Medellin

People would say, it is a city of Pablo Escobar. But it is much more than that! It is a city of eternal spring for a pleasant weather all year long. It’s a city of green heigh hills, winding roads and passionate Colombian women. It’s also a city of one of the most beautiful flower festival in the world. 

In last 15 days we visited 4 countries, while in Colombia we stopped twice. Medellin wasn’t our initial plan, but the destiny took us there anyway. “Me gusta buena Cocaina,” was the first sentence in Spanish one Czech Backpacker – we met on our journey – had learnt. Every time before our vacation we mentioned to somebody we were going to Colombia, reaction was like: “Colombia? Medellin? Pablo Escobar?” As I said, our plan was only Cartagena initially, but when we were stuck in La Paz in Bolivia and our vacation was slowly getting over, we found out that it would be way easier to get back to Europe through Medellin than through Bogota (as we travel on stand-by ticket, are chances depend on load of a flight). Avoiding Bogota actually helped us to save one more day, thanks to great connection to Europe from Medellin we didn’t know about before. And since we need to land in Medellin, we decided to stay there for two more nights. Just out of curiosity. Pablo Escobar has stuck in our minds.

Weather in Medellin because of high altitude is always pleasantly warm and it rains a lot and often. That’s why is always so green everywhere and that’s why coca leaves doing so well in Colombian jungles. Medellin is almost known all over the world for its flower festival Feria de las Flores happening in August and other natural attraction in suburb regions like coffee plantations or Guatapé. I’m so surprised how beautiful and green is scenario behind the car window when we are sitting in Uber taxi on our way from the airport to the city. Due to winding and steep roads it takes almost an hour to reach our hotel. We booked the night in stylish Gallery hotel in city center which is not very safe area as I’ve heard. But I’m falling in love with the hotel design. 

As we still remember delicious taste of food in Cartagena, we can’t wait for another sample of traditional food. Bill, my travel buddy, picked from the Trip advisor some restaurant in our neighborhood with a long tradition. It looks old, but posh and empty. Food isn’t very nice to me. They have only Spanish menu, so we pick according to pictures. I ordered some stew with lot of fat I don’t like in meet served with avocado and rice on the side. And Bill gets food poisoning few hours later. 

While Bill is still suffering from the food poisoning and feel very weak, I’m having my breakfast at most beautiful restaurant ever. It is located on the rooftop of our hotel and the design is a mix of retro, art and Colombian tradition. The cup of proper Colombian coffee can’t miss on the table. But what to do next? For a beautiful natural wonder Guatapé or for coffee plantations you need at least full day tour which we don’t have time for. Plan was visiting Comuna 13 area, but Bill is sick and internet is full of advices like: “Don’t go there alone, especially if you are gringa (means white girl).” We have booked one Pablo Escobar tour for the afternoon, but it’s to late to arrange anything for the morning. And it’s so sunny today! So I decided to risk it. Extra money inside the bra, Uber taxi and let’s go… Comuna 13 is supposedly most dangerous are in Medellin full of poor people and street gangs. The government knew that they have to do something about it so they gave to street gangsters paints and brushes. And since one part of Comuna 13 turned to graffiti art gallery, it has become very touristic, then guarded by police and in the end of the day I feel very safe there even as a solo girl! But I wouldn’t dare to go there in the evening or turn off the main path which is defined by escalators (and even free wifi zone!). At every corner I see some police officers or tourist groups. From time to time I inconspicuously join one of them to learn something about the local culture… 

When I come back to our hotel, Bill starts to feel better and so we are ready for a Pablo Escobar tour! People of Medellin aren’t very happy about being associated with Pablo Escobar. And despite the fact Pablo Escobar tours are very popular with tourists, travel agencies are not allowed to promote them. We booked one half-day private tour (for 40$ per person) just to know how Colombian people see him, to compare popular Netflix series with reality. Our local guide will take us to his luxurious prison (we can see it only from outside), the roof where he was caught and killed and the grave where he is buried next to his mother, most loyal bodyguard and other family members. While we are driving across Medellin, it’s heavily raining. We are recognizing some stories we know from cinema and we hear the opinion of local Colombian. Maybe there are some who take him as a hero but most of Colombians are apparently ashamed of him. The day in Medellin we finishing at small stall where our guide has taken us to try the best empanadas in the city. The cheapest food I ever had and I can go back to opinion that Colombian food is great… Next morning after breakfast we are already flying back to Europe and Abu Dhabi.