¡Bienvenidas a Colombia!

Well, we made it!  Air travel is exhausting, no matter how long or short the flights are.  It took us a 4 hour bus ride, 5 hours of waiting in Chicago, a 3 hour flight from Chicago to Ft. Lauderdale, another hour of waiting, and then another 4 hour flight from Ft. Lauderdale to Medellín.  But we’re here!  Yay!

Still quite overwhelmed by the size of the city, trying to get around, and the language barrier.  We ended up staying in a hostel last night because navigating two buses to our Couchsurfing host´s house seemed too challenging for our jetlagged brains.

So we made it to the Pit Stop Hostel in Al Poblado area, which was very nice.  We paid 19,000 COP ($9.50) each for two dorm beds.  The hostel also had a communal kitchen, a bar, a pool, games like darts, pool, and volleyball, and a TV room.  The beds were comfortable and the showers were hot.  The best part was that there was actually no one else in our whole dorm room.  Off-season score!  The hostel provides great information on Medellín and helps organize tours and buses too.  We would have stayed longer if it was in the budget!  Anyway, highly recommend this place.

Today we successfully navigated the Metro (yes, Medellín has a subway, and it’s way nicer then New York’s) and one bus to get to our Couchsurfing host’s house.  We’ll see what adventures are in store for us when he arrives home from work and we finally get to start exploring Medellin!

Quick Impressions and Funny Moments So Far

Me trying really hard but then totally blanking out on any words and just staring dumbly at the Tourist Information girl in the airport.  Her replying to my idiotic look with the obvious question Do you speak English?  Immediate relief on my part.

Medellín is beautiful and clean!  Everyone seems busy and really hard working.

People here (especially women) are stylish and glamorous.  I look like a homeless bum in my grungy clothes and no makeup.  Might have to work on this.  Or I can use my unattractiveness as a robbery prevention tactic.

Everyone is helpful and friendly!  This lady even ran down 6 flights from her apartment to help us when she saw us wandering around confusedly.

I’m about to eat chicken for dinner.  I can´t refuse meat at the risk of offending people who are generously hosting us.  Here goes nothing.