People Warned Us NOT to Come to COLOMBIA 🇨🇴 (but we love it here!)

People Warned Us NOT to Come to COLOMBIA 🇨🇴 (but we love it here!)

After three years of traveling, we finally made it to our first South American country, Colombia. We’ve all heard of the famous drug dealer, Pablo Escobar. Pablo Escobar, the Colombian drug king. The drugs, the cartel, the gang violence, and how the media portraits Colombia as the most dangerous place on earth. But after staying for more than a month in Medellin, we realized it cannot be further from the truth. So in this episode, we want to show you what daily life is really like here and show you a different side of Colombia that is commonly misunderstood and why we fell in love with this place. Beautiful country. Let’s start with our neighborhood, Envigado. What we didn’t realize is that this area, Envigado that we’re staying at is one of the most peaceful and safest middle class local neighborhood with tons of greeneries around. Some of these architecture can be very minimalistic and has a unique aesthetic to it. First day when we just arrived to the city, like checking into our airbnb, we were so scared. We’re just like looking around, looking around. It was somewhat dangerous. We were so scared because it was at night. But next day when we go out and we start walking on the streets, we feel, wow, wait, why does this remind me to Japan? I don’t know why. The buildings here the wood the architecture a little bit reminds me of Japan. Don’t know why. So aesthetic. Love it It is a beautiful quiet neighborhood that is also dog friendly. Because in Colombia people love pets and one of the most pet friendly countries you ever see. Almost everywhere we’re going, we see dog owners and it just make me feeling that I want a dog one day. I want dog so badly. The city is perfect to live with dogs. You’ll see all kinds of different breeds everywhere. And there are many local parks in the neighbourhood just for dog walking. Honestly guys, coming to this side of the world, we already prepared not being able to find food that we normally used to at home. But we so shocked when we first arrived in Colombia and find so many amazing, and I mean really good trendy cafes and restaurants. There’s this one that we always go to almost every other day. It’s called Le Brunch. And they focus a lot on the aesthetics, on the menu, on the plate, the cups. And of course the food is absolutely delicious. Like the Florentina egg and chai latte that we ordered when we came to Colombia. We didn’t know Colombia, it’s so modern. So we were completely shocked. There are so modern cafes around here. Yeah, first day when we I came here, I’m like Wow, this looks like Bali. I didn’t expect this, especially after Cuba and after, like, Morocco, Bahamas. So expensive. Yeah. We come here like, wow, it just look like paradise. I didn’t expect Colombia is like this really cool stuff. But you also notice they have a dedicated section on the menu just for pets. When have you ever seen this anywhere at a restaurant? This area is so peaceful, and locals here have been some of the friendliest, most friendly than any country we have been. As soon as they see foreigners, they’re like, hi, how are you? And they start talking in English, even if they don’t know how to. Now, a big reason why we came to Medellin first before any other city, is because I saw online that there is a huge digital nomad culture in this city, and it’s fast growing. You know, if at any point you walk into any shopping malls like this, you can see a lot of people working on the laptops, sitting in cafes around the malls all day long, working behind the computers, and even doing zoom calls in front of you. It’s such a cultural shocking sight for us, which in a way also makes us easy to blend in, to do our own work without having the pressure of someone kicking us out. And I think that’s the reason why we came to Medellin, because we’ve got tons of work to catch up on, especially video editing for Alina. We’ve got a Cuba video, Bahamas video. We got so many videos to catch up on. That’s why I decided to come here. There’s mall every day to work, and we’ve been very productive, I think, because when you’re surrounded by so many people also on the laptops, you kind of build that discipline that you also want to work hard in its environment. Yeah, it feels like digital nomad paradise. Yeah. Honestly, I’ve seen this only in Asia before, and now we’re in Colombia. I didn’t expect this. This is kind of like the Bali of South America. And our favorite coffee shop in the city is called Pergamino. They’ve got branches all over Medellin. And to be honest, we knew Colombian coffee is gonna be good, but I’ve never had better coffee in my life than in Colombia. And that’s a really big thing to say, that I don’t take it lightly, especially at Colombian Pergamino. Like, holy crap. Alina just falls in love with the cold brew with different flavors. And I usually stick to my basic cappuccino, but the quality is godlike here. It is also a coincident, but somehow in exactly this neighborhood also has the Biggest shopping mall in the whole of Medellin. It is a huge mega mall with modern design and tons of international shops, even Chinese brands, which is really surprising to find anything Asian related over here on the other side of the world, because it’s so far away. Like in China they even have Power bank rental as well. I think you just have to get a QR code and then you can get one of these. And of course also other shops that are super trendy, like this one here, the doggy pajamas and outfits. Colombian people that much love dogs, so they even have this brand with pajama with dogs. And then inside there they’re selling so many cute pajama with cutie dogs. I bought for myself one of like this. You want one for you too? No, we already bought one for Alina. And the one Alina got is very cute. There are also access to supermarkets, international food like bubble tea, Cinnabon, frozen yogurt places. But I guess