2 Medellin 2 Furious

Couldn't resist some more Boteros

After booking my flight north and realising I didn't really like Bogota at all, I made the decision to spend my last 5 days in Colombia in my favourite city by far, Medellin. This was an easy choice despite the inconvenience of night buses, and this time I got to see a different side of the city.

Instead of staying in the party-mad El Poblado district like last time, I went with a couple of mates from Bogota to a nice hostel in the quieter Laureles district near the football stadium. This meant that we got a much more 'local' feel from our stay as this part of town was not as used to tourism. While we got some stares, we also got the opportunity to blend in a bit more with the local way of life.

I went to a museum and saw this. Just a lot of dead nuns.

Laureles was great, a classy area of the city with a lot going on. There were a couple of main streets where we spent a lot of time hunting for dinner and drinks, and a lot of friendly people to chat to. A favourite spot was a street stall that sold ice cold Milo where curious Colombians would often to chat and ask me about life in New Zealand. Most of them don't know where it is, but then again nor do some Australians.

On a Friday night, we went a few blocks over to Calle Setentima (70th Street) where we basically bar crawled a seemingly endless stream of salsa bars and tapas joints. We sampled lots of the main liquor of the region, Aguardiente, a potent, clear spirit made from sugar cane, along with a hefty bit of rum.

This church overlooks what used to be one of the most dangerous squares in the city. Now there are tours here.

We also took a city tour which I didn't do the first time with the highly recommended Real City Tours. The guide knew his stuff, and told us a lot about the history of the city. In general, he told us that the people of Medellin were tired of violence and that, plus prudent government and an iron fist against the cartels, has driven Medellin's astonishing transformation from world murder capital in 1997 to topping a must-visit list by Lonely Planet in 2017. 

One thing that I didn't expect to be a part of the tour was the Metro. I had noticed with unlike the public transport of almost anywhere else in the world, Medellin's trains and cable cars are spotless and free of tagging. The guide explained that this was because the citizens saw the Metro as a symbol of hope for the city, a monument to a brighter future which first opened during the darkest days of violence in the late 1990s. To this day it is the only light rail system in Colombia, and a symbol of pride for the locals.

A return to peace means an opportunity for things to get weird. Pretty sure this was performance art?

I also took a trip up some of the cable cars to look out over the city, which are an important part of the Metro system for people living in the steep hillsides. The first one took me up to a district in the northern suburbs that had a market and some city views. At the same station was another one that led further up and I assumed it dropped you right at the top of the hill at a lookout, but instead it went over the top and kept going! Fifteen minutes later we were set down in national park way over the hill from the city, out of sight and well away from the noise and bustle of the metropolis. It was a great place to explore and a fun way to spend the afternoon on a low budget ($4AUD return ticket on the cable car).

Medellin is a wonderful place, and I wish I could stay. It has such a rich culture and atmosphere that I just can't get enough of. I didn't even see all the parts I wanted to see, so maybe there's an excuse to go back soon? For now though, it's back to Bogota to catch my flight to Mexico!

What could be more Medellin than a litre Medellin Rum in a cardboard box?

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