Medellin is the second largest city in Colombia but in terms of history, art, commerce, and pretty girls its second to now. I wish I had taken more pictures to prove the last statement but in our short stay we already meet 5 guys that made the move to Medellin with the main reason being the girls. We think the city has way more to offer than just good looking ladies the city is full of neat shops, good night life, good metro system and loads of wonderful people. With all the malls, museums and restaurants its the warming people the truly make this city attractive. We only spent 2 weeks in Medellin and it rained everyone they get about 3 months with less rain and thats not saying much because this place just gets a lot of rain all year round. But lucky we had dry sunny afternoons and as soon as the clock struck 4 pm the rain would begin like a switch on a timer.
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| modern metro clean and safe |
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| cable cars serving the steep less affluent regions |
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| not rich but the people seemed happy even with all that rain |
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| free enterience for all |
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| staple food of Colombia deep fried empanadas, filled with rice, potatoes chicken or beef |
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| just one of the countless modern shopping centres |
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| closest I will get to Ana |
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| normal day in Medellin |
Now about the history of the city one name comes up a lot Pablo Escobar, ruled the city in the 80's to his death in 1993. The poor considered him a hero, the rich despised him, the Colombian government called him an outlaw and the Americans just wanted him dead. All the hostels have posters with tours to his farm, home and even get a chance to meet his family and talk with them, now we didn't take any tours because we don't believe in what he stood for but most important the tour cost like $45 usd sorry We not paying anything to make his family even richer.
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| the death of Escobar |
If you mention art in Medellin usually its accompanied by Fernando Botero, his work is famous for its fullness or chubby which makes his work a joy to look at and ponder about how he can make everything look fat? From people, animals and even objects all appear fully bodied. We really had fun looking at his works and loved the countless masterpieces he donated to the Museo de Antioquia.
As for accommodations we stayed at 3 different hostels 1st was a Korean place that only cost $8 each plus they cooked some much needed Korean food for us plus they gave us drinks. Pretty sweet deal but they had no secure parking, not clean at all and the owners drink til they fall asleep so we only stayed one night. 2nd place was at Arcadia hostel, very hard to find home converted to hostel in the Poblado zone, with expensive restaurants, bars, clubs and shops this is the centre of nightlife in Medellin. We got a private room with shared bath for $22 a night, place was new but not well maintained. Owner never cleaned up after himself contrary to his own signs and sometimes would have guest up all night making noise in the common area and our room was right beside, one good thing they had one parking space indoor but I had to clean up alittle for the van to fit in. After 9 days we had enough and left for the Ram hostel down the crazy steep hill its better located, well run, parking, pool and very cool guest, everyone saying loved it and so did we. $15 p/p for a dorm bed would recommend this place to anyone traveling to Medellin.
