Los Conquistadores, our Medellin neighborhood

This large city has numerous neighborhoods and one of our toughest decisions in this nomadic life is deciding what area of a large city we will be happiest in. Jim usually researches and comes up with a neighborhood and then finds an acceptable home for us. His research for Medellin came up with Los Conquistadores which is one of 15 neighborhoods of Laureles. He chose it because it was recommended as quiet, more authentic and less touristy than Poblado which is the high end tourist zone of the city. All of our tour guides have commended us on our choice to live in Laureles. It was voted the number one neighborhood in the world by Time Out magazine for 2024. After being here for two months we have mixed feelings about our location. After seeing El Poblado recently Sandy feels that we might have been happier there as it may be cooler being higher up the mountain side and she thought that the neighborhood looked way cooler than ours. We really do like our access to the beautiful Parques del Rio and Cerro Nutibarra which is a shaded hillside park. This is a recounting of our time here in Medellin.

This was the first restaurant we ate at in Laureles Colombia. We had BBQ ribs and fried onion rings which is a big departure from our usual healthy food that we eat but it was a delicious treat. It is Argentinian food.

Colombia is known for its biodiversity and we have certainly enjoyed it here. Sandy is constantly taking photos of plants, flowers, trees and birds. Above is a red canna lily which is not invasive in Colombia but can be in other countries, its common name comes from the greek word “Kanna” which means “reed-like”.

. The bird of paradise flower represents faithfulness, love and thoughtfulness and is the official flower for the ninth wedding anniversary. It is one of the only flowers actually pollinated by birds and is so named because its blossoms when fully opened resemble the wings of a bird in flight.

Chinese hibiscus has a very fragrant flower. It is the national flower of Malaysia and is featured on its flag.

Yesterday-today-and-tomorrow is a species of Lady of the night. The name is fitting since the blossoms change color daily, probably at night, starting off purple, then lavender, and finally white as they mature. It is native to Brazil.

Bamboo orchid is found in most of Southeast Asia, as well as nations across the Pacific and Caribbean.

Parque del Río is the most modern linear park in Colombia and we live just a short block away so we were able to enjoy the Christmas lights at night. The park mixes nature, sports and recreational activities, culture and good gastronomy. Before it existed the Medellin River was an isolated place. The park was built over two major north/south highways on both sides of the river creating a peaceful haven above the noisy streets below. Now its transformation has reconnected the city’s residents with their major water source.

The river way became a great place for our early morning walk/runs. We planned out a 1.3 mile circuit that we would do three loops of. So many locals of all ages do their daily constitutionals here and it is encouraging to see the Colombian people engaged in staying active. See Jim run in this video.

The same walkway just recently with a weekend arts and crafts sale.

EnCicla is a free bicycle loan service offered by the metro of Medellin. It allows you to borrow bikes for free for up to an hour with an option to extend for another hour. There are 60 stations throughout the city. It was originally started in 2011 by three students at the University with the goal of providing an eco-friendly, sustainable and economic transport system for the city. We would usually see 0-2 bicycles here, don’t know where they all are.

Linaje Barf or better known as Barftruck is a mobile food truck for dogs that serves treats of ice cream and snacks to peoples furbabies as they walk their animals in the park. We thought it was so funny seeing this dog get his treat at the window. Quite a novel idea, it is only here on Sundays. When we lived in Mexico City we used to see a mobile dog grooming and bath mobile that would be at the park.

One hot humid day while doing our river walk we were so happy to see these spray stations which we welcomed to cool us down. We have never experienced them again sadly. Here is a video Jim took of Sandy walking through the sprays.

Another video of the same small plaza on a busy Saturday evening. Rollerblading seems to be a big thing here.

A few days ago we did a river walk/run and saw them taking down the Christmas lights.

This video shows a workman who is suspended high above the river as he is coiling the lights to take them down.

Indian Laurel Fig tree. It is believed in some east Asian cultures that this tree is a meeting place for spirits.👻

Egyptian starcluster (Pentas) is an ornamental garden plant that attracts butterflies.

