RVentures with Doug and Chris: Lo Mejor De La Vida Lo Compartimos Con Amigos: Exploring Medellín With Friends

The last two weeks have flown by in a very good way! Visits from our friends, Dave, Mario, and Jill have filled our days with a lot of activity and even more laughter. By introducing them to the amazing sights and beautiful people of Medellín (including the picture above with the artist who created this graffiti art), we have been able to embrace the Spanish title of this blog post ...

We Share the Best of Life with Friends!

During the time that they were in Medellín, our friends enjoyed some of our old favorites, and we all discovered some new treasures. Completely covering all that we saw and did would result in a very, very long read. Stay tuned for details of some of these new adventures in future blog posts. But for now, I would like to recap a few of the activities that kept us busy, and maybe by the end, you too will realize why ....

Doug needs a long nap!

Every trip to a new city should begin with a city tour. Real City Tours offered excellent insights into the history, transformation, and current culture of Medellín. This ''free'' tour (they gladly accept tips) around the city center was lead by a local citizen of Medellín or ''paisa'' as they refer to themselves. ''Best of Life'' moments included ...

''Monumento a la Raza''
(Monument to the Race)
The 125 foot tall sculpture recounts
the history of the region's people.

''Parque de las Luces'' (Park of Lights)
The 300 poles of light symbolize the great
transformation of Medellín from a city
of dark violence to a city of bright hope.

The activity and beauty of
Plaza Botero where you can
find 23 of Fernando Botero's
massive sculptures as well as
an empanada or two.

If you research ''what to see and do in Medellín'' on the Internet, two activities stand out ... A visit to Parque Arvi and a day trip to Guatapé. We were happy to once again share these ''Best of Life'' activities with our friends.

Parque Arvi

This very large ecological nature preserve
is located on top of the mountains that
surround Medellín.

Getting to Parque Arvi is half of the fun!
A Metro cable car takes you over some
of the neighborhoods and forested
mountainsides that surround Medellín.

Once you arrive there are many food
stands, nature displays, picnic areas,
and hiking trails (although with a lack
of trail signs, it is recommended that
you hire a guide if you want to hike).

Walking down the road, we
came upon the main reason this
park is so busy on the weekends.
A beautiful picnic area surrounding
a creek and small waterfall
provides a relaxing area for
families and friends to gather.

Of course, just like any other place in
Medellín, there are plenty of opportunities
to find traditional Colombian food.
I quickly found my favorite, obleas
which have a sweet arequipe filling between
two thin wafers. Add jam, cheese and coconut
to make this treat even more ''paisa''.

Guatapé and Piedra del Peñol

We were happy to enjoy the colorful town of
Guatapé (located two hours from Medellín)
with both groups of friends.

Climbing up the 700+ stairs to the top
of Piedra del Peñol (Rock of Peñol) did little to
drain the energy of Dave, our ''Energizer Bunny''.

We all were rewarded with spectacular
views of the reservoir and landscape below.

Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately),
the rock was closed on the day that
Jill and I visited. No hay problema!

Our extended walk around the pueblo of
Guatapé revealed many colorful treasures ...

and a great view of La Piedra from a distance.

Showing our Friends New Experiences and Everyday Life

Even after living in Medellín for four months last year, there were still plenty of new experiences for us to enjoy with our visiting friends. Some of these experiences deserve a blog entry all their own. But for now, here is a brief summary of why we are grateful to share the ''Best of Life'' with friends.

A walk through our neighborhood
will easily net us fresh avocados and
hot, greasy, oh-so-good buñuelos.

Meals that included beans, rice, chicken,
avocado, plantains, eggs, and arepas
were the typical paisa lunch ...

but a Bogotá Beer Company cerveza and a
Burger King Whopper enjoyed on an open-air
patio nicely capped off one of our busy days.

A trip to Medellín gave our visitors
a great daily step count as we walked
the streets and climbed the stairs ....

but the views from the top of
Cerro Pan de Azúcar (Sugar Loaf Hill) ...

and Cerro de Las Tres Cruces
(Three Crosses Hill) made it well
worth the effort.

A tour of Comuna 13 showed
us how some simple escalators
helped transform a neighborhood ...

and revealed ''angels'' hidden in
its beautiful graffiti art.

During a cooking class, we all helped
prepare a ''paisa'' lunch of patacones,
ajiaco soup, and lulo juice ...

under the patient guidance of
our Paisa chef, Astrid.

We toured churches filled with
ornate art and cascading flowers ...

and enjoyed helado (ice cream)
as well as people-watching in the quaint
town square of Sabaneta.

We learned that our perfect cup of
morning joe starts with hand-picking the
finest beans at the peak of their flavor ...

as we toured a coffee finca (farm)
in the middle of God's country.

We introduced our Spanish-speaking
friends (who happen to speak good English)
to our English-speaking friends
(who do not happen to speak good Spanish)
at a language exchange and shared the
universal language of laughter.