Hola from Medellin!

South America » Colombia
September 10th 2008

Published: September 10th 2008

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Melle Mel

The Rock Bar

Hola from Medellin!
This past week has been a crazy one! It started on a not so positive note with me getting food poisoning. Well it could have been anything really - a stomach bug, something I caught off one of the kids at Antorchas or being bitten by some strange Colombian insect! Either way, I was out of action for nearly 3 days. Apparently it's a so called 'right of passage' that everyone goes through within the first week of getting here. I had to miss out on work, eating, drinking (anything) and sleeping... it wasn't a fun time! I pulled up ok by friday, so that night a group of us decided to go for a few drinks where the locals do. I don't know if I've mentioned before that tourism still isn't a big thing in Colombia. I've often heard it being referred to as one of the last undiscovered places to holiday. Anyway, with those points in mind and the fact that most of the group were white people, we really stood out. It is a strange experience to walk down the street and have absolutely everybody stare at you! So we found this 'rock bar' that

Santa Fe de Antioquia

Some of the market stalls

played all things rock pre 1990... I couldn't help laughing when Queen came on and most of the crowd sang along in a strange broken english! Next was a salsa bar that was quite nice but with the laser lights and odd nirvana song, a little strange. Most places we went to were an odd mix of décor and music. Colombia in general is a little odd. It's almost like home but not quite... bizzaro world would describe it perfectly!

Next up was a weekend away to Santa Fe de Antioquia, about 2 hours from Medellin on the dodgyest cramped bus imaginable! It cost 8000 pesos (around $4) for the trip and it was definitely unforgettable. Being in the Andes mountain range, the ride was more like a roller coaster and we had to stop constantly due to all the landslides. Most of them weren't major but big enough to make it a one lane road. We finally arrived and I was thankful for my life and for the place I found myself in. Santa Fe de Antioquia is a picturesque 400 year old town centred around the main square. We found a place to stay for the night

Santa Fe de Antioquia

The town square

and it was great. For $13 a night each we got to stay in a bamboo hut with views out to the mountains. Exploring the town was a lot of fun. There were market stalls all around the square and heaps of cafes and churches. It was also really hot - around 40 degrees so all the cafes were a welcome relief from the heat! Around dinner time, we stopped and had a meal in the square and had a few drinks from the wide range of choices - beer or the local rum. That's all you could get!
After dinner, we were wondering round the square when we heard all these sirens...and started to freak out a bit not knowing what they were for. All of a sudden all these horses appeared out of nowhere - literally hundreds of horses! Apparently we arrived in town in time for the annual horse festival! It was very entertaining as most of the horses were doing this kind of dance. It was great.

The next day we headed off on a 3 wheel motorbike thing to a giant suspension bridge. On the way we went through the mountains and past a

Santa Fe de Antioquia

One of the many great side streets

giant property that belonged to Pablo Escobar. The bridge itself was pretty spectacular and had a great time walking over and under it! On the way back to town we stopped at a few museums and just took it easy for the rest of the day.

That night back at the hostal was the weekly bbq where everyone sits around stuffing their faces and talking about the various adventures that took place. Cant wait for next weekend!

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