After a 2 month respite at our home base in Playa Blanca, Panama, we are off to Colombia. Our Airbnb is a lovely unit in Punta de Piedra apartments. We are in the La Candelaria area, just north of El Poblado. We have easy access to malls, grocery stores, street food and restaurants. The City of Eternal Spring currently has temperatures from lows of upper 50’s to highs of mid 80’s, requiring neither AC, nor heat.
View from our footbridge at Punta de Piedra Apartments
Footbridge from back of our apartment complex to elevator, which takes you to Premium Plaza Mall. If we walk out the front entrance of our complex, the El Indio Mall has shops and cafes like Mi Arepa and La Gloria.
Churros at our close by Premium Plaza mall (left) and relaxing on our deck where we watch the birds and squirrels.
Colombian chachalaca- a noisey bird!
Comuna 13
No trip to Medellín is complete without a trip to Comuna 13 and best completed with a guide. This is one of poorest areas in town, previously one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the world. The urban renewal here, with tourism, escalators, shops, cafes, art and vendors, has been amazing.
Juan bought us churros
Food and Drink
An arepa – ground maize tortilla with chicken, corn and cheese. An iced coffee lemonade.
Fresh, warm churro and a cherry lemonade.
Grilled chicken with butter and criollos potatoes- a skillet arepa with chicken and shrooms.
A Brazilian steakhouse a short walk away.
Scrumptious burger at Chef Burger in Laureles and full lunch at La Gloria, including soup and juice.
Plaza Minorista Market (left) and smoked salmon salad (right).
Adventures
From the zoo, the Botanical Garden, planetarium, Barrio Transformation tour, the Museo de Antioquia (art), food tour, a separate exotic fruit tour to meet-up with fellow Senior Nomads, we have been busy here. We tend to pace ourselves by alternating activity days with leisure days.
Disney sponsored an incredible lighting exhibit for Christmas by the Medellin River.
Bolero Plaza celebrates the Colombian artist, Fernando Botero, who donated a multitude of sculptures.
There are 6 different cable cars, all accessed with your Metro card. Not just for tourists, they enable access for locals as well.
Great new friends, Valerie and David from the Washington DC area. Fellow members of Senior Nomads.
The Botanical Garden is a lovely walking area with birds and plants. We went twice as it is free, just need to show ID. A first class restaurant, In Situ, with our amazing waiter, Juan.
Randy spotted a small scorpion on a walk. Flowering plant at the garden.
After the Botanical Garden, we went to Chef Burger in Laureles, then Fidelina’s for Sangria.
Getting to Parque Arví requires taking the Metro and then 2 cable cars to arrive at 8,000 ft. Unfortunately, the first cable car was out of service, so we had to take a circuitous bus ride. On the way back, we opted for a taxi to save time and motion sickness.
We met a fellow American, Erika, from Ohio.
Awesome visit with fellow Senior Nomad Facebook group members, Georganna and Tom (from Southern California), and Rick and Chris(from Calgary, Canada). We toured El Castillo museum and gardens and enjoyed conversation at the cafeteria afterwards. Nomads are so interesting and unique and we learn so much from each other.
Our farewell to Medellin is here. We had an incredible month of adventures, learning and relaxation. We will come back here. Next time we would like to stay in the Laureles area. We also will make it to Guatapé next time. We avoided the 2 hour drive this trip in order to spend our time exploring the Metro area. No regrets. Now back to Panama for a few months before heading to Las Vegas to visit Katy and Sacramento to visit Kathie and Charlie.
Randy and Robin's Roving Retirement 