Medellín, Colombia

ByDoug SmithonSeptember 22, 2026

Colombia is next on the list! We choose it because it’s somewhere we know little about, and it’s close enough to Nova Scotia to make a short week-long trip worth it, but we did find out during the planning, that a week in Colombia is nothing. We won’t be seeing a fraction of what Colombia has to offer.

Our Flight to Colombia was not Without Some Hiccups

We booked our flights with Avianca. Don’t fly with them, please. We had a Montreal to Bogota on an Avianca jet. We paid for some extra room, the “plus” seats. Thinking this was similar to Premium Economy with Air Canada. It’s not. What we got extra, as far as we could tell, was a little phone/tablet holder on the seat in front of us, and an adjustable headrest. There was no room in front of my knees. None!

So fine, the next flight from Bogota to Medellin they managed to provide even less room! My knees simply didn’t fit. This was discount airline type of shit. Good thing that flight was only an hour. The other was 6 hours, which is still shortish, so fine. I’ll never book another. Back to Lat Am Air for flights in this region.

Then, in Bogota on our layover, my drone was confiscated. I didn’t get into any trouble per-se, but it did go into a bag somewhere in the airport in Bogota. Hopefully there for my pickup at the end of the trip. Hopefully Colombian customs has some fun using it.

In Medellin we hopped into a car arranged by the hotel, and the cops immediately pull us over at the airport and question the driver for several minutes about his paperwork. It was all in Spanish, so we have little clue as to what was happening. And that’s how our trip started! There was also some boarding pass issues, that luckily we figured out and resolved, but the stree was starting to rise for both of us, when my pass popped up as a duplicate in Bogota and was no good. Fun times. Air Canada screwed that up in Halifax, but we made it.

Comuna 13

Day 1 was a tour of Comuna 13, and a trip on the cable car, which is used as public transit in Medellin and Bogota. Comuna 13 is is one of the many communities in Medellin, and one with a dark and violent history. I won’t do the history justice by mentioning why, but what remains is evidence of resilience and hope. An area toured around from violence to tourism. A vibrant part of the city full of art, performance, music, and food.

The Pablo Ecobar Tour

46612 holes in this rock each represent the dead.

We met our guide, driver and two others for a tour. First stop was the Parque Conmemorativo Inflexión, where one of Pablos houses was in Medellin. The building is long gone, replaced by a park to commemorate all who perished over the ten years of narco violence.

From there we drove up the mountain to a location where Pablo built his own prison. A place he controlled. The buildings are long gone, but the site was interesting. He escaped easily. I didn’t quite understand the history here.

Back down in the city we visited a football field Pablo had built for the community. He build many. Everything he built for the community or a person came at a cost. Many guns were buried for storage under the field.

Next up was his grave site, along with Griseldas grave in the same area. The tour was interesting and depressing.

Site of Pablo's prison. Buildings are not the same. — Site of Pablo’s prison. Buildings are not the same.

Food in Medellin

A German couple, guide, his buddy, and us ventured out in the city after dark to explore some interesting food and drinks. We had only a few stops, but the food was amazing. They LOVE cheese! We learned about how they like to call hot dogs bitches if there is no wiener in it. Drank some very weird drinks, saw the area come to life in the night. Drinking on the street is legal here so, the streets turn into a party. Lots of cops, and cop-like people on the lookout for underage sex trade workers.

Near the end of the night we went to a rooftop bar for a drink. Only about 8 stories or so, but what I noticed was surreal. The city is all around me like I’ve never experienced before. In every direction you look, lights of tall and small buildings shine from all around, and above you, making the city look like the inside of a globe.

Parque Arvi, Way Up Top!

Today we went on our own adventure. We took the train North and got off as close to a market as we could, near Plaza Botero. We got a sense of a more raw version of the city here. Few tourists, no guide, away from the tourist hotel area of El Poblado. It deserved some time, but we were on a mission to walk through a nearby market so we hammered down, on foot. The area did not get nice. The stench of urine in the air, a few homeless people around, and dirty in general. We proceeded to walk adjacent to a homeless encampment which also had long lines of people. We think some religious organization was gathering up specific numbers to take somewhere for food or something. We’re not really sure. We boogied along as a brisk pace as my backpack had some very expensive camera gear in it, and there were concerns.

The market was very busy, with hundreds of small vendors selling almost everything, but mostly potatoes and bananas. Lots of fruit, veggies, clothing, but no meat at all. We’re not sure where the meat was, but clearly a different building. After some time wandering around we continued on toward a nearby Jardín Botánico de Medellín to check out some plants and birds. On our way we walked past a university and Science Centre. We were an hour before opening, so we continued on, back to the train, which took us to the cable car that goes way up and over the mountain to Parque Arvi.

Our plan was to hike, that that we did, but it was not so simple. We walked around, and wandered to a street. Two people were trying to tell us where to get a free bus to the start of our chosen hikes. It wasn’t free. We walked down the road to a corner with some buildings and activity. Seems like we were not in the park now. Some cops were checking people for something, so we were bugging them about where to find this bus. A bus showed, and through some painful translation he dropped us off somewhere. The signs were bad or non-existant. We found a trail to hike on, unsure if it was part of the park or one the locals use to go form place to place. It was both. Only when I downloaded the Colombian data for Open Street Maps, were we able to find our way. We managed. A few locals had to guide us here and there.

