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Published: August 23rd 2007
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Medellin in the early 90’s was known as a lawless land. At the time it was home of one of the biggest and most expensive manhunt the US ever invested for one man. The cartel of Medellin was headed by the notorious drug baron Pablo Escobar, who at his peak was in the top 10 world’s richest man. He represented then 70% of the total Colombian cocaine exported. After two full on wars with the government and the US that lasted almost three years and thousands of people killed, Pablo was finally gunned down and with it the cartel dismantled. Medellin is back to its normal self even though it still suffers of bad publicity. The paisas (people of Medellin) try to change that image and are the most helpful and warm Colombians in the country.
The city is not culturally interesting and as nice as Bogota but during my five days, I fully enjoyed the nightlife. The women are also the nicest I’ve seen. What made it more pleasing to the eye is finding out that it’s a city with a female population made of plastic. Certainly due to the flamboyant life style the cartel left behind, it is home
to the biggest percentage of fake breasts and buttocks in the continent!! Something any male travellers wouldn’t dare complain and it probably explains the reason why in the hostel there was a ratio of one female backpacker for 5 men.
After fully enjoying what the city offered, I went off to see the Caribbean Sea and the first stop was Cartagena. It’s a real jewel. It has a touch of Miami on one side with luxury flats and wide avenues facing the sea, and on the other an old town like Havana. This old slave port has the old town surrounded by great big stone walls. It’s full of narrow coble streets and buildings with bright coloured facades. You can enjoy a good mojito in one of the many terraces cradled to the sound of old men playing the typical “vallenato”.
All Colombian cities were left behind and I went further east along the coast stopping in a small fishermen’s town and in one of Colombia’s nicest National park, Parque Tyrona.
That park is heaven! I spent three days with some Irish men camping on a beach totally isolated from the modern world. My days were spent swimming
in crystal clear water, cracking coconuts with a machete and discovering its subtropical jungle.
After that serene rustic lifestyle, the pace of my trip changed radically when I found out that my brother booked his flight to Fortaleza in the north eastern coast of Brazil. That meant I had 20 days to do approximately 4000 km. There I went knowing I had ahead of me the whole of Venezuela and the Amazon forest to cross!
Crossing the border to Venezuela, I asked some locals on the bus where where was a nice spot to stop on the coast. Many told me Barquisimeto. I followed their advice and it was utter disappointment. In the taxi to the hotel, I asked the driver how far was the beach and that I was looking forward to a good dip in the sea. The driver looked at me and mocked straight at my face saying its 7-8 hours away. Either Venezuelans are rubbish at knowing their own country or they played a good trick on the lost gringo. Barquisimeto is a soulless grimy place and I left at the first hour the next day. I eventually found a very nice coastal town to
Big bottocks Botero style
Medellin is where Botero was born. The square where the picture was taken is full of his work. stay with its fine coconut palm-shaded beach. After the weekend in Choroni, I made my way south stopping a few places before reaching the border. My last stop before Brazil was the Gran Sabana in the far south-eastern part of the country. It’s a vast, empty and beautiful place with hardly any civilization around. There is just one town right at the border, Santa Elena and some indigenous communities scattered around the region. It is known as the lost world with grassy highlands slowly losing itself into the deep Amazon jungle and dotted with some striking gigantic table mountains called “Tepuis”.
I only stayed 10 days in the country, too little time to know and appreciate it. The south is definitely the highlight of what I saw in Venezuela. One thing that I did find slightly disturbing was seeing in each place visited the constant propaganda of Chavez, as if the population is slowly getting brainwashed by what could be seen as a hidden dictatorship.
I left Venezuela and other Spanish speaking countries on the 11th of August and entered Brazil with an overnight bus straight to Manaus. Manaus is on the riverbank of Rio Negro in the heart
Paragliding over Medellin
it only cost 15 quid!!! a bargain! of the Amazon. There aren’t many trees around the city due to the heavy deforestation and it felt like a vibrant, sweaty and dirty place with not much appeal to it. It only has a few colonial buildings of which the pink neo-classical Amazon Theatre stands out, product of the rubber boom of the 19th century.
The next day got a boat to Belem and stopped halfway through for a couple of days in Santarem that is even more isolated than Manaus.
The trip took a total of 4 days doing nothing - I spent it in a hammock squeezed in between fifty others. Had a head poking my ribs, a foot rubbing my face and anyone moving would produce a domino effect. Apart from the sleepless nights and the scarce food served in the boat, I enjoyed the experience. I got to meet many locals and practice my non-existent Portuguese. The highlights of the trip were just gazing at the endless strip of thick forest on the riverside and pass the occasional villages or indigenous communities with kids trying to overtake the boat with their wooden canoes.
After long days navigating down the Amazon River, I finally made
Where we landed
... a nice Medellin shanty town. it to the coast and Belem. The city is just 12 hours away from Sao Luis where my brother and I decided to meet.
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Diego Paps
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excelente!!
...creo que es uno de tus mejores blogs! se ve que lo estás pasando requéte bien. Espero que parte del camino en Brazil con Tommy siga tan bien como hasta ahora y yo estoy deseoso de verte más tarde y compartir otro pedacito de ruta contigo. Bom viagio, paps