in general in Colombia there are just so many food options to choose from, which for people like me is very indecisive and a hard one to choose. I think one of the most cultural shocking thing for me coming to Colombia is to find so big shopping malls like this. Like literally, it’s very shocking because we came from, you know, Morocco and there were not a lot of shopping malls that are quite like this. And we always thought that Colombia, it’s like such a dangerous place and maybe not so developed. Speaking of that, the coolest and shocking thing has to be the malls here. Are dogs friendly. When have you seen another country where you can see dogs walking around like this in a shopping mall? And also in the next episode, you’ll discover that this doesn’t just happen in Medellin, but the whole of Colombia in general, where you can find dogs boarding airplanes like a little kid. Now, obviously Colombia has a bad rep because of its violent past with drugs and gangs. So we decided to check out what they call the most dangerous areas in Medellin. Comuna 13, we have arrived what they call the most dangerous area here in Medellin. But in reality it’s further from the truth. It’s not dangerous at all. Here’s more tourists than we ever have seen in Medellin. Today is a public holiday, Good Friday. But still it is so busy. They’re selling so cool T shirts. See, it’s matching my style. Yeah, so cool T shirt. I actually like it. I think it’s been reforming to rather touristy, safe area. And I think the highlight of this is how to transform a very dangerous area into a safer and Warming community. You know what we found just now? We found cannabis ice cream. So I was doing a quick search whether cannabis is legal here in Colombia or not and it actually is illegal. I was like, why are they selling here in Colombia? It turns out it is just that they extract the flavor of cannabis and they put in the ice cream. So technically it’s legal. Kind of like a loophole. it might be something you’d only find it from Comuna 13, you know. You know, when I search about Comuna 13, the funniest thing that comes up as one of the top attractions in this area is an escalator. You might be wondering why an escalator is a top attraction. Apparently because this is something that is newly built into the slope of Comuna 13. It makes going up and down the mountains a lot easier for the locals because back in the day there are maybe like 28 sets of stairs that allow the locals to walk up the stairs all the way to the home. But now they build this escalator within six minutes you go all the way top. So just now we came across this neon light art gallery that we went into and it was amazing. Yeah, I didn’t know it’s going to be that fun. So for entrance you pay only 30,000 Colombian peso. And inside everything was so neon. I like how they built up the atmosphere into it. So they started give you eye mask for you to walk into like the museum. And then I think the purpose of that is so that when your eyes become completely dark and when you open your eyes seeing all these neon light, it’s like, it’s like a space, everything becomes super bright. And also I feel like because they speak only Spanish there. So it’s so funny how she always keep giving us translator to like read in English and like aha. Understand. It was so fun. My favorite part was the room with a lot of bubbles. It was my dream since my young age to go like a jump into these bubbles and just enjoy like a swimming pool. Oh, it was my dream to do like this. Nice. I can’t even see where your body is. Jump down. Where is Alina? Your teeth are so bright. It’s like you put toothpaste on your teeth. I hide myself. I don’t know why. Just now I felt like I was in a spiritual place. Everywhere you go, it’s like meditation music and then there are just neon lights everywhere. It’s like you’re in some kind of effect, you know? Yeah, I know. I want to say drugs, but it’s kind of bad around 20 years ago, this was one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the city. Heavily affected by cartel violence, gang activities and armed conflicts. I think one of the coolest thing here in this district is that you can see there are lots of different vendors and some of these vendors previously, they could also be ex gang members or just, you know, someone who was born in this dangerous neighborhood before. But you can see the last 20 years, they’re really trying their best to transform this neighborhood into a safer space. You know, creating arts like that, graffitis, paintings everywhere. And also you can see lots of street performance, trying to earn a living the legitimate way and just welcoming more tourists so that it transforms Colombia as a whole. Making the reputation a little bit better than before. Colombia is so much more than just city life in Medellin. It’s actually one of the most biodiverse countries in the world. So we want to check out what they call the most colorful town in Colombia, just a couple hours by bus from Medellin to see what life in the countryside is really like. The interesting thing about this town is that it’s not just because it’s colorful, but there are also a lot of these very artistic panels at the lower half of the wall in every single store. It usually represents the common beliefs or the traditions or some kind of history or culture or even sometimes it’s just, you know, in modern world, it’s just art. Oh, look at this. This is Mona Lisa. She looks so cute. You paint this? No other people so good. Oh, pineapple. Because she’s drinking pina colada. So you can see behind me it’s a tuk tuk, local tuk tuk. And it’s super colorful. And you can see every tuk tuk is different colors. It looks like they’re just taking the art from the heart and painting how they want. You know, usually in other country, they intentionally paint the whole street super colorful to attract so many tourists. But this is actually just an ordinary street in a normal everyday life. Here in Guatape. Even you just now mentioned