A city reborn

Days 22/ 23/ 24/ 25

Tiger paw, Medellin

Medellin cable car and favelas

After our 13 hour overnight bus ride, we arrived around midday in Medellin. The views on the way were even more incredible than those we had seen on the way up north, with the rolling fields turning into jagged hills with sharp drop sides, covered in the plush Colombian forest which stretched far over the horizon. Our first glimpse of Medellin showed a huge city, covering an entire valley in Mideast Colombia. It was a mix of high-rise brick buildings and shabbier favelas climbing the hillsides. 

We weren't really sure what to expect of Medellin. Our experience of Bogota had marred our opinions of the big cities, as, although it was huge, it was not particularly tourist friendly. Medellin, however, turned out to be a nice surprise. Quick history lesson for those who've not heard much of it: in the 1970s/80s it had the not-so-coveted title of being the most dangerous city in the world. This was mainly due to its being home of drug-king Pablo Escobar and his incredibly powerful and destructive team of hit-men. He was killed in a dramatic shoot-out in 1989, and Medellin has battled hard for over two decades to right it's image. The result is quite amazing, but more on that later.

One of Pablo Escobar's main dens was situated right around the corner from our hostel, Tiger paw, in the Zona Rosa area to the east of the centre. Tiger paw took the biscuit when it came to bad hostel experiences. After our long bus ride and a little nap, we went to the most delicious vegetarian restaurant. I never thought I'd be one to miss vegetables, but they are a rare find out here, with most meals being triple carbs and a slab of meat. So Verdeo, this restaurant, was more than welcome with courgette salads, spinach sauces and mushroom burgers. We waddled home, full and happy, only to bump into a group of Irish girls who are on our same hostel route. They rather frantically asked if we were in room 10 (our first private room I must add), 'yeees' we said, 'why?' - 'Your room's been flooded. We know because our room, the one below, is flooded from yours'....'shooooot (!)' we said and ran off to see the damage. As I have said previously, rain has been a standard during a lot of our time in Colombia and this particular storm had been super dramatic, with lightening flashing just seconds before the thunder boomed. 

Our room was certainly flooded. Some fellow hostellers had seen water pouring out from under the door and had managed to get most things (clothes, bags) onto the beds. Unfortunately one bed was also subject to the stream of water from the roof so this did not save us completely. We actually did fairly well out of the flood, with only our clothes getting wet, most electrics were out of the way (bar the kindle which had a very lucky escape!) and we were moved into two private rooms with bathrooms. A free laundry and free drink later, we were much placated and settled into our new, spacious rooms for a well overdue night's sleep.

VIew from cable car going to Arvi

The next morning, it turned out that the inconvenience of the night before had not quite been resolved, as Bean had to move rooms again and we were asked to pack twice. Tiger Paw was beginning to grate on us a little so we made a vaguely planned escape, and headed in the direction of the cable car metro system to get to a good viewpoint. The transport system of Medellin beats any others we have seen hands down, with both the traditional ground level metro, and a cable car metro to transport people up the steep hillsides, connecting the favelas to the rest of the city. From the cable car, we hovered just metres over people's houses, which was interesting, and slightly weird! We continued our way up the hillside, finally paying the extra 4000pesos to get to our desired viewpoint. The view came and went, my plan of only turning round to see the view at its most impressive at the top was deemed stupid; it seemed the car was headed not for a viewpoint, but to Arvi national park on the otherside of the hill. The park was very well designed with information centres and plaques all over, but we only had one thing on our minds - food. On our search for a restaurant, none other than at the top of a mountain in Medellin, we bumped into a friend, Nish, from Bogota/Santa Marta. Nish introduced us to his gang and we had an enjoyable menu del dia while swapping stories. Although all we saw of Arvi national park was this restaurant, we were glad to have made the trip and headed back down with plans for the evening.

Random moment: Policeman joking that he would arrest a street rapper by waving his handcuffs, while on a  seguee - hilarious

Medellin night-life is pretty exciting, with the majority of the hostels being situated in one area, people tend to congregate in Casa Kiwi, the largest one, round the corner from tiger paw.  Our mountain friends were all there, and we headed out to Babylon club, where, as some of the only gringo girls, we were treated like royalty, paying 15,000 pesos entry (£5) for an open bar!! We befriended a group of Colombian girls on a birthday night out and danced the night away, with them leading the moves..!

Pablo, our tour guide

Having heard reports along our journey that the free walking tour in Medellin was excellent, Lizzie and I mustered the courage to take it on the next morning. Our guide, Pablo ("I am here to turn the name Pablo around in this city"), a very well-traveled 25 yr old Medellinian (or 'Paisian') with a masters in engineering, and certainly a master at presenting Colombian history in a gripping way. 

He described how the majority of Medellinian (Paisian) people originate from persecuted Spaniards from the Basque area of Spain or extradited Jews from Spain.  As he described Medellin's history, I couldn't help but feel moved by the sad circumstances which have so heavily afflicted Colombia and its people. What started as a disagreement between the left (consisting of multiple guerrilla groups, and other lefty parties) and right soon inflated to extremely dangerous proportions, thanks to a financial influx from the Cocaine trade, which offered funding to both sides in return for their business. As Pablo put it, what started out as a low-level slingshot fight quickly turned into a bazooka fight, with both sides having equal access to better weapons and knowledge. Winding through the streets of Medellin, we learnt that what appear to be beautifully constructed squares and plazas, were only 20 years ago some of the most dangerous places in Colombia. The amount of thought that went into the reconstruction of these public spaces in order to re-educate and encourage people to use them, rather than be afraid of them, was incredible. 

Bombed Botero

Replacement Botero

And so Pablo continued to talk of the very real fights and deaths that had taken place on the streets only 10-20 years ago and how the Colombian people have done their best to move on from this, partly explaining why the majority of people that we have met are so friendly and positive. The tour ended in a square where a bomb had been set off killing many people, and partly destroying a piece of Botero's work (a famous Paisian artist). Botero, in retaliation created an identical piece of artwork and ordered it to be put next to the destroyed piece as a symbol of remembrance, and moving forward. Medellin is now one of three candidates for the world youth Olympics, the winner of  the world's most innovative transport system and many other awards. Truly a place to respect, an certainly one to visit if ever in this area!

View of Medellin from the club

We spent the evening saying goodbye to the friends we'd made, and visited a club on a hill with the most incredible view of the city. After a very limited amount of sleep, we headed off to our next destination, Salento, the heart of Colombia's coffee region.