Colombia - Medellin

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Suzanne here...

Although we weren't ready to leave Guatape, sadly we had to. The Medellin bus filled up very quickly, so I was glad we'd bought our tickets the previous day. It was another lovely journey with stunning scenery. We reached Terminal del Norte at 2.30pm. Given the bargainous cost, a taxi was the sensible option. But after the faff with the last guy we couldn't be bothered. We much prefer public transport and there was a metro line from the bus station to a stop ten minutes walk from our hotel. It worked really well and at 3pm we arrived at the Orange Travellers Suites.

We were staying in Medellin for six nights so we'd booked an aparthotel, i.e. a room with a little kitchenette. As soon as we walked in we were happy. Clean, modern and a decent size. Our first priority was the supermarket. No point in having a kitchen and not saving a bit of money by eating in. We got some basic store-cupboard supplies, alcohol, and ingredients for the first three meals, all for £45. We were looking forward to some home comforts and six whole nights in the same place. Incidentally the joint longest we've ever stayed anywhere, travelling or on holiday.

Dinner that night was steak, onions and salad, and even if I do say so myself it was delicious. We had also bought some aguardiente, Colombia's national drink. It was pretty tasty. David pointed out that it tasted like Bonjella. Luckily we both like Bonjella. A lazy night, but good to have our own space.

The reason we were in Medellin so long is that we'd enrolled in a week of Spanish lessons. We were kicking ourselves for not practicing during recent months as we'd meant to. The rustiness of our (already basic) Spanish was making life difficult. While we couldn't expect fluency in a week, we hoped it would help us get by. The school we chose was Toucan, mainly as their website was very professional. It felt very odd getting up on Monday morning and walking to school. Luckily the class was really enjoyable. There were only four of us and our classmates, Melinda and Clayton, seemed nice. The four hours flew by.

We went straight home after the class as we a) had to plan the rest of our stay in Colombia and b) if we did not keep up with the Spanish homework and revision we'd be wasting our money. So not the most thrilling afternoon but by the end of it we had booked flights and hotels and done some Spanish so it was time well spent. I cooked some pasta for tea which sounds boring but was rather nice after eating out so much.

Tuesday was more of the same, breakfast then off to school. The class was really good. The only slight issue for us is that we would rather it was tailored more for holiday and travel phrases. But the specific travel course they offer is two weeks, which seemed a long time to stay in one place. At least we were getting the basics and improving our pronunciation. We were also finding that some of the Spanish from five years ago was beginning to come back.

After class we headed straight for Medellin's modern art gallery. Not the best gallery we have ever been to but worth an hour and a few things that caught our interest such as a sound installation by David Escallon. We stayed out for a while, with lunch of beer and sandwich in Parque Central. Then made our way home via the supermarket. I was glad we had no other plans as my legs were still hurting from our Guatape climb. For the rest of the afternoon we did some more Spanish, then I cooked dinner of chilli. Just from a tin, which I'd never do at home, but it was still nice to actually cook and with tortillas, guacammole and sour cream it wad pretty tasty.

Class started late on Wednesday as the teacher had an appointment, so we got a bit longer in bed before breakfast. We dropped some laundry off on the way in - nearky 50k pesos! We'd heard laundry was expensive in Colombia but blimey. That afternoon we'd booked onto a walking tour of Medellin. It was pretty good. Not unmissable. Much of it was focused on the history of the city. Which was ok, it's just that we'd expected more 'sights' and less sitting around listening (especially after a four hour lesson that morning). Still, not bad and we'd finally seen a bit of Medellin.

Even though the tour was not exactly what we had expected, it was interesting. Our guide, Julio, was quite matter-of-fact about the turbulent past of Colombia, and Medellin in particular. The drug cartels and guerrillas pretty much made Medellin the murder capital of the world in the '80s and '90s. One of the most poignant sights we saw was a Botero sculpture of a bird, mangled when a bomb went off at a music festival, killing 23 people. Knowing the selective memories people can have, Botero himself insisted the wrecked statue be left in place as a memorial, donating an identical new one to place by its side. The turnaround in Colombia and Medellin is remarkable. Of course it's not perfect and there is still poverty and crime, but things are definately a world away from the past.

After the tour we walked back to the Laureles area, where we'd stayed a night on the way to Guatape. To be honest I think I prefer it to Poblado. It still feels safe, but also more real. Poblado is great, but all the tourist and expats do gravitate there. On the way we had an amazing burrito at the California Burrito Company in the Unicentro shopping centre. Best burrito of the trip so far. The main reason for returing to Laureles was to collect a combination lock we use to lock our packs together we'd accidentely left at the last hotel. Luckily it was still there. The other was to return to Custom Rock Bar. Not so luckily, it was closed, Boo. We cut our losses and took the metro back to our nice apartment. It's worth mentioning how clean and new looking the 21 year old metro is. Our guide on the tour that day told us that the people are so proud of it (it's the only one in the country, even Bogota doesn't have a metro) that nobody drops litter or vandalises it.

