Medellín is the second-largest city in Colombia. Nestled in the Andes mountains, it sits nearly 5000 feet above sea level. The city center is in a valley and the city spreads organically up the hillsides in all directions. The climate is very mild and is described as eternal spring. There aren’t very defined seasons here. There are months that are a bit rainier, but there aren’t wet and dry seasons per se. We spent a week in Medellín and there were a few rainy days, but most of the days were very pleasant with a high around 80 degrees F.
We took a couple of tours while here and learned some of the city’s history. It was a fairly small city until the middle of the 20th century. Political unrest in the countryside led to a mass migration of rural residents to Medellín. The new residents built slums up the hillsides. In the 1980s, Pablo Escobar lived in Medellín and ran his cartel from the city. It became known as the most dangerous city in the world. There were four major factions competing for power – far-right paramilitaries, far-left guerillas, the government, and the cartels. It’s a complex history, and though things are far from perfect, Medellín is much safer today. The federal government achieved stability through force, and the local government invested heavily in education, libraries and infrastructure.
Medellín has one of the best mass transit systems we’ve ever seen. In addition to an elevated train system, Medellín opened its first Metrocable line in 2004, becoming the first cable car system in the world dedicated to public transit. There are now five lines. They reach into the hills around Medellín and provide access to the city for the poorest neighborhoods. I commented to Leena how remarkably clean all the cars were one day, and on a tour later that day the guide talked about how the system is a great source of pride for the residents of the city. She asked if we noticed that there’s no graffiti, no scratches on the windows, not even trash. We had! The system serves about half a million people per day. The trains run every few minutes, and generally range from crowded to completely packed. We had to wait for the next train a few times when cars became too full for everyone to board.
We joined a walking tour of Commune 13, a district (or neighborhood) that has been one of the poorest districts and was one of the worst areas of conflict in the 1980s. We started at a Metro station that linked an elevated train line with one of the cable car lines.
We rode the cable car to the top for some sweeping views of the city and the valley.
We rode the cable car back down and began walking through Commune 13. There’s lots of street art. Vida simply translates to life.
In a very unique investment, the government built a series of escalators up the hillside in Commune 13. We rode up a series of escalators while taking in the street murals and the views.
You can see some of the escalators in the bottom left of the below picture. They have black solar panels on the roofs and are outlined in orange.
Once you reach the top of the escalator run, you can walk along a walkway the wraps around the hillside. You can see it appear like a horizontal line in the middle of the below picture.
The walls that line the walkway have incredible street art. It’s commissioned by the city and changes every six months.
“No hay un problema que no se solucione con un aguacate.” Translation: There aren’t any problems that you can’t solve with an avocado.
My favorite. There are many animals hidden in the image. For example, the right eye of the lion is an owl.
Another view of the walkway and murals.
On the walk down the group stopped for micheladas and we bought a book on the history of Commune 13. We’re looking forward to reading it.
We did a second walking tour that focused on the central/downtown area. Our guide Maribel was outstanding. We started in a central plaza of government buildings.
In what had been one of the worst areas of the city, the government created a plaza featuring vertical lights and vegetation (a cousin of bamboo).
The building here looks something like a church, but it’s actually more government buildings. It was designed by a Belgian architect, and half way through construction, he left the project because the design was getting so much criticism. The locals took a look at the blueprints and realized they couldn’t really build it (nor did they want to), so they greatly simplified the design. As you can probably tell, the left half is the original design, and the right half is how it was completed.
The same building from the other side.
We visited the large and beautiful Botanical Garden, conveniently located just steps off a Metro stop.
There’s a section for palms.
And there’s a section for succulents, which I love.
There are lots of iguanas roaming the grounds.
Turtles too!
I had to stand next to this guy to give you an idea of the size. It’s a big lizard for sure!
A covered section is for more sensitive plants like orchids.
We did a short urban hike up Nutibara Hill and enjoyed some panoramic views of the city.
We took the longest cable car line up the hill and over – way over – to Arvi. It was about 45 minutes total on cable cars to get there. We did some hiking around Arvi which was pretty uneventful until we had to break up a dog fight. Fortunately it only took some loud yelling and clapping to back down the aggressive dog.
Medellín has two football clubs, and we saw one take on Cali. There are 20 teams in the league in Colombia, and Medellín entered the sixth week of play in last place. They made a sloppy defensive turnover on their first touch of the game and I was thinking, well, no wonder they’re in last place. But Cali couldn’t capitalize on the threat, and Medellín dominated possession in a scoreless first half. Early in the second half, Cali did capitalize on a sloppy defensive turnover and took a 1–0 lead. Medellín continued to dominate possession and after many good chances, finally tied it up at 1-1 at about the 88th minute.
The crowd was SUPER passionate, though it was honestly a bit uncomfortable. Multiple fights broke out, though you couldn’t find a single person in Cali’s green colors. There are technically no alcohol sales in the stadium, but there was plenty of bootleg action. Vendors were openly selling “water” that was clearly not water. When the tying goal finally came, I thought the place would erupt, but the reaction was really more like “it’s about time guys.”
As if there was any doubt…
