Day 517 – Medellin

Entering Downtown Medellin

We woke up pretty late today. By the time we went down for breakfast at Living Hostel, most of the food was already gone. We were still able to scrape together a decent breakfast before informing the staff about two socks that were missing from yesterday’s laundry. They said they would look for them.

Edificio Monaco 

The night shift staff member had recommended that we visit the nearby Edificio Monaco. Edificio Monaco is where the drug dealer Pablo Escobar used to live. This was apparently a popular tourist attraction with some tourists coming to pay tribute to the drug dealer, which is crazy in my opinion. Since the government wanted tourists like us to look beyond Escobar, the building was knocked down and converted into a memorial park. It was still under construction when we visited earlier this year. 

The plaques and time-line wall were only in Spanish. However, there are other signs throughout the park that are in English too. It’s shocking to walk along the time-line that shows the devastation caused. The most horrifying for me was that 46,612 people were murdered in Medellin between 1983 and 1994. That’s roughly 11 people murdered every day!

After taking this in, we walked back to our hostel. We packed our bags and checked out. The hostel had a very late check out time of 1pm and they found our missing socks, which were both excellent!

Downtown Medellin

We took a taxi to a more central location in Downtown Medellin. This central area was really busy and full of restaurants. This was definitely a more exciting part of the city.

Our accommodation was at the nice Saman Hostel. It was a little hard to find since it was situated on the top level of a building with no signs, but after checking into our private double room with a shared bathroom, we ventured out into the busy streets.

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For lunch, we ended up at a local restaurant called Champi, where I wanted to try the traditional Bandeja Paisa. Somehow, I think I got a watered down touristy version, which was still delicious. 

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After returning to the hostel we had some time to relax and plan. Later during the night we decided to explore downtown Medellin. The nearby streets were pumping on a Wednesday night. It felt like a Friday night back home in Melbourne. Since we failed to click with anyone at the hostel, we limited our party to a restaurant for dinner, before heading back to the hostel to sleep.

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Travelled January 2020