The first day we attended another free walking tour. We actually had to sign up the day before as its the most popular thing to do in the city. It boasts itself as being a tour of the "real" city including its problems. We started off by learning about the history of the city which is depicted in the sculpture below. Initially, there was gold mining in the region, the the most important economic growth factor was coffee. Once the railroad was built, the area grew rich from exports. Over time there was conflict in the rural areas which forced more people into the city, many of whom started living in slums.
Medellin history in a sculpture.
The city itself isn't all that beautiful. What makes it interesting is it's history, especially the rise of the Medellin cartel.
We didn't take a lot of photos as a result of this.
During the tour we did talk about Pablo Escobar. The guide never said his name out loud though as most people can't understand English, but obviously they know the name so the tour was accused of being just a narco tour. The majority of people in Columbia realize that Pablo was a bad man. He was the main reason the city became one of the most dangerous in the world during the late '80s/early '90s. But there is an area in the city where he built around 300 houses for the poor and here he is idolized. Somehow during this period they were able to build a metro. The locals find a lot of pride in this and you don't see any graffiti or garbage around. It was a sign of hope during that glum period that things could get better and now it is a source of pride.
Overall the Colombians do not like the hit Netflix show Narcos. It is not totally historically correct, but the main reason they don't like it is that barely any of the actors are Columbian including the main character who is from Brazil. None of them have a Columbian Spanish accent. It's like someone from Scotland trying to play a Canadian. The accent doesn't work.
At one point it really started to pour rain, so we took shelter in one of the only old buildings remaining. During the '70s most of the historic buildings were knocked down and replaced with new ones. The '70s wasnt known for being the greatest architectural decade which contributes to the bleakness of the city.
They do have a bunch of sculptures done by the famous Columbian artist Botero.
They are kind of weird, but hey that's art.
The next day, I had a relax day. Roberta doesn't really have that in her arsenal so she continued to explore.
She took a couple of telefericos. One that went to a bushland above the city with some great views.
Much of the city looks like this with a lot of red brick.
There was an area with a lot of cool street art though.
These escalators were built so that the poorest neighbourhoods up in the hills were able to get into the city for work and get home much easier. It was a way of letting these neighbourhoods that they were important in the community.
Some of the street art around.
This is the Pablo Escobar's neighbourhood where he built around 300 houses for the poor. He also used it as a hideout and as a place to recruit.
We took a day to check out Guatapé which is cabin country. It is located on a man made lake which was formed by creating a dam for hydroelectricity.
The previous photos were from the top of this rock.
We went for a boat cruise around the lake.
It was a very colourful town.
After this, we jumped on night bus headed for Cartegena.
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