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Published: September 27th 2007
Pedestrian!! Beware!!
Cars and busses and motorbikes have the right of way. This painted bus is just one of the hazards on any S.A. street.From the Caribbean Coast we ride thru the night to Medellin on a reasonably comfortable bus. The truck has not yet reached Venezuela.
Because there is a toilet on board…smaller than an airplane cubicle, the bus does not stop …. often. When the bus stops for gas I run to the other side of the road, unmindful of any unseen danger and crouch with the white expanse facing the woods.
I do have to use the stinky hole on the bus … and an hour later the man stops for breakfast!
From terminal Norte we go by taxi to the hostel, The Black Sheep. The rooms have been given to others … even though one Kiwi made reservations with another Kiwi.
An alternative is chosen by the Black Sheep owner.
Hostel Tamarindo, a newly opened place … proves to be very clean, with enough bathrooms, very comfortable mattresses, white sheets and new pillows, varied breakfasts, WiFi, internet access and a spacious kitchen.
Natalia and her dash-hound Roxana make the two nights stay extremely delightful. Natalia drew a map that made finding the points of interest very easy.
On the internet she found a sight
Metro Cable
The gondolas reach an amazing height rolling above rooves,pigs in second floor pens, chickens in rooftop courtyards and people walking up the curved streets to the poorer section of Medellin. that had the attractions listed according to Metro stop. Without a map of the city … no one seemed to have one … this was a great solution.
In the info book a very small map is provided. Medellin is a city clinging to ridges of mountains on the east and west side of the river. The Metro runs north to south.
The Metro is spacious, clean, far reaching and cheap. It is laid above ground. Two years ago. The Metro Cable was opened. This facility is made up of over 40 eight person gondolas. The gondolas are reeled up to the next three stations. At the top one can get out and go to a huge black edifice made up of three sections. It is the Bibliotheca Espanol …. or stay in the gondola and come back down to the main line of the Metro.
With Amy, the three churches around Parque Berrio were visited. We took pictures in Plaza Botero. In the Museum, the top floor is dedicated to Botero donated by Botero himself. Contemporary art fills the rest of the rest of the two floors of the building. A special display of posters from
Botero Plaza
The Museum has three floors with Botero characters on canvas filling the top floor. In the Plaza are the sculptures. All body parts except breasts and penises are proportionally large. the 20’s to the 60’s advertising chocolate companies in Colombia is in one of the downstairs rooms. Cruz was and still is big. All the chocolate enterprises have amalgamated into the National Chocolates de Colombia.
In the same Plaza is found the Palacio de la Cultura, an old art nouveau building. The ground floor has the story of Rafael Uribe Uribe displayed in family photos and newspaper clippings. He was an important figure in the struggle for independence in Colombia. There are also contemporary painters on display.
High up …but not so high as to be in the round dome part of the building …. We find a dance studio, painters at work in an art studio, a room with sewing machines and sergers and a section filled with old wooden models and architectural plans.
We walk the whole map that Natalia had drawn for us. At San Antonio Metro we look for toilets and beads. Found both. The toilets are free and clean. The beads are similar to what can be bought at the Gem and Rock Show, and equally expensive. Did buy some beads made of large natural seeds.
A walk down a
An Array of Three
The Palaciio de la Cultura, Botero's Warrior and I stand in Botero Plaza in view of the Metro. street filled with vegetable and fruit stalls under umbrellas displayed the same veggies and fruits were in each of the stalls. How much fruit can be bought…where to carry it…when to eat it? …and it rots. Did buy a pear later in the day. Could have been more ripe!
Eating in Medellin is good, as is the drinking. On the 20th we started with rum at one small bar but did not eat their food. Some of us went to another bar that served coffee, alcohol, sandwiches and crepes. Between us we had some of each. Karen and Cat went to another place to eat MEAT. By seven o’clock Karen came out with a beautiful cake and candles. Since we all had eaten crepes with ice cream we to eat cake next day when all would be together at the hostel. John carried the cake back. The ladies hung around looking for a more lively bar and a likely character that might know about under the table purchases.
