Miss List...Medellín

Things I’m going to miss about Medellín

The weather. Deliciously warm daily: never so hot it was uncomfortable, but warm enough to feel it in your bones. As a lifelong Midwesterner I associate winter with freezing temps, puffy jackets, and cold weather accessories. So to be somewhere in December and experience summer weather every day never got old. Every morning I left the house in a dress, sandals, and mild disbelief.
The jungle that is Medellín. It is a literal urban jungle - city sidewalks with streams running beneath them and bordered by bamboo trees. Unlike any other place I’ve been, it is a visual contradiction from one block to the next.
Our apartment. Another RY winner. A beautiful, new space, with an incredible view that made me feel like I was living in a treehouse.
Selina. Hands down the most unique co-working space of the year. Selina is filled with amenities, charm, and a character all its own. It was a destination I enjoyed reaching daily.
Betty’s Bowls. Since I was only in Medellin for 12 days, I went grocery shopping once. When the food ran out, I found myself at Betty’s for breakfast and lunch (often in the same day) given it’s convenient location, next door to Selina. Fresh, healthy, delicious food in a comfortable setting. I credit their wonderful staff with teaching me how to use the initially confusing currency that is the Colombian Peso.
The beautiful people. Colombians are a beautiful people. Simple as.

Things I won’t miss about Medellín

The terrain. Medellín was a little bit of Lisbon all over again. A flat city it is not: filled with steep inclines and declines its can make getting around on foot challenging at times. After a second such city, I have determined the incline to be the lesser of two evils. I feel more stable, you move slowly, but it you were to fall, it would be forward and not down.
The currency. I will not miss the confusion that is the Colombian Peso. Similar to other South American cities, you always had to have cash on hand in Medellín. By now I was used to carrying cash and I thought I was getting pretty good at conversion. $1 converts to roughly 3100 COP. Let’s say you ordered something that was $10, or 31,032 COP. A clerk would tell you it’s 31 mil pesos. Even though I know that mil means thousand in Spanish, I would question that mil every time.