After Christmas, my family decided to spend the final part of our break in Medellin. None of us had ever visited, Grandma was in town, so we headed off in search of Eternal Spring.
Medellin ended up being an amazing place for kids. We stayed at the Marriott, which was super convenient for the pool and breakfast.
Our first day, we went to Parque Explora. Once I heard it’s modeled after the Exploratorium, I was sold. I haven’t been to the Exploratorium in about 30 years, but Parque Explora might even beat my memories. There were tons of activities for kids. Their favorites were the physics exhibits outside and the music room, with the aquarium featuring fish from the Amazon and the movie special effects exhibit close seconds.
The kids were so wiped after that! We headed back and took a rest before heading to see the world-famous Medellin lights. (Colombia is a very Catholic country, so Christmas is in full swing through Three Kings Day.) As our driver approached Parque Norte, we joined what must have been tens of thousands of people walking through the park to see the lights. Despite free flowing alcohol and no room to walk, the crowd was amazingly pleasant and we didn’t lose any kids or grandma in the crowd. All other Christmas lights will forever pale in comparison.
The next morning, I did a long run and the kids slept in. We spent some time at the pool and then went to check out Botero Plaza. I’d visited the Botero Museum in Bogota, but the plaza and museum in Medellin were really fun. The kids didn’t love it as much as the adults, but there was a kid activity room they enjoyed.
Although my little one was asleep in the car, we decided to make a quick stop at the Botanic Garden. It’s free, it wasn’t far out of the way, and we thought it was worth a shot. We did exactly one activity and it was a huge winner. For the cost of 3.000 COP each (under $1), we bought tickets to the butterfly house. My kids (and grandma, and my husband, and I) were in heaven. We loved it!
Our kids were SO TIRED most nights, we actually ended up choosing to Rappi dinner almost every night! While Medellin is great for kids, we probably pushed it with the four year old. She was a great sport but couldn’t hang after about 5 pm. We have found that giving sufficient rest time is important. Our little one is also an introvert. While it’s normally pretty easy to honor what she needs, we’ve noticed that she stands out a lot as a blonde-haired, blue-eyed American kid in South America. In Bogota, this often means stares but in Medellin, a lot of people, mostly college aged girls and abuelas, felt the need to touch her. That was a challenge we didn’t expect, and hopefully will make our daughter a better advocate when African American women and girls face unwanted hair touching in the US.
The people in Medellin were friendly, the city felt clean and fresh (oxygen! only 5000 feet elevation! less pollution!), and the views were amazing.
Stay tuned for a separate post on Comuna 13.