Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil

Las Lajas

October 15th, 2013 | Posted by Ian in Colombia | The Places We've Been - (0 Comments)
Las Lajas, Colombia

In brief, Las Lajas Sanctuary is a Gothic revival basilica located in the Colombian town of Ipiales, just a few miles from the border with Ecuador. Built between 1916 and 1949, the church lies at the bottom of a canyon spanning the Rio Guáitara. There are some purported miracles/sightings of the Virgin Mary that inspired … Read more

Salcedo, Ecuador ice cream

We haven’t had a long-haul like this one for quite some time. Actually maybe never. We’ve driven longer distances in one go, but time-wise this one takes the cake (at least until next month). Moving through Mexico and Central America, we’d gotten quite used to single-day trips or a single night in a hotel before … Read more

DIAN

We cross borders by land in a CR-V with US passports and our two dogs. We do not carry drugs or weapons or disallowed fruit (usually). These articles are not a definitive guide to crossing borders nor should they be used as a sole source of information. They are our experiences. When, Where, and Which … Read more

10th Floor View

Our slideshow is quite short this month and the number of blog posts we wrote about our temporary home is fewer than usual too. Some of this can be attributed to the fact that we wrote like crazy during our first week or two in Colombia as we dished the details on our Darien Gap … Read more

Medellín Studio

October 6th, 2013 | Posted by Brianna in Colombia | Lodging | The Places We've Been - (2 Comments)
Living Room

The studio apartment that we rented in Medellín for the month of September is just about perfect for us. It is small, open, airy, and bright and with everything that we need. Bar seating separates the nearly full kitchen (everything but an oven!) from the living room, and a small closet area further delineates the … Read more

Man on Horse

Our first metro ride in Medellín took us north through the center of town before dropping us to catch a connection on a cable car to Biblioteca España. Aside from our neighborhood, we hadn’t seen much of the city in the daylight before and one stop after another we found ourselves excitedly getting each other’s … Read more

Rooftop terrace in Medellín, Colombia

This is an installment in an ongoing post series detailing a typical day in one of our destinations. Not everything in this schedule might happen on any given day, but it should give you a good idea of our usual activities. 5:30 AM – Because Medellín is in a valley, dawn lasts a long time here. … Read more

Torreon de las Vegas

This is a series detailing some of what appear at first to be more mundane details of a place, but will hopefully be illuminating as insights into the grind behind the “glamour.”  Our Building and the Porteros As I will discuss in more detail in my post about our studio apartment in Medellín, we’re staying … Read more

Riding the Rails (and Cables) in Medellín

September 25th, 2013 | Posted by Ian in Colombia - (6 Comments)
Metrocable Medellín

One of the major reasons Medellín was named the 2013 Innovative City of the Year is its sparkling Metro system. Used by 500,000 people each day, the Metro provides cost-effective and rapid transportation for this city of three million, creating a main transportation artery running north-south — Medellín has a narrow, “tall” layout, following the natural … Read more

Biblioteca España View

The city of Medellín sits in the Aburrá Valley of Antioquia, split down the middle by the Medellín River and surrounded by the green peaks of encircling mountains. Despite its location just 430 short miles from the equator, Medellín is graced with year round average temperatures in the low seventies, a relatively consistent state which has … Read more