Medellin in under 12 hours

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Day 2 in Colombia and our final day in Medellin means cramming everything in under 12 hours. We were advised by a local to take the Turibus tour that also provided English speaking tour guides. That allowed Jose to not have to translate for the most part. There were 15 others on the bus and the tour guide spoke in Spanish for 20 minutes then condensed what he just said to 4 sentences of English. 😊 It was enough, though and he was nice and friendly to us. They did, however, have USA music playing on the radio and we got a little Vanilla Ice and Ice Ice Baby. 😊

We stopped a various places during the Turibus. In Downtown Medellin, there was a plaza that had huge figures/statues by the artist Fernando Botero. We also witnessed mopeds carrying a variety of items, from large cartons of eggs, to an extra person sitting backwards dragging a cart behind the moped. We also saw a guy rollerblading on the street, in and out of traffic!

There was a lot of graffiti that was actually pretty and creative along the walls of the city.

Another stop along Turibus included the Wishes Park- Parque De Los Desos. This park had a planetarium and benches sitting outside for people to lay on at night and watch for shooting stars.

Another park we were able to enjoy was the Parque Pies Descalzos... Bare Feet Park. You were supposed to walk through the sand to exfoliate your feet, then soak them in a long tub of water. There was also a jacuzzi for you to soak and massage your feet.

We noticed a lot of guards lined the streets, many with machine guns throughout our time in Medellin.

Jose had family in Medellin who were kind enough to take us on a more personal tour later that afternoon. Greg and I rode with Juan. Juan didn't speak English and mine and Greg's Spanglish was quite embarrassing, but even still we were able to communicate and find out he was a lawyer and had a girlfriend, no kids. We kept commenting on the "loco" drivers and he thought it was funny. He let us know that it was easy to be able to drive and there were no real road laws to follow. Sometimes a two lane road turned into a four lane road. They were masters of yielding. Loco! I thought several dogs were going to die in front of me and ruin my trip but they were smart enough to get out of the way.

Another thing we noticed was all the children playing outside and pretty much without supervision. Surprisingly they weren't in harms way either. I can't imagine JJ walking on the side of the street, but there were children his age walking alone along the street and they seemed to be aware of the dangers the cars held and kept out of their way. Not having access to televisions and playstations allowed these children to play outside and with each other. They all seemed very happy and content and it was a beautiful sight.

Jose's family took us up a mountain, 45 minute drive at least, where they have a cable car in a natural preserve park. The cable car holds up to 8 people and took us over the park with the gorgeous trees. Then, moments later, it brings us into view of the city from atop the mountain and slowly takes us down, over homes. His family explained that the further up the mountain the homes were, the more poor the people. They build their homes in these areas because the government doesn't bother them and the homes are basically shacks with tarps and tin for the roofs being held down by large rocks. The further down, the once shacks have been upgraded over time into brick homes and the roofs are mostly made of tin and held in place by shingles. Clothes are laying out on the roofs of many homes drying.

Finally it was time for dinner at Donde Edward. We ran into a few people from the USA (not "American's" because Americans also include South American's... I had to be careful when asked where I was from.) They didn't speak much Spanish so I didn't feel so bad.

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Comments

[Miranda]

Jj and Ava wouldn't last 5 minutes there! Lol