This morning, as we were leaving our hotel in Planeta Rica, we grabbed a quick bite at the hotel restaurant. As we went to pay, they told us it was included! What an excellent surprise. Should have ordered a bigger meal then!
The road to Medellin started flat and boring, but quickly got mountainous and twisty. This was another day of sketchy passes and close encounters of the bus kind. One spot we came to had a bridge under construction with only one lane open. The bridge was probably 100 or 200 metres long and only one lane was open for traffic. For whatever reason, there were no flaggers for this construction, so of course the traffic was utter pandemonium. As is the Latin American way, vehicle right-of-way is earned, not given. There was a break in the traffic so we tried to zip across... Just as a couple large trucks were coming. We tried to squeeze through... Not enough room. A worker had to move some cones so we could squeeze into the construction site! What a mess.
Just outside Medellin, we stopped for lunch and WiFi (for driving directions) in a small hut beside a gas station. A lot of good that did us... Medellin is chock full of one ways that go the wrong way and don't alternate direction. On top of that, there are overpasses for roundabouts, mandatory exits, and unmarked construction detours... It was so much fun, as per usual. After getting to the Black Sheep hostel and parking the bikes, we met Johanna from Panama city as well as a bunch of cool new people. We could tell this city was going to be fun.
Getting hungry, we headed about ten blocks over to a square with a bunch of inexpensive restaurants. We had dinner at Mexican place, where we donned some of the wall decorations for the photo op. Classic us... Getting weird looks from locals since day 1. Back at the hostel, we started hanging out with a girl from the Netherlands who was having a birthday! She gave us some cake, we had a few cervezas, then we headed out to another hostel with a bar. Once we got there, her friend had a surprise ready - a big confetti popper! Much to the hostel bar's discontent, she popped that popper and made a complete mess. Great fun. After another cerveza or two, we called it a night.
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