After spending a wonderful few days in the capital city of Bogotá, it was time to move on once again to Medellin, the city made infamous by Pablo Escobar as well as the killing of Andres Escobar, who accidentally scored a goal against his own team while playing against the U.S. in the 1994 World Cup. Since the death of Pablo Escobar, there have been great improvements to the city, and Medellin is reputed to be one of the safest cities in South America. Like Bogotá, Medellin lies in the Andes Mountains, albeit at a much lower altitude. The airport is some 25+ km from the city, and is up much higher in the mountains. The ride into the city was more than pleasant, as the road wound through mountain towns, acres of grassland, and tree-laden mountaintops. From the sky, you could see tall trees with a silvery sheen standing out amongst the greenery.
We chose a modern hotel situated in the neighborhood of El Poblado, the “new downtown” area and home to various swanky restaurants and bars that pump house music well into the night. We were excited to be in Medellin for the Bicentennial celebrations…unfortunately we failed to realize that the “big” celebrations were occurring on the day that we arrived and not the following day (Colombia’s actual Independence Day). We did however, manage to watch the last of the fireworks and hear the partying from a few streets away throughout the night.
The following day, Independence Day, we set off to see some of the “sights”. First stop was the Plazoleta de las Escultras, which houses over a dozen of sculptures by Boltero (the “chubby” artist) set surrounding Bacilica de la Candendelaria. From there, we walked to Parque Boliviar and Catedral Metropolitan, one of, if not the largest church built from brick.
We also visited Parque Explora, which was supposedly modeled after San Francisco’s Exploratorium Museum. We decided to visit the museum, despite not being a kid nor being fluent in Spanish (we understood enough to get the gist of everything).
One unexpected highlight was the great views afforded by the museum into the parque adjacent, where there was a Bicentennial concert occurring. We were able to see the band(s), as well as look out at all the people standing and roasting in the hot afternoon sun while we sat on cool, shady benches.
We caved in to convenience and ate hotdogs for lunch (there are stands absolutely everywhere) before attempting to visit the Botanical gardens -- unfortunately for us, they stopped letting people in, which was really unfortunate as the grounds are supposed to be beautiful. We called it a day and decided to head back to our hotel for a siesta just in time to witness storms pass by (pictures taken from our hotel rooftop).
For better or worse, we spent our last day in Medellin lounging and slowly wandering around the neighborhood. The main focus of the day was finding good food to eat. We found this great place for a lunchtime comida corriente -- for the low price of 7,800 COP (about $4 USD) we had a delicious meal of fresh fruit juice, soup, entrée plate (meat, starch, and salad), and fresh fruit for dessert. For dinner, we went back to the Arabian restaurant. To top off the culinary day, we visited Crepes y Waffles for dessert. I cold have spent every day eating like that!
The following morning we were forced to end our adventures in Colombia. Our last treat was the early morning drive to the airport higher up in the mountains, where fog was still lifting off some mountain peaks and the sun glistened off the still-dewy grass. The ride was strangely peaceful considering we were speeding along curvy mountain roads.
In all, we had an amazing time in Colombia. The people were very friendly, the local cuisine was delicious, the cities felt safe and secure, and the geography of the country was absolutely beautiful. It is hard to put into words why and how much we enjoyed our stay in Colombia. Would we go back? Definitely. Next time we hope to spend more time in and around Bogotá as well as a trip into the Amazon.
kl.
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