The weather calmed down and we were able to get a boat from Capurgana to Turbo. Turbo is a dirty, relatively unsafe port city so we were only there enough to find a bus and head to Medellin. Luckily that was only 15 minutes! We loaded our bags onto a coach bus for the 8 hour ride to Medellin.
As we arrived in Medellin it was like being in a completely different world. We were greeted with a huge Christmas light display that stretched the length of the city. It is part of a competition between Colombian cities:
We headed to Hostel Kiwi in the Zona Rosa with a few of our friends from the boat. Unfortunately, the didn’t have enough room for all 7 of us, so Pat and I went to a hostel around the corner – Tamarindo. Compared to the recently remodeled, flashy and modern Casa Kiwi, our hostel seemed very sparse but we were happy to be in a quiet place with a private room. Plus they had cheap laundry service. All of our clothes were soaked with saltwater from the boat and absolutely putrid.
Even though Medellin was super modern and fairly clean, we decided only to spend one night there because we were worried about being stuck there for too long because of the holiday season and missing our flight out of Bogota.
We spent our day there riding the metro, checking out the free botanical garden and butterfly garden, and enjoying the gorgeous weather.
We even caught a Quincienera (15th birthday celebration):
Medellin was a great city for people watching. It was also very safe – it seemed like there were police on every corner.
Cycling is huge all over Columbia:
We couldn’t leave without going out to eat for traditional columbian dinner at Agua Clara. Beans, rice, avocado, fried plantains and red meat – delicious!
That night, we hopped on an overnight bus to Bogota. 10 hours until our final city!
Sometimes Medellin didn’t seem to far away from America!
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