Medellin. No, not meh-del-lin, it's med-eh-yin.
Famous for?... Yep, unfortunately, Pablo Escobar and his drug cartel. Although he is regarded by some as a benefactor to the city and area, he remains a very controversial figure because of the huge damage he did to Colombia and it's reputation. There's actually an Escobar museum in the city, but many taxi drivers will not take you there, such is the bad feeling, and those that are willing to take you reportedly receive a fee from the museum.
The city sits in a bowl, surrounded by mountains. In the centre of the bowl is the hustle bustle of a modern city, shops, markets and cars - lots of them - but just as many motorbikes. Surrounding the centre, slightly higher, up are the suburbs. Then from the base of the mountains extending up to the top are the barios, containing the poorer neighbourhoods. Seen from the city last night, the bario lights appear as a cloud of stars hanging in the sky, it's very striking.
We've arrived! Well at least some of us. We're at half strength today and very jet lagged, but that's never stopped us exploring before!
Hugo, Gerard, Alan, Christopher, Steve and myself, and we're joined by my ex-work colleague and friend, Esther, who by some coincidence has been living in Medellin for almost a year! Christopher and I last saw her in Valencia in our 2024 Morocco trip. But this is perfect as we now have a local guide - woohoo! 🎉
Our first excursion is to Plaza Botero, filled with sculptures by Colombian artist Fernando Botero. These are a very unusual style with very rounded and full figured subjects, people and animals, sometimes in strange poses! But before we start, I ask Esther is there are any particular things we should be aware of, to which she replies that we should be careful about openly displaying our valuables. This spooks Steve, who always has his large DSLR camera in hand when we're on these walks. It's the first place where we've been warned this way and it makes us all a bit wary. None the less we capture some good images of the sculptures with our smartphones.
It was a Saturday and extremely busy, full of people, families, but no obvious sign of foreign tourists.
We then walk through the bustling market, again full of street food and people, buyers, sellers, and some selling themselves! One can just tell these things by the clothing covering, or not covering, body shapes of all sizes, some perhaps inspiration for Botero himself... 🫣
Then we take an Uber ride to another popular Medellin tourist attraction, Comuna 13.
Once this was one of the world's most dangerous neighborhoods, plagued by cartels and conflict, but has evolved into a vibrant cultural hub through community resilience, and residents have transformed their narrative with colorful murals, hip-hop, and dance, showcasing a powerful story of transformation from violence to hope and innovation. (text stolen from a post by Christopher).
But this was even more crowded and we often struggled to walk even a few paces. Communa 13 is a bario that blankets this side of Medellin's surrounding slopes and it rises steeply into the mountain.
Stairs are steep and plentiful, but there's also a series of escalators that were a gift from Japan! That makes getting around easier but it's a strange sight in this environment.
But some is the local art is even stranger and it's full of unusual studies and colours, that give the place a unique vibe and character.
Then down, and Uber back to the hotel. Dinner is in a steak restaurant. We are just in time to hear some live music played while we eat. Not always a good thing, but bearable and the food was good.
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