SLEEK, MODERN MEDELLIN

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Arriving on a night bus from Bogota, we passed through areas where there is rain luckily when we got to Medellin it was fine, just a bit cloudy and much warmer than Bogota. i decided to take the metro, i asked the lady at the Banos Publicos where the train station is, i have to walk a bridge walkway then bought a ticket 1, 500 pesos for the fare. Took me awhile to get my bearings I found the right direction to take, the trains are so crowded! its about 6:30am and everyone is probably trying to get to work. My right arm is going numb from reaching up to hold on to the rail what with my pack on my back. Not a lot of people get off in the 1st 4 or 5 stops then heaps got off at Poblado, my stop.

I asked around and got lost a lot before i found the Black Sheep hostel. 8 minutes walk from the train station but took me 15 mins as i was disoriented, so eraly in the AM I cant read a map! Kevin the owner checked me in, Luis my good buddy from France is still here so quite happy about that. I got to my room and got sorted, then decided to go for a walk and visit Parque Berrio about 5 stops in the metro, I found the Poblado stop easily this time but not before having a wonderful breakfast of potato/chicken dumplings with a luscious sauce/salsa from this panaderia in the corner near the hostel.

Got off at Parque Berrio, walked around for a bit seeing the Botero sculptures, some church, museums, i purposedly got myself lost, this time easier than Bogota cause as long as i can see the metro line i am fine. The local transport that looks like chicken buses in Central America exhausts black smoke and some are quite loud and noisy. i quite enjoyed the sculptures and architecture in the government center area, took lots of photos then moved on, walk for 3 hours and when my feet got so tired i decided to head back to the hostel.

At the hostel soon as i walk in saw Luis looking so surprised to see me, just stared at me for a second while sipping his morning coffee, then gave me a big hug. Vicente the other French dude from the Lost City trek had moved on to coffee country. Andrew from the Argentina road trip was in the hostel picking up a friend! i did not recognized him right away he looked thinner and with a full beard, great to catch up with all my friends I met from all over. Luis and I, We tried to catch up over lunch at this cheap but delicious place near the hostel. Then we went to the grocery shop I did food shopping while he try he sort out his DVDs that he burned but is crap, we found the place recommended by the shop at the grocery store but could not do anything about it. Luckily he had the memory card with him and they have a recovery software to retrieve most he already deleted and all that is in his memory card, 8 gb total!

Having finished his chores we walked back and chill in the hostel then later we cooked dinner and had a great meal of pasta with mushroom and arugula sauce, yummy. He lives tonight to stay with a friend here in Madellin while he sorts out his volunteer work prospects. Luis is one of those guys who is so easy to get along with that's why i am happy to meet up with him again, we reminisced about the Ciudad Perdida trek and how Vicente fucked up his wound injury from the trek some more. While having dinner we chatted with an Aussie couple with a disturbing story, the night before while strolling back to the hostel near the grocery store a small local dude tried to mug them, apparently he acted as if wanting to stab the Aussie dude, a big,muscular bloke! he managed to fight him off and kicked him on the ground. They ran away and found help, a security guard, they found the mugger without the knife and he tried to make it appear he was the one being abused here, kicked and punched etc, the couple's spanish was not so good so the guard ended up letting the mugger go and the couple quickly headed back to the hostel. this is a safe neighbourhood but still this happened, got me worried a bit but hey shit happens, Medellin is not the safest city but quite enjoy my time here so far, just have to wacth my back at all times! Actually police officers came later tonight to check on the hostel, probably to make sure everyone is allright or maybe to see if they can catch someone doing drugs, but this hostel does not allow it so one can only hope they are here to protect us from the muggers.

The next day I did a day trip to Guatape a town about an hour away from Medellin that has a nice artificial lake and a not so bad town center. On the way there we got stopped by police and all the men have to get out and identitiy checked, I presented a photocopy of my passport, good thing police was satisfied with it. Arriving in town Catherine from Ireland approached me, we were in the same bus, she remembered me from Lago Atitlan in Guatemala, small world! 9 months later we meet up again! i thought she looked familiar but wasnt sure! We chatted for a bit then we split, she needs to find a place to stay while I walked around town taking fotos. The lake has loads of boats for tourist excursions but its dead today on a weekday, I had an ok lunch of trout by the lakeside then asked around how to get to the huge rock thing out of town, the waiter told me wait at the plaza its easier and cheaper, for only 1,000 pesos. I got there and saw these tuk tuks and asked the price to get there with them, 10,000 pesos! So bus it is. Catherine found me there, we walked together up the stairs to the top of this massive rock for an excellent view of the finger lakes below. Then walked back to the drop off point, a passing bus is on its way to Medellin so I hurriedly said my goodbyes and hopped on it, leaving Catherine and she walked back to town, 45 minutes away.

