What's happening in Medellin this week?

The week in Medellín is shaped by the rain. June sits in the middle of the wet season, and the pattern is reliable. Mornings tend to start cool around 20°C at the city's 1,495-meter elevation in the Aburrá Valley. By 2pm, clouds stack over the eastern ridgeline. The downpour tends to last 30 to 90 minutes, then the streets steam dry and the air smells like wet concrete and diesel. Plan your outdoor routes for the window between 7am and noon. The Museo de Antioquia (founded 1881) in Plaza Botero opens at 10am Tuesday through Saturday, closed Monday, and the morning light on Botero's 23 bronze sculptures hits differently when the plaza is still half-empty. The Medellín Museum of Modern Art (MAMM, founded 1978) in Ciudad del Río follows the same Monday closure. If you land on a Monday, treat it as a food and transit day. Ride the Metro from Estación Parque Berrío south to Estación Poblado, then eat a menu del día at any corrientazo window in El Poblado for around 15,000 COP.

Tuesday through Thursday are your best days for the high-traffic sights. Comuna 13 in the western hills draws fewer visitors midweek. You'll hear the hip-hop muralists painting and the rattle of spray cans over the whir of escalator motors, rather than fighting shoulder-to-shoulder up the Escaleras Eléctricas. Those outdoor escalators run from 6am to 8pm daily, but go before 10am. Wednesday evenings, Parque de la 70 in Laureles fills with locals drinking aguardiente and eating empanadas from the street carts that line the median. The anise burn of the aguardiente and the crunch of the fried corn shell are the real midweek Medellín, not whatever is playing in El Poblado. Expect around 8,000 COP for a shot and an empanada. Thursday nights the bars along Calle 10 in El Poblado start warming up around 9pm, mostly with expats and remote workers who have been at the laptop since morning.

Weekends in Medellín run louder. Friday night does not start until 10pm in Parque Lleras, where reggaeton bass shakes the sidewalk tables and cover charges run 20,000 to 30,000 COP at the bigger clubs. Saturday mornings belong to Mercado del Río, a food hall in Ciudad del Río with over 40 vendors open from 8am. Saturday is also the day to take the Metrocable K line from Estación Acevedo up to Santo Domingo Savio for the views down the Aburrá Valley. The Biblioteca España (completed 2007) sits at the top, though the building has been closed for structural repairs for over a decade. The view from the Metrocable platform above Santo Domingo is the real reason to go. Sunday is Ciclovía day. From 7am to 1pm, Medellín closes roughly 30 kilometers of road to motor traffic along Avenida El Poblado and Avenida Las Vegas. Bike rental near Parque del Poblado runs about 20,000 COP for the morning.

The Medellín Metro operates from about 4:30am to 11pm on weekdays, with slightly extended Friday and Saturday hours. A single ride currently costs around 3,000 COP regardless of distance. The 2pm-to-5pm rain means you want a packable rain jacket, not an umbrella. Wind funnels through the Aburrá Valley and turns umbrellas inside out within seconds. The best bandeja paisa in town is likely at Mondongos in El Poblado on Calle 10. The plate arrives heavy with red beans, chicharrón, ground beef, rice, fried plantain, avocado, arepa, chorizo, and a fried egg, for 35,000 to 42,000 COP. Order it between noon and 2pm, then watch the afternoon rain hit the tin roofs from a covered café terrace in Provenza.