Medellin – amusemusings

While I was enjoying Medellin, it struck me the end of day 2 that it was a truly modern city & unlike a lot of places I visit on my travels, it was a bit devoid of culture & history as most old buildings had been razed. To get a little culture, I decided to take a day trip to Santa Fe de Antioquia & try out Colombia’s bus system. An advertised 2hr bus trip was really 1.5hrs through gorgeous mountains to Santa Fe, which is the oldest city in the region & has maintained its colonial history. I visited on a weekday when prices are significantly cheaper as I read it was a key weekend getaway destination for Medellin locals. It was pretty empty which is just how I like it. Nestled in a valley, it was stunning & perfect for wandering the streets snapping photos, interacting w the locals & enjoying long lunches & great views.

Due to a plane’s flat tire, my flight left 3.5 hours late from Miami to Medellin. The upside is I was able to watch most of the Packers playoff win vs Dallas. The downside is I didn’t land in Medellin until 1:30am & the airport was dead but for pre-arranged taxis which seemed like a really good idea in hindsight. Travel books say avoid private taxis for security reasons & only use official yellow Medellin taxis. Well that wasn’t an option so I found a man, who seemed like a very nice man, who operated a private taxi, and I talked to him in my elementary Espanol for 10 minutes about generalities & where I was going to ensure he was familiar with the area & he didn’t come across as an overt murderer, rapist or thief. He was nice & charming & it thankfully all worked out just fine as I happily arrived safely at my digs only a 3 block walk from the center of El Poblado, the supposed hip & trendy but oftentimes noisy hood in which I was staying, at 2:30am. So first trip snafu conquered with ease.
I happily explored much of Medellin for the next 3 days & despite its somewhat recent sordid history in cocaine trafficing courtesy of the late Pablo Escobar, it’s really come quite a long way in a relatively short time. The neighborhoods are interesting & welcoming. The metro system is the only one of its kind in Colombia, includes metro cables (cable cars) to its relatively impoverished barrios up in the hills & is far nicer than Chicago’s el. From what I can tell, it’s a happening modern city that’s very safe, accommodating & livable. The best part was the people. My recent trip to Cuba revealed the machisimo that’s a part of everyday Latin lives. I had heard & was expecting it to only ratchet up a notch in South America. To my very pleasant surprise, I’ve come across none of that so far in Colombia & I’m going to choose to believe it has everything to do with the kind, respectful nature of the Colombian people & nothing at all to do with the fact that I may have overreacted by chopping all of my hair off & dying it from platinum blonde to my more natural brunette.