Medellin, plastic surgery capital of Colombia

Paragliding, nightclubbing and no natural boobs in sight...

That's how you can sum up Medellin for us if you don't want to read on. We arrived in Medellin and caught a taxi to the area where we wanted to stay. We drove straight through the nightclub area and our accommodation was about 150m away from this area. Melinda and I had shared a taxi to the hostel and Blake, Martin and Fred shared one. By the time we got out of the taxis, even Melinda was impressed with the sheer number of very good looking people around! It seems that Medellin is the plastic surgery capital of Colombia. Fake boobs, liposuction, face lifts and even bum implants seem to be de rigeur in this town!!

We were hoping to stay at a hostel which seems to be quite popular with back packers called Casa Kiwi. Its know for being a party hostel and not the place to be if you want to sleep. When we got there, there were only 2 beds available. So the Dutchies stayed there and Melinda, Blake and I went around the corner to a recommended quiet hostel. This proved to be a good development for us as our hostel was only 100m away which meant we could come over to Casa Kiwi and party and then go back home for a sleep!

We put our stepping out gear on and headed out on the town. We visited a few bars before ending up at what is one of the most popular and most expensive nightclubs in Medellin. Blake asked for a rum and coke and was served a bottle of rum with 1 small bottle of coke!! So we all made do with some mouth mixed rum and cokes! I've never really been in to rum before going to Colombia but I seemed to be getting the taste for it.

The next day was a pretty lazy day with some looking around town and then doing one of my favourite things to do when in a non-English speaking country - get a hair cut! Blake and I ended up with Mohawks and Martin and Fred seemed to get away with some more conservative hair cuts. Out on the town again that night for some more rum...

The next day we arranged to go Paragliding. We turned up and all of us guys were keen to go but Melinda had decided to be photographer for the day. Soon Fred, then Martin and then Blake all took off on their flights. The bloke running the trips was looking around a bit stressed. He finally came over to me and told me he was waiting for a light pilot with a big parachute. Too bloody heavy eh? I was pretty disappointed and didn't expect to get a go. Finally he found a little fellow who could take me up! It was funny on take off as I was still running along the ground and the pilots legs were in the air!! The flight was great and we were flying alongside some hawks who were going around in circles enjoying the updraft from the side of the mountain.

That night Fred and Martin decided to head to the Caribbean coast to Cartagena on an overnight bus. Blake was going to stay another night in Medellin to check out some more of the town. Melinda and I were going to go to the beach too but a migraine came on for Melinda which made our decision for us. We were staying another night and Melinda was early in to bed. The next day after a day around town the three of us headed to Cartagena on an overnight bus.