Medellin trip report

[Zon]

Since, I have returned home to the USA, I am flat "grossed out" by fat people and the obsession with eating.  I went on a family cruise over the holidays - flipping disgusting.  I was in Las Vegas for the last two weeks - same thing.  This morning, I took my nephew to winter baseball practice ... each kid got a hot-dog and doughnut after a two hour practice.  When did this happen, man?

Food just is not that important to me - nada.  Soups and Salads work find.  A nice steak once a week is hard to screw up.

[Dan Las Vegas]

Hey Zon,

good thing you didn't visit the local walmart!!!! 

Dan LV

[euforia51]

Hey Zon,

good thing you didn't visit the local walmart!!!!  

Dan LV

Or even worse ... a Golden Corral restaurant! Sooooooey!

... from crisping into cardboard.

The sound of that makes me laugh. This is a new cooking process that is still undergoing some refinements ... just you wait and see! 

[utopiacowboy]

"You know how Paisas look down on everyone else? Well, everyone else calls Paisas bitches. So, I really don't know where to draw the line on that one. I don't notice any difference, but I'm a green eyed gringo with a poor command of the language."

Now that made me laugh. I can see where they are coming from but I like a little feistiness in a woman.

[Woody]

"You know how Paisas look down on everyone else? Well, everyone else calls Paisas bitches. So, I really don't know where to draw the line on that one. I don't notice any difference, but I'm a green eyed gringo with a poor command of the language."

Now that made me laugh. I can see where they are coming from but I like a little feistiness in a woman.

Well, it is true. 

[Dan Las Vegas]

Aside from the arrepas, I enjoyed most of the food that I ate in Medellin. Of course, it figures that the best food I found was a peruvian restaurant in Poblado! I had never had Peruvian food before and my mouth is watering just thinking of it!!....The one other dish that I completely disliked was Bandeja paisa.

Dan LV

[euforia51]

That reminds me, I really liked these things. They are called bunuelos (can't work the enye key). Glory's sister's husband made these a couple of times. I found the pic on the Internet. Of course like alot of flavorful food, this is bad for you because it is basically deep fried cheese!

... it figures that the best food I found was a peruvian restaurant in Poblado! I had never had Peruvian food before and my mouth is watering just thinking of it!! ...

Dan,

Glory's niece was also raving about Peruvian food saying it was her favorite even over Colombian food. I definitely would like to try it to see what the hype is all about.

[pchip]

They are called bunuelos (can't work the enye key).

euforia51

Try pressing the Alt key and in the numeric pad typing in 164: and voilà, instant enye: ñ.  Capitol version is Alt-165: Ñ.

This should work with most keyboard style as it is part of the ASCII extended codes.  See here for complete list:  http://www.asciitable.com/.

When I was first using computers back in my home country, we used English keyboards and French languages...  lots and lots of ASCII codes in my head...  Now I simply switch from one to another. In Windows you can have multiple keyboards configured for your profile and setup a key combo -- say Alt-Shift -- and move from one to another, right now I have English as my usual keyboard, Canadian French, and Latin American keyboards setup.  Gets some getting used to when adding a new keyboard as some keys move around...

¡Hasta Pronto!

[Zon]

I have a question that becomes more and more clear with added input.

I hear frequently that Medellin is "more expensive" than Cali.  Clearly this is true for the area of Poblado, but I wonder if it is true for the other neighborhoods?    When you are in Cali, or other cities it is easy to burn through money depending on where you eat and what you are doing.  But, overall, I found it to be about 30% - 50% cheaper than living and consuming in the USA.  Any comments?

[euforia51]

euforia51

Try pressing the Alt key and in the numeric pad typing in 164: and voilà, instant enye: ñ.  Capitol version is Alt-165: Ñ.

This should work with most keyboard style as it is part of the ASCII extended codes.  See here for complete list:  http://www.asciitable.com/.

Got it pchip and thank you ... I knew there was an ASCII code but I couldn't remember what it was and I was too lazy to look. I have set up the Spanish keyboard on my laptop as well but again ... too lazy. This will probably continue for a while longer so bear with me.  

I have a question that becomes more and more clear with added input.

