I decide to change my route and catch the bus from San Onofre to Medellin. I decided to do this because I was desperate to get to a Spanish school as I was feeling more and more frustrated at not being able to converse with the local people. I successfully book myself into group lessons in Toucan Spanish school and catch a 13 hour night bus. I had heard horror stories of buses in Colombia, especially being underestimated and taking longer than expected but this one was super nice! Each seat had a TV screen with films in Spanish of course. I arrive in Medellin at 06:00am and the first hostel we check into is the Wandering Paisa in Llaurales. An upmarket part of Medellin which is mainly comprised of expats. This hostel had no real atmosphere and tiny dorms so I would not recommend this place to you guys. The weekend I arrive on just so happens to be when the flower festival is on. The festival is full of bright flowers, themed parades and street performers.
For me, Medellin became the city of my transformation. This started with getting my lip pierced on the day I arrive. I heavily recommend getting a piercing (if you want) at the Iron Brush Tattoo Studio in Llaurales, I have had no issues and the guys are super professional and lovely. First Saturday in this amazing city, and what a better way to immerse myself in the culture by going to my first football match! I have only been to a couple of football matches in England one with my Dad to watch West Brom and a few local ones with my best friends (Dulwich Hamlet!). But this is nothing I have experienced before, die hard fans with flags and drums. The first match I saw was Santa Marta vs Medellin and most of the stadium consisted of Medellin fans, a tiny section of the stadium was partitioned off for Santa Marta and there were hardly any fans! But regardless there was a line of police to guard the two areas. Alcohol is also banned in the stadium and I understand why, a good idea to reduce the likelihood of hoolingism. Also beware that the metro gets super busy so it could be worth getting a taxi to and from the stadium.
Sunday before school starts and I check into ‘Be Okay’ Hostel (now changed its name to Aloha Hostel), if you decide to do Spanish school with Toucan it’s worth looking at the list of hostels that have a 10% discount, Be Okay is included in this list and Purple Monkey- a party hostel very close to Be Okay. I would highly recommend going to Toucan Spanish School if you’re interested, I was really impressed with the organisation of the tour and the amount of activites they have on offer for students, for example salsa classes and other Colombian dances. They also arrange language exchanges for 3/5 nights which I would definitely recommend to do, this massively helped with my confidence. For a week of group lessons, I paid $525.000. In the first week of the lessons I was in a class with 5 other people (6 in total). I really enjoyed going back to school again, but it was intense it is 5 days of 4 hours Spanish. You also get homework! Something that I used to help with learning new vocab was to download the app ‘Quizlet’. When learning a language it is so important to do a little bit of practice every day, also thinking and speaking in Spanish whenever you can is a plus. I booked into a second week of group lessons, in hindsight I wish that I had booked private lessons instead as the pace was a little bit slow for me.
After a second week of Toucan, I decided to change things up and book myself into ‘Blink’, a Spanish school and hostel combined. The price included accommodation, 20 hours of group lessons, 2 hours of private lessons, group activities, breakfast and lunch. Unfortunately the breakfast wasn’t so good but the lunch was a generous portion. There is also an amazing and super cheap burrito and quesadilla place opposite Blink where you could easily grab dinner from. I think Blink worked out as cheaper than Toucan and is better for socialising and meeting people as you are always with your classmates. Blink also arrange activities with the hostel such as cinema and salsa nights.
As most of my week was filled with Spanish school, my weekends revolved around sightseeing! I highly recommend doing the Communa 13 tour and the freecitywalking tour. Both of these tours work on a tip based service and again you must book online. The Communa 13 tour is also known a the ‘graffiti’ tour as it is a story of how this particular district used to be the most dangerous part of Medellin but has been transformed through education and art. I recommend going with ‘zippytours’ as the tour guide was so passionate and so informative. I have been SO impressed with the tour guides in Colombia, they are so passionate about what they do and really paint a picture of their country in a vivid manner with amazing expression. There are many libraries in Medellin and they hold a strong significance for Colombians as thy have helped lift many people out of poverty and have acted as a distraction from crime. After both of these walking tours, I start to realise how much Colombians hate the stigma that is attached to Colombia, lots of people associate Colombia with drugs and violence- but there is so much more to it. Another must do is to catch the cable cars to Santa Domingo and Park Arkvi. You can really capture the topography of Medellin, a beautiful city in the valley. Other museums that are recommended are the museum of modern art and the Botero art gallery. There are tonnes of his statues in the main square (Plaza Botero, metro stop San Antonio).Another wholesome activity to do is to visit the Botanical Gardens, you can enjoy a stroll around the gardens and check out the iguanas! There are many Colombian families doing the same and enjoying the beautiful scenery. I loved the gardens so much I went twice. On my second visit, we were greeted with a group of Colombian children who wanted to practice their English and asked us many questions each as ‘what is your favourite colour?’
