Honest Thoughts After a Month in Medellin (and What it Costs)

all right we're wrapping up  a month in Medellin and what   a month it's been so good do I have a  little sugar on my face just a little Centro well I don't know what I was expecting but  it definitely wasn't this turnable atmosphere that   we have going on so this is a city that's been  on our bucket list for a really long time we knew   that whenever we got to South America Medellin  just had to be on the itinerary wow this place   is wild it's supposed to be a very dynamic city  it's gone through a lot of changes over the years   and it's supposed to have a lot to offer digital  Nomads or slow Travelers people who want to come   and stay a while with our month here coming to an  end we're sharing our usual highlights reel what   we did where we stayed how much it all cost so  I'm gonna give this a try I've been very excited   this is a classic Colombian dish and we also want  to give our totally honest unfiltered opinion was   Medellin really everything we expected or was  it maybe too much City for us we've got stores   we've got vendors we've got noise I mean there's  just so much going on here did we feel safe did   we feel comfortable did we ever make it out of  the tourist bubble so we're going to talk about   all of that and more but first we wanted to give  a big hello to all you adventurers if you're new   around here I'm Jillian this is Stephanie now  let's go see what we got up to here in Medellin oh machine is a really big city it's kind of hard  to know where to get started so we thought let's   start with a walking tour this is something we  like to do when we land in any new city it's   a nice and easy way to get oriented and we can  sort of jump start our learning about the history   and the culture okay this tour is off to a very  interesting start so I was just expecting to go   to a few key sites hear a little history but we've  actually just spent the last half hour hearing a   very passionate very insightful history of what  Medellin has been through and where it is today   and it's really quite amazing so I definitely  half an hour in already recommending this tour so we're now heading into the downtown core  our guide has warned us very clearly this is   a very crowded busy area and we definitely  need to keep an eye on our stuff [Music] so that was the cause of lights that we just saw  and it was a very modern part of the city and I   actually found it quite interesting to learn that  medicine doesn't have the colonial buildings that   you would expect to see like you would see  in Bogota or Cartagena actually most of the   significant buildings are quite a modern era okay  we've officially entered the very crowded area now we finally reached one of the most  famous sites in Medellin which is   botero Plaza now around me you can see  the sculptures from the artist Fernando   botero and I have to say it's one of  my favorite stops in Medellin as well when we decided to come to Medellin we knew that  we would just have to do a tour of community   13. this neighborhood was one of the most  dangerous in the world back in the 80s and   the 90s and now we're getting a chance to see  what it looks like today so we've come to the   meeting point for our community 13 tour for  our very special exclusive Community tour and   just look at the Sea of people behind me we're  all going to the same place it looks like we   weren't the only ones who just had to have a  tour of communal 13 today so one of the guys   of our other tour said that Camino 13 has  sort of got a bit of a Disneyland feeling   these days and today I see what he means because  there are a lot of lineups a lot of crowds here foreign [Music] that we're heading to just  right up ahead and we heard from our tour   guide that actually two-thirds of the population  of Medellin live in neighborhoods just like this [Music] we must be getting close  because the graffiti has already started well I love any tour that provides  a snack so this is a hot fresh kind   of donut looking thing covered with  sugar it looks absolutely delicious   thank you so good do I have a little  sugar on my face just a little bit well I don't know what I was  expecting but it definitely wasn't   this Carnival atmosphere that we have going  on there is a lot happening here it is very   festive this is just a Thursday a random  Thursday morning and this place is hopping so the residents here used to have to take  a whole lot of stairs to get home but these   days they have an escalator so life is much more  convenient so through this tour we'll be getting   quite a primer on the history of community  13. it's very violent very complicated path   and it's just quite something to contrast it  with what we're seeing here today so this is   a very lively place like there's a lot of  dancing going on there's a lot of music it   really seems like it's very different it's a  huge transformation from what it used to be wow this place is wild so after the break  dancing we actually decided to peel away   from our tour group it was a very big group and  we were all moving very slowly I would say that   the social transformation story of community 13  is very fascinating and if you're interested in   learning about specific parts of it you actually  might consider a private group that could be   tailored to your interest otherwise you might  just come down here and take a look around I   would say that you should always keep an eye on  your stuff follow Common Sense safety practices   but otherwise definitely worth just coming and  taking a look to see what's happening here foreign our next activity is kind of a combination of  both entertainment and food as you guys know   Stephanie loves going on Food Tours wherever  we go but I'm a little harder to convince   because they tend to be kind of overpriced but  we did find a very interesting food tour here in   Medellin it covers food culture history it's  happening right here in our neighborhood of   lorella's and when Stephanie told me the very  reasonable price tag I said let's go for it Stephanie I'm Jillian Jillian yes that's  transfer Jasper yeah Huxley [Music]   so we're starting things off  with a mango peache this is   an unripe mango and apparently  has a little salt on it as well oh yeah it's so sour and salty but  it's really refreshing okay it's a   good way to start things off kind of a  palette cleanser if you will thank you well this is a very festive way to  kick off our food tour we're having   something called agua diente which  is it's supposed to have an Anis yes   I definitely smell the anise so you  have a quick shot of this here we go [Music] than I thought it would be  oh that's still very strong and then   you chase it with a piece of the sour salted mango what a flavor combination I'm glad I'm  trying it not like your everyday drink but   good for one time [Music]   so it's a guava candy and apparently this  is a great little fruit snack to take if   you need a little energy boost when you're hiking it's very sweet wow it's like it's a delicious  fruit snack I would absolutely take this hiking   but might pick up like a cavity or two  along the way it's