Lush, brooding, vibrant are just a few words that come to mind when trying to describe the city of Medellín, nestled in the opening peaks of the Andes. The constant humidity against the mountains combined with the heat of the day make great dark thunderclouds each day which have yet to drop any rain. This city surprised me with its parks, greenery and recycling bins everywhere. There are still the typical food carts vending fresh cut fruit in cups, fresh made potato chips or other deep fried snacks, and a lot of them offer hot dogs in this area of town.

I am staying in the bario called Conquistadores and so far I have only been able to explore parts of Plaza Mayor, Centro Commercial Gran Plaza, San Diego, and Bolivariana. That sounds like a lot in two days but because I caught the flu before leaving I’ve only been awake a few hours a day and I have only pushed myself to walk about a half hour away from my hotel at most.

The first day, the goal was to go find lunch. After finding what looked to be a good restaurant on google I walked across a newly constructed pedestrian bridge over traffic and the Medellín River into a highly landscaped conference centre. And yes, they had great lunch. After I felt up for exploring a bit further and honestly I had a hard time keeping my jaw from dropping with each new view.

There were sculptures placed in front of beautiful grand buildings of stone, brick, metal, and concrete.

In the centro area I encountered a street for only pedestrians full of shops and vendors, almost each store had someone shouting their wares. Buskers of all sorts were singing, dancing, or rapping throughout the street. People selling bubble machines were blowing bubbles every block or so completing the chaos. Everyone is doing their best to sell you whatever it is they have to sell so they talk to you, or shout, as you walk by. I was called mi amor, mi reina and who knows what else I didn’t catch.

That day I discovered I like arepas, the local staple equivalent to bread made of corn similar to the corn tortillas of Mexico however arepas are much thicker like a pita and fried in oil. My hotel serves them with breakfast each morning, and for dinner that evening I found a street vendor who sold them stuffed with meat, avocado, lettuce and tomato.

For day 2 I tried to seek out the beautiful fashion I’ve seen many women wearing. Again, I found a mall on Google and walked. The area I went to was a poorer area of town and the mall reflected it however it still had a lot of nice clothes. Personally I love how the clothes here are made for the curvy women who live here. I find it so frustrating in Canada that all clothes seem to be made for women who are sticks without bums, muscles or boobs which may work fine for many but not me. I found a nice pair of jeans, a light day dress, and a pair of sandals.

Today, I only have a few hours before setting off for Cartagena. I’m still pretty tired from my cold and not sleeping very well so I’m not sure I’ll get anywhere but it’s another beautiful day in Medellín.