A plastic red and white bar, where a conversation was started with two locals, proved to have too high drinks prices. We ladies went back to the original rum bar.
The CAT
All of Botero's sculptures have an over-exaggeration of proportion. This is a big cat for big cat lovers. He did a dog too! The bartender was approached, a phone call was made, money changed hands and the rest is history. I think some harder stuff was also bought but not with my money.
In the end, after sampling the stuff had to give the rest away. It has such a powerful smell that an untrained dog could sniff it out at the police frisking points along the way on Colombian bus trips. Someone else has the rest of my stuff. Twenty dollars bought enough to fill a playing card packet. Better not try to give it back to me now…could offer to pay for it though.
So …churches, museums, sculpture park, shopping at Los Pioneres, looking for night life, taking the Metro and checking out the grocery store is about as much as can be accomplished in a day and a half.
Amy is a pleasant fellow tourist. She is also very hardy, considering that on day two she was not feeling very well. Still … she came with me to Cemeterio San Pedro.
We saw walls and walls of marble squares behind which many spirit reside. Many names are in the form of signatures. One wall with
all fresh flowers is a wall begun in 2004. The Botero family is well represented. The name Pablo Escobar can be seen but it is not the mausoleum of the drug king’s family.
Walking back to the Metro we saw marble and flower shops in keeping with the lead up to a massive cemetery. Amy is not too impressed with all the dead people.
We had started out at 7:00. Natalia gave us a ride to the centre and we found the Versailles Café. Natalia said her mother who is over 80 used to go there as a young woman. It is a classic place and a lot of people of an age can be seen having coffee and reliving former days. Locals reading newspapers, families on a Saturday special breakfast and a few tourists can be seen.
By 2:00 in the afternoon we are ready to go back to the hostel. Most of the group watched TV. Some went out to give the town a last whirl. I worked on my blogs and had a good conversation with Natalia. Lunch and dinner (carrot soup, chicken salad sandwich, cucumber, a pear, pasta, and Knorr instant soup) came
Millions of Bricks
The terra cotta colour predominates Medellin... one of its attractions to me. The church is made from many millions of bricks; the biggest brick structure in the world. from the corner convenience store. This food did not compare to the chicken Amy, Chad and I ate from the local rotisserie on the 21st. A salad of lettuce, tomato, onion and avocado topped it off.
More internet…more TV … by 10:00 PM the taxies were called. It started to pour at the same time. The promised 3 - 5 minutes for the cab to come became 15 - 20 min.
We headed for the bus terminal and the 11:00 PM Cali bus.
After a night on the bus we are in the hostel waiting for the rooms to empty so we can shower and change
before going out on the town.
Medellin was a very comfortable city. Could have spent at least five days here. There are many things to visit …. Some out side the city. The bus and Metro are convenient and inexpensive.
Fernando Botero, whom I had seen on my first trip to Spain … absolute ages ago … is still a favourite. Must admit though that I did not buy a poster. To see many sculptures and paintings all in one place was a bit overwhelming. That the man is still
The Lillies
These lillies have been painted by hand with a brush. My spanish is at the moment still too limited to ask the why's and wherefore's. alive and working in New York and Italy was also a surprise. He was born in Medellin the 30’s.
Spoke more Spanish in two days than I did in a week at the horrid home stay in Panama City. Sorry! ... still not over that experience. It has taught me not to pay for anymore lessons. Finding a ‘friend’ will be the next Spanish learning endeavour!
By leaving so soon, salsa dancing, futball games, wonderful climate, tight jeans instead of very short skirts, lots of noisy bars in the Zona Rosa, and a very comfortable hostel were left behind for ….. three churches…three museums…. Some recommended foods and a flat landscape … the city of Cali.
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