Last night was the final of the South American Cup and Medellin’s Athletico Nacional were up against Argentina’s River Plate. I rushed back from my bus from Guatape, hoping to be back on time to see the big game. The streets were buzzing with people rushing for the same reason, dressed in their green Athletico Nacional jerseys. I bought my first ever football top for a bargain 15,000 Colombian pesos (less than a fiver) off some guy in the street. Back at the hostel, I asked how we were getting to the stadium and how much tickets would be from a tout. It turned out that the match was actually in Argentina (the final was in Medellin last week and they drew, this was a rematch for the title). Disappointed, all little embarrassed at my mistake, but immediately more chilled out, we headed to a bar to catch the game on a big screen. Unfortunately AN lost 2-0 to RP and the victory party I had been hoping for took place across the the other end of South America.

Partially due use of this, I was up and feeling fresh enough for a run this morning. Showing that I am no fickle fan, I donned my Athletico top (nothing to do with the fact that I haven’t done any laundry for about 3 weeks). I headed out of the hostel to explore further the area of Poblado, where I am staying. It is one of the more affluent areas of the city, popular with tourists and rich with stylish boutiques, bars and eateries. A little river runs between the steep streets around the hostel; a narrow strip of jungle luschiousness flowing through the urbanity.

I decided to head up the hill towards the mountains, hoping to get a good picture of the huge city below. Following Calle 10, which is one of the main roads in the area and curls and winds up the steep slope with traffic rushing past in both directions. Unfortunately due to the windings of the road, the pavement keeps swapping sides and my run wasn’t flowing as I would have liked. Also due to the many tower blocks and development in the area it was difficult to get a clear view of the city, this is the best I could do.

I set off back down the hill, passing a few avocado sellers on the way and making sure I detoured a few blocks further down the hill before returning to my hostel, to check out the urban gym nearby. I have seen a fair few of them across South America but this has by far been the busiest. Too shy and a bit intimidated to get stuck in on the weights, I just asked the guys there working out for a photo for this post. They seemed a bit surprised by the whole thing and unfortunately my Spanish didn’t allow for an explanation, I just looked like a bit of a pervert.