Medellin - the city of eternal spring

Hello again!

So the frat party was not as bad as i was expecting - although we havent really managed to experience any particularly good music yet, aside from salsa - which you can only handle so much of really. We met a really friendly bunch of irish people and spent a really fun night with them. Although three of them had just come from medellin and were definitely not fans of the place, which didnt instill me with much hope for our next stop!

I was woken up the next morning by the heaviest rain I have ever seen, it was like somebody turned a giant tap on directly above the hostel. It was over in half an hour and I spent the afternoon wandering round the historic centre of cartagena. It is really beuatiful with a very relaxed atmosphere. I got totally lost at one point and had to ask the way back several times. Before I came here, everyone who had been before had told me how nice Colombians are, I didn't really know what they meant at the time, but I think Im beginning to understand and appreciate it more. They have an easy going pleasantness about them. Even the hassle of the street sellers (of which there are thousands) is polite and once you´ve said no they are happy to leave you alone. Dermots new method is to immediately ask them where they are from. They usually just give up trying to sell you anything and chat away with you about their town. We get to have pleasant chat and practice our Spanish and it usually ends with a handshake!

A word on street sellers. Ive heard lots of conflicting info about the unemployment rate in Colombia, the IMF said it was as high as 16% but is down to 11% now although many people here seem to think its much much higher. The minimum wage is about 300 american dollors a month, food here is not that cheap and luxuries are more expensive than in Europe as all imports are heavily taxed. At any rate there are a lot of people who have had to think creatively about making money and street sellers are everywhere as a result. In Bogota they sell to the traffic; anything from fruit, chocolate and ciggerettes to toys, stationary and cleaning products. You also get groups of black children break dancing among the cars at traffic lights. We even saw a man balancing a boke on his chin! In the pedestrian areas it great because there are people everywhere selling delicious fresh fruit, juices and snacks (I am going to miss the fruit here sooo much). But you also see people selling inflated paddling pools and lamps - not on stalls - but just walking around! In Bogota there are even people walking around selling emeralds.

The most innovative thing I've seen are the ´minutos cellulares´´. Basically it costs more to call people on your mobile from a different network here, so people buy a phone from every network and then stand in the  street renting their phones by the minute. If you want to call someone on Movistar  - you ask to use their movistar phone - they unfold a chair for you to sit on and you can talk away! Some of them have the phones attached to thier waistcoat by string but most just hand you the phone.

Another thing I've noticed here is that people are generally very trusting. A common way for getting around is to use the ´collectivos´. They are mini bises that go on specific routes around and between the towns. Just like with the normal city buses - you can flag one down where ever you see one and get off where ever you want - which can mean that the journey takes a long time! You get on and try and find a seat - