As someone who just went out of the country for the first time, Colombia is a great choice for first-time travelers who don’t speak Spanish. The people were kind and very welcoming to tourists. Though it is far from the United States, they were not too different from it. 

Like the U.S., they had huge malls that could accommodate thousands of people. Several floors were filled to the brim with shoppers and a dense population of people. Many people were also travelers there, and they had some of the same stores that we have here in the U.S. 

Just like the US, they have pharmacies and dermatologists in every alcove. –

One of the very first shocks upon arriving in Medellin was how much the US dollar is worth there. I only transferred $100 into Colombian pesos and they lasted me the entire trip: buying snacks, food and souvenirs. One dollar in the US is worth about 4,000 pesos. Going there I saved way more than I thought I would originally. 

The only difficulty I experienced was that I couldn’t speak Spanish. I struggled a little bit when trying to order food for myself and reading the menu, but many of the restaurants we went to had English menus. Also, due to Medellin being a big tourist spot, many of the servers and waiters could speak English. Although I struggled to order for myself, luckily, my friend and her family were native Spanish speakers. 

This was by far the most annoying part of the trip, all roads went one way only. To get anywhere in the city you had to go in a full circle. There were not only cars and trucks on the road –

When walking in the States it is very common to see people in pajama pants or clothes that just don’t match. Not in Colombia. Everyone was well dressed or at least had jeans and a shirt on. Style sure was also very common to wear around.

One of the first things that I noticed when I arrived there was the fact that they not only had trash cans everywhere, but there was recycling too. It seems like people there just care about the environment more. Not to mention that there was no litter or trash on the ground and all public places were clean and well-kept. They didn’t slack on cleaning at all, the janitorial staff cleaned the floor as people walked the malls.

One of the most beautiful parts of the city is that it is perfectly blended with nature. In the US we tear down a lot of our forests and wildlife to build our cities up. However, in Colombia they have it a little differently, their cities are integrated with their ecosystems. They have the most biodiverse ecosystem in the world because they preserve their environment better. They also build upwards instead of spreading out.  To conserve space they have their grocery stores built into the malls, so you can fit everything you need to buy in one trip.