Tag Archives: travel blog

Medellin

27 Nov

Our past week has been one of the best weeks I have had since returning to Colombia! Upon entering Medellin I knew this was going to be a fun energetic city because there was a large Jazzercise class just beginning as we entered the bus terminal!

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I was captivated by the moment and almost made R and I drop our belongings and join in the fun! But we had business to do and proceeded to jump on the metro and head to the fantastically owned Black Sheep Hostal.

From there we got in touch with our future couch surfers and decided to walk around the Beverly Hills of Medellin, Poblado, and catch a movie, Twilight. We called it an early night because we were exhausted from the Bucaramanga bus ride and we knew we were moving into our new couchsurfing home the following day.

This couchsurfing experience was one of the best you could ever hope for! From the moment we enter Envigado Barrio everyone was trying to help us find our way home! We did have a moment where we got a little lost but we finally found our way and were greeted by the friendly guards and neighborhood children! We chatted away with these beautiful people until we realized the guard was wrong and our couch surfer was actually home. So we took the elevator to the ninth floor while one of our new friend ran up the stairs to make sure we made it to the correct apartment! So sweet 🙂

We then met our wonderful couch surfer, Chucho, who introduced us to his friend from Maine and showed us around the town taking us to a large market to find turkey (and we found a live turkey that they offered to kill for us so Chris could cook it for thanksgiving!) and took us to a cafe where we met more friends and our other amazing couch surfer, Ana!

The following day we decided to explore the city and saw a beautiful library.
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Went around the metro and rode their metro cables seeing the city below!!

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Then on Thanksgiving we got the privilege to see our host Ana’s Theater presentation. Ana is incredibly talented and the play was written and directed by her! We saw many adorable children dance and act!

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Then we went to meet our friends from Bucaramanga to create a delicious 10 person Thanksgiving feast!

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We had a fantastic Thanksgiving with our traveling friends but did miss our family dearly! We also had an extraordinary time with our hosts from Medellin who took us to an awesome concert and danced the night away with us!

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Flying in the sky

9 Nov

We are about to embark on a week long camping trip in El Cocuy and will not be around Internet! So instead of giving M, G, and F all heart attacks we decided to post early 🙂

When we were in Bogota I happened to pick up a lonely planet that was at our couch surfers house and decided to read what they recommended for Colombia. While reading I came across a section on paragliding in Bucaramanga. I also noted that not only do they offer fights, you can also get lessons on how to fly! Instantly I envisioned us getting licensed and experienced enough to fly and begin doing tandem flights as a job. I thought maybe we could intern and do dirty work for them in exchange for flight lessons! So away we went to Bucaramanga.

Upon arrival we were a bit unsure on how to get to the only hostel in town, Kasa Guane, but we found our way thanks to some very helpful and kind Bucaramangans.

Once we got settled in to the hostel we decided to check out the city. The people are absolutely wonderful here! There are very few tourists who make it to this city, so when the locals notice a foreigner they want to help in every way possible and make sure you are as happy as they :)! It is a very clean city full of interesting architecture and over 30 parks (and these parks actually have not only trees, but grass flowers and fancy night lighting in them!)!

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One of the many parks:

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After exploring the city and taking ourselves out on dates we decided to get serious about staying in Bucaramanga and ventured up the hill to The Nest. We were told through email that they didn’t need any help with work but to come up and check it out anyway. Plus there was a pool and a place to set up tent so we were in!

The nest is located right next to a paragliding launch site and is occupied by either the paragliding students or traveling pilots who want to be able to take advantage of as many flights a day as possible. It has beautiful views of Bucaramanga and surrounding cities and is incredibly relaxing and quiet. After sundown the owners and workers all return home and leave the guests free to mingle and chill in the house. The hostel is run by the sweetest Colombian women ever! We have spent many of our hours up here talking about life, the good and the bad. She is a very strong Colombian woman who has been so good and kind to us that I know we will both miss her greatly.

While up here we have both realized that the courses are too expensive for our budget and that the dream of being a paragliding pilot is for another period in our lives, when we can dedicate some time and money to get the experience necessary. We did still decide to go on a tandem ride and try out the acrobatics that all the Colombians love to do!

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Tonight our plan is to head down the hill to town and rumba until 3am in Bucaramanga, when we will then need to catch a ride to the bus terminal for our 4:30am bus to El Cocuy!

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