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Published: August 27th 2009
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After day trips a plenty outside of Medellin for our first few days, we finally spent some time getting to know the city itself. Although I've spent hours already staring out onto the cityscape from the balcony, my twinkling viewpoint was still far removed from the hustle and bustle of the taxicabs, the crowds, and the sounds of the inner city.
Instead of stepping in one leg at a time, grandpa had us dive right in with a trip on the metro. Here is also a good example of the confusion that happens when a group containing members aged 9-79 tries to travel together downtown. Luckily, grandpa revealed to me the detailed travel plans of the day, and more importantly, the route we would take on the metro to our final stop. As the metro train arrived a few minutes later, packed to capacity, grandpa, grandma, and a reluctant Melissa squeezed themselves into the crowd just in time for the doors to shut close leaving the rest of us alone on the platform. We were stunned for a minute that our guide had just been shuttled off to the west. And then it was up to me to remember the
Metro
The above-ground metro train to the right of a major boulevard downtown. route. Was it Acevedo or Montecito that he said? Were we going to the cable cars first, or the plaza? Well, my memory served me well, because after catching the packed sardine can of the next metro train, our group was reunited within a few stops. Finally we were on our way to the fairly new metrocable system.
The metrocable joins Medellin proper to the formerly marginalized neighborhoods that rise up the side of the mountain to the west of the city. These barrios, or poor areas, were once the center of violence where "soldiers" were trained in the drug wars of the 80s and 90s. The totally free metrocable allows the residents of this area to reach the rest of the city like they never could before. As we floated over the houses and curved streets in our cable car, it seemed like any normal urban neighborhood. This is definitely one of the city's most successful clean-up projects.
We enjoyed a huge (as usual) lunch at grandpa's favorite restaurant in the city called Mondongo's where they serve, among other dishes, the house specialty
mondongo. This soup was the first of many I wanted to try in Colombia.
Metrocable station
Waiting to board the metrocable It seems every region in the country has a version of something slow-cooked, thick and with various meats and vegetables where you add fresh ingredients to your liking at the table. Mondongo is tripe based and it is common to add avocado, cilantro, and rice to the bowl. I added a spicy pepper sauce to mine, which is really uncommon because Colombians in general do not like spicy food.
Our second ride on the metro train wasn't nearly as crazy as we had already begun to understand the rhythm of things. We stopped at Plaza Botero, the square which holds recreations of Colombia's most famous artist,
Fernando Botero. His sculptures and paintings of plump subjects, simply titled "Dog" or "Big Hand", can be seen around the world, but this Medellin native is especially loved in his home town. The Plaza was crowded even in the middle of the day. Monte is starting to wonder if Colombians ever go to work. People seem to master the art of hanging around down here.
Home well before dark this time, we took advantage of the sauna and pool at the condo. Bats joined us at dusk, taking daring dives towards our heads
In our cablecar
Grandpa explaining how the metrocable is being expanded all the way up the side of the mountain from the trees above. By the time it was good and dark we retired to what is becoming a nightly tradition: sitting out on the balcony, drinking Aguila (a national beer), talking about the day's events, and discussing the next day's itinerary. I wish every day could end like this.
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