Meh-dah-jean at least that’s how my gatekeeper told me to pronounce Medellín. It was a conscious effort on my part to pronounce it correctly when all my high school Spanish wanted to do was turn that double “l” into a “y” as Ms. Bethia taught me so long ago. But if I had learned one thing traveling through South America for the last three months, it’s that Spanish changes from country to country and Colombia was no different.
Learning to pronounce the city name was one of the hardest things about living in Medellín, if that tells you anything. I flew in to Medellín on the high that was month nine in Lima (See This Must Be The Place) and that high continued for the next 12 days.
We were in Medellín for the month of December so I left early to head home for the holidays. This would be my only visit home during the year and I was looking forward to seeing family and friends after ten months on the road. Although I couldn’t be more excited to experience the comforts of home, I will say Medellín was a hard place to leave.
To put things in perspective, as I sit and write this, it is mid-April, I am back in Chicago, and it’s snowing with zero visibility. This is the interminably long Chicago winter that I wasn’t sad to be missing while in the jungle of Colombia. As a lifelong Midwesterner, to be anywhere in December where I can wear a dress and sandals - no jacket required - is a luxury I don’t take for granted.
The weather was blissfully warm. Not too hot, not too humid, but warm enough to feel it in your bones. The kind of heat you feel and instantly your body knows you are somewhere else, somewhere tropical (a tropical rainforest climate to be exact). Every morning when I left the apartment, I would acknowledge the wonder that was a December day without a down jacket. The weather is reason enough for Medellín to be a place to remember.
Medellín is known as the city of eternal spring for it’s consistent year round temps. Yet it is so much more than its clima perfecta. It is one of the most intriguing landscapes I have ever seen. Equal parts mountains, jungle, and concrete: it is a literal urban jungle. Along my short walk to work I would cross the sidewalk over a stream lined with bamboo trees. On your right the sound of cars passing by - on your left the gentle hum of water waving by. The city is a study in contrast.
That contrast extends to its history: the Medellín of the past and the Medellín of the present. The history of Medellín is inextricably linked to The Medellín Cartel, the Colombian drug cartel that was founded by Pablo Escobar in 1976. Escobar was the immediate follow up anytime I told someone I would be visiting Medellin this year. It was brought up so frequently that I knew to circumvent the second question by saying “Yes, I’m going to Medellin and no, I’ve never seen Narcos.”
I knew about Medellín’s storied past and yet I had no reservations about living here. My short stay gave me no reason to change my mind. I have found that most cities are the same, in that they are as safe as you behave: with your common sense (not walking with your phone out, taking a cab after dark, etc.) often carrying more weight than the crime rate.
It is fascinating to be somewhere with such a present past and witness the reality that is history. Locals cringe at the mention of Narcos or Escobar related tourism. Make no mistake they are fully aware of their past. Yet the struggle to create a new narrative is real.
Albeit briefly, I am grateful that I got to experience Medellín. The weather and the landscape immediately reeled me in and the ease of daily living had me hooked. I scored yet again on the apartment front this month. I had a new, big, beautiful, three bedroom apartment to share with Mary and Taylor, two wonderful repeat roomies. The best feature was the spacious living room lined in windows that made for a greenhouse effect with views of lush, green trees. I spent the majority of my time at home in the living room, like a bird, perched among the trees.
When it comes to adjusting to a new city, I’ve talked about the trifecta of needs: proximity to the grocery store, the gym, and the workspace. Our place was surrounded by green and close to everything (or two out of the three). I have a feeling my program leader Miguel was looking out for me after Lisbon and intentionally put me close to the workspace given the varying grades that are the streets of Medellín. I was a five minute walk to the workspace and across the street from my gym.
To give you a sense of the terrain, simply crossing the street to get to to the gym had me winded going uphill. The incline varies that quickly and that often in Medellin. Or how about the fact the taking the first right out of my complex had a railing along the sidewalk because the incline and then subsequent decline around the corner was that steep. In the short distances I had to cover, Medellín was making me work for it.
So maybe it was for the best that I had to Uber to the grocery store the one time that I went with Taylor, as walking home with baggage might have been more trouble than it’s worth. Since I wasn’t in town long, when the initial grocery run ran out, I got by with my standby, Betty’s Bowls.
Conveniently located next door to the workspace and brimming with healthy options, Betty’s became my spot for breakfast and lunch. An avocado toast to start the day, an acai bowl for lunch, and both for less than $10, Betty’s couldn’t be beat! Betty’s was fueling my way through the long work days that were my time in Medellín.
December is one of the busiest work months for me as we are in the thick of scoping contracts for the upcoming year. Most days I worked from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m, sometimes later, but I would head for home after 8 p.m. to work in the comfort of my caftan.
Given how much I was working in December, I couldn’t have asked for a better workspace: the beautiful Selina! Selina is well known name in co-working spaces throughout Central and South America and for good reason. Known for their beauty of both convenience and decor, Selina Medellín had both.
An inviting, eye catching space that I wanted to be in, with views of running water and bamboo trees and plenty of amenities. Within the Selina complex you could find a place to sleep (in their hostel), a cup of coffee at their full service coffee bar, and plenty of food to eat with a full menu to be found at The Playground.
The Playground was the place to be. Encompassing the entire ground floor, the playground was the best of both worlds with an open air courtyard giving you the fresh air you crave and the wi-fi signal you need. The centerpiece of the Playground is the bar that serves food and drink by day and cocktails by night as most Selinas are open late if not 24 hours.
Selina goes beyond the daily necessities and even offers retail within the complex: from boutiques, to a barber shop, even a tattoo parlor for that last minute lunch break ink. In my opinion, the only thing missing from Selina was a nail salon. If I ever decide to quit my career, you’ll find me running one out of Selina Medellín, finally putting to use my fluency in Essie and OPI.
In the meantime, I worked away on spreadsheets. Work was rough that month. The hours were long and the demand was high. And ironically, even though I was about to be home and back in the office for a week of face-to-face time, I was starting to feel the distance and strain of working remote more than ever before. Yet it is a credit to Selina and the city of eternal spring that I still look back on my time fondly, in spite of the stress that was scoping 2019.
It is the city I spent the least time in but I enjoyed the little time I had immensely. I learned an obvious but valuable lesson in Medellín: make the most of the time you have. I had one weekend outside of our transition weekend to explore the city. I barely scratched the surface, but I saw enough to know it’s a place worth coming back to. The way I see it, I’m grateful to have been there for twelve days than never to have been at all.
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