I had no intention of going to Medellin, but after many people told me how innovate it was I felt the need to see for myself. My friend and I bought tickets to go see the second largest city in Colombia.
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| My travel buddy and good friend: Daniel. |
Once known as one of the most dangerous cities in South America, Medellin now has become a welcoming and safe place to live and visit. Much of this positive change can be attributed to the previous mayor, Sergio Fajardo. Fajardo, turned Medellin around from a distraught to an innovative city.
My friend and I took a walking tour and were told that just five years ago few visitors came to Medellin. Now, as my friend and I witnessed, tourists can be seen in every major street and site.
You may have heard stories of Medellin as being a very dangerous city. News and TV shows will give you a distorted story of the truth about the city. Our tour guide talked a little about this saying that movies have glorified Pablo Escobar, a drug lord in the Medellin area. During his lifetime, Medellin was a pretty dangerous place. Our tour guide told us that many of the Colombian schools refuse to talk about him, so many of the youth only witness the TV version of him. This has caused a mixed understanding and view of Pablo Escobar among the youth with the generation of Colombians who lived during his time.
Some of the highlights of our trip included…
- Over seeing the city at Pueblo Paisa.
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| At the end of the metro, there are cable cars that bring people from the metro to the barrios located on the sides of the mountains. (Sorry they are not in any of my photos). |
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| Medellin is the second biggest city in Colombia with about 2.5 million people. About the same size as Port-au-Prince, Haiti. |
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| You may notice that the city is kind of shaped like a bowl. |
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| One of the look out points over the city. |
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| Some artisanal touristy shops. |
- Walking through a “crafty” street market.
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| Walking the street market where, specialty foods, and hand made crafts were being sold. |
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| We of course bought some things as well as tried the free samples. |
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| Little wooden animal whistles. |
- Climbing "El Peñón de Guatapé" or the "Rock of Guatape" which boasts of the best view on earth. I have to admit it was breath-taking.
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| The view from above. |
- Walking through the town of Guatape.
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| We walked in and out of shops. |
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| Something unique in Guatape is the bright colored buildings and the craftsmanship put into the architecture. |
- Seeing all the sculptures in Plaza Botero. Fernando Botero, is probably the most famous Colombian artist. He is known for making disproportionate art. That is why the people look “fat” in his art.
- Learning about Medellin through a free walking tour.
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| Once a dangerous part of the city is now brightly lit public park. This light park is now a symbol of hope. |
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| The Belgium architect, Agustin Goovaerts created this Gothic style building, which was latter finished by Colombian architects. |
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| In this photo here you will notice two of Fernando Botero's sculptures. In the mid 90's A bomb was placed in the bird sculpture on the left, which blew up while a concert was taking place. And it killed over 20 people and injured many more. The bird that the bomb was placed in was left there as a reminder. The bird on the right was placed after the event. "Birds of Peace." This park was once lively, but now people hardly come to the park; its their way of trying to forget. |
- Enjoying bandeja paisa. Bandeja paisa is food that includes cooked beans, white rice, always some kind of meat (ground or fried beef, chicharron, chorizo sausage or what ever other option they have), fried egg, plantains, arepa, and avocado.
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| More or less what Bandeja paisa looks like. Just missing a few foods. |
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| Daniel enjoying his Bandeja paisa over an amazing view. |
