1st July, Medellin, Colombia

1st July, Medellin, Colombia

We watched Andy Murray win this morning! People at Hostel del Sol seem quite nice.
The cleaner is hilarious, she washes your clothes for 6,000 pesos (£1.80), we only found this out after walking round the city for 2 hours in the sun with all our washing like tramps, trying to find someone to wash them only to return to the hostel and get told that theres a washing machine!

Problem with this though, is that the cleaner leaves all your clothes hanging all over the place getting mixed up with everyone elses! We were watching the tennis when I saw her walk past with a pile of my clothes, she took them upstairs to the dorms, so people could help themselves! So I've had my underwear hanging all over the kitchen for everyone to see!

First impressions of Medellin werent good. It reminded me of Guayaquil in Ecuador, humid and overcrowded! I couldnt understand why the guide book had given it such good reviews..

But after some exploring, I changed my mind! We explored the city just 20minutes away from the main centre Parque Berrio where it had been chaotic, and were both really impressed. The city is surprisingly cosmopolitan, buildings are modern, and the transport system is great. The city has a Metro that runs on a raised platform throughout the city, instead of underground. The system is great and the map is pretty clear, so we didnt have much trouble getting around. There is alot of police present everywhere too, so you dont feel unsafe. Colombia has been better than I expected it. Definitely alot more built up, but quite expensive! Hostels arent cheap, and food is more expensive in comparison to Ecuador, Bolivia and Peru.

We visited the Botanic Gardens, which were beautiful. Its free to get it, and its a good place to get away from the chaos in the city! And the weather is great, really warm during the day, not too humid, but thunderstorms at night! Excited about the next few days here...

---

---