Medellin to Cartagena

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Up early, packed up the few things we unpacked, showered, made eggs & toast (provided by the hostel, always appreciated), stowed our bags in a closet & off to see the town.
Medellin is the only city in Colombia with a metro, so we were pretty excited to ride on it. It's the only city we've been in since we started traveling that had a metro.

Our first stop was the "MetroCable" which is basically a gondola that services all the people who live up in the mountains surrounding the city (which are still a part of the city as well). The ride is included in the price of the metro ride so we went to the top looked out over the city, got off at a couple places, snapped photos & headed back down. It was interesting to travel right over people's homes & apartments, looking into their backyards, & windows. Different.

We then went to the Botero Museum & park. Botero donated a whole floor worth of his own works to the museum as well as about 15 huge bronze sculptures that were all set up in the middle of downtown in a park. The museum was fun, his work is so alive & fun, almost comic-like. His sculptures were super fun. It was also nice to see a lot of Colombians walking around snapping the same photos we were snapping.

We jumped back on the metro & headed to the botanical garden. Medellin is known as the city of flowers & has annual flower festivals. And, their botanical garden is free so we had to check it out. First we had to eat some lunch at a little outdoor stand next to the garden. Several school buses full of kids pulled up while we were sitting there & it was suddenly a madhouse of children & teens in their matching school uniforms. It was like a sea of noise made of blue & white. The gardens were nice & pretty big. But the best part was the butterfly exhibit! There were so many varieties of butterflys & they would land on you while fluttering about. We kind of lost track of time there & that increased stress levels for a bit, later, but totally worth it in the moment!

Speedbump. This country has speedbumps everywhere! No real rhyme or reason that I can come up with. Even in areas that aren't developed, speedbumps. (I'm typing on the bus currently & speedbumps are kind of like a rollercoaster ride in these buses which do not have the most amazing shocks. Entertainment).

So, we looked at our clock (on the camera, our only watch) & realized we were a bit behind schedule for getting to the airport. Oops. We powerwalked to the metro, got back to our hostel, quickly grabbed our things, used the restroom & out to the metro again to get back to the center of town to catch our bus to the airport. We had to walk a few blocks at our speedwalking pace which is always a challenge with flip flops & our huge backpacks. Oh, and all the traffic & people on the street. Like Frogger kind of. We found our bus stop, bought our tickets & had to wait 16 minutes for it to leave. They had a countdown clock on the counter in case you had any question about when, exactly, it would leave. It's now 2:15, our flight leaves at 4:10 & we have to absolutely be to the airport 40 minutes before the flight. Oh, and the bus ride takes an hour. EEEkkk! It was a bit of stress on the bus. However, our bus driver was super aggressive, which I loved about him in that moment, & he was passing people & cutting people off. It was great. Plus, we decided that with our Carebear Power (like the Wondertwins kind of) we would make it to airport without any problems. We have pretty solid faith in our Carebear abilities. We spent some time talking about it on the bus.

We got to the airport & the bus driver was so nice, he threw Geoff the keys to unlock the trunk so we could get our bags & we were off running. It was 3:20 when we checked in. Whew. Our flight was delayed anyway so it didn't matter too much, but we were so happy just to be there.

Our flight was on a big 737 jet. Haven't been on a big plane since we left home. It felt so big & spacious. We had to change flights in Bogota which didn't take too long. Then we were off to Cartagena. We caught a cab (he offered a reasonable fare so he didn't get a lecture from me) & we were on our way. One thing I have to wonder about is why, when collecting luggage from an airport, does everyone crowd so crazily around the carousel? It's always a zoo. Why not chill, you'll see your luggage & get it easier if you don't have to elbow your way in, don't you thinK? It's something I have spent a lot of time thinking about & still thought about tonight as I watched everyone fighting for their spot right next to the carousel.

Cartagena is a big city but what makes it so special is the wall that surrounds the old town. The Spanish built the wall in the 1600's because Cartagena was always under attack as a major port town. Coming into the city at night was cool because the wall was lit up & the streets were full of people & food vendors & there were people sitting up on the wall looking out at the ocean.

We went to a hostel recommended to us by someone but they were full & so the guy called down to another hostel & found us a room there. We got some info from him on how to get to Playa Blanca & off we went to our Hotel Familiar. Nothing fancy but the bed was comfy, had clean white sheets, & the shared bathroom was very clean. Perfect. Plus, there was a balcony that looked out over our street. Great people watching.

Cartagena (and Columbia in general) is known for being a city that doesn't sleep, for various reasons of course. But, there are so many people out at night. It's so fun & different from so many cities we've been to. We walked across the street to an Italian place & had some pasta & pizza for dinner. It was really good. Then back to our room & bed. Busy day. So much walking!

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