Next up was a weekend in Medellin, Colombia’s second city. I was pretty tired after rushing from place to place all week, so took advantage of the chance to relax a bit, catch up with some blog posts, read my book, have a lie-in, etc.! I was also staying in a really nice, sociable hostel (Black Sheep, Medellin) so enjoyed a few beers and a bit of banter in the evenings with with some other travellers.
From what I did see, Medellin seemed like a nice place. Apparently it was once the world’s most murderous city: the centre of the worldwide cocaine trade and ruled over by the notorious drug lord, Pablo Escobar. You wouldn’t know it now of course: it felt very safe and pleasant with lots of green spaces and it seemed a lot more modern than the other places I’ve visited here. Its also the only Colombian city with a metro system, which made it quick and easy to get around.
On Saturday afternoon I took a cable-car over the city. It passed over several of the poorer districts, where the roofs of the houses were just corrugated tin, held down by bricks. The people put their washing up on the roofs to dry.
At the top of the cable-car was a national park and it would have been nice to explore it (I’d met up with a German guy and some Americans by this point) but it started to rain so I ended up heading back to the hostel for a beer! Yes, I know an English person should be able to deal with a bit of rain, but the rain here is something else! It's a tropical climate so the rain is torrential, rather than the drizzle we get in England. It's my own fault for coming in rainy season though.
On Sunday I headed out to Guatapé, a small town a couple of hours from Medellin. I went with a Dutch girl, Sona, who I’d met at the hostel. Just outside of the town is a gigantic rock, called El Peñol, and you can climb 700 odd steps to the top for some beautiful and unusual views. The surrounding area was deliberately flooded in 1970 in order to create the lakes which now generate much of Colombia’s power. As we were descending the rock it started to pour with rain again so we ended up getting a tuk-tuk to take us into Guatapé itself, which was quite an experience. We shared the ride with a German couple so I ended up squeezing into the front seat next to the driver, where I was in charge of wiping the inside of the windscreen every 30 seconds, as it kept steaming up!
Guatapé is a charming little town. There are colourful pictures sculpted onto the base of each house, and each one is unique and very intricate. I've never seen anything like it before. We had lunch by the lake and then wandered around for a couple of hours before getting the bus back to Medellin.
From what I did see, Medellin seemed like a nice place. Apparently it was once the world’s most murderous city: the centre of the worldwide cocaine trade and ruled over by the notorious drug lord, Pablo Escobar. You wouldn’t know it now of course: it felt very safe and pleasant with lots of green spaces and it seemed a lot more modern than the other places I’ve visited here. Its also the only Colombian city with a metro system, which made it quick and easy to get around.
On Saturday afternoon I took a cable-car over the city. It passed over several of the poorer districts, where the roofs of the houses were just corrugated tin, held down by bricks. The people put their washing up on the roofs to dry.
At the top of the cable-car was a national park and it would have been nice to explore it (I’d met up with a German guy and some Americans by this point) but it started to rain so I ended up heading back to the hostel for a beer! Yes, I know an English person should be able to deal with a bit of rain, but the rain here is something else! It's a tropical climate so the rain is torrential, rather than the drizzle we get in England. It's my own fault for coming in rainy season though.
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| Cable-Car over Medellin |
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| Views of the lakes, from the top of Le Peñol |
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| Pretty houses in Guatapé, |
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| Intricate design on the base of a house |
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