Spending time with friends in Medellin!

We loved Medellin!!! Let´s be honest... when you hear Medellin, immediately images of drugs and gangsters come to mind. That is a thing of the past, currently Medellin is safer than other Colombian cities, the people are friendly and there are plenty of things to do and see. In Andrew and I´s opinion it was one of the top hilites of our entire South American journey! We got to hang out with great people, eat at amazing restaurants, paraglide, take a cable car up a mountain, and see a museum/art gallery. Our hostel was in the Barrio Patio Bonito in Poblado which was a cute neighbourhood with nice restuarants and stores. Very safe to walk around at night which was important to us after leaving Bogota.



As mentioned in a previous blog we had made friends with some really nice Colombian people that we by chance met in a movie theatre, they definately played a major part in our enjoyment of the city. Normally I would NOT condone meeting strangers in a movie theatre, then taking a ride in their car and then driven around in a strange country.... but in our case I´m glad that we did exactly that!

Lonely planet and other guide books can give you valuable information, but having local people to talk and hang out with can make the biggest difference. In our experience, meeting them allowed us to see and experience things that were not on the "gringo trail" and to experience some real Colombiano life. Not only did they take us to our first Colombian night club and teach us to dance salsa and merengue, but they also took us out to a traditional Colombian restaurant.



The restaurant was similar for lack of better explanation, to a country western bar with latin music, live band and animals. It was an open air restaurant decorated with twinkle lights and wooden tables. The waiters wore big hats and ponchos. We ate traditional Colombian food which was a platter to share of differnent grilled meats and sausages. Half way through the night 3 horses pranced into the restaurant to the time of the music. Their feet were tapping and moving (dancing) to the latin music. The next animal to enter was a big cow being ridden by a lady. Following the cow was a really cute miniature horse. We were given the opportunity go up and pet the animals... so cute!



Another night we were invited to watch Rocio (our lovely Colombian friend) perform in a concert where she sang and played the guitar. Following the concert we were invited to dinner at a Peruvian restaurant then to a surprise birthday party for Luis (another Colombian friend) at his new apartment. We were introduced to their friends and family at the party. It was interesting because only Luis and Rocio spoke English, the others spoke either no English or very limited amounts. This allowed Andrew and I to really get to practice our Spanish. It´s amazing how easy it is to converse in a language you only know a little of.



The following day we went our for lunch again with Rocio and Gustavo (Rocio´s husband) and they took us to a restaurant to try food from Cali (Gustavo´s hometown). After lunch we said our goodbye´s... and then it was off to Cartagena for Andrew and I.

~Nicola

Click on picture below to see the album in Picasa.

Medellin, Colombia