Metro cable to Parque Arvi

This was the best day of our trip so far. Wow. 

We worked out that we could get to a national park with hiking trails by public transport and we set off after breakfast. First we took a taxi to a metro station, then took one line to Acevedo and then changed onto another line going to Santo Domingo. From Santa Domingo we knew we could take a cable car to the national park. What was amazing about this trip that the metro line that went from Acevedo to Santo Domingo was also a cable car and was part of the metro! I don't know of any other city in the world that has a cable car as part of the city's cheap public transport. 

The metro cable is about 10 years old and must have transformed the city. Many of the residential working class neighbourhoods like Santo Domingo are located high up in the mountains surrounding Medellin. Medellin centre is located in the basin made from the surrounding mountains and you can see houses on the the slopes in all directions. It's a pretty stunning city visually. Some areas of the city are almost 2000 metres above sea level. We had a good look at them through the window of the cable car.The air is cool up there, chickens, dogs and children seem to run around freely. Church services are held in structures that have no walls and a bit of tarp for a room, laundry dries in a zigzag of lines across flat roof terraces.

A taxi driver the night before had warned us that it wasn't safe to take the metro cable and we didn't understand why, so we asked him. He said that "comunes" get into the cars and cause trouble. Comunes? Delinquents. Kids from the poor neighbourhoods targeting rich out of towners getting the metro to the national park Fortunately, no "comunes" got on our cable car. A woman with her young son, and a family from out of town. We all chatted amiably. We learned that there were lines of over an hour during rush hour to catch a cable car. About 6 people can fit in one, so it would take a while for a queue to go down.

Santo Domingo was the end of the line - a barrio high up the mountain overlooking the city. We transferred to another cable car that would take us to the national park.

Jardin Botanico

To take a break from the craziness that was El Centro, we jumped back on the Metro and got off at Universidad. It's a quiet, spacious neighbourhood housing several museums, the university and the botanical gardens. We often seek out botanical gardens on our travels. Actually, our first date was a rainy walk in the botanical gardens in Sydney over 21 years ago. We have since been to botanical gardens in Argentina, Brazil, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Singapore. We spent a couple of hours in the peaceful gardens here in Medellin along with the cats, giant lizards and snogging couples.

We learned a new word in the cafe there: "chorro". We guessed (incorrectly) from context that a "chorro" of milk meant a drop, but it actually means a "ton". Lukewarm milk with a hint of coffee was pretty hard to stomach. We were confusing it with una "gota" de leche. Won't make that mistake again.

For lunch we tried a menu ejecutiva which is a set lunch and very cheap. Everything seems to come with some version of fried bananas, rice, avocados, corn, arepas (fried cornbread with cheese) and refried beans. Lovely, but I might get sick of it quite quickly.

Plazoleta de las Esculturas and Museo de Antioquia

The artist (he of chubby dancers and the like) was from Medellin and his work seems to be everywhere. Actually, he donated all of the pieces in the museum including controversial painting produced in 1998 called "Escobar dying". The plaza outside contains around a dozen voluminous bronze statues. Inside the museum was also work by other Colombian artists. Another blogger took some photos inside. I like the chubby Jesus painting...http://bohemiantraveler.com/2010/12/botero-museo-antioquia-medellin-colombia/

Dotted around the square were vendors selling hats; clerks sitting at little desks, type-writers poised ready to type to order; people with weighing scales - for 2000 pesos they would tell you what you wanted to hear; jewelry sales people; people selling balloons; men offering to take your photo in front of a statue for 5000 pesos; and pigeons. Always pigeons.

Medellin

I have been too busy to write my blog which is a good sign that I am having a great trip!

We spent three fabulous and fun packed days and nights in Medellin. As we left the city in a taxi, I said to David that even if we did nothing else in Colombia, I would consider my trip to have been amazing. I hardly took any photos in Medellin as we tended to leave our phones safely in the hotel. I took my camera out a couple of times, so I'll be able to download my photos later.

Medellin is quite different from other parts of Colombia. Firstly, the climate is absolutely perfect. It's known as the "City of eternal spring" as the temperature stays at around 25 degrees all year round. Secondly, the people proudly "Paisa" which means that they are very proud of their Antioquia roots. People from Antioquia are known to be hardworking and independent. The region seems to have always had an entrepreneurial spirit and is the main place for coffee growing and exportation. The "Zona Cafetera" is also probably still the main region for drugs...Medellin has had a fairly violent recent past, and today it is still considered to be a little edgy. It's only listed as the 14th most violent city in the world now. Big time drugs gangster Pablo Escobar was killed in 1996 and although there are still a lot of small drugs cartels based around here, it is nothing like it used to be.

We had booked a hotel called the Dan Carlton Belfort in the leafy Castropol area of the city between the neighbourhoods of Poblado and Industriales. It was a fairly traditional, but beautiful 5 star hotel up in the hills with good views of the city. They upgraded us to a suite which made me very happy after 12 hours on a scary bus.

I'll post some highlights as separate blog entries

Pool time

Love the constant Colombian tango music!
http://youtu.be/HK2tB-ASa9w

Yummy breakfast

Beans & rice, eggs, mini choris, spicy relish and

Parque Berro

This place was a blast. So many things going on. A lot of men aged 60+ hanging out - all wearing checked shirts; vendors of just about everything; musicians; pigeons. The noise was deafening.

We popped into the beautiful basilica and then did a lap of its outer walls. They were lined with knock-off DVDs - religious films one side, porn and everything else the other.

On the other part of the plaza was a busy market. We followed the crowds. Men sat in bars drinking beer. Vendors peddled fruit we'd never heard of. Ugly 1960s tower-blocks loomed. Outside the casino (across from the church full of people singing praise to a fiesta beat), prostitutes waited for business. Central Medellin is a crazy place. We loved it.