Feliz ano nuevo! Medellin has been rather quiet this week since everyone goes home for New Years and Christmas. But the families that are here party hard together in the street with fires and music until the wee hours. Ah, Latin America.Medellin is dope, if you didn't know. Here's what's up:Tejo is a local game- like cornhole with firecrackers. Throw metal at explosives embedded in clay while drinking. Why not?We met a gringo who came down here to 'do good' and asked what he does. "I count dogs." He does the census for street dogs in the city, which determines funding. For 3$ an hour!The government famously put in escalators in the favelas to encourage mobility, but the locals hate them because they aren't much faster and use unnecessary electric. More about tourism.The real mobility hits are the favela gondolas, which are amazing. You've probably done gondolas in the quiet snow, but floating over a vibrant city and listening to lives going on below you is surreal.Tourist favorite Guatape is worth a day trip - Half Dome sized rock with stairs in the middle of a gorgeous lagoon with a fun little adventure town nearby.Real Walking Tours is recommended, but the Graffiti Tour isn't. You don't get much for your money, and you can just do the escalators yourselves.President Alvaro "Iron Fist" Uribe cleaned up the country in the 2000s with a tough stance against narcos, but his bounties also killed many innocent civilians who soldiers dressed up as narcos to claim the reward. Half the population loves him, the other hates him.The Medellin Digital Nomads group has been quite helpful too!
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Weekly Review #163 - Counting dogs, Hostel…
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Feliz ano nuevo! Medellin has been rather quiet this week since everyone goes home for New Years and Christmas. But the families that are here party hard together in the street with fires and music until the wee hours. Ah, Latin America.Medellin is dope, if you didn't know. Here's what's up:Tejo is a local game- like cornhole with firecrackers. Throw metal at explosives embedded in clay while drinking. Why not?We met a gringo who came down here to 'do good' and asked what he does. "I count dogs." He does the census for street dogs in the city, which determines funding. For 3$ an hour!The government famously put in escalators in the favelas to encourage mobility, but the locals hate them because they aren't much faster and use unnecessary electric. More about tourism.The real mobility hits are the favela gondolas, which are amazing. You've probably done gondolas in the quiet snow, but floating over a vibrant city and listening to lives going on below you is surreal.Tourist favorite Guatape is worth a day trip - Half Dome sized rock with stairs in the middle of a gorgeous lagoon with a fun little adventure town nearby.Real Walking Tours is recommended, but the Graffiti Tour isn't. You don't get much for your money, and you can just do the escalators yourselves.President Alvaro "Iron Fist" Uribe cleaned up the country in the 2000s with a tough stance against narcos, but his bounties also killed many innocent civilians who soldiers dressed up as narcos to claim the reward. Half the population loves him, the other hates him.The Medellin Digital Nomads group has been quite helpful too!