Adventuring in Medellin, Colombia

Shay Thomas
Nov 18, 2016
2 min read

How we traveled to another county for just a weekend!

I flew from Fort Lauderdale to Medellin, Colombia on JetBlue Airlines. I arrived in Medellin 11/12/16 at 1am, got our stamps in our passports, exchanged our money, and was on our way. We caught a taxi from the airport to take us to our hotel in a district called El Poblado for 75,000 ($20 USD). He drove MUY RAPIDO!!!! I witnessed with my own eyes him going 80 miles per hour through the mountains lol I didn't know if we should have been afraid or call it a fun adventure to add to our trip. We stayed at Hotel Poblado Plaza in the El Poblado district of Medellin, which seemed to be a fancy part of town. The room was just okay and met my standards of cleanliness, included free breakfast, was a good price ($60 usd per night), and a great location. I doubt I would stay there again, but the location was just steps away from many restaurants, shopping, coffee shops, dessert shops, and casinos. With a quick taxi ride you can get to the local train station and night life area.

Hotel Poblado Plaza

Our day 1 adventure consisted of us taking a taxi from our hotel to take the metro cable up the mountain. The cab ride was about 15 minutes and the driver was much better and it was cool to see all the motorcyclist zoom through the streets. We arrived at the Acevedo station and it was busy with everyone coming and going, panhandlers, and vendors. Most places we have visited have areas filled with tourists, but Medellin was a totally different ball game. There was like NO tourist in sight we were among the locals. No one spoke English at all and we struggled with our horrible Spanish to purchase train tickets lol we were the true definition of Gringos. We rode the metro cable through the neighborhoods were we saw the locals living their everyday lives, blasting music, playing soccer, cooking, and animals roaming around. After experiencing one of the most amazing views we arrived at Parque Arvi. There was an outdoor marketplace filled with vendors, nature walks, restaurants, and activities to do.

Our Metro Cable Adventure

Views of the Favela's

Parque Arvi

After a rainy adventure around the park we took the metro cable back down and we stopped at the Santo Domingo station to walk around and view the area we saw from the metro cable. Instead of hopping in another cab we decided to take the train and we met some really nice girls from America. They moved to Colombia to teach and was so helpful in giving us advice and information about Medellin. We arrived back to our Hotel and roamed the streets of El Poblado. We went to Mc Donalds to explore their menu, let the kids play at the playground, but I still can't believe they had fried chicken, rice, and beans on the menu lol. Later we found a nice authentic Colombian restaurant called Hacienda, there was live music, great food, and good customer service. The meals at Hacienda were around 12 USD, which was a good deal for the quality of food.