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Medellin was once considered one of the most dangerous city in the world for its size, and had a highly disproportional murder rate. It was the home of the Medellin drug cartel which was lead by Pablo Escobar. The drug Cartel and Pablo virtually took over the city in the late 1980's and early 1990's. He was quite popular with the locals as he built hospitals and public housing for the poor and once even was elected to a seat in the Colombian congress. He turned himself in at one stage as he was hunted by the Colombian military (the ones he didn’t bribe), the USA and the other drug cartels. The prison he was held in was renovated at his cost for millions of dollars with all the bars removed and carpet installed instead of concrete. Later on he escaped and was shot dead during the hunt for him. Today Medellin is a more or less safe city again.
Safe and in a beautiful location it is but it doesn’t offer much in tourist attractions. There are the usual churches and museums but the main attraction to come here are paragliding, Botero statues and partying. All of which I did.
I know paragliding in a third world country sounds scary but it isn’t. The equipment is the same as in Europe and the guys who pilot are the finest in Colombia. If you get all that for USD30 then you can’t complain. Haven’t done it before so it was a great experience but I still prefer jumping out of a plane.
Going out in this city is a whole experience in itself. Some of the bars are very very funky (more later) and the girls quite pretty. Going in one of the better clubs here is like stepping in a high class model agency which got mixed up with a living display unit for plastic surgery.
One of the most outstanding bars I have even been to is the Mango bar. The whole bar is made up to be a huge Wild West salon which can hold up to 1500 people, has enough props to fit out three Wild West movies and more information about John Wayne than you need to know. The bouncers at the entrance which, as usual, check you twice for weapons are dressed up as Cowboys, the girl at the cash register wears a tight olde style western dress and the rest of the staff is dressed in a similar way. Only the guy who sells cigarettes which looks like a Special Operations soldier. The other attraction in this club are the shows which can be rather bizarre.
Overall a mostly agreeable city…
Next Stop Salento in the Coffee region.
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