4 day Medellin Adventure

Decided to travel alone for the first time. Was looking for a short international adventure and had been hearing great things about Medellin.

Boarded my 6am flight to Medellin with a layover in Miami. Made a friend on the flight who was also flying alone. We exchanged travel stories and decided to take a cab into the city together. We were both staying in the El Poblado neighbourhood. This is a highly safe and westernized neighborhood. So if you want a safe and secure neighborhood this is the place to be. Plenty of hotels and hostels to choose from. I stayted the Black Sheep hostel and got a private room. Great hostel with a lot of international crowd. The location is great becuse its not in the center of all the action, its located on a quiet residential street so you don't have to deal with the loud party/late night crowd. I would usually take a very cheap uber to meet up with my friend who was staying at a party hostel. In hindsight, it was great to stay at a non party hostel for quiet and peacefullness. But if party hostel is your thing, there are many to choose from via Hostelworld. 

As far as excursions, i did a walking tour via the hostel. The main excursion was a day trip to one of Pablo Escobars houses in the hills and Guatape. Climbed the rock seen in the picture. Highly recommend as it was a lot of fun and can usually be booked via the hostel or hotel you are staying at. Was relatively inexpensive from what i remember (less than $50 per person). Also on one of the days took the cable car (see picture) to a food market on the hills. This is highly recommended as you get a great view of the city from an elevation and the cost to ride the cable car is very cheap (less than $5). Most nights were spent doing bar hopping and clubbing with people i met from the hostels. There is a lot to do in Medellin. I packed a lot in 4 days i was there. Some of the neighborhoods can be sketchy so make sure you know where you are and hopefully travelling with friends or people from the hostel for safety reasons. The city over all seems to be getting safer due to tourism, especially in El poblado where you see a lot of uniformed cops. Overall the food was great and not too expensive. El Poblado can be a bit pricey since its westernized but still not bad compared to Western Europe and USA. Highly recommend Medellin for some nature, partying, history and enjoying the Latin culture.