If you want to truly enjoy the views overlooking the Aburrá Valley and Medellin venture up to San Felix, pay the $45-$65 (depending upon which service you choose) and fly high above the sprawling city while strapped to a parachute. Parapente is cheap in Colombia and it is an incredible adventure and adrenaline rush. I recommend flying with Paragliding Medellin which offers 3 different price points and features to complete your experience. They offer a GoPro & 8Gb card for their ‘recommended service’ option, which I recommend if you aren’t traveling with your own adventure camera.
Mi mejor amigo, Cecil, y yo solo tuvimos unos dias para disfrutar al maximo en Medellin. So, with those 3 days we dined and imbibed in Laureles where we had our AirBnb. Drank many cervezas in Poblado while watching all the escorts work the streets and clubs. Shared in an amazing Colombia World Cup victory that advanced them to the elimination round while dining in Park Lleras with a few hundred of our closest friends. And we made damn sure to challenge any fear of heights and flying we may have had by venturing up many steps to the take-off point high above Medellin, strapping our trust and ourselves to some carabiners, a parachute and our now most trusted friend for a tandem paragliding flight. And off we went.
I have been skydiving before and that remains to this day the single best adventure and most exhilarating activity I have ever had the pleasure of surviving. Falling from just under 10,000 feet for 40 seconds and then riding the trade winds for the next few minutes is absolutely incredible. Honestly, I don’t recall much after the 40 second freefall as my adrenaline was still pumping. I expect that mine was still trying to wrap itself around the fact that I just put it through panicked thoughts such as, “Why in the F*** did you decide to do this and why didn’t you consult me before leaping out of a perfectly functioning airplane”? But, back to paragliding to wrap this post up.
The guides were very professional with ‘safety first’ their main priority, obvio, pero they also make sure you are comfortable and have an amazing experience. They get you strapped in to the swing harness and then secure themselves to you, ready the parachute and start the countdown. As you run down the slope and take flight, the trade winds effortlessly propel you and lift you higher leaving you to feel like you are on the wings of an eagle. Eagles and condors zip by you at dizzying speeds as you begin to truly appreciate the tranquility, the freedom and the silence that captivates your senses and leaves you in awe. Cecil and I both had radios strapped to our harnesses so that we could talk to one another in flight (Paragliding Medellin provided them, we did not bring our own). Unfortunately, Cecil has a fear of flying and as I took off before he did by a couple of minutes, he never turned his radio on. So, I was calling for him on the radio but he never answered ’10-4 good buddy’.
Daniel, my pilot, was fantastic. He would make sure to highlight points of interest across the landscape including the Pablo Escobar fincas and the neighborhood where the police, still to this day, do not venture into in Medellin. He was very knowledgeable of the city and its history. But Daniel also will ask you if you are comfortable before he makes certain maneuvers in air to ramp up the adrenaline. I was perfectly fine with all of them. Pulling a couple G’s as we spiraled toward the landing spot was awesome. When I went skydiving, we did that and it was incredible so of course I was hoping we would do that here. We were aloft for about 20 minutes and I was so comfortable in the harness and enjoying it so much that I would have definitely stayed up longer if I could have. As we approached the landing spot you get to see the other thrill seekers running down the slope as I did just moments before them. We descended and came in calmly and softly slid to a stop.
If you desire for a rush of adrenaline and want to see the sprawling metropolis that spreads through the Aburrá Valley, contact Paragliding Medellin (or any other highly rated company) and take flight. You will absolutely love it!
Here is the TripAdvisor review I wrote in June 2018.
https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g297478-d7713081-r591221809-Paragliding_Medellin-Medellin_Antioquia_Department.html?m=19905
My buddy, Cecil, wrote this on his TripAdvisor review:
“The views of Medellin were simply breathtaking! Eagles and condors soared alongside us. Beautiful farmland, mountain view’s, not to mention the city itself was incredible. I highly recommend this excursion, and highly recommend German, Daniel and this company!!” (Cecil P.)
Paragliding Medellin – https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g297478-d7713081-Reviews-Paragliding_Medellin-Medellin_Antioquia_Department.html?m=19905
Paragliding Medellin website
Epicurious Traveler 