What's happening in Medellin this week?

Medellín sits at 1,495 meters in the Aburrá Valley, and that altitude holds daytime temperatures between 22°C and 28°C year-round. The daily rain cycle across the valley is reliable enough to plan around. Mornings tend to be clear over the cordillera by 9am, warm enough for short sleeves. Between 2:30 and 3:30pm, clouds build over the eastern mountains and drop a 20-to-40-minute downpour. The air afterward smells of wet concrete and the eucalyptus trees along Avenida El Poblado. By 5pm the whole valley cools to something close to room temperature. Schedule outdoor sightseeing for mornings, and use the afternoon rain window for the covered food hall at Mercado del Río in Ciudad del Río or a coffee at Pergamino in Provenza. A packable rain jacket earns its weight in Medellín more than any other single item you pack.

Sunday is the best day of the week in Medellín. The Ciclovía closes over 30 kilometers of roads to motor traffic from 7am to 1pm, and what feels like half the city turns out on bikes, rollerblades, and foot. The stretch along Avenida El Poblado fills with street-food carts selling arepas de choclo, sweet and faintly charred, for COP 3,000 or so, less than $1 USD. Vallenato drifts from portable speakers between the cyclists. Saturday night feeds into the Sunday rhythm. Parque Lleras in El Poblado peaks between 10pm and 2am on Fridays and Saturdays, when outdoor tables at bars along Calle 10 fill with groups passing aguardiente. The crowd gets louder and younger after midnight. Mind you, if that is not your speed, the restaurants on Vía Primavera in the same neighborhood are calmer, with better food and seats that still catch the warm night air.

Tuesday through Thursday, Medellín feels like a working city, and that is when you want to eat. Línea A of the Metro opens at 4:30am. By 7am the southbound cars from Niquia are packed shoulder to shoulder. Cologne and fresh bread drift from the panaderías near every stop. Lunch is the main meal in Antioquia. The menu del día at most Laureles and El Centro restaurants gives you soup, a rice plate, and a fruit juice for COP 12,000 to 18,000 ($3.70 to $5.60 at the current rate of roughly COP 3,215 per dollar). Bandeja paisa at Hatoviejo in El Poblado costs around COP 45,000 and arrives on a plate that could anchor a table. Red beans, ground beef, chicharrón with fat still crackling, a fried egg, rice, avocado, arepa, and sweet plantain. Wednesday and Thursday evenings tend to be good for sit-down dinners in Provenza without a reservation.

Monday is museum-dark day. The Museum of Antioquia, open since 1881 and home to Fernando Botero's paintings in its permanent collection, closes Mondays. The Medellín Museum of Modern Art in Ciudad del Río, founded in 1978, does the same. Use Monday for the Metrocable instead. Line K from Acevedo station climbs to Santo Domingo Savio in about 10 minutes. The cars float over the barrios of Comuna 1, close enough to spot laundry strung between rooftops. The Spain Library at the top opened in 2007, though it has been closed periodically for structural work. The views from the platform look down the valley floor from roughly 400 meters up. On Tuesday through Thursday, hit the museums before the afternoon rain. Botero Plaza outside the Museum of Antioquia has 23 bronze sculptures free to walk through any day. The bronze is warm to the touch by 10am.