I was definitely ready to get to Medellin, so interested to see what one of the most dangerous cities in the world is like nowadays! I arrived and thankfully had Wifi but had to meet my Uber in the parking (which I later had to pay for unfortunately). The driver was a younger Colombian (Paisa), and he was very friendly, offering me rides wherever I wanted to go later on during my stay. It took about 35 minutes to get to my hostel, with curving roads and beautiful scenery, as soon as I saw the middle of the valley I was shocked. Literally had no idea what to expect of Medellin as I was just going off the show on Netflix, Narcos from back in the 80s. I was truly surprised by how the moutains surrounded the city with all the red covered buildings in the middle climbing up the sides. Once I arrived to the hostel, I was happy to find a very comfortable, modern hostel with air conditioning and a nice TV and bed. I was so tired but knew I should probably socialize a bit and figure out my next move. I eventually went to the rooftop bar accross the street (the hostel had two locations accross from one another). Thankfully ran into a guy from the UK and we hit it off for a bit. Turns out he had been staying in Medellin for a couple months and had suggested this Italian place around the corner so I went and ate and then we met back up for another converstaion which included life history, present, and some politics. It was a nice conversation and went to be early. The next day I took myself to Guatape instead of following a tour or going with a group, I went solo and it was fairly easy and I actually really enjoyed it. I find that when you do things on your own you become more aware of your surroundings and really actually experience more of what you're doing. I loved Guatape, hiking up La Piedra Del Paol was a once in a life-time experience with the breathtaking view at the top. I had brought snacks, so ate and chatted with a couple of Germans and then walked around the town. Ended up getting Gelato and then empenadas at this place called Namaste. I also met a couple in the tuk tuk from Costa Rica, very sweet. I knew it was time to leave around 3:30 and thankfully did because by the time I got back I had enough time to go on the bike tour at 8pm. I quicky showered and got a salad and joined the group. It ended up being me and another solo traveler from Germany and then these two girls together (one from Holland, the other from Switzerland). Then there were two local guides and their friends (a local couple). I had a great time at first, biking around the city at night and learning about the different comunas in Medellin. Saw where all the college students hung out by the university and then biked to a a restaurant where I found myself getting very angry becuase it was already almost 11pm and I wasn't hungry. I had a lot to do so I was trying to rush everyone to leave and we finally made it back around 11:45pm (after getting caught in the rain). I had to be up and ready for the 9am walking tour. I was going to skip it and just walk around on my own but I'm so glad I made it because I met these people who I eventually spent the whole day and night with. These two girls about 24 years old from Holland (Anne and Lisa) and this guy from France (Alex) about 26 years old. We had an aweomse young tour guide that lasted about 4 hours and we went to a local market to get arepa con queso and pandequeso and went up my first cable car, learned about Botera art and the history of Medellin including Pablo Escobar. The four of us also wanted to do Comuno 13/Graffiti tour so we ended up going together and that lasted another 3 hours so by the time it was over, I was extremely exhausted. I ended up showering and meeting up with them again around 7pm for dinner and we went to this park where all the bars/clubs are around 10pm. Saw a bunch of prostitutes, got free beer and shots, and danced to the regular reggaetone while watching latinas shake their ass and show off to the latinos. Caught back up with the UK guy (Jeremy) that night and had another great convo while looking over Medellin, smoking weed and drinking wine until 2am. Got up the next morning to pack and meet up with Euan and Linus who had just gotten to Medellin that morning. It was great seeing them again and then got an Uber to the bus terminal. Caught the 1pm bus and I'm on my way to Jardin!