I hear frequently that Medellin is "more expensive" than Cali.  Clearly this is true for the area of Poblado, but I wonder if it is true for the other neighborhoods?    When you are in Cali, or other cities it is easy to burn through money depending on where you eat and what you are doing.  But, overall, I found it to be about 30% - 50% cheaper than living and consuming in the USA.  Any comments?

Becoming more and more clear with added input ... funny how that works with me as well. I cannot comment on Cali and I can barely comment on Medellin. But I did not notice where Medellin is much cheaper than the States. I would do quick calculations in my head on the fly when I seeing/buying things at stores, but I don't ever recall saying to myself or out loud "Damn ... that's cheap!" In fact, I probably shouldn't even post on this because in my fog of bliss for 11 days, I just let Glory handle most of the cash for purchases. If I had to take a quick estimation, I would say I spent about $50 U.S. a day being there, including doing some touristy things, restaurants, bus fares, taxis, tipping la policia for their good work with keeping us all safe, etc. And this did not include filling her niece's boyfriend's car with gas for his transporation services to places like Piedra del Penol. I tried to offer him money but he wouldn't take it.

That reminds me, it is this thread where there is a good discussion, in sheer numbers, regarding the cost of living: http://www.planet-love.com/forum/index.php?topic=5925.30

pchip: tried the ALT + ASCII code here for enye in Penol and it didn't work. And I don't have a numeric keyboard on my laptop.  

[Dan Las Vegas]

I found that the cost of living was cheaper in Medellin than in Los Angeles where I was living at the time. If I was to stay in Belen or Laureles or even Sabeneta, it would have been cheaper still. But try buying an iphone or Ipad in Colombia, way more expensive than in the states. I brought my ex novias kid an Ipod Shuffle on my second trip to medellin, Cost me 50 bucks in the states, was selling for 170,000 pesos in Medellin. I als remember trying to buy a cable for my blackberry. the cable cost about ten bucks in the states, I paid 35 dollars for teh same cable in Medellin. If you did a lot of food shopping at Pomona or Carrulla, you would be shelling out quite a bit of cash.

I think I could live decently in Medellin on $1500 to 2000 a month (living like a gringo, not a colombiano)

just my humble opinion

Dan LV

[pchip]

pchip: tried the ALT + ASCII code here for enye in Penol and it didn't work. And I don't have a numeric keyboard on my laptop.  

Yeah in a laptop it gets more difficult, you have to "activate" the numeric keypad, usually with the Fn key found in the bottom right.  Thus you'd have to press FN+Alt+164...  Gets ugly...  I just played around with the Spanish keyboard and the ñ is the at the place of the semicolon key...  Try that, or plug in a regular keyboard...

[Sammy13]

Nice report. I love themovie theater in oviedo as well. And as far as I remember the taxi ride from rio negro has been for several years around 50k pesos. Not bad considering its a 45 minute ride at least.

[dennislevy]

jejeje

You can take a bus from Rio negro airport to either the north or south bus terminals or to a hotel near parque berrio  for exactly 5.500 pesos and then take a cab to where you want to go in Medellin probably for no more then 10 to 15,000 pesos.

[Dan Las Vegas]

yes, you could take the bus, but I am tired after a long flight and want to get to where I am going without having to wait for the bus and another taxi ride. To each his own.   

Dan LV

[Dan Las Vegas]

Nice report. I love themovie theater in oviedo as well. And as far as I remember the taxi ride from rio negro has been for several years around 50k pesos. Not bad considering its a 45 minute ride at least.

I have seen a bunch of movies at the theater in Oviedo over the years and always enjoyed it!!  Much nicer than a lot of theaters in Los Angeles! 

[Gato4Astrid]

yes, you could take the bus, but I am tired after a long flight and want to get to where I am going without having to wait for the bus and another taxi ride. To each his own.  

Dan LV

Yes you have a point there, and also wouldn't recommend newbies for bus until they know Medellin.

[Alabamaboy!]

Taxi ride to and from airport is now 54K. I just came back from Medellin a couple days ago.

