Cable Cars, Shopping Malls and Dinner at Home

---

The last time that I posted I promised myself that I'd write something every day and keep the blog up-to-date. And here I am four days later with a mountain of things to tell you about.

So I'll start with a summary of Wednesday and Thursday and then fill you in on Friday and Saturday in the next post.

I confess that my mind is a bit jumbled from the last few days events so accuracy may well go out of the window in favour of a more interesting read! 😊

I'd arranged to meet Sergio and Marta at 2pm in Parque de los Deseos. As usual, I was early (really must shake that habit). I sat at the edge of the shallow, slate lined pool in the park and watched as school children rolled down the grassy incline to the edge of the water. It was as if they'd never had so much fun. Amazing how kids have the ability to instantly invent entertainment for themselves.

The stage in the park was still under construction and I asked one of the attendants what was going on. Apparently it was all going to kick off on Friday night in celebration of the South American games that are being held in the city (I trust that you're all following the games? hahaha).

At 2.25 Marta showed up. Apparently Sergio couldn't make it so it was just she and I.

The weather hadn't really improved since earlier that morning. Clouds hung low over the city (not really a miserable day by UK standards but a pretty rubbish one by Colombian standards). Still, it was nice to feel the freshness of the air as we walked to the Universidad station and took the Metro 3 stops north to Acevado.
Despite the weather, the plan was to take the cable car up to Santo Domingo (which lies to the east of the city) and then change for another cable car up to Arví. The first cable car stint (up to Santo Domingo) is part of the Metro system (so you can use your single fare metro ticket). The second stint I think costs 5.000 COP (return), but don't quote me on that.
I was pleased that I had a local with me as were riding out to Santo Domingo. We passed over rows and rows of (what seemed like) makeshift dwellings, built into the steep hillside, red bricks randomly scattered on the corrugated iron roofs (presumably to stop the roof from blowing away in a stiff wind).
I think that it's fair to say that it's not the prettiest part of town. But as you ride up, the view of Medellín gets ever more stunning (I can only imagine what it must be like on a sunny day!).

With the games due to start, you see a lot of athletes around town at the moment. Typically heading from their lodgings to the venue of their particular sport to get in some practice - or just doing the tourist thing.
There's something slightly alarming about seeing a bunch of youngsters walking around with their bows and arrows - although somehow the bright colored tracksuits take some of the edge off it.

The change at Santo Domingo was easy enough and we took the second cable car up past the residential areas of Medellín and high into the mountain, the omnipresent lush greenery of the woods swallowing us as we reached the peak and continued along the long plateau at the top. Again, it was a shame that the weather was so poor - if I get the chance, I'd like to do this again but without the cloud!
At the end of the line I think that you can disembark and explore the huge (I really mean HUGE) forest - but the weather put me off this idea so we just stayed in the car and rode back down to the center.
I seem to remember that the total journey time is about 40 minutes each way (really should start writing things down again).

Marta wanted to catch up with one of her friends (Myriam) and, ever eager to sample authentic Colombian life, I happily tagged along. As they chatted between themselves I struggled to keep up with the conversation and really didn't have too much to add. After about an hour we left and Marta asked if I wanted to meet the rest of her family. Hard to say no, really 😊
So we went back to her place and I met her son (Alejandro) and daughter (Vanessa). Sergio was also there so we sat and chatted and I was fed a delicious meal of liver, rice, egg, plantain, beans....hmmmmm.
And from the Sergio Marta and I left for a local bar and we sat and watched Colombia playing somebody else at soccer - the locals screaming in delight when Colombia scored - as we sipped on Rum and Coke (a favorite tipple of the locals, it seems).
And that was Wednesday. Doesn't sound like much but it filled a day! 😊 And I had a great time. Marta said we should take the other cable car on Thursday so we agreed that that was what we'd do and Wednesday was done.

Thursday was another late start but Wednesday night I didn't sleep to well for some reason. I think that I got about 4 hours sleep. Certainly the weather was much better suited to riding cable cars.

But first, I had to stop by at an Exito to pick up some deodorant and mouthwash. Have I told you about Exito? It's the Colombian equivalent of Tesco - in that you see them everywhere and they typically sell everything - I've not seen a competing brand. The signage is a very in-your-face yellow background with bold black lettering making it easy to spot. As you enter the store, you get a little sticker put on whatever you're carrying in (that they also sell) to prove that you didn't just lift it in-store.

Anyway, fully stocked up with stuff to make me smell more pleasant, I headed off to meet Martha (since writing the last section, I've realised that there's actually an "h" in her name) and we rode took the Metro from Universidad to San Antonio and then changed to Linea B to get to San Javier. The ride to San Javier took us past the stadium which would host the opening ceremony to the games on Saturday night.

The neighborhood around San Javier seems much more wealthy than that around Acevedo and I realised what a difference a bit of pointing on brickwork can make the the look of a building! A lot of the poorer buildings look like they've had the mortar between the bricks thrown in a sort of "yeah, I guess we should put some mortar between the bricks" manner whereas those in the richer neighborhoods actually look like they've been built by somebody who knows what they're doing. I'm sure that there is more to it than that, but it was the one thing that struck me.
At San Javier, we picked up the cable car (Linea J) to La Aurora and back again, thus completing my full house of "Medellín Metro Lines Ridden On". Again, there were loads of young athletes around sporting (forgive the pun) their national colors. It seems that they get priority treatment when riding the cable cars because we had to wait while first some Chileans, then some Brazilians, then some Argentinians were loaded up into the cable cars.
Again, things are a bit hazy (I'm confusing the two cable car rides in my mind), but I seem to remember that the ride is shorter but steeper than the previous day's. Certainly the weather was better and I got some better shots of Medellín from the air.

We decided to go to check out some of the shopping centers around the Pasaje Junín (a pedestrianised area leading from Parque Bolívar some 4 blocks south to Calle 49. First we stopped at an(other) Exito and grabbed some lunch from the canteen there. It wasn't actually that good but it was cheap.

Then, wandering around the center, we reached a pedestrian crossing and ran into an even bigger crowd than the usual crowds that seemingly occupy the center on a permanent basis. To my right, a siren was wailing constantly and just across the street, people applauding as a torch bearing athlete struggled to make his way down the road - a big smile on his face from all the attention. And following him, bizarrely, at least three different large groups of schoolgirls, each carrying banners of some sort. I wondered where all the schoolboys were. Anyway, I grabbed some (not particularly impressive) pictures and waited for the excitement to pass before heading up the Pasaje Junín and into the coolness of the Camino Real shopping center.
Between that shopping center and a couple of others, we managed to spend about 3 hours just wandering around, not actually buying anything (I really can't fit anymore stuff in my bag), at which point I was exhausted. I told you that I hadn't slept well the night before, so I headed back to my hotel and crashed. It was about 6pm I think. I woke again at about 9 and headed out to get something to eat from Zona Rosa. It was a busier night than I'd seen before but it still lacked people, really. Anyway, I ate and headed back to bed. Was a fun day but not really particularly exciting from a blog writing perspective. But there you go - I guess not every day can be super exciting 😊

Right, will post this and then try to get you up to speed with the events of Friday and Saturday before I have my breakfast.

Hasta luego!

---

Photos

Water Feature
In one of the many shopping malls that we visited.

More water feature
It goes all the way to the top!

Surrounded by schoolgirls
...well, I guess that there are worse places to be.

The Torch Bearer
He's there! Honestly! Just look beyond the guy with the big camera and you can almost make out something that might be a torch.

Important People?
The press photographer was taking their photo so I thought I would too...maybe they're famous. Well, they are now!