Arrived earlier than expected into town, the driver was a race car driver by profession! I invited Ondrej my roommie from Czech republic for a few drinks as I am meeting up Luis for a few at the El Poblado plaza, I called his cell and gave me directions but was very vague, we walked around lost and couldnt find it so we went back to the hostel and called him again this time the directions were clearer. Had a few beers with LUis, sat in the park, a local dude overheard our conversations and decided to practice his English, only he is annoying and arrogant so we tried to lose him quickly. Ondrej was appalled when the dude showed him a naked foto of a prostitute on his cell phone, time to leave...Back at the hostel
Met my other roomie Chris from Germany. Alex arrived today too we all had a few beers outside of the hostel sat in the grass of the small garden. Beautiful night, the hostel is bustling with people in every nook and cranny but not too noisy luckily and our room is tucked inside the house its good for sleeping time. Our en suite toilet is broken so we have to use the facilities outside, at least we can still shower.

The next day Ondrej joined me for an excursion to the town of Santa Fe de Antioqouia about 1 1/2 hour away.We took this big bus and told the conductor where we are headed, we both fell asleep in the bus and when we woke up we had this feeling we went passed it. Almost 3 hours already and we are still in the bus, so we asked the driver, he immediatlely stopped the bus and let us off! They forgot to notify us where our stop is, grrrr.. We got dropped off at this town called Mangla and while waiting for the bus back we decided to have a few beers. An hour later we are on a small collectivo bus back to Sta. Fe. The conductor forgot to tell us again we arrived! Good thing I asked a lady in the bus! The bus stop is outside of town so we walked 5 minutes to get to the center, nice quiet town, nice colorful houses but very hot. We sat in a restaurant near the plaza and had some ice cream. Walked around some more then when we got tired we took the bus back to Medellin.


Next morning went to town to explore with my 2 German friends, Alex and Chris. We met a gorgeous chick from New York at the metro stop asking if we speak English as she was lost, she is trying to get to the cable car thing as well so we invited us to come with us, we ended up hanging out and checking the sights together, we went to the library at the top of the hill and then just mucked about ther then to the Jardin Botanico which was not really interesting for me, lots of kids. We crossed the street and had a few drinks at the bar instead. Jess is from the Cayman Is. originally but she lived and act like a New Yorker cause she is. Fun to hang out ith, she is staying at the pit stop and she complained how noisy it is there so we invited her to move to our hostel the Black sheep, we said goodbye to her and promised to meet up later tonight when we go out with Joe my Irish friend.

Luis came to the hostel and we all went to take the metro to the Parque Poblado stop but turns out the Park where we will meet Joe is still ways away from it, we were waiting at the wrong place so we asked around and ended up watiing for half hour to this massive church near the park, we met up Joe and his Colombian friends and moved to a reggae bar. The place was not packed but still busy, we try and catch up, Joe and I hang out together in Argentina doing the northern part . ood to see him again. The bands were good and we had quite a few drinks, When the Colombians decided to head out we all took the taxi to Blue in Zona Rosa the bar district in Medellin. We had a great time there dancing and drinking, one bad episode is Luis left his cell phone on the taxi, we tried to call the phone but it was on silent mode! 4-5 hours in the bar we headed home eventually, everyone was tired, Noontime we all woke up and just had a lazy day.

I took a nap still exhausted from the night before. We got ready again for another night out on a Friday, it started raining when we head off, we bought some beers and sat at the park in Zona Rosa and we got told off by the police to finish our drink quick, drinking is not allowed in the park. We shopped around where the best bar to go to and hang out, some are ridiculously expensive, somehow we ended up in this salsa bar and danced with the locals, a group of people that worked together in a bank. Good night of dancing and more booze, we bought some rum and just did shots. Around 3am we decided to head back, we stopped for a quick eat and a couple of locals, very drunk started chatting with us, one girl claimed she knows Shakira's aunt blah blah, and keep saying Shakira, Shakira! She is pissed and trying to make us think she is good friends with the singer just because she is from Barranquilla.

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