medellin


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South America » Colombia » Medellin
September 24th 2012
Published: September 25th 2012
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casa kiwicasa kiwicasa kiwi

adam hanging in the hammock today while i type...
we've had such a wonderful experience here in medellin, and i'm so glad to finally post about it all...

so we arrived here in medellin on friday evening, after that long bus ride from bucaramanga (we broke down and bought plane tickets from medellin to bogota because we are SICK of buses), and have stayed in 2 different hostels here. we stay one more night and leave for bogota tomorrow. the second hostel has been superiorly better...it's amazing how different they can be from one another, and how that significantly effects the experience. i'm typing now outside on a huge wood deck while adam's in a hammock and it's pouring rain/thundering out (love it), while enjoying the beer (on tap), and after having finished a few games of pool...so fun!

on saturday, cristian (carmen's cousin, the oldest son of tia blanca and tio alvero), picked us up in his car and took us on a wonderful tour of medellin. he has lived here with his wife alexandra (and daughter valentina, who is 7) for about 10 years and is also a civil engineer (just like adam, for those of you who don't know). we went to the top of a touristy little hill in central medellin where we could see the majority of the city from a nice park. we walked around and saw a little museum, bought some souvenirs, and had a protein packed lunch. we then parked the car and experienced medellin's pride and joy, their amazing mass transportation system. we traveled on high-speed transit trains to the center of the city, walked around the park and saw apprx 20 botero statues, then traveled out to the west side of the city where we took a french built gondola over several valleys and ghettos to subsedized housing that cristian himself has taken a part in building. it was incredible to see the poverty, the efficient and appreciated mode of transportation, and the gratitude of the local people (a woman on the gondola praised cristian up and down for the work his company had done to make these building possible and improve the lives of so many). this was probably my favorite experiance thus far in colombia, and i won't soon forget it!

on sunday we had the pleasure of enjoying the pool/sauna/bbq/fun at cristian's condo, and then relaxed back at the hostel. today we took a
medellin city viewmedellin city viewmedellin city view

from atop pueblita, the little touristy mountain we started our tour at, looking north
3 hour tour of medellin, the life of pablo escobar, and the land and cocaine issues that continue to afflict problems for the citizens here. it was very informative and interesting, we were really glad we did it.

so now we're off to brave the rain and enjoy our last dinner here in medellin! we miss everyone and can't wait to see some of you soon!! lots of love, xo!


Additional photos below
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cristian and carmencristian and carmen
cristian and carmen

pretty much the same city view, with props
medellinmedellin
medellin

this is also from pueblita looking more southeast
medellin lunchmedellin lunch
medellin lunch

atop pueblita
the foodthe food
the food

remember how is said protein packed? colombians love their meat!
downtown medellindowntown medellin
downtown medellin

old hotel in the background, and you can see the elevated railway in the right half of the shot
boterobotero
botero

more sculptures, there are apprx 20 located in this square in downtown medellin
botero bootybotero booty
botero booty

carmen, adam, and me
boterobotero
botero

man on a horse
botero statuebotero statue
botero statue

these are all done in bronze, ranging from 1987-2001
boterobotero
botero

woman on a horse
more boteromore botero
more botero

cristian, carmen and me
medellin familiamedellin familia
medellin familia

after a wonderful afternoon swimming and bbq'ing, from left: alexandra, cristian, valentina, adam, carmen, and me
railway and gondola stationrailway and gondola station
railway and gondola station

the view of people coming from downtown medellin to the west side of the town via the tram. the stations are immaculately clean as the people here take much pride in this efficient transit system
gondolagondola
gondola

the start of the gondola from the last tram station, making it's way north to take people home (whether to impoverished areas, or to the subsidized housing)
the housingthe housing
the housing

from the gondola it was hard to get a good shot of the housing projects that cristian has worked on, and kindly took us to see, but you get the idea. this is currently the end of the gondola line
from the gondolafrom the gondola
from the gondola

the view looking southeast as we make our descent down from the subsidized housing areas
mystic rosemystic rose
mystic rose

this is a location in medellin that is very popular to the poor and rich alike, the virgin mary was reportedly seen here many years ago and remains a place for people to come and pray or give thanks. even the surrounding trees are covered with messages from families who have visited the relic
where escobar diedwhere escobar died
where escobar died

the house on the right was owned by pablo's aunt. this was where he was hiding, and where he was killed, in 1993
gravesitegravesite
gravesite

the grave of pablo escobar, his is the largest on the far left, with other family members and even his last bodygaurd, named lemon, spanning to the right. pablo and lemon are the only ones who's bodies are buried, per colombia law, the rest were cremented, hence why the headstones are all crammed together
medellin park waterfallmedellin park waterfall
medellin park waterfall

nice little park on our walk back to the hostel from the tour, adam loves his camera :)
medellin lovemedellin love
medellin love

little leather sacks filled with dirt and plants hanging alongside a medellin home, such a cute idea!


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