Meandering Around Medellin
Rose Goes South • Chapter 5
The early bird always catches the worm, and it’s true! Didn’t expect to see 7am so often on this trip but it’s definitely been worth it! After a refreshing sleep at the Galeria Hostel and 2 hour bus journey we arrived back into Medellin ready to take the city by storm! Medellin instantly appeals in contrast to Bogota. The sun is scorching, the streets overly clean and the valley in which the city resides is bowl shaped, meaning that from any side of the city, there’s a great view of the rest of this urban jungle which climbs up the surrounding mountains. Unfortunately this makes the city a hilly one to stroll around so why not book onto a free 4 hour walking tour in the 30 degree heat! Great idea…
Of course we made sure we had a great brunch beforehand to fuel us for the day. Our new favourite Colombian brunch spot happens to be a stones throw from the hostel and makes a pretty great Eggs Benedict accompanied with a rocket fuel strength Colombian coffee, of course. Al Alma is the spot, if you’re ever in the Poblado area of the city! We’re probably gonna hang out here all weekend and eat our way through the menu!
The walking tour filled the rest of our day with history and stories of both the city’s sad past and hopeful future! The up and down tour showed the main sites of the city and our tour guide kept us engrossed and entertained! One thing I adore about a free walking tour, is that the guides solely rely on their tips as a wage, so they have to throw all their energy into it…and they do! We learned about the tourist boom, from 50 thousand tourists to 5 million per year since 2002. Our guide didn’t hide stories of cocaine production like most locals seem to, and I’ll spare posting the exposing details on here but it would be a lie to pretend everyone on the tour wasn’t completely blown away and equally intrigued by the taboo subject of drugs! You’ll have to take the tour yourself to find out the gory details! On a lighter note, we had a snack break and bought fresh mango from the street vendors which is my Tiplr must, I might have had mango juice all over me for the rest of the day but it was worth it for the fresh juicy sweetness!
The Cathedral above was half constructed by a Belgian Architect who left Colombia in a feud with the locals who said they could finish the building without him. At this point, I was proud to be European considering the Colombian attempt at finishing the right hand side of the building! This evening deserves a great dinner after 4 hours hiking around Medellin in the heat and resting up before tomorrow’s national football match that we’ve been told will be wild! Watch this space!
