000-peso (roughly $25) ride up there, and suggested the bus. We agreed to have him take us to the station, but about half-way there, after enjoying a long conversation with him, he said he's drive us there for $40,000. For simplicity's sake we agreed.
It was a long, windy trip, but luckily I didn't feel too sick when we got up there.
Where there was absolutely nothing going on.
He dropped us off at this little town center, which was charming -- but at 11:00am, there still wasn't much open. There were a few booths selling crafts and food. The library had a very small exhibit of flowers.
We were told we could hop on a tour and go out to the fincas (farms) where there would be, apparently, more flowers, but we opted out and took off walking up the road.
Luckily for David, there was a man selling cotton candy along the way.
We didn't come across any more flowers, so we stopped for lunch at a local place and shared the bandeja paisa for about $7.
It was one of the best lunches I've ever had. Tasted good, sure, but the women who ran the place were so helpful and loving. They were excited and proud to prepare for us our first ever traditional Colombian meal.
And we talked. And laughed. And laauuuuuuughed. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time.
The only bummer was that we took the bus back down to the city, and that did make me sick. I spent the next couple of hours with my head on the table while the rest of them enjoyed an afternoon drink overlooking these huge flower sculptures in the center of town -- more flowers than we'd seen all damn day.
We browsed the event schedule online and decided we needed to go to Santa Elena, because there were numerous events going on up there and we figured it would keep us busy all day. We thought it was like a street or something, but when we finally found it on the map we realized it's a huge area in the mountains outside the city. No big deal -- doesn't look TOO far. So we hailed a cab.
He said it would be about a $50,000-peso (roughly $25) ride up there, and suggested the bus. We agreed to have him take us to the station, but about half-way there, after enjoying a long conversation with him, he said he's drive us there for $40,000. For simplicity's sake we agreed.
It was a long, windy trip, but luckily I didn't feel too sick when we got up there.
Where there was absolutely nothing going on.
He dropped us off at this little town center, which was charming -- but at 11:00am, there still wasn't much open. There were a few booths selling crafts and food. The library had a very small exhibit of flowers.
We were told we could hop on a tour and go out to the fincas (farms) where there would be, apparently, more flowers, but we opted out and took off walking up the road.
Luckily for David, there was a man selling cotton candy along the way.
We didn't come across any more flowers, so we stopped for lunch at a local place and shared the bandeja paisa for about $7.
It was one of the best lunches I've ever had. Tasted good, sure, but the women who ran the place were so helpful and loving. They were excited and proud to prepare for us our first ever traditional Colombian meal.
And we talked. And laughed. And laauuuuuuughed. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time.
The only bummer was that we took the bus back down to the city, and that did make me sick. I spent the next couple of hours with my head on the table while the rest of them enjoyed an afternoon drink overlooking these huge flower sculptures in the center of town -- more flowers than we'd seen all damn day.
Ohhh, the food.
Maybe it's just because our most recent comparison is Coronado, where there are only a couple of choices for good restaurants, but eating in Medellin was a dream. Our top meals:
1. Bandeja paisa at the little restaurant in Santa Elena.
2. Ribs at Mu, where the only thing they serve is, as they say, "fukin good ribs." Have to make note of the killer guacamole that came out as an appetizer.
3. Tacos at Jacinto -- where all they serve is tacos. It reminded Brent and me of La Fabrica del Taco in Buenos Aires.
4. More traditional Colombian fare at Mondongo's. Rice and bacon and banana and meat and an egg, plus a soup that we topped with avocado and cilantro and spicy salsa. Delicious. Brent and I shared an order and were totally full.
5. Chocolate fondue at the House of Chocolate. The only downside to this experience was that we were still pretty full on ribs when we happened upon this place -- but the fondue was delicious and we very nearly cleaned it up, anyway. Note to self: return here and take advantage of making my own personalized chocolate bar, for which this place is well known.
6. Mexican food at Chilaquiles. We can never get enough Mexican food.
1. Bandeja paisa at the little restaurant in Santa Elena.
2. Ribs at Mu, where the only thing they serve is, as they say, "fukin good ribs." Have to make note of the killer guacamole that came out as an appetizer.
3. Tacos at Jacinto -- where all they serve is tacos. It reminded Brent and me of La Fabrica del Taco in Buenos Aires.
4. More traditional Colombian fare at Mondongo's. Rice and bacon and banana and meat and an egg, plus a soup that we topped with avocado and cilantro and spicy salsa. Delicious. Brent and I shared an order and were totally full.
5. Chocolate fondue at the House of Chocolate. The only downside to this experience was that we were still pretty full on ribs when we happened upon this place -- but the fondue was delicious and we very nearly cleaned it up, anyway. Note to self: return here and take advantage of making my own personalized chocolate bar, for which this place is well known.
6. Mexican food at Chilaquiles. We can never get enough Mexican food.
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
Touchdown: First Impressions
What a place.
Medellin is a city of about four million people nestled in a valley. We landed at the airport on August 2 and took a taxi ride of about an hour to get to where we were staying our first night.
Our first impression was definitely about the cleanliness of the city, closely followed by how friendly and helpful everyone was. We asked someone for directions once, and two people who were standing nearby stepped in to offer their suggestions, as well.
We stayed in the neighborhood of Poblado that first night, very near the very happenin' Parque Lleras...an area full of restaurants and bars. The beer drinkers among us enjoyed stopping by the local brewpubs and sampling their beers -- which, I'm told, were very, very good. We then had a fantastic dinner at a southern-style restaurant, Humo.
Brent and I went out for a drink while David and Stephanie rested at home. It's not necessarily a cheap city, and a lot of the restaurants where we stopped had $10-15 cocktails on their menus. There is also a lot of variety, even within this very popular area, and we found 2x1 margaritas, which at $14,000 Colombian pesos worked out to a little over US$3.50 per drink.
For the rest of the week, we lived in a great two-bedroom apartment near the metro line -- and it was only about a 40-minute walk to the Parque Lleras area, anyway, which was a perfect delight for us.
Our first impression was definitely about the cleanliness of the city, closely followed by how friendly and helpful everyone was. We asked someone for directions once, and two people who were standing nearby stepped in to offer their suggestions, as well.
We stayed in the neighborhood of Poblado that first night, very near the very happenin' Parque Lleras...an area full of restaurants and bars. The beer drinkers among us enjoyed stopping by the local brewpubs and sampling their beers -- which, I'm told, were very, very good. We then had a fantastic dinner at a southern-style restaurant, Humo.
Brent and I went out for a drink while David and Stephanie rested at home. It's not necessarily a cheap city, and a lot of the restaurants where we stopped had $10-15 cocktails on their menus. There is also a lot of variety, even within this very popular area, and we found 2x1 margaritas, which at $14,000 Colombian pesos worked out to a little over US$3.50 per drink.
For the rest of the week, we lived in a great two-bedroom apartment near the metro line -- and it was only about a 40-minute walk to the Parque Lleras area, anyway, which was a perfect delight for us.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)