A Weekend in Colombia

Me in front of one of Botero's statues, outside of the museum

So while in Ecuador, we decided to take a weekend trip to Colombia, as it is much cheaper to travel there from Ecuador than it is from Chile. It was a FANTASTIC decision. We arrived in Medellín Thursday night admittedly with extremely minimal knowledge of where we were and what we’d be doing. After a few road bumps, we had the good fortune of finding an excellent hostel in the heart of the main going-out area of the city. Coming from Quito, Medellín felt much more modern than what we’d been used to. Our hostel was literally in the midst of a string of awesome outdoor restaurants and bars. Medellín never really gets that cold, so I felt as if I had stepped back into summertime. Exhausted from traveling that night, we had a drink and then headed to bed.

The next day, Phil, Cisco, Aislinn, Eamon and I headed to the Botanical Gardens of Medellín. It happened to be the kick-off of a week-long literacy festival, which provided for an awesome, “Gringos meet hoards of Colombian school children” moment. Seeing all of the kids parade around in their uniforms got me so excited to be back in a school. The park was filled with famous-people impersonators. We were fortunate to meet Colombian Neil Armstrong, Isaac Newton, Alice in Wonderland, Bill Gates, and countless others. It was hilarious to see these actors give their “schpeels” in Spanish and a great opportunity for me to practice comprehension.

After the botanical gardens, we boarded a 2 hour bus and headed to a famous rock, called El Peñón de Guatapé, outside of the city. The bus ride was beautiful and the Colombian countryside was so rustic and peaceful. I chatted up the girl next to me and she was very patient, helping me with my Spanish. It felt good to strike up a random conversation with a stranger and feel like I could somewhat handle myself. The rock was unreal and kind of looked as if it sprung up out of nowhere, but the view from the top was incredible. Instead of trying to do it justice, I’ll just post this link to Aislinn’s blog with pictures, since I didn’t have my camera with me that day: http://aislinninsouthamerica.blogspot.com/2010/09/medellin-colombia.html.

That night, we enjoyed a fantastic night out complete with Ninja Turtle, Papa Smurf, and Superman Shots. This bar that we went to was genius and operated under the following marketing strategy: make really bad shots but give them names of famous cartoon characters to attract all of the gringos.

The next day, Greg, Phil, Cisco, and I headed to the centro, where we visited a museum with lots of artwork from the famous Colombian artist, Botero. He had some great stuff and really captured some authentic Colombian moments. His artwork definitely seemed politically loaded to me, and I wished that I had taken an art history class that would have helped me understand his work better.

Afterwards, we wandered to a famous Church in the city and were trapped by a rainstorm for about a half hour. Conveniently, at the end of that half hour, there was Mass, so Phil, Greg and I stayed for Mass. Afterwards, we took a ride on the metrocable, which is a form of public transportation in Medellín that resembles a ski gondola and mainly serves the poorer people who live in the outlying barrios of the city. The ride offered some beautiful views and also gave me a greater perspective of how most Medellíans live. That night, Phil was nice enough to accompany me to a Thai restaurant, where I got a good fix of some Thai peanut sauce.

The next morning, we had a quick breakfast and said farewell to Medellín. Collectively, we decided that Colombians are both extremely friendly and nice and extremely attractive people. Definitely a spot worth visiting and I for sure would love to visit Carageña or Calí, two famous Colombian costal towns, if given the opportunity.