Modern Medellin

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We had another slowish start to our day, and packed up and checked out of the hostel. We got breakfast at Sams before catching the bus to Medellin.

In Medellin, we took the metro to our hostel. It's sure nice to have a metro since buses are usually hard to figure out for me. Even the Trans Milenio in Bogota seemed unnecessarily complicated. Medellin is the only city in Colombia with a metro, and in general this city seems very modern by comparison. The city sits in a valley, and the elevated metro is actually a great way to see the city.

We found our hostel in a quiet neighbourhood on the southern end of the city, and checked in. We booked a private room, and it was really nice, like a nice hotel room. With satellite TV. So far, it's the nicest place we've stayed. But we can't spend all day in a hostel room, no matter how nice it is, so we set out to go do some stuff in Medellin.

We hopped on the the metro and headed downtown. Downtown is a lot busier than the neighbourhood our hostel is in, but it seems like an interesting place to spend some time. Maybe it looks a little dodgier, but I'm not sure that it really is. Medellin is a very safe city overall.

We were hungry, so we popped into a vegetarian cafe. Actually, it was a cafetria run by Hare Krishnas. So that was something. Good food, nice people. But our real purpose in coming downtown was to visit the Museo Antioquia.

The Museo Antioquia is right downtown off a good sized square full of statues by the city's prodigal son, Fernando Botero. Inside the museum, there's more Botero artwork, and lots of other cool art by other artists. The square was full of people just hanging out, sitting next to, around, or on the Botero statues. Climbing right onto the statues does not seem like a problem here. And there are lots of vendors selling snacks, and drinks, and whatever else the crowds will buy. There's a good energy in that square, and everyone was smiling and seemed very content and relaxed.

In the square, we met William who chatted with us for a while. We're wary of strangers who approach us in busy squares and start talking to us, but William was a genuinely nice guy. And older citizen of Medellin, he was just happy to say hello and chat about where we were from and where we'd been in Colombia. The people of Medellin are very proud of their city, and he introduced us to his friend Victor, who is a tour guide. Again, we were wary of the sales pitch that we seemed to be ensnared in, but Victor was also a really nice guy who was proud of his city. He wasn't pushy at all about selling us a tour, just told us some things and casually gave us his card if we decided we wanted to go on a tour later. Everyone seems really friendly here.

We went back to the hostel before heading out again to the Christmas light display on the river, called Alumbrados. On the metro, an older American chatted us up. He had moved to live in Colombia because it was cheaper than the US, and he says a lot of other people have too. In fact, there are lot's of condo developments going up specifically to cater to Americans moving to Medellin. He also warned us to be careful walking to the river, but having been in Colombia for a few weeks now, we know the drill, and we told him we'd be fine, and we were fine.

The Alumbrados is a big Christmas light festival that runs along several kilometres of river in Medellin. Actually, they've strung lights right across the river. It's quite a spectacle. There's lot's of light sculptures, for lack of a better term, and they are very detailed. It's pretty impressive. We ate some hot dogs and got some popcorn. Oh, and the popcorn is sold from little pushcarts that all have massive flames inside of them. They're cooking with gas down here!

We walked through the lights and saw a hologram fountain show. But after a little under anhour, we'd reached our saturation point. It was pretty crowded, and the light sculptures along the river, although impressive, got a little repetitive. Fish, boat, fish, boat, fish, boat.... ok, we've seen it. So we walked to next metro station and went back to hostel. It wasn't too late, but we were pretty tired and went to bed.

The next morning we got breakfast down the street at a bakery and enjoyed some Bunuelos and strudels. I'm really starting to love Bunuelos! And we needed a nice filling (quick and cheap) breakfast because we had a bit of a day planned.

First, we took the metro to the botanical garden and walked around there for a while. There was a really cool area with orchids that was most impressive because of the giant wooden structure over top. I won't bother trying to describe it so just check out the pictures. It's really neat.

Our next destination was going to be a park near the top of one of the mountains on the edge of the city. To get there, you have to take the metro and two cable cars, which I was pretty excited about. Because the city is built in a valley and many neighbourhoods stretch up the mountainside, the city has built a cable car network as part of it's metro system to serve those who live up higher. And it's very useful for those neighbourhoods, which tend to be poorer, so it's their best means of getting to and from work.

Unfortunately for us though, things didn't go as smoothly as planned. It was a Saturday, and the line for the cable car was half an hour long, and by the time we got to the top of the first cable car, they'd shut down the second cable car because the park was full, and they weren't letting anyone else in. So we had to give up. At least we got to ride the cable car, which is all I really wanted out of it anyway, and we got some good views of the city.

We went back to the hostel instead, and Vanessa had a nap. Afterwards, we walked around the Poblado neighbourhood where our hostel is located. It's pretty nice. There's a cool restaurant/bar area around a small park, and it makes for a good atmosphere. We ate some tasty pizza, drank dome delicious local craft beer, and headed back to the hostel.

I had wanted to meet some people at the hostel, but most people were heading out clubbing or reading on their computers. I got tired anyway and went to our room to watch the end of Bridesmaids with Vanessa on our swanky satellite TV.

On our Sunday morning, we slept in a bit. We chatted to some guys from Colorado at our hostel before grabbing breakfast. It was our last (half day) in Medellin, so we couldn't stray too far, and went for a short walk around the area. It was hot, so we popped into an air conditioned Exito to use their bathrooms.

And that was all we had time for. We grabbed bags from the hostel, took the metro to Centro, and caught a bus to the airport. We're finally heading to the coast!



Medellin is a nice city, for sure. And it feels (and is) safer than every other big city in Colombia. It's modern and the people are very friendly. Definitely seems like the most livable place in terms of making the transition from a North American lifestyle, which explains why so many Americans are moving here. I can't say I blame them.

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