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Published: September 25th 2012
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casa 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 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!
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