Blogs from Medellin, Colombia, South America - page 24

Medellin has got a pretty bad name as home to Pablo Escobar´s drugs operation. But this town couldn´t be any cleaner and full of nicer people, even though the Hostel we stayed in was wall to wall American arrogance. We were just outside Zona Rosa, the South American term for the nightlife area. We arrived after a long overnight bus ride and the others went straight to sleep, while I went for a stroll around our area and found the local hotspots, in particular a string of bars around a central plaza, which at night would become my home for the next few nights. The first day, we went into Centro via a shopping mall. Centro wasn´t giving much, so we headed back to Zona Rosa and had a few cervezas in the hostel bar watching ... read more

Finalmente lo logramos, llegamos sanos, salvos y completos, y acá estamos en nuestra natal Medellín después de: • Haber visitado 24 países • Haber pisado 27 países • Haber estado en 6 de las 7 nuevas maravillas del mundo • Haber cruzado la línea del ecuador 4 veces • Haber estado a -400mts sobre el nivel del mar • Haber subido hasta 5700mts sobre el nivel del mar • Haber visto el lugar mas alto de la tierra y haber estado en el mas bajo. • Haber estado tan al sur como en el meridiano 46°sur • Haber estado tan al norte como en el meridiano 40°norte • Haber cruzado 2 océanos • Habernos bañado en 3 océanos • Haber cruzado 18 fronteras aéreas • Haber cruzado 10 fronteras terrestre • Haber cruzado 3 fronteras marítimas ... read more

Guatape lake system Piedra del Penol, the big rock with a summit of 200m and 702 steps. ... read more

Joy Contagion The Medellín River runs through the center of the city. Near one of the primary bridges that crosses it, there is a cluster of parks and pathways that run alongside. Every year, for most of the month of December – and well into January – a spectacular array of Christmas lights known as Los Alumbrados is on display along the river. Hundreds of luminous, plantlike fixtures rise up out of the water. Dozens of scenes are constructed featuring animatronic figures that move around. Each season brings a completely different display than that of the year before, and an entire industry has grown up around the world-famous event. A small crowd of us from the hostel spend an hour or so walking around and looking at all the different light displays. Streams of families, couples, ... read more

Somewhere along the line, wiseass software developers such as myself made a resolute decision to include progress bars at the bottom of web browsers to indicate how far along it is in downloading the requested web page. This decision was made either in total ignorance or sardonic mockery of the average Wi-Fi connection in a South American hostel. Which is why, seated cross-legged in a huge, over-stuffed armchair at the Palm Tree Hostel in Medellín, I have spent the past six minutes staring like a fool at the colorful little bar on my screen that cheerfully reports 75% success in downloading my email inbox while the rest of the window shows nothing but a blank hypertext void – on the fourth attempt. The sound of laughter pulls my attention up from the screen. Across the ... read more