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 bedroom area. The bed is one of the most comfortable we’ve slept in in months, the shower is always hot, and everything is clean and fresh (something that was hard to have for long in the humidity of Central America). There are small conveniences too like cleaning supplies, small storage spaces, and an adjustable fan, and upon our arrival, we found a beautiful bouquet of flowers in greeting and a full breakfast to enjoy the next morning that our sweet hostess had left for us, a much appreciated extra effort after our late arrival from the 14 hour journey. The building itself provides a few extra amenities as well like a laundry room, a very small gym area, garage parking, a 24/7 doorman (whaaat!), small restaurants with outdoor seating on the first floor, and a large, shared patio that just so happens to be conveniently located on our floor. We feel spoiled rotten, and I haven’t even gotten to the best part yet.

We have an incredible view. Our living area has northeastern facing, floor-to-ceiling windows, and from our spot on the 10th floor we can see the neighborhood creeping up the valley walls as well as the floor of the bowl through which the metro runs alongside the Medellin River. A nearby bridge that functions as an overpass is warmly lit after dark, slowly changing colors as the minutes pass. We spend our days and nights with the windows open allowing the sounds and smells (mostly our neighbors’ pot, incense, and cooking) of the city to flow in and out with the breeze. The dogs lay in the warm sun and keep careful watch over the properties below. It offers us a sense of solitude while still very much getting to be a part of the place we’re calling home. Many evenings we also walk across the short hallway to the large 10th floor patio that offers us views of everything we can’t see from our apartment and some things that we can. Airplanes fly over us to the east, circling around the south end of the city before making their decent and landing at the airport across the valley. At sunset there are so many incoming flights that we can watch one plane begin its loop just as the one before it is touching down on Colombian soil. It is magnificent and relaxing and lovely.