We hit a slight snag en route to Medellin when we were held up at the Barranquilla airport for a few hours. I think it had something to do with the military plane catching on fire on the runway earlier that morning. Apparently the planes had been held for some time, because we ran into a couple other volunteers there who were supposed to be on an earlier flight to Bogota. Needless to say, they were not in a peasant mood. After some complimentary/apologetic apple-flavored soda provided by the airline, we were on our way. Because we had to change our original flight, naturally there was a mix up and my friend's checked bag was lost by the time we arrived at the Medellin airport. During this second airport delay, I took advantage of the Dunkin Donuts stand they had in the airport. These are not found on the coast and I have seen many people bring a dozen donuts back from the interior. I had to take advantage when I could. We eventually made it to the hostel in one piece after "traveling" for about 10 hours, including about 1.5 hours of actual flight time. By the time we got to the hostel, we were all starving and we immediately hit the bricks looking for a place to eat. We found a Mexican food restaurant that actually had sauces with spice in them. Spiciness is another thing not found often, if at all, on the coast.
Our first actual day in Medellin, we just wanted to walk around for a bit. We visited Plaza Botero, which houses several statues by Colombian artist Fernando Botero. His signature style is giving all his subjects some "meat on their bones." Essentially super sizing them. It might be the American side of me talking, but I am quite fond of his work.
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| Which one is the Botero statue? |
The following day we decided to visit this recreation of a Colombian village called El Pueblito Paisa. It's located on a hill in the middle of Medellin. After climbing a fair amount of stairs (a theme of the trip), we reached the summit of this tourist trap. It was a kitschy little square block or so, but it had a great view of Medellin. Next we headed to this area where some outside escalators were installed to help people commute from their homes in the hills much easier. Medellin is a very hilly city and at times it seems as though one is climbing up a mountain face. It was interesting to see these escalators in the middle of this poorer neighborhood. There were 6 sets of escalators and we rode them up the hill. There were plenty of local kids playing on the escalators which had an attendant situated at each one, which seemed a bit odd for how poor the neighborhood seemed to be. We found out that the escalators had only been running for about three months. Later we were able to find a place that served one of the area's renown dishes: La Bandeja Paisa. Traditionally, this plate includes rice, beans, sausage, a fried egg, and avocado. But the place we found threw in a quarter of a chicken and a mound of fries as well. Not too shabby. Afterward, in a daze of gluttony, we all decided to get matching spray-on seahorse tattoos. Why? Because that's just what friends do.
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| El Pueblito Paisa |
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| Outdoor Escalators |
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| "What Pride! We live in the only neighborhood in the world with public escalators." |
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| Seahorse Club ASSEMBLE! |
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| Oh baby |
The next day we made a trip out to a mammoth rock called El Peñón de Guatapé. We hiked the 740 steps to the top where there is a beautiful view of the surrounding valley, as well as a number of overpriced gift shops and restaurants. I couldn't help but think that making it up and down those steps everyday does not make for a fun commute to work. When we got back into Medellin, we treated ourselves to another taste of home: Domino's Pizza. It was quite refreshing to have pizza that a) had a crust with a measurable thickness b) used more than a fine mist of pizza sauce and c) definitely did not use queso costeño.
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| View from the top |
We went to a nature reserve on the Rio Claro the next day, July 4th. Highlights on the trip there included: a) a small traffic delay due to a large chunk of road that had just crumbled down the mountain b) a couple military tanks parked at a gas station c) another short traffic delay due to two buses that had crashed head-on and d) a baby vomited a few rows in front of me, which in turn caused another child to vomit (reminiscent of the pie eating contest scene from Stand By Me). Luckily this reserve was this beautiful spot located on a river in the jungle. Our hotel rooms only had three walls, so you can fall asleep and wake up to the sounds of nature. The first day we went rafting with a few other people staying at the reserve. Although we only encountered miniscule class one rapids, one girl still managed to fall out of the raft. During this trip, we stopped a couple of times to try out a rope swing or a jump off an overhanging tree branch. After one of my tries on the rope swing, I noticed that one of my fingers had a kink in it. As it would turn out, I had a fracture in it that I would find out after I got back and I'll talk about that ordeal in the next post. Although that night we didn't have any fireworks to celebrate our American-ness, there was an intense thunder storm that rolled in and we were treated to quite a show from the comfort of our three-walled rooms. The next day we did a bit of zip lining and more relaxing by the river before heading back to Medellin.
On our last full day there, we took the metro to cable cars that go up the mountain that Medellin is positioned at the foot of. At the very top of the mountain is a park, but it was closed by the time we got there. It was still worth it for the ride in the cable cars. Our flight was to leave early the next morning, so instead of booking another night in the hostel, we decided to go clubbing all night and head to the airport early the next morning. We were able to make it through the night and made it safely back to Barranquilla in one piece...except for my finger.
There were a few differences that I noticed between Medellin and the coast of Colombia, most of them for the better. I noticed that cars honked far less than on the coast, nor did they speed up whenever a pedestrian crossed the road. That was quite a refreshing change of pace. Medellin was also cleaner, had in tact sidewalks, and one day even closed down a road to traffic for the day so that people could jog, ride bikes, and roller blade on it.More things not seen on the coast. Medellin is also the only Colombian city with a Metro, which we used just about every day and was incredibly cheap and easy to use. When/if the Peace Corps expands to the interior of Colombia and the Medellin region, those are going to be some lucky volunteers.
