Editorial Note: In April, I took a month off in Medellin. For me, this meant an interesting and diverting month. For you, this means 30 days of posts about my vacation. I’ll try to make them somewhat amusing.
Topography
Medellin is really hilly. It’s built in a steep mountain river valley, which means that, as you move away from the river, you’re going to be walking uphill. Sharply uphill. For instance, here’ a little road I walk up when I visit the laundry to drop off or collect my shirts.
(Although you can’t really see it, there’s a pretty big creek running beside the road.)
Medellin Diet
In my opinion, Medellin is a great city to visit if you’d like to come back from your vacation a little healthier than when you started it. Here’s my three-part Medellin diet and exercise plan:
- Get an apartment a bit away from everything
- Walk everywhere
- Eat meat
Simply walking to the grocery store becomes a nice little workout for your legs, and the 5,000ft altitude takes care of your cardio needs. If I could just figure out how to get a little upper-body work in for free, I’d be all set.
I arrived here feeling a little chubby, but the problem seems to be taking care of itself.
Treads
Here’s something interesting that you see on a lot of Medellin streets: a weird treaded pattern going down the center of the sidewalk. It took me a little while to work out what it’s for. Realization arrived during a thunderstorm: Heavy rains + steep hills + concrete == really slippery. These specialized treads have been added to the sidewalk so that you can walk around without cracking your head open. They work pretty well.