Queens wreath is an evergreen flowering vine native to Central America. In late spring and early summer it produces star-like purple flowers.

Saffron Yellow Finch. There are so many small colorful birds but they are very difficult to catch in a picture as they flit around so much.

Blue-grey Tanager above and better photo below has a squeaky twittering song.

Great Kiskadee eats lots of insects, but also forages for seeds and berries and is known to dive into shallow water for small fish.

Vermilion Flycatcher sits on a perch until they’re ready to take wing and feed on insects midflight. This bird turned its head just as we snapped the picture.🫤

This guy was pulling mattresses on his trailer and I may add was walking faster than we were.

This is the view from our kitchen window which is the opposite direction from the river. We were deterred from going up this small hill after reading that someone was threatened with a screwdriver during an attempted robbery on one of the trails going up. We got quite bored with our walk/run along the river so after being here for two months we thought we would take a chance and check it out. It turns out that it is quite safe with lots of police with guard dogs constantly patrolling. Now we go there frequently. It is beautiful and cool with great paths to hike or stairs to climb for exercise.

One of two entrances to the ecological and recreational park. Cerro means hill so this is Nutibara Hill.

Moderately steep uphill walk or bike ride.

Wild wood Iris, in Australia it is considered a weed.

At the top of Nutibara Cerro is Pueblito Paisa which interprets to small town of the people. The reviews all diss it as being too touristy but we think that it is kind of cute.

This is the little town on top of the mountain with shops and restaurants.The area opens to the public at 7am everyday.

Statue showing a woman with her indigenous outfit. Notice Jim put his Camino ball cap on her head.

Rows of shops selling kitsch. There is also a food boulevard with rows of food stalls.

There is a lookout at the top and we can see our private roof deck there.

Sandy prefers climbing the 270 stairs for her exercises and does them twice each day. She walks them without any rest breaks but walks back to the bottom on the road with Jim who walks the 0.9 mile back up the hill. This is the top of the stairs.

This is the top of the stairs which brings you to the little town square. You can also see in this photo the small exercise station.

We have never seen Zorro Perro or any other wild animals and hope we never do. It says caution on the road, Zorro Dog. Cerdocyon thous is Crabeating Fox.

This sign says caution wild animals in the road.

Starburst bush a species of Gloryblowers aka shooting star is a bush that grows quite large and spreads easily.

This is the recreational trail with lovely covered bridges.

Yellow trumpetbush is actually considered an invasive weed in multiple countries.

We developed a love of doing jigsaw puzzles during Covid when we lived temporarily above the Post Office in Beacon Hill on Charles St in Boston. We prefer the challenge of 1,000 piece puzzles and have been collecting them all over the world. These were from our fall trip to Canada.

Yellow poinciana tree. The wood of this tree is used for making cabinets. It has a beautiful yellow flower that unfortunately does not show well in this photo unless you zoom in.

We are spending most days here exercising from 7:30-10 and then staying home out of the hot sun doing crosswords, jigsaw puzzles and planning an early dinner, at home mostly. We like to have an early afternoon Bloody Mary or margarita, eating dinner around 4pm with another 1.5 mile post prandial river walk and then watching movies or TV series at night . Jim has figured out how to trick Apple TV and all of its apps into thinking that we are in the US so we are able to watch a lot of channels that are not usually available to us on our travels. Eating out here is very inexpensive but not usually healthy. Last night two very good hamburgers and two beers were under 25 USD including tip. We have an agenda of more things to do here but are waiting for three more houseguests to accompany us on those excursions.

2 responses to “Los Conquistadores, our Medellin neighborhood”

Dana

February 11, 2025 at 11:47 pm

That Saffron Yellow Finch is unbelievable! And the flowers are incredible too. Way better than the snow and bare branches we’ve got here.

1. Living our retirement dream
  
  February 12, 2025 at 7:10 am
  
  I thought you would like that

Living the retirement dream