I booked this trip using AA miles, and I would actually advise anyone with miles to check Colombia out. It’s extremely cheap to fly there miles wise, and you can get round trip tickets from anywhere in the US for ~30k miles. I flew out of Miami and landed in Medellin at 7pm on Friday. We checked into our airbnb place, a wonderful condo that cost $20 a night per person. We immediately got there and decided to hit the town.
Now, first thing to note, I don’t have many pictures from this trip. One of the reasons for that is that Colombia, while having significantly improved in recent years, still has a bit of a crime problem. I chose not to carry my iphone around and went with a skeleton wallet. I actually found Medellin to be beautiful, developed, and the weather was perfect. The first night we headed to the center of the action, Parque Lleras. Young Colombians and gringos hang out here all night drinking in the park and visiting the bars and restaurants that surround it. Two things will immediately stand out from any similar scene in America. First, the girls are f**k stacked. It’s actually unreal. On one hand I don’t want to discuss it further because I know my typo-riddled words will never do it justice. On the other hand…well it can’t be ignored. Imagine Miami, but no fat chicks and every girl gets a 2-point bump on the scale. For every 6 in the US there is an 8 in Colombia, and for every 8 in the US you will see a perfect 10. Second thing of note is that it’s absurdly easy to get drugs. Try to buy a beer from a vendor? He will offer you blow. Try to buy a pack of cigs at the little tienda, they will try to hook you up with weed.
Now with all that in mind, you can see how Colombia can become a legendary party destination. Only downside, you need to know some Spanish because the only people who speak English properly are the guys trying to sell you drugs or the prostitutes. So anyway, we chill in the parquet the first night, meet a bunch of cool people, do a little dancing and pretty much end up partying until the early morning. The next day we roam the city and check out the cable cars. Medellin has a very nice metro and in order to reach the poorer the parts of the city up on the hills, they have cable cars. The cars provide a spectacular view of the entire city and a somewhat depressing but insightful look into how the other half of Colombia lives. Again, spent the night going out in Poblado (wealthier district where we stayed). Met a few cool Colombian girls and for the next 2 days just partied with them and roamed around the city. After 5 days there we headed to the regional airport (still nicer than La Guardia, seriously) and caught a flight to Bogota. Flight was like $35 USD.
We landed at Bogota’s El Dorado airport, and it’s actually beautiful. One of the nicest airports I have seen and everything is completely new. Caught a cab and the driver took us on a long tour of the city. If Medellin is a nice regional town (like Denver), the Bogota is NYC. It’s a massive city of 8-10 who knows millions. It’s also not as wealthy. While we stayed in the historic Calendaria district, the oldest part of town and the former capital of the Spanish colony, much of the city is extremely poor. We found this out the hard way on the first night, when we hit up a few bars and at the end of the night while searching for a cab, came upon a group of kids (seriously like 10-12 years old) who were obviously high as shit on glue. I think they were trying to rob us but they were just so out of it we argued for 2 minutes and then they wandered off.
Next day we checked out the Plaza Bolivar and then went to Monserrate, the church on the mountains overlooking the city. Fantastic views of the entire metro area. Went out to a club that night and ended up meeting a few Israeli’s (who later turned out to be completely insane). We hung out at their hostel at the end of the night and made plans to meet up the next day. Checked out more of the city, did some shopping, and then went out clubbing again at night. Ended up meeting some cool Colombian girls who surpassingly spoke passable English. By around 2 the bars started closing and the Colombian girls told the Israeli’s and us about another bar they knew that still served way past the official cutoff.
This is where things got interesting. This bar was not in a developed part of the city. In fact, two separate cabs refused to take us there. Should have been a warning sign but we were pretty wrecked by this point. End up at this par, which is literally a large tin shack in a slum on the edges of the city. Drinks were basically free and while people seemed shocked to see foreigners there, we just bought everyone drinks and they were all awesome. Israeli bro ends up going out for a smoke, and we hear a commotion. Head outside and see 2 teenagers, one holding a decent sized knife, yelling at him demanding money. Israeli bro is hammered and isn’t taking shit and is yelling at the kids in this English/Hebrew mix. I’m like 90% sure he is gonna get shanked at this point when the bar owner fires off his gun in the air and the kids take off. Pretty WTF moment standing in some Colombian slum, wasted, while this bartender waves his pistol around. He was awesome though and let the Israeli bro shoot 2 cans out behind the bar. Amazing night, partied until the sun came up (no way we could get a cab) and ended up walking for several hours back.
Next evening we just chilled in the apartment and caught a flight out to Dallas in the evening. Overall, beautiful country, beautiful and open people, and an absolute joy of a trip. I’ve done spring break in Panama City, Mexico, Miami, etc, and Colombia was hands down the best time I have ever had. Brush up on your Spanish, put your dancing shoes on, and book a ticket ASAP.
I have a few more pics on some shitty phone i used but seems like too much work to grab them now.
