Medellin, the murder capital turned hipster travel destination… When I arrived, nothing took me by more surprise than the train line and expansive public transit network.

• Coffee tour: Coffee production – everything is exported.
• Intense gut knot
• Medellin Public Tram: Floating over the trees
• Paragliding in San Felix
• Poblado Park: Salsa dancing
• Pablo Escobar tour
• Losing my phone
• Fresh fruit carts
• Iced Sugar Cane tea

Coffee tour blew my mind slightly. It was on this tour I began to see real-world example of global economics. The highest grade coffee isn’t consumed by Colombian… they can’t afford it. Beyond that walking through the full process of bringing a cup of coffee to life had me realized how much goes into all that coffee people drink so ‘casually’.

It was also fascinating getting to understand Colombia modern history, and gaining insight into how the country can still blossom with authentic culture and genuine happiness even though not too recently it was torn between 3 largely corrupted organization; political left, political right, and drug organizations

I also can’t stop without making mention of the Medellin Metro line. This line was a publically funded project that the city worked hard to establish amongst its rebuild that gives the entire city and valley hope. Hope that they can get to work, get to the city and still get by living in their favela hillside structures.

2 Lesson learned from Medellin:

• Millions of people live in favelas and so many people never leave Medellin. It brings perspective and shows me how fortunate I am to explore and engage with the world so freely. It also shows me how a ‘simple’ project like a train line can have an enormous impact on an entire community and cities health, growth and hope!  
• Losing your phone forces you to disconnect and remember that self-reflection is vital to our experience of life. Our digital world promotes the materialistic and egotistic world way too much. It dials people into ‘extropection’, you could definitely even argue this website is a reflection of that. Although my aim is quite the contrary it still becomes difficult for consumers to decode a different message.