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Published: February 15th 2010
Wow, what can I say? I don't know where to start, because I am bustling with emotions and positive words when I think about Medellin.
The city probably mostly known for Pablo Escobar has so much to offer: Sensual Tango, Excellent Parties, International Food, Gorgeous People, Great Shopping, Much Culture, Clean City, Beautiful Surroundings... Pretty much all you can ask for.
I should probably start with the Tango. It is a wonderful dance, so different from all other dances I have ever danced.
Since I was in the capital of Tango (if you don't count Buenos Aires) I decided to take some private lessons to see what the dance had to offer me (no way I would be in a class with rythmless airheads... :o) I did have a lot of fun, but it was also more complicated that I had expected. And sooo sensual.
Other than dancing, Medellin offered a lot more and I pretty much enjoyed all of it again... & again... & again...
Really, Medellin, known as a dangerous place for us foreigners and a headquarter for the drug cartels, surprised me a lot to the better and I would think that if I had
to settle down in Colombia to make my life here, it would be in this city. Actually, if the ocean was not that far away, I would have spent the rest of my time in Colombia right here!
After five months here it felt like the city had a European touch; European clothing, European like malls, techno/house music, English explanations in the city, more European looking people and international food (however, if you come straight from Europe you probably do not feel this touch that much...). But it is a very nice city.
And I love the way those paisas talk!!! To me it sounds like Brazilian portugese with Spanish words... and I just get enchanted every time I hear it!
I had the opportunity to go to Santa Fe de Antioquia for a day to check out "El Puente de Occidente" (designed by the same guy who did the Brooklyn Bridge), riding a Colombian rickshaw and take a refreshing swin in one of the many pools, in between the tamarind juices (local fruit). Very lovely getaway from the city.
We also explored the city, the planetarium, the university and the botanical garden. One day we took the
metro to the centre to have a look at the Botero parc. Botero is probably Colombia's most famous artist and makes paintings and sculptures of fat people and things - like humans and animals. It is a rather simple style, but I liked the park a lot.
And finally one day we took a tour to discover the life and all of the mysteries of Pablo Escobar. We got to see the headquarters which were blown out during the gang wars, some of his long ago non functional airplanes for transporting drugs (some of them would have been possible to skydive from...), the house where he lived with his family, and finally the house where he passed his last days, hunted by both Colombia and the US and finally got shot, while jumping from a window and running off on a neighbour's roof.
For the WE I had the chance to meet with my friend Juan, who was an exchange student with me in the US and that I hadn't met for 12 years (!), and his lovely girlfriend Jessica and some of their friends.
We went to the most known disco in Medellin on Friday night, called
Mango's. It is decorated in cowboy style, with tons of decors and cowboy uniforms for the waiters and waitresses. The music is "crossover" a mix of latinorythms and what they here call electronica (which is like europop). There are several stages for the employed (and guests) to dance and I was lauging so hard when two midgets came sliding down a fireman pole and started rocking to some europop beat, having a really nice coreography. Hahaha!
So we danced and danced, until it was time to go to back.
The next day I met Juan and Jessica again, this time to go to a bullfight. It was bullfight season and since I had never been to one I decided to take the opportunity to see one. Since in Europe (and Colombia too), there is always a lot of discussion, and people want to prohibit it, I had mixed feelings about it, but decided to go there with an open mind.
Juan and Jessica are passionate bullfighter spectators and it was a delicious experience going with them as they explained every little gesture the matador did and what was the different characteristics of him, and why the public reacted like
they did, what the way the matador waved his hat meant, what the juges say and why etc.
Before this experience, I actually thought that it was just about killing the bull, brutally, without giving him a chance and that was it. But that is not they way the fight is done. I recommend you, if you decide to go, to go with someone who knows the game and see it like an art, almost like a dance, or a play, where everyone has their defined and important role.
I liked it, and found my favorite bullfighter and I applauded with the rest of the public when he made the bull "dance" and buued and waved with the white handkerchief when the judges did not spare the bull's life despite very good performance.
In the night I had the opportunity again to go with Juan, Jessica and their friends to see Roger Sanchez play live!!! Again, a proof of how paisas are different from the rest of the country and how there is a techno culture here.
The concert was held in what I think is Medellin's biggest disco, called Carnaval. An Italian DJ, Mauro Picotto, was playing inside
the disco and Roger Sanchez outside, on a huge scene with enormous screens and tons of lights. And since the weather is perfect in Medellin, it was really nice all night long and we could dance as much as we wanted without sweating too much (ah, I forgot how it is going out dancing without getting really really warm when dancing, like in Cartagena, where the aircon does little to make you fresh... :o).
We had a WON-DER-FUL night under the stars, dancing away the hours that seemed to pass too quickly, to the electronic rythms of Sanchez, until way past sunrise.
And when Roger Sanchez stopped his unbelievably good concert, in the morning when it started to get light, we went inside to continue listening and dancing for a long time. What was really cool was that the roof opened up inside. In the beginning, while dancing away the sleepiness, you could see the stars when the roof opened up, and in the end, sometimes it got very light, and then you realized that the roof was open and the sunlight was coming in from the sun already high up in the sky.
Seriously, such a terrible night!!!!!!!! And
probably the best ending of my backpacking tour of Colombia that I could have!!!
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