Medellin and mountainous magic

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Medellin has an interesting reputation. As Mum and Dad pointed out with great worry; it was once the cocaine capital of Colombia and where Pablo Escobar and his cartel were based. But those days are well over and the people of Medellin are pretty keen to move on from it. In fact there are efforts underway to turn it into a bilingual city. We then met lots of back packers who said the nightlife was great and that English was widely spoken and it was one of their favourite Colombian cities.
We had a great time whilst there, but in truth the city left me a little cold. We didn't get to explore a great deal but what we saw was just a big sprawling city, without the attitude and vibe of a city like Bogota. The public transport system is super efficient though, a train links directly to the bus station and took us practically to where we wanted to be. The city is reputed to be the city of spring due to it's weather, which for the most part is pleasant and warm, however quite rainy. Although this means that the water is great to drink, which is lovely after having to drink bottled water all along the coast.

We spent about 20 ridiculous minuted searching for Casa Kiwi and after much ridicule and gesticulating from the locals we found it (we'd walked past it about 7 times). It was full however, so we went around the corner to Hostel Tamarindo, very clean and quiet. We were exhausted having had no sleep on the night bus so napped most of the afternoon. A feeble attempt was made to go out and enjoy the apparently fantastic nightlife of the city but we were too exhausted. Anna felt unwell so went to bed, I sat up and had some beers with our dorm mates Josh (Australian) and James (USA).

The next day we had a fabulous day trip out to El Peñol and Guatape. El Peñol is an absolutely enormous rock plonked atop beautiful green verdant valleys with a sparkling man made lake at its feet. There are 635 steep steps carved into the side of the rock which with much huffing and puffing we managed to ascend. The view up there is magnificent and absolutely worth the exertion with the whole landscape spread beneath in such rich colours, almost good enough to eat! We seemed to be the flavour of the day with many locals wanting to practice their English with us, including a teenaged boy whose grandmother seemed determined to set us up with him!

From the bottom of the rock, amazingly painted clattering shuttle buses take you to the nearby town of Guatape, which is absolutely charming. All the buildings are painted in those vibrant clashing colours typical of Latin America and the streets are quiet and cobbled. But most spectacular are the bottom panels of the walls on all the houses. They all have 3D carved pictures on them, ranging from llamas and flowers to giraffes!
That night we again attempted to go out, it was Saturday night after all! But we found the nightlife dissapointing. All the bars in the backpackers areas are really expensive and mostly filled with Westerners or really rich locals. We got absolutely soaked on our way out and once there were just not digging it. So we retreated a little dissapointed to our hostel. But once there we actually had a great night, we played a drinking card games with our two dorm mates and a bottle of aguardiente! (The local spirit, a little like sambuca) It may not have been an authentic night out but was very fun. We actually spent most of the night "waxing Melbourne" much to James' chagrin. It made me remember actually how much I love it back home.

The next day we decided we wanted to move on, not being particuarly enthralled in such a big impenetrable city. Getting to Manizales was actually a little difficult because it was a Sunday, but mostly because it was the World Cup final. Nobody wanted to deal with us because they were watching the game. While we waited in the bus station we sat with a huge crowd in front of a tv and jumped and yelled along with them. Viva España! We took a bus down to Manizales, which we thought was a smallish town, but is actually quite a big sprawling city. The bus ride there is beautiful though as you are going through the Zona Cafetera, the coffee growing region, which is huge mountainous and the richest green.

Although the city wasn't so exciting, Manizales is the base for the extraordinary Parque Nacional Los Nevados. We went on our tour, which was a little expensive but really the only way to do it. They are quite strict on their rules for the park so as to protect it's important water sources etc.
In the park there are three volcanic peaks, one of which we were to climb. The problem with the tour is that you are only able to do one day and you ascend to a great height, so altitude can be abit of a problem. On the way we drank coca tea and ate bananas to help our bodies adjust. We stopped for breakfast and befriended another lovely couple from New Zealand.
Our guide was a very serious man, who obviously loved the environment and was very scathing of the government for over-farming the area. It was great to meet someone with such evident passion for the environment!
We arrived at the bottom of our Volcano and it was absolutely freezing! We were very grateful that we bought those extra thermal tops! The bus stops at 4700m and you are able to go as far as 5000m before you hit too much snow and need proper snow gear to ascend further. The slope didn't look too bad and it was only 300 metres right? WRONG! The altitude was so extreme, after about 10 metres of walking you're completely out of breath and your head and heart are pounding like a huge loud drum! It took about an hour and a half to reach the top, but if you take it really slowly and stop frequently it is fine, just no sitting down!
Anna and I probably had the best time because (much to everyone else's shock) we had only seen snow about twice in our lives and on this day not only were we walking on it, but it was snowing on us! We were like little kids, I really wanted to make a snow angel but thought better of wetting my clothes. We made it to the top and the view is so stunning, you can see the other two peaks and everything is shrouded in this mysterious and magical mist and you just can't believe where you are! WOW

On the way back you have lunch and then a wonderful stopover at the thermal baths just out of town. It is actually just the swimming pool of a very very very very swanky hotel, but the water is channeled through big pipes directly from the natural springs and it is super hot, naturally! After sitting about 20 minutes you go and splash yourself with cool water for relief! But it was wonderful and soaked all of that arctic cold out of our bones. We felt we had earnt the relaxation after all our hard work.

The altitude gave us both thumping headaches and exhausted us, but we were both beaming and proud and thrilled at having had such a unique experience!

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