Day 2 - Christmas Gift and Medellin City

After breakfast, I was supposed to receive my early Christmas gift from Julia. No idea what it is - just a surprise 😃. We took the bus for about an hour into the mountains above Medellin. Pretty steep, pretty bad roads, pretty awesome scenery! When we got off the bus, Julia said, "Surprise, we're going paragliding!"

Cool, I thought. If the equipment is as professional as the shack where we signed up, then we're in for a treat 🤣

First, we had to fill out a form, obviously! Blood type was particularly important!

500 super steep steps later, we reached the take-off spot. Waited for 10 minutes, then put on the harness, helmet, and got a 10-second crash course in paragliding from my pilot, Andres: "Run till the end of the grass, that's important!"

I don't even know why people take 30-hour weekend courses for this. It's really easy! So, I took off, ran until the grass ended, and before I knew it, we were in the air. 20 minutes of flying, and a nice chat with Andres... amazing view of the city, mountains, and surrounding jungle... perfect thermals and all the straps held. Fantastic💪🏼

In the air, I learned paragliding lesson two: "Before landing, lift your feet." A really cool experience had come to an end. The surprise was a complete success. Thanks, Julia!

We spent the second part of the day sightseeing in Medellin. City, slums, shanty towns, it had it all. Highly recommended is the cable car ride (part of the official metro network) over the city. It gives you a great overview with amazing views. Just take a look at the pictures.

In the evening, we went for a drink and to a cool restaurant. No alcohol today, unfortunately, so we went for homemade soda instead. Tomorrow is some kind of election day in Colombia, no idea who is voting for whom here. But before election days, no alcohol is sold in Colombia. Maybe not such a bad idea...