Birds were minimal, but we did find a couple clusters of them. After getting tired we wandered back to where the bus dropped us off and we waited. Eventually the bus came by, but not in the direction we were going. He turned it around and scooped us up, and took us right to the entrance of the park. Ate some not great empanadas, and got on the cable car to head back to the city.

Back in Medellin we went straight to the gardens, but it was not what we hoped. There was a book festival. Everywhere in the gardens was a tent with books, food, entertainment, and so on. A nearby street was closed. There were thousands of books everywhere, and dozens and dozens of tents and booths. The garden was jampacked full of people. Every space had people walking, picnicking, or something. We boogied out of there and got back on the train. Our feet were sore. Tired. We need cerveza and the pool at the Hotel Heiss.

Santa Fe de Antioquia

We were picked up at the hotel by a very friendly tour guide named Erika from Medellin Day Tours. A nice comfortable modern vehicle. She gave us lots of info as we departed the city. We were hassled by the cops at some point while driving through the mountains. Near Santa fe de Antioquia we checked out a historic suspension bridge for pedestrians and motorcycles. Walked across it in the extreme heat. It was considerably hotter down here than in Medellin, as the elevation is much lower.

We walked around the town, checking out the unique architecture and all white buildings. Cobble stone streets lined with motorbikes. We got way more history than we could ever hold. Erika made the trip very enjoyable, as she was very personable, and a wealth of knowledge. She was also funny. She forced some strange fruit into us to try too.

We found one really unique vender making art in jars from coloured sands. See the photo!

As Cass and I are not big shoppers, and the walking was hot as hell, we were ahead of schedule, so we got a tour of downtown Medellin too!

After that day, we found Bipolar Brewing near our hotel and had some delicious beer and food!

Horse Riding and Guatape

This morning we were picked up by Sara, another guide from Medellin Day Tours. She drove us up to an affluent and more rural area to ride some horses. The houses were in great contrast to what we have been seeing. There were also a considerable number of cyclists on the roadways doing a mountain climb route.

In a field we saddled up, and went horse riding. My first time, but Cass has considerable experience, so she was doing just fine. I started a bit nervous, but got the hang of it. We had Sara and another woman with us too, who was managing the experience.

After that excitement we continued on to Guatape, but not without a 45min wait in construction on the roads! Eventually we got there and did our usual wandering around looking at the very colourful buildings. Much contrast to Santa fe de Antioquia’s white buildings. Another big difference, was that Guatape had tourists. So many tourists, and busses with them too. Giftshops galore. We did manage to find some quitter streets to wander too, although I should say the tourists were not that bad in density compared to the Grand Palace in Bangkok or the train/market place in Thailand. We tried and then bought some chocolate from a chocolatier. We popped our heads into a few really cool shops. A leader shop where he makes all sorts of stunning footwear and bags and such, as well a s a painter with many beautiful prints forsale. Bring your wallet if you come. It’s not all cheesy Chinese made nicnacks. We bough a sand art thing the previous day, so our souvenir budget was empty unfortunately.

After the wandering, we headed over to the rock to climb 780some stairs to the top and check out the views! Stunning, and tiring. I had a beer at the top, because, why not?

Jardin

Checking out of Heiss Hotel, and off to the bus station in an Uber. We went into a mall with dozens of booths of various bus lines. not really sure if they were all for busses, buoochtot that’s what we were going to do. We got two tickets and plus returns to Jardin. Cass got a discount for some reason, it may have been Woman’s week or day or something, but when we went out to hop on the bus we were stopped by a ticket checker and told in broken English that the discount does not work for the return. Why did he care? We are not sure. Back to the booth, to change it. Meanwhile we assume the bus is departing, we are late. But it appeared to wait, and off we wemt. A 3h ride to Jardin over mountains, and through tunnels.

I felt a little out of place carrying the suitcase along the tiny roads of Jardin, but we got there to the Casa Passiflora and it was a great stay. Hot tub, clean, great staff, largish room. No complaints at all. We leave and wander around looking for lunch and found an adorable little cafe in the town square. Lunch was good! After lunch we head up to tour operator, and drove us in an old Jeep way up a mountain to checkout a sick waterfall.

The next day we get picked up at 5AM by birders! We drove up into the mountains with Diego of Colombia Birdhouse for a full day of birding. The day was fully packed, and had lots of driving. We were based out of a bird themed house in the highlands. they gave us breakfast, and lunch, next to a hummingbird garden, with no shortage of action. Early on we saw a drab bird called a Tawny-breasted Tinamou, that made the birders get extremely excited and fist bump each other. The Cock-of-the-rock and the Oilbirds were definitely the weird ones!

We saw many birds. Then we were tired and it was dinner time back in the town. The next morning we departed for the bus, hopped on and took off back to Medellin.

Back in the city we have some time before the flight home, so we store our suitcase and wander off into the city for some exploring. We check out some market, statues, and an urban park for some more birds! There were lots. That’s pretty much the trip in a nutshell!