Our trip into the mountain region of Colombia began with a quick flight from Cartagena into Medellin. From the time we left the boat, taxied to the airport, went through security, boarded the flight and landed in Medellin, a total of 3 hours had passed. It is amazing how much time is saved without the TSA involved! Our first stop for the night was in a town call El Penol, Colombia. El Penol did not have much to offer but the history was fascinating. The original town of Penol had been located on a plot of land that the hydroelectric company deemed public domain in the 1970s. When the town was flooded to create Lake Guatape, the citizens of El Penol literally packed their belongings on their backs and walked over to the new town. Needless to say, there was a lot of angry artwork related to the displacement on display at the museum. Our inn for the night was located in the surrounding hills and we had an amazing view. Our room also had a jacuzzi on the deck which had bubbles in it. When the owner turned on the jacuzzi to warm it up, we stepped back inside the room to relax. When Bill glanced outside, he laughed loudly and stated that we would have no issue with not enough bubbles. The bubbles were like a 1950s horror movie and I had to wait for some bubbles to dissipate so I could get in without drowning in bubbles. The next morning, we headed over to the town of Guatape for our lake tour. The lake was beautiful and the power from the hydroelectric plant provided electricity to Colombia, Panama and Venezuela so I guess El Penol’s sacrifice was not unrewarded. The city of Medellin and the surrounding areas were the homebase of drug kingpin, Pablo Escobar in the 70s, 80s and 90s. When you hear about the US “war on drugs”, Escobar was the main target. As we jetted around the lake with our guide, he pointed out property after property that belonged to Escobar and his cohorts. Escobar had over 500 properties in the region. His main house on the lake was destroyed when the government blew it up with dynamite. However, due to poor planning or a well paid informant, Escobar was not at home that day so he was spared until he was killed in 1993 by Colombian police. When I asked our guide about whether Colombians liked or disliked Escobar, his response was, “It was about 50/50. Depended on which side you were on.” After our day on the lake, our guide dropped us in central Guatape and we enjoyed a walk along the waterfront to our hotel. That evening, we walked through town and found a restaurant on the square. The square was full of locals watching futbol (soccer) and we enjoyed watching them cheer for opposite teams. After dinner, the square lit up with hundreds of Christmas lights and just about as many delighted children. Bill and I voted Guatape to be one of our favorite places we have visited and we were sad to leave the next day.
Our bus ride back to Medellin was uneventful and took only a couple of hours. When we arrived at the bus station in Medellin, we grabbed a taxi to go to our hotel. We were surprised how few people spoke English in the area so we definitely got to practice our Spanglish. As our taxi driver spoke to us, I was sure I was mis-hearing him until I found out Bill had come to the same conclusion. Our driver asked us if we were from the United States and then he proceeded to talk about how we could take cocaine back and forth to the States from Colombia. When we exited the taxi, I said, “Was that guy trying to recruit us to be his drug mule?” and Bill said, “That’s what I got from it!” Welcome to Medellin! Our hotel in Medellin was located on a very busy street in the tourist area. Once we had checked into our hotel, we decided to go exploring to find out where the Christmas lights would be that night. Medellin had been voted one of the top ten destinations in the world for Christmas lights so our entire trip was based on this information. As we walked, we kept running into freeways that crossed over each other and around in circles blocking our way. Evidently, Escobar’s drug money built a lot of roads! As we cut back through a park to return to the hotel, we came upon what must have been the main homeless camp in Medellin. Tents were everywhere. Needless to say, I was not thrilled with Medellin at this point. Bill managed to get us back to the hotel and the hotel manager told us we needed to take a taxi to the Christmas lights because they were across the river. As evening set in, we hopped in the taxi and crossed the river into a fairyland of lights. The lightshow for 2023 was sponsored by the electric company and Disney. We walked along the path toward the river and when we rounded the corner, we came across table after table filled with grilled meats and delights. Bill was devastated that we ate dinner before arriving because the food looked amazing. All the Christmas lights ran along the river. Our first encounter was a huge Dumbo flying over the river. As I stepped to the rail to take pictures, I heard a raucous behind me. I turned and saw Bill surrounded by police officers. Not a good sign! As I approached, I heard one of the men speaking English and holding a camera. He asked us if we would be willing to answer a few questions and give a statement on safety in Colombia. We agreed and then he asked us to “chat” with the police officers so he could video everyone having a “friendly” time. Given that our Spanish is limited and the police officers had no English, our “friendly” time consisted of us all pretending to talk to each other. The officer I was talking to pointed to Dumbo and said, “Dumbo!” to which I responded, “Si, Dumbo. Dumbo es Americano.” We all had a good laugh and Bill and I decided we had no more worries in Medellin…no way they were going to let the spokespersons of safety get mugged! We spent the rest of the evening enjoying the amazing lights and watching the local children be thrilled with Disney. We also enjoyed the Santa that was taking pictures with the kids….he was in white face….that was a spin! The next morning, we awakened to 250 children ranging in age from 5 years to teenagers in the hotel. Evidently there was an event that sponsored junior futbol teams from all over South America to come to Medellin for the big soccer tournament. We shuffled through the masses and made our way into the dining room for our advertised “American” breakfast. Not even close. We had eggs, arepas, rolls, fruit, rice, egg drop soup, potatoes and fruit loops. I lived on eggs, rolls and fruit for the next few mornings. To escape the chaos of the hotel, we jumped in a cab and headed to the botanical gardens. Our taxi driver spoke English and he entertained us by telling us about the area the expats lived in Medellin. Expats are US citizens who move to Medellin (usually to retire). He and the other cab drivers called the area “Gringolandia” which we found hilarious. So much for blending in with the culture! The botanical gardens were very nice and it felt good to get away from the bustle of the city. As we were walking, we saw a tree full of macaws and parrots. I was taking pictures as Bill pointed out the best shots. Suddenly, we had a gathering of eight school children around us asking to see my camera. I am guessing they had never seen one since everyone uses a phone for pictures these days. A few of them said some simple sentences in English. The smallest girl piped up and pointed to herself and proudly said, “What’s happening?!” Not sure what tv show she had been watching but she learned the phrase well! We ended the day with a trip on the cable car up a mountain to a national park. The views of the city were sprawling and Medellin looked much nicer from several hundred feet in the air. We were entertained by one of the warning signs on the cable car which translated to “Do not prance or bustle.” That about ruined our day because all I wanted to do was prance and bustle! Our last day in Medellin, we visited a castle that was built in the early 1900s. Our tour was in Spanish so we basically got the facts that it was built, a family lived there, the family donated it to be a museum. From the museum, we caught a taxi to Botero square. Our cabbie proceeded to tell us (in Spanish) that the Botero square was the most dangerous place in Medellin and he was not happy about taking us there. Since Botero square was on every Youtube video we had watched, we found it hard to believe it was rampant with crime. When we arrived, our friends the policia had the square surrounded with fence and guards so we felt very safe walking about the square. Botero was a local Colombian who became a famous artist known for his statues of fatness. Fat people, fat cows, fat cats, fat everything. We enjoyed our walk through the museum and felt quite thin when we left! The next leg of our trip finds us in the heart of the Colombian mountains. Join us next week as we prance and bustle our way to the Cocora Valley…home of the famous wax palms. ****More Pics on Pictures tab Colombia 2023
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AuthorSally Miller Archives
May 2024
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