If you have the time and the money I would highly recommend going the Guatape tour with ‘Vanpor Colombia’. This is honestly one of the best tours I have been on, our tour guide David was a real highlight to the tour, I could not recommend him more. The tour costs $130.000 COP but is worth it as it includes breakfast (amazing homemade breakfast including arepas, freshly baked bread and fruits), transportation to Guatape (which is 2 hours from the city), lunch (fresh salads) and transportation back to Medellin. The tour starts in a bright orange van and we drive to the first breakfast stop in a beautiful small casa in the mountains. We are greeted by beautiful Bianca, a super cute dog which becomes the groups best friend. After breakfast, the real fun begins! David encourages us to climb on the top of the van and we ride through the countryside. I’ve decided to not upload pictures on my blog as the internet connection here in Colombia is slow so if you want to see evidence of me on the top of a van check out my instagram (@romyb21). The second part of the tour involved visiting the huge man made lake (a reservoir for all you Geographers out there), we are invited to swim in the lake and jump off the bridge, I decide not to jump but one guy from our tour jumps straight in with his shoes on! If you do decide to jump from the bridge, make sure you land on the soles of your feet! The next part of the tour was visiting the huge rock, el Penon which is 2135m high. This part of the tour requires you to pay an entrance fee of $18.000 COP and there is a fair bit of climbing up stairs to reach the top. The view is well worth the climb! From the top you can see all the artificial islands which have been formed as a result of the building of the dam.
The final part of the tour was a visit to the old town of Guatape, this part did feel a bit rushed as we only had an hour to look around. Guatape is a beautiful town with colourful buildings and steps. That’s all I can say about it as we were not there for long at all! The bus back was the funniest part of the tour. The bus transformed into a party bus with disco lights and tunes!! We had such a fun ride back into Medellin from banger to banger and much singing!Medellin is renowned for its nightlife and they do not lie it is wild, there is pretty much something for everyone music wise. Some of the more famous electronic nightclubs are Calle 9+1 and Top Secret. Another smaller more local club is Heard From. Most of the bars are in Parque Lleras in El Poblado and there is a real buzz in this area over the weekend. Another popular bar with backpackers is ‘Octavia Bar’, a bar with a ballpit! If you like draught beer, Bogota Beer Company has s good variation of beers and ales. As well as nightclubs and bars, Medellin has an amazing food scene. Some highlights were Cafe Zorba which does the most amazing vegetarian pizza, if you like Lebanese food then Tabun is delicious and finally for all you avo lovers there is also an avocado restaurant: Lavocaderia. Alternatively, if you are on a backpacker budget like most of us then there is a huge supermarket called ‘Exito’ which pretty much stocks everything under the sun.
There are so many hostels and it can be a little overwhelming choosing the best one. Most of them are located in the El Poblado area which is an upmarket area of Medellin full of high rise apartment blocks, restaurants and bars. The most famous one is ‘Los Patios’ which is more of a luxury style hotel, it has excellent facilities and a rooftop bar overlooking the city. I have heard from some that it is a little to hard to meet other travellers if you are a solo traveller as it is so big but having said that I know many solo travellers who have been and loved it. Other party hostels include purple monkey (close to Be Okay, if you would prefer to stay here you can visit the bar bar and rooftop easily of purple monkey), lots of Brits here! Black sheep is where I stayed when I returned to Medellin for a long weekend, this is also a party hostel and I loved it. There is an excellent kitchen and a good roof terrace where everyone hangs out. Other hostels that I know of are Sugar Cane, similar vibes to Be Okay and Casa Kiwi- has a rooftop pool I believe.
Finally, I could not write a blog post on Medellin without mentioning the metro. Paisas (these are the people from the Antioquoia province of which Medellin is the capital) are incredibly proud of their metro as it represents the cities transformation. You will not see a speck of rubbish or graffiti on the metro here and if you meet a Paisa, the first thing they will say to you is ‘have you rode the metro yet?’. It really is a symbol of pride from them which is beautiful. Medellin is a very liveable city in Colombia and it is popular with expats from all over the world, the climate is also perfect, the day can reach up to 25 degrees Celsius. I have a lot of love for this city and could maybe see myself living here one day. I would recommend at least 4 nights in Medellin and if you can time it for over the weekend then you’re in for a treat! For me this city represented my physical transformation as it was the place where I cut my hair off, got my lip pierced and my tattoo. Medellin truly changed me!!
Romy's Roamings 