Thursday was Spanish again, of course. Then in the afternoon we collected our washing (perhaps washed in angel's tears) and dropped that off at the apartment. We also took a couple of (incredibly delicious) empanadas back for lunch. Then we caught the metro a couple of stops north and walked up a hill (and more bloody stairs) to Pueblito Paisa, a re-creation of an old Colombian town. Well we knew it was small, but it was tiny! We were done in five minutes. Still, great views and a good excuse to stop for a beer (we need excuses as you know). Possibility not really worth the journey but pleasant enough and it gave us some exercise. We then returned to do some Spanish revison. We got to see a rather impressive thunderstorm from the comfort of the apartment. I cooked pasta for dinner and we had another night in, making the most of the apartment.

Friday was sadly our last Spanish class. We'd initially wondered if the course would be boring, but we really enjoyed it. If we didn't have flights and accommodation booked already we would have done another week. Oh well. Hopefully now we have made a start we'll carry on ourselves. After class we tried to summon up the enthusiasm to do some sightseeing, as it was a beautiful afternoon but couldn't quite make ourselves. It hammered it down a couple of hours later so perhaps it was the right thing to do. In fact, we even had some hail. Most odd considering it was so warm, probably about 25 degrees.

It was also the last night in the apartment. It was raining again, so we were happy to spend the evening in. I cooked a huge steak and then we had a bottle of wine and relaxed. Yes, the apartment cost more than a backpacking budget allows. We justified it saying we'd need somewhere to revise in comfort. But it's been more than that. We did spend a lot of time there. Just having a bit of space to come back to, having cooking facilities and generally putting down some roots, albeit for just a week, made it worthwhile. The stuff you take for granted at home.

Despite this, when we decided to extend our Medellin stay by a night it was hard to justify the expense of the apartment. Particularly as it was a Saturday and we planned to spend very little time in as there were two rock bars in the city centre we wanted to try. So, we'd booked a night at a cheaper hotel near the bars. We knew the area was a bit dodgy, and worryingly our tour guide said he usually advises people not to go out in that area at night. Our Spanish teacher seemed less than keen too. But the bars we'd earmarked were a three minute walk from the hotel, so we decided to chance it. Obviously being sensible and not flashing cash and electronics about like fools. Or as they say around here, 'no dar papaya'.

We sadly left the apartment ("this is the last time we'll walk down our road". "We'll never visit that supermarket again etc, etc) and caught the metro to the city centre. Gallery Hotel was about 10 minutes walk from there. It was a different world from quiet Poblado, noisy and crowded. Still, we had known this in advance. The hotel itself was pretty nice, Rather industrial looking, but we don't mind that. The room was big, and clean.

After dumping our stuff we went out to look around Plaza Botero, which features 23 huge sculptures created, and donated by, Botero. Oh, and a lot of blatent prostitution. I did say things were not perfect. The Museo de Antiquia was next, and is also heavily dependant on Botero's donations. It was a great little gallery actually, with some excellent artwork.

We had a late lunch / early tea at Hacienda, recommended for traditional Colombian food by our guide. We both had the most traditional dish of Medellin, Bandeja Paisa - pork, chorizo, blood sausage, plantain, beans, rice, a fried egg, and an odd (allegedly) beef dish which I can only describe as meaty sand. It was all very tasty, bar the meaty sand, although David even enjoyed that.

We relaxed back at the hotel for a bit, then went out to the rock bars we'd found. The first one, Rock Symphony, was small and packed but we grabbed the last table. There was a bit of confusion when the barman misunderstood our pronunciation of 'Aguila' (a brand of beer) as 'tequilla', but I spotted what had happened in time and we got our beers. We stayed for three. A nice bar and good music but we wanted to check the other one out.

Bar number two was Retro Rock - rock and metal club. It wasn't a club, nor particularly retro, and there was not even much rock. What there was a lot of was metal. The kind by obscure bands whose illegible logos look like tree roots. It was small, black, and incredibly dark. So naturally we loved it. After another Aguila/tequilla moment (perhaps we should just change our brand of beer) we settled down for a night of beer and metal. To be honest we only knew a few of the songs, but it was our kind of music and we were happy.

We were just thinking about heading off when the guy next to us, who we had not really chatted to, went up to the bar and pointed at us. Turned out he was asking what we were drinking, and a moment later he had bought us two beers. We cheered him, but he did not seem to want to chat. Just as well with the volume level and our terrible Spanish. We guessed it was just because we were visitors to his town. We were unsure what do do next. Would it upset him if we returned the favour as we were the visitors? Or should we reciprocate? We'd just decided to do the British thing and buy a round when he shook our hands enthusiastically and left! We had one more. The music was becoming more recognisable and we both wanted to stay, but good sense prevailed as we had a flight the next day. We got back at about 1am. The walk back was fine. Plenty of people around and it did not feel dangerous. In any case, we were back at the hotel in three minutes flat.

Breakfast was a thin chicken soup and half (!) an arepa. Seemed rather stingy, although the terrace bar was very cute. We'd timed our departure terribly as Southampton were at Wembley for the league cup final. This is not something that happens very often. Kick-off was 11.30am local time We should have stayed another day or got a later flight so we could have watched it in a bar or the hotel. Fools. Instead we watched the first half hour before having to set off for the airport. We walked to Hotel Nutiba and caught the airport bus. All went smoothly and we were there in an hour. After checking in we looked up the score - Man Utd. 3, Saints 2. What a match to miss. :-( We consoled ourselves with a rather tasty burger from Pronto, then went through to our gate.

We've absolutely loved Medellin and are very sad to leave. It's a city I could see myself living in. But we've spent more than enough time here and there is plenty more of Colombia to explore.

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