Beyond Medellin

After Tobias, who accompanied us for two weeks, left for Switzerland, we decided to stay three nights in a hotel in Medellin. And this is because the campsite in Medellin is far from the city and during the two days spent with Tobioas in Medellin we noticed that we had to waste too much time on the road. We chose the Hotel Bolivarianische Plaza, located in Laureales, a quiet and select neighborhood, with many restaurants frequented by locals. We left the caravan safely parked in the campsite Al Bosque, located about 25 km from the city center of Medellin.

In Medellin, as almost everywhere in places that are becoming popular with mass tourism, there are many "greenhorn tourist traps", that is, places that offer banal services but where you pay a more inflated bill than in Western Europe! One such area is the El Poblado neighborhood, a very trendy neighborhood especially for backpackers with money, where on the first day spent with Tobias in Medellin we paid for three Japanese soups (absolutely banal, no comparison to the soups in Tokyo) the equivalent of 50 USD. The price is absurd (even experts are wrong sometimes!), when you consider that on our first day in Colombia we only paid the equivalent of 8 USD for a rotisserie chicken with vegetables, french fries and a 1.5 L bottle of lemonade.

In Medellin we took part in a tour organized by a Spanish-speaking tour to the sights around the city. These tours in Spanish are much more authentic and cheaper than those in English. Plus you can practice your Spanish with tourists from all over Latin America... On March 19th we left Medellin and drove to the picturesque town of Santa Fe de Antioquia. There are few campsites or places where you can safely leave your camper in the area, but one such place is the Hotel with camping possibilities "Las Cabañas de Pino". Equipped with a swimming pool and all the necessary facilities, we spent two nights here visiting the sights in the surroundings.Læs mere