After so many days in the countryside, it was nice to arrive in a big city again. Colombia’s second largest as a matter of fact and amazingly the only one with a metro system, which is lucky because the traffic is awful and it is BIG! We were staying in El Poblado, the nice part of Medellin, although we would have preferred to stay a little closer to Lleras Park. But beggars can’t be choosers. Our airbnb was clean but characterless, a slight shock to the senses after all the recent luxury. Once dubbed the most dangerous city on Earth, we were naturally on our guard. But that was over a quarter of a century ago and really couldn't be further from the truth nowadays. With only three nights and two days to explore, we thought it best to join a free walking tour of the city. And we are so glad we did; it enabled us to learn which areas were to be avoided (of which there are several including the sizeable shanty towns), but also to reach some of the dodgier areas that we might have missed had we not had a local guide with us. However there is a heavy police presence pretty much everywhere you go in the centre indicating that vigilance is key to keeping up appearances. Not sure whether police on every corner is that reassuring but hey, rather they are there than not! Our guide was brilliant and provided us with a succinct and brief overview of the city’s troubled history. Pablo Escobar was referred to on our tour as ‘the famous man’, mainly to avoid upsetting the locals should they overhear. It is clear that the trauma the world's most famous drug dealer left behind is still very present.. After exploring the centre, we headed to the grittier Plaza Botero, full of not only sculptures donated by Botero (Medellin was his birthplace) but numerous ladies of the night. Let's just say they were very openly selling their wares.… Here our tour was momentarily halted as our guide assisted two tourists whose bag had just been stolen, with their passports, phones, money, everything. Nightmare. Our guide said they were highly unlikely to get anything returned. On entering Plaza de San Antonio we were told to stay together as a group and not wander off alone to take photos, it was that dodgy. There are two bronze Botero bird sculptures, one perfectly intact, the other one twisted and broken. A bomb was detonated by the FARC in 1995 killing 23 people attending a concert in the square. The mayor had directed to have the damaged sculpture removed but Botero insisted it be left as a homage to the dead, determined that the city acknowledge and face its difficult past rather than cover it up and try to forget it. It was a particularly poignant story as we were still reeling from news of the recent London Bridge terror attack. But Medellin is the definition of resilience and the stories of recovery are inspiring and an odd comfort considering the turmoil back home. We felt like splurging a little for dinner and took ourselves to Oci.mde, highly recommended! We had wondered whether or not to do the Pablo Escobar paint balling tour given how expensive it is and because it's a long day from 7am-8pm, but in the end we decided to (when will we ever get the chance to go paint balling in a drug lord's house again?) so we swallowed the cost and signed up. I would give the day 7/10. It rained, a lot, which didn't help. An hour and a half bus drive out of town was followed by a twenty minute Jeep drive to the house, which sits on the edge of a beautiful lake. We were a big group of around 45, most were in their 20s and seemed very hungover. We are getting more boring in our old age. We got extremely unlucky with our paint balling group - it was us and around twenty Israelis. Yes, they were all travelling after having just completed their national service, where they practice shooting guns for a year. They didn't speak any English so we had zero comms with our team which basically meant I just hid and squealed and Rob got shot in the arse at very close range. Then they got bored of playing, naturally, so shot all their pellets at trees and buggered off half way through. A little wet and with bruises forming, we then went on a tour of Pablo’s house, well what's left of it anyway as it was bombed years ago. The pool remains however and you can still get a feel of how epic it would have been. We also met Mr Willy who was one of Pablo’s bodyguards from the age of 12! I wanted to ask him how many people he’d killed but Rob felt it would be inappropriate. He also said that only 10% of the Netflix series Narcos is real, the rest is total BS. I believe Mr Willy. He didn't look like someone you'd disagree with. We then headed to a town called Guatape, apparently Colombia’s most colourful. Sadly it was very wet but the little streets still managed to shine. It was the most terrorised town in Colombia by the Escobar gangs and yet they managed to pick themselves up and make the most of what they have (mainly wealthy tourists gawping). The final stop on the tour was the famous ‘rock’ in Penol. Now owned by a local legend who claimed it as his own after scaling it in seven days. He then built a little hut on top and decided the views were so good that he should share them. Hence the 750 zigzagging stairs to the top resulting in serious leg burn. Happy to report I was not the last one up however. But in true #robandcharliertw fashion, we were greeted with an almost total white out at the top. Typical! The cable car (which incidentally inspired the La Paz system) is well worth a trip. Indigenous working class suburb, Comuna 1, served as a recruiting ground for the Escobar gangs and was, prior to the opening of the cable car, totally disconnected from the main town. But colourful murals now brighten the streets and there is a really authentic community spirit as you walk around. It was a bit of a fail for us as our main reason for visiting was to see the award winning Parque Biblioteca Espana, an arts / community centre funded by the Spanish government. Sadly it was under reconstruction but we could just about get the gist of it anyway.
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AuthorsRob & Charlie's travelling adventures on their long journey back to London after living in Hong Kong. Four continents, twelve countries, lots of experiences. Archives
July 2017
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Robert Ware & Charlotte Nunn |