that he’s a lot of tourists, but it’s actually only Colombian local tourists, not foreigners. It’s so rare to find here foreigners. Feels like not a lot of people know about this town. And maybe it’s not popular destination for foreigners only like local Colombian travel to Guatape. I feel like that’s the thing with usually Colombia. Just no one knows about this country that much. It’s such a hidden gem. You got so many bad comments about, like about Colombia or the bad reputation about, you know, Pablo Escobar, the drugs and everything. But no one has ever actually talked about the colorful towns of Colombia. You know, I never knew that Colombia feels so safe, feels so friendly. Feels like that colorful. I guess if you look at this, you might think we’re in Europe, but we’re actually not. We’re in Colombia. And this church has the colonial design, the white and the red paintings that matches with the overall aesthetics of the whole town. So it blends in really well. Speaking of restaurant, now we’re gonna have lunch and I just want to say I’m gonna so surprised that in Guatape there’s so many good restaurants. Like yesterday we went to eat paella, and after we went to an Asian restaurant to eat sashimi. And it actually tasted good. But today we actually having lunch at a place where we’re facing the lake. Alina ordered the classic beef burger with a side of chips. And for me, I ordered the crusted seared tuna with a side of salad. And looks it comes with an orange sauce as well. Now, if you’re new here, Alina and I have a little tradition of buying souvenir Christmas decoration from every country we go. We just randomly came to souvenir shop to look for souvenirs, and I thought like, wow, so cute. Duck. And I like. And I start pressing and I press and it’s punch me for electro shock. I’m scared. You press. Just said it’s an electric shocker. You press, press. No See, that’s the thing about Colombia. The night life is often even more exciting than the day. And just to point out, Colombians are amazing at desserts. So we’re totally spoiled here. Alina’s got what she called The best Cinnabon ever. And I’ve got my ice cream just next door. Now, we didn’t walk too far today because tomorrow we’ve got a big adventure coming up. Good morning here from a peaceful, quiet morning in Guatape. So today we are gonna go to a neighboring town to climb the El Peno, which means the rock. The one that’s been standing out here in the middle of nowhere in the town. It’s super obvious. I’m gonna climb up there, but first we’re gonna get breakfast as usual, and every morning. And we’re starting the day with. With some Venezuelan food. Apparently this is called Reina Pepiada, something like that. I’m not sure I’m pronouncing it right, but it’s basically an arepas, a cornbread inside with avocado and chicken. And we’ve got coffee and Alina actually got a croissant with some scrambled egg and spinach as well. So after breakfast we’re going to go to the rock. Okay. So now we’re taking tuk tuk and we’re going to our adventure. I love tuk tuks. The mountain, fresh air early in the morning. It just hits differently. You know, it is this kind of moment that reminds me that I’m so grateful that we have this kind of experience traveling around the world. You know this could be a normal day to day commute for the locals. But for us this is like a whole interesting experience because we don’t see this kind of transportation in our countries. Bye. Gracias. You know, just now the road is so steep that this tuk tuk was struggling to go up. And it looks very exhausting. Now seeing this rock in person, I’m a bit nervous knowing that I have to climb 740 steps. I don’t know how many staircases there are. It’s been a while since I’ve done leg day. So today’s the day. Yeah, I see they have cable car. Why we don’t taking cable car? It’s not for human. Looks like they’re transporting stuff up the mountain and then transfer me. Yeah, just walk la. No need cable car. Justin decided to fly drones first to show the beautiful view. And Alina will be like fly drone. Enough, let’s go home. I know Alina too well. Now they will think I don’t like adventure. I like adventure. So we will climb there. It’s going to be tough but it’s okay. Here’s already beautiful. Why do we need to go there? I love adventure. I love adventure. Just look on Google photo. It’s enough. I think actually when you get closer to the rock it doesn’t look that intimidating. Maybe because perspective, you know, it looks like all the staircase are just like squeezing together. So that’s why it doesn’t look like there are so many stairs steps. So this is the entrance already. It says welcome to La Piedra. This rock cost 30k per ticket. And now we’re at the entrance already. So as we climb up the stairs we actually keep seeing these yellow number painted on the staircases. I think it actually represents how many steps we are in on this journey. So in total 740 steps. It means we have walked a tenth of the journey already. So it doesn’t seem that hard. We’re only at the beginning now it’s 100 already. To be honest, it feels so scary because the Steps are so steep. So I’m falling, I’m worried to fall down here. So many people and so narrow stairs. That’s why it’s a kind of like become a traffic. Cannot imagine if we go a little bit late here, be like completely like need to wait for everyone to go up. You know how they painted the white numbers on every staircase now I feel like it’s kind of a motivation to let people keep track of how many steps there are left. You know that’s true. Otherwise you’ll never know. At least you know you’re halfway there already. 