Medellin

Medellin is a city in Colombia set in a beautiful valley surrounded by mountains all around. It's known as the "City of Eternal Spring" because the nights are cool and the days are warm, not hot.

There is a cleanliness to the city that I haven't seen in other places in Colombia. The transit system connects two barrios to the main city, although there are many more. This is the first place where I've seen a "shantytown". I went to the Parque Arvi today. It's a lovely park set on a mountain about 45 minutes away from downtown Medellin. You can take public transit to get there. And that's exactly what I did. There is a train that runs the length of the city, north to south. To get to the park, there are two cable car systems that you have to take. One is included in the price of the train, the other is extra cost. The cable cars offer really spectacular views of the city as well as the barrio as you ascend higher and higher, quite literally, into the clouds.

Looking down from the car, you can see houses EVERYWHERE. As far as the eye can see, there are houses upon houses stacked on each other. Some houses have proper rooftops. Some have roofs made of corrugated sheet metal which are held down by cinder blocks. It makes you feel very privileged knowing where you've come from and what you've had. It also makes you wonder why in Canada and the US there is this never-ending quest for more land, more space, more, more more. If you've got a roof over your head that's not held down by cinder blocks, you should be thankful.

Back to the Parque Arvi. At the end of the cable car line, there is a little market as soon as you exit. I bought strawberries and cream which they topped with Arequipe sauce and chocolate rice krispies. It was so good. The cream was unlike anything I've had before. I went for a hike around the park, not really knowing what to expect as I went because I hadn't researched it beforehand. It was great to just be in nature and see families enjoying each other's company. 

I walked about 1.5 hours to a lake that was almost dried up. Appropriately it's name was Laguna Seca (dry lake). And turned around and went back to the entrance and back to the Centro(downtown) where I'd heard about this place called Paisa Pueblito on Cerro Nutibara.

It is a replica of an Antioquian town on the top of a 80m high hill in the centre of Medellin. I walked up the stairs....

And more stairs....

And more stairs...

Oh man, I was tired, and sweaty and out of breath. I'll blame it on the al-a-a-a-a-al-ti-tude!

To the top...where I was highly disappointed with the overt commercialism and touristy feel to it. You can't even take a proper picture of the replica town because the vendors are in the way. And because there are so many vendors, everyone is just eating. Chomp...chomp...chomp...garbage. The architecture was nice, but helped me make an important decision for tomorrow...not to go to Santa Fe de Antioquia where there is supposed to be an entire town in this style. I'm going to Guatape instead (stay tuned tomorrow). The one redeeming aspect of the entire visit was the view. It really is quite amazing and makes you feel quite small.