It was February 2009, and within just a few weeks of arriving in Medellin, I forced myself to leave for Carnaval, one of the country's biggest annual celebrations. Billed as the 2nd largest Carnaval celebration after Brazil's parties, I knew it was an event I had to experience firsthand.

In what seems like an event from another lifetime, I decided, after staring too long at the ubiquitous railings that are so synonymous with New York’s fire escapes, to take an urban hike through that city. Donning my well-worn boots, I laced up and headed out of my tenement in Washington Heights and struck out south down the entire length of Broadway. It was 11 miles in total all the way to the Ferry Terminal and took me about 5 hours given the inevitable delays at street crossings, construction, stopping to take photos and well, soaking up all of what New York has in profundity, character.

When I was little, El Dorado was the place Esteban et al. were searching for in the cartoon ‘The Mysterious Cities of Gold’. However, according to what I learned at Guatavita, El Dorado has nothing to do with hard-to-find jungle cites…

I’ve been here for less than a day. But I can already say: I love Medellín.