really good [Music]   okay we have an empanada and this one is with  potato and beef I think and then we have a   bunuelo with cheese inside now I've heard  of an empanada before but I've never heard   of a bunuelo it's a very nice crispy fried  looking dough ball let's see what's inside it's got a very mild sort of delicious  baked flavor but it's fried all right   now I'm gonna take a crack at  this beef and potato empanada um it's really delicious but I  think what's going to bring   it up even to the next level is some of this Bob but fortunately I love spice absolutely  delicious Empanada oh this has been a very   interesting food tour so far so yeah we're  covering food so some of the the dishes that   you can expect to try in Colombia and we're  also learning about the the history of the   neighborhood and also just the economics of living  in Medellin so it's been really quite fascinating   so we've been presented with I can only  describe it as really a massive tasting   Potter we have two different types of arepa  one is with fresh corn and one is with dried   corn and they each have a different  kind of white cheese on top and then   we have some chorizo sausage and some lime  that goes on top of it so I'm gonna give   this a try I've been very excited this is a  classic Colombian dish all right here we go oh that is incredible so the cheese is almost  sweet it's really delicious and then it's   about crispy corner is so yummy chocolate wow  it's it's both sweet and savory all right it's   time to check out our Airbnb starting with our  neighborhood we based ourselves in loreles which   is supposed to be a nicer middle class area  now it does have a lot of quiet side streets   but we're also close to La satenta which is  a very busy street at all hours of the day lorealis is actually a large neighborhood so if   we stayed here again we'd likely choose  the nicer end down by parque de lorales and this is our building right behind me  here I think there are actually quite a   few Airbnb units in this building  but I would say that the rest of   the street has a very nice local  feeling and we really enjoy that I love this keyless entry I'm always grateful when there's an elevator  in the apartment building because that means   that I don't have to watch Jillian struggle to  carry all our luggage off many flights of stairs all right let's take a look [Music] we have been  really happy with this Airbnb it's a nice open   concept space it's been very Tastefully decorated  which I always appreciate and there's a fully   equipped kitchen which makes such a difference  when we're staying in a place for a whole month   and we know we're going to be doing a whole lot  of cooking and of course it was just incredible   to have this balcony we really enjoyed waking  up every morning and having this wonderful view   of the whole city there are two bedrooms down  the back they are a little on the small side   but certainly enough space for us and that was a  month so you have seen where we went well we ate   where we stayed now we're going to add it all up  and find out just how much we spend here so our   entertainment was all about the tours this month  two of them were actually free walking tours but   of course we always give the god a nice tip so  all of that added up to 85 USD and I actually   think that's pretty excellent value I mean I  don't think I've ever had a food tour for just   twenty dollars before we definitely haven't now  for getting around this is a huge City we usually   needed some kind of Transportation anytime we  headed outside of our neighborhood so basically   that meant taking an Uber for just a few dollars  or you can take public transit and it's less than   a dollar although I'm actually the only one who  took the Metro somehow Stephanie always managed   to grab an Uber I don't know they always just seem  to be right there okay so the total sixty dollars   on transportation and that includes getting a cab  from the airport all the way to our neighborhood   and that was just twenty dollars so very good  value very good so next up is dining out which   is always one of our favorite categories okay so  this one came out to 340 and I thought that went   pretty far yeah I mean we went out for lunch  almost every day and we also had a very fancy   dinner over the holidays yeah that was a very  fancy we loved it okay so we also did a lot of   cooking at home which added up to 345 at groceries  so I usually picked up our basic groceries at the   exito but I also went to a very nice grocery store  more than once for some specialty items all right   now we're at our Airbnb and as always this is the  really big ticket item so we rented this very nice   condo here in luellas for just under thirteen  hundred dollars and normally this place would   actually be more expensive but we were able to  get a much better deal through a little Airbnb   negotiation yep so we are going to give the grand  total in just a moment but first we did want to   give our take on Medellin yeah yeah so certainly  we noticed that this is a city going through a   lot of changes there is some homelessness you do  need to be mindful of your belongings especially   in crowds yeah definitely in crowds so I would  say that it's a great place to visit if you're   looking for a very Urban experience I mean you  have to really love an urban experience and you   don't mind what is pretty Lively street life it's  definitely Lively here and you might have noticed   that we did more tours this month than usual  for us going on tours really helped us to feel   a little more comfortable navigating the city  yeah definitely I felt more comfortable when we   were out there so those crowds can really be very  overwhelming at times yeah now that said if you're   a digital Nomad looking to set up a base medicine  can offer a very affordable lifestyle if you can   find a place to stay at the right price food  and entertainment are very reasonable and that   actually brings us very nicely to our total spend  okay so one month in Medellin added up to just   over twenty one hundred dollars well that's pretty  good value yeah actually I would say that South   America continues to be right on par with some  of the other low-cost places that we've stayed   in Eastern Europe so it's a great value except  one line item and as we said in our last video   we found the cost for Airbnb rentals in Medellin  to be way higher than expected yeah okay so if   you take this place for example the regular price  if you go on Airbnb right now is roughly 1800 US   which we thought was a little on the pricey side  it definitely it wasn't what we wanted to spend   in medicine no so if you want the full tour of  this apartment and if you want the back story of   how we landed such a great deal you can go ahead  and click on the next video right over here yeah

Channel: Our Freedom Years

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Keywords: how to retire early and travel, retire early and travel the world, life in early retirement, life after early retirement, our freedom years

Id: bZDT66hUOTI

Length: 15min 45sec (945 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 29 2023