300. Oh, I guess we’re here. That was pretty easy. That was so easy. Easy. I feel like we go to like 15th floor up in a building. Clearly you’ve never run up a staircase when the lifts are not working. No. In Hong KONG We’ve got 20 floor. You know, you’re always proud of you. Thank you. Thank you. Good job. Good job. Wow, the view. This is so we actually said that this year we’re going to go to Patagonia and we’re going to hike for like four or five days in camp. I guess this is a warm up round for Alina. Good job. I mean compared to when we’re in Ninh Binh, we walk up the mountain, this is more tough here. Yeah, this is easier I feel like. And maybe your cardio has gone better, optimistically. You’re so sweaty. You just now make me wet. No, it just shows how much I love you. Wow. So beautiful here. Worth it. This is what I call a hike. That is worth it. Sometimes when you hike up you don’t see nothing. And you’re like, why did I, why did I hike up? Up? But this worth it. We’re seeing Turquoise Lake, dense greenery, looking like a forest or jungle. And you’ve got settlements everywhere with roads connecting all these small islands is. And keep in mind there’s not a lake like I said yesterday, it is actually a reservoir. That QR code there. That’s so smart. Where? There. Oh, that’s true. Imagine people up in the mountain. Just scan that. I wonder what it says. Scan. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We want to scan now so see what’s what, what is there. So it’s too far. It’s too far. They need to make it bigger. See, I can’t, I can’t focus. Oh no. Yeah, that doesn’t work. They thought it’s smart, but it’s not. So this park is actually claimed ownership by both towns, the Guatape Town and also the El Penol Town. And at one point they were kind of fighting against each other to claim ownership of this rock. So the people from Guatape actually came to this rock and started marking down Guatape. But then it got stopped halfway and it got stuck at G and then U halfway. But it looks like a GL right now. So that’s why in most so many stores when you buy a magnet of the rock you’ll see it says GL only. And on the south this rock it also says gl. So it’s kind of funny story. But now these days there’s no more beef. I think they are quite chill. They just take as a joke. And speaking of souvenirs, there’s actually a small shop selling them at the top of the rock. And we finally found some special for our Christmas tree. So we can always remember this day. So after the rock just now we actually took a tuk tuk back to Guatape. And from Guatape we took a local bus for around 40 minutes to this very local area. It just feels like we’re the only tourists here. And we’re gonna go and check out an animal farm at the entrance. They’re already selling so many cute alpacas. So cute. souvenirs. Look at this. So fluffy. Wow. So cute. Alpaca is my spirit animal. Cuz I’m that person. Golden retriever. Your spiritual animal? I don’t know. Yeah, both Maybe so for 10,000 pesos it includes a ticket, entry cost and two buckets of carrots for feeding the animals. But you’ve got to be careful because these alpacas and llamas can get quite pushy when they see food. Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. Hello. It’s so beautiful. Are you alpaca or llama? It’s llama. Llama. Wait, wait, wait. I’ll. I’ll give you. I’ll give you. Behind you baby, behind you. They’re so scared. They’re attacking me. No, no, he just followed me. I know, I know, I know, I know. I’m sure. No more. Where did you put it? Here. Need to hide guys. Otherwise they’re going to attack. I like that one. Oh, so many there. Okay, looks like he’s not interested. Looks like he is full already. He’s a fluffy though. Wow. Like a sofa. Wow. He’s so soft. I know. It reminds me of Japanese airy cheesecake. Like that sponge, you know. Wow. Oh. Can I join in? Looks like they’re having fun too. So we came to this animal farm and there’s so many llamas and alpacas everywhere. And they were so cute and friendly too. These are like. Like the ones that run away, but these ones actually run towards you because you can feed them with carrots. They’re so cute. They’re just everywhere. And they’re super fluffy. We already walked around all these areas and they have not only Alpacas They also have pigs, donkeys, goats, sheep, emu. So many. It’s like a full zoo here. Unlike many other zoos or farms that we’ve been in the past, the animals here actually look happy. They’re well fed and maintained and, you know, full of spirit in general. You can even feed the fishes from a baby bottle also. Maybe because they’re used to having human around. That’s why alpacas and llamas generally are so chill and can just randomly sit next to you. It is definitely one of the most adorable interactions with animals we’ve ever done. And they’re so fluffy. Oh, looks like they don’t. They cannot bite. See, they don’t biting. They just like hoop. Oh, that’s so cute. They’re selling T shirts. Eating the t shirt. 2. Choose. Choose one, choose one. Good job. We are honestly so in love with this place. Who would have thought in Colombia you could just sit and hang out with alpacas and llamas like this, for example. This alpaca just came right up to us and sit next to me. So we became best friends. I can say this is one of our happiest memories in our travels for sure. Spending quality time with my spirit animals. So up close, like, just wow. When will I ever get another experience like this? It is seriously incredible. Also, we cannot pass up this opportunity to get another souvenir to remember this exact moment. We spent time with the cutest alpacas and llamas in Colombia. Behind you see? Yeah. No more. Oh, that’s so cute. Lost control. And just like that. I think this episode has come to an end. And I hope you enjoy this episode because I feel like, you know, towns like this are so underrated and no one knows about what’s happening. And I feel like always people around the world have this perspective that Colombia is so dangerous and there is nothing to do here. But it’s not true. It’s further from the truth. I mean, we prove you the opposite that Colombia is. It feels super safe, super nice, super friendly, and super delicious. Okay, don’t forget to put like comment and subscribe to our channel if you’re not subscribed yet. And see you guys next time. See you. You say bye bye too. Bye bye.

We Are in COLOMBIA and we are shocked! As our first stop in South American country, Colombia completely surprised us. It’s often known for its dark past, the drugs, gangs and a reputation for being dangerous, but what the Western Media doesn’t show you is the real Colombia.

In this episode, we explore the vibrant streets of Medellín and the colourful countryside of Guatapé, showing you a peaceful, welcoming, and incredibly beautiful side of the country that rarely gets talked about and why we fell in love with this underrated country.

📍 Places We Visited in This Video:
Where we stayed (Neighbourhood): Envigado
https://maps.app.goo.gl/YpbtFqRchk7aGfGp6

Le Brunch Express – The most stylish and modern café
https://maps.app.goo.gl/ggA5goTCLkG6dd4B9

Centro Comercial Viva Envigado – Big local shopping mall
https://maps.app.goo.gl/Xh8znWthJDJi42cL9

Pergamino Coffee – Best Colombian coffee shop (many branches)
https://maps.app.goo.gl/kQJWnZgfR7n68VAd7

Comuna 13 (San Javier) – Street art and culture spot
https://maps.app.goo.gl/DjgJjRCYM3eietch6

Guatapé Town – Colourful countryside village
https://maps.app.goo.gl/FexKaHxaTJx553e87

El Peñol (The Rock) – Iconic viewpoint
https://maps.app.goo.gl/GK7HiJo1zDMTyYML7

El Alto del Chocho – Llama and alpaca farm
https://maps.app.goo.gl/6hUifbWRBUohsiSv8

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About us:
We are Justin and Alina, a travel couple from Hong Kong and Russia. We first met on Tinder in Bali, fell in love and began our travel adventures around the world together. Now, we are chasing our dreams as full-time travel vloggers to inspire others to chase their dreams, step out of their comfort zones, and travel more!

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