First Impressions | Medellín
It’s kinda like Chiang Mai, just way more Shakira
Guys, I’m pretty sure I’m growing as a person!
Want to know how I can tell?
Remember back during Month 3 when I wrote about how I felt pressured to love Lisbon because everyone was telling me how totally awesome it was?
And remember how things like that intrinsically make me want to hate them?
Well Medellín was very similar in that all of the Remotes that I had talked to raved about it and told me how much it was their favorite and that I was going to love it.
And guess what?
I do!
This time, there was no two and a half week period of stubbornly side eyeing things that are objectively awesome followed by a week and a half of self-loathing for not warming up to an amazing city earlier!
Go, Miguel!
First impressions of Medellín
All it took was a taxi ride from the airport to my new apartment to become thoroughly stoked to be in Medellín for four weeks.
On said ride home I got my first of many views of the city from high above in the mountains that surround it. Like Cusco, Medellín seems to spill up from the valley that it resides up into the sides of the mountain. Unlike Cusco, the orange buildings here are much taller and create incredible view points and mini-skylines that look incredible from both up above and down below.
The cushy bubble we live in this month, El Poblado, gives off some jungle-y vibes with all of the lush greenery that’s growing throughout (in addition to the frequent-but-short rain showers). Its streets are packed with trendy cafes serving bomb Colombian coffee and cocktail bars within a football’s throw from most of our apartments.
Initially it was difficult to not draw comparisons to Chiang Mai. The El Poblado bubble that we live and work in is extremely similar to the Nimman bubble we grew accustomed to in Thailand, but not only because of the cafe saturation. In Medellín, there are also a ton of expats, just like in Chiang Mai. Lots just visiting, but there’s also a substantial portion that have packed up and moved here. I can’t blame them, either.
Venture outside the bubble (and you absolutely should), and you will find a completely different side of the city. Take a cable car up into one of the many comunas that line the sides of “the bowl,” and you will get a feel for the authentic side of Medellín; complete with houses packed so densely and on top of each other that you wonder how they haven’t caved in from all of the weight, some beautiful and meaningful street art, and all of the most delicious homemade street food (gimme allllll the empanadas, por favor 🤤).
❌ Side trip free month ❌
If you haven’t been able to tell by basically every “Back That Month Up” post I’ve written this year, I (and Kaizen as a whole) have been on a pretty torrid pace when it comes to side trips. While they’re great and I don’t regret any of them, it’s a bummer when you can’t spend much time in the main city you’re supposed to be in that month.
Save for the first couple days spent in Cartagena for NYE, most people in the group, myself included, are not side tripping at all*.
When you know you’re not going anywhere, things don’t feel as rushed, you don’t feel pressured to cram everything in, and you have time to establish some positive routines that can feel damn near impossible to do when you’re packing up every couple of days for a side trip.
Honestly, it feels amazing to know that you’re going to be in the same city for all four weeks, especially when it’s as cool of a city as Medellín. Three and a half weeks straight in Medellín is the longest I will have been in one location since last April, which is bizarre to think about.
*Cartagena doesn’t count because (1) it was still in Colombia and (2) basically all of Kaizen was there too, so ha!
Living that EST life
I’m not gonna lie, I had extremely mixed feelings about being back on U.S. timezones. While, yes, we were on EST in Lima, December was such a weird month in terms of vacation and the holidays that I didn’t really experience too much difference in terms of work.
I grew awfully accustomed to having my mornings to do whatever I wanted in Europe (or as I like to call it, #timezonegoals) and Asia that I wasn’t sure I was ready to give them up.
For context, in Japan, you could wake up at 11:00 am every day and still have time to go bike around the city or go on a track event before you had to check email. But, that’s because you were up until 3 or 4 am working.
How the hell was I going to adjust back to getting up at 7:00 every day!?
Luckily, having a “normal” schedule again has actually been a huge positive for me. Even though I’m finding that, from a work perspective, I have way more meetings on my calendar because I’m more available (🙄), the routine-based part of my personality is thriving with the stability, which leads me to…
ROUTINE! FINALLY!
Having this somewhat normal piece of my old life back has helped me feel more in control and has actually helped in other areas, too. For example, I’ve added on another key component of my pre-RY life that I idiotically have been ignoring since Month 2, which was going to yoga after work.
To be frank, I’ve been feeling a profound lack of control in the #fitfam department due to the absence of routine in, let’s face it, all of the cities we’ve been in. It really reached a breaking point for me prior to getting to Medellín where I was feeling pretty shitty.
Routine on RY is a tricky thing. On one had, one of my goals on RY was to become less routine reliant, but on the other, I’ve learned — er… it’s been reinforced — that I need some routine in my life to keep me sane or else I will unravel. I learned this month by having normal work hours and by going to yoga regularly that even if the routine is a slightly different flavor (ex. Bikram not being able to hold a candle to my YoStrong classes in Austin), the simple act of going and showing up makes a ridiculously big difference to me.
From an RY perspective, Medellín is one of the best
And I really believe it.
Based on my personal experience, pretty much everything Remote Year-related to this city has some of the best that I’ve experienced.
The workspace this month, Selina, is possibly my favorite that we’ve had. Selina is this insanely cool space that is covered in street art, hosts weekly events (ex. blogger meetups), and triples as a coworking space / hostel / gastropub.
My apartment this month is super spacious and full of natural light, has a great location, and has an incredible view of Medellín. It also helps that my roommates this month, Liz and Matt, make my place somewhere that I look forward to going back to.
We’ve had some really great City Teams, but Ana y Juan on the City Team here are some of the best. They’re both exude passion for their city, they are quick to offer recommendations, and they both have (patiently) helped me with my Spanish. I’ve also gotten the chance to spend more time with them than any other City Team so far, so that helps too.
I really didn’t know much about Medellín before getting here outside of season one of Narcos. I quickly learned through some of the track events and speaking with locals here (often times in Spanish!) that there is so, so much more to this city than just the complicated, violent, and shockingly recent history of this city that most people back in the States only know about from a Netflix show.
I’m feel very fortunate that I have four weeks to experience as much of it as possible.
