Colombia 2022 - Day 1
That moment when you step off the plane, not in a terminal but right on the runway, this exact moment when you instantly feel the burning sun on your skin, when you realise that even though you left your winter jacket and your boots at home, you are way overdressed with your jeans, t-shirt and your running shoes, when, within moments you become full of disgusting sweat, that you inhale a strange mixture of pleasant and unpleasant smells at the same time and that you have this very shy breeze which does not refresh you at all... this divine moment! We are in paradise!
We landed in Cartagena and had 3 hours of freedom before our second flight to Medellin. A short 1-hour flight to our first destination. We dropped our backpacks off and just walked out the airport to explore the surroundings and get the vibe of the place. We found an ATM that worked and got Colombian pesos, had lunch and a beer on a patio and bought a SIM card with 12gb of data for 35,000 Colombian pesos (CAN $11.30).
We walked back to the airport and flew to the Medellin airport.
Medellin is surrounded by mountains and the airport is on the other side of the mountains. Fortunately, in 2019, they built a huge 9km-tunnel through the mountains, reducing the shuttle time by more than half, from about 1h15 to 30 minutes, allowing us to arrive at our small and cozy apartment, in the heart of Medellin, around 9pm… On a Friday… It was a long day and we were exhausted but the atmosphere was kinda contagious so we dropped our bags at our apartment and went to explore a bit and wrap ourselves in this festive and electrifying energy. We ended the evening on a small terrace in a pedestrian street.