We went to like 7 of the malls in Medellin. And we really like to watch movies so we got to try a bunch of the movie theatres there. They were all better than the States, although the get a little carried away with the assigned seating. At one movie there were only about 10 people there and still the theater employee came with his flashlight to check everyone's tickets, although nobody was complaining, and made some people move. Although there were 90% of the seats open.

I really liked Tesoro Mall with the creek running through it, built into the side of a mountain. And also Santa Fe Mall with the retractable roof when it started to rain.

[euforia51]

Taxi ride to and from airport is now 54K. I just came back from Medellin a couple days ago.

Hey Bama...

Just curious, how did you find the overall climate of Medellin with regards to safety? I'm sure you know of the British tourist who was shot near one of the malls recently (not Tesoro or Sante Fe). Were you staying near Poblado or did you get out and see more of the city?

I thought Tesoro was way too cool also. And when I return, I'm going to hopefull get back over there again to see more of it.

[Alabamaboy!]

We were all over Laureles, Estadio, Belen, Poblado, and pretty much every single metro stop in all directions, just wandering around in day and night. We even got out on the metro cable stops over the "dangerous" parts of Medellin, and the people were all cool as hell. And there were thousands and thousands of people in the streets, plazas, everywhere and did not see any crime, fights, nothing, during the whole trip. It did not surprise me though because I have never seen any crime whatsoever in Colombia in any city other than using some coke, smoking weed, and even with those, much less than in the US. The only other crime is prostitution, which I don't even know if it is a crime there.

We also went to Penol, Guatape, and some other little towns I don't remember the names of. And again absolutely no problems.

I felt much safer in Medellin than I do in Los Angeles, Phoenix, Miami, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, or other US cities I have visited during the past couple years.

If you looked at the sheer number of people out in the streets versus how many murders there are, the numbers would have to be miniscule at best. There are fewer murders here in the States but with only a very small fraction of the number of people actively out in the streets living life. I like my odds much better in Colombia. I want to live life, and not just be holed up in some hotel room or house because of some propaganda that has been put out there for some reason.

[euforia51]

We were all over Laureles, Estadio, Belen, Poblado, and pretty much every single metro stop in all directions, just wandering around in day and night.

Good deal ... appreciate the info! Sounds like you travel with an entourage of sorts. I'll be hanging with my girl and her family (and there's alot of them); so all will be well I'm sure.

[Alabamaboy!]

No entourage...just myself and my wife. No problems. No strange looks. Nobody acting weird, following us, nothing. And when I asked some of the locals about whether places were safe or not, they just laughed and said it was propaganda. And I believe it. Because there are people out in the streets all over the place and nobody looks afraid. People are wearing their bling bling, having fun, and never once did I hear any screams for help, yelling, see a police siren, nothing.

[euforia51]

No entourage...just myself and my wife. No problems. No strange looks. Nobody acting weird, following us, nothing. And when I asked some of the locals about whether places were safe or not, they just laughed and said it was propaganda. And I believe it. Because there are people out in the streets all over the place and nobody looks afraid. People are wearing their bling bling, having fun, and never once did I hear any screams for help, yelling, see a police siren, nothing.

No entourage?  Even better ... this sounds to me like how it was when I was there over Christmas. Many times it was just me and my novia doing our thing within and amongst the crowd. And though I did let my guard down a little, I always tried to make it a point to be aware of the surroundings ... if that makes any sense.
Thanks again for the info, Bama ... but I still think I'll leave the bling-bling at home.

[Dan Las Vegas]

I always enjoyed El tesoro and Oviedo malls just for the view walking by me, especially during colombia Moda at the end of July.  Watching a movie in Medellin was a far more enjoyable experience than in the states. Here I almost never go to the movies, can't stand the people talking on the cell phones, the laser pointers, the general filth, I'd rather wait till they come out on blu-ray and enjoy at my leasure.

I have to say that I have always felt fairly safe in Medellin, but at the same time, I am always aware of my surroundings, the time I went to Manrique, I was a bit nervous as it was frequently in the news for murders. i have to agree with bama boy that I feel safer in colombia than I do in some of the large cities here in the states. Give me medellin any day over Washington DC which I live quite near now.

Dan LV

[whitey]

Here are a few photos of Tesoro ... the one of the view outside from the hills really doesn't do justice to how beautiful it is ...