Big City LivinOct 22, 2009
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View from the gondola in Medellin
Not the richest part of town....
Botero's famous for his paintings and sculptures of fat people
Yet another lovely overnight bus dropped us off in Medellin at 7am Tuesday morning. Luckily this huge urban metropolis is equipped with a very efficient and easy to use metro system, so finding a hostel was a piece of cake. Thanks to the aid of a Colombian version of Ambien, we both actually had gotten some sleep on the bus so we set out to explore the city.
The city of Medellin is rather overwhelming. With 4 million residents, the valley which the city is situated in is just a jam-packed cluster of buildings and houses and roads. A “river” runs through the middle of the valley and the city, although it’s basically just a fast moving, muddy sewer system. Piles and piles of trash fester in the middle, and there are constantly cleaning crews wading through the muck attempting to clean…? A newly installed cable car system took us up the mountainside in the poor part of town. It’s actually appears to be used by commuters as a regular source of transportation, and services a large portion of the population.
We hopped back on the metro to the center of town and visited the modern art museum, with huge rooms and a sculpture park dedicated to Fernando Botero, who is from Medellin and is one of Colombia’s most celebrated artists. His work is pretty interesting—all of his subjects are extremely fat and stubby. After the museum we wandered around town taking in all the sights and smells and noises that come with a city this size. Unfortunately Medellin has lost all of its colonial architecture and is just another urban sprawl really. This also happens to be the home of Pablo Escobar, tomorrow we are going on a tour to visit his former mansion and see where he was eventually found and killed by police.
Yesterday we took a two hour bus ride out to the countryside to Guatape, where there is this HUGE freestanding rock (La Piedra) surrounded by a massive lake/reservoir system. The climb to the top was brutal for sure, especially since we have been pretty lazy for the last week, but it was worth it for the views. We had a great little lunch in the town after the climb, and got another little glimpse into the slower paced, rural Colombian lifestyle. Once again we were just amazed at the kindness and welcoming attitudes of the local people. Saturday we fly to Quito, both Kim and I are sad to leave this country but excited to explore Ecuador a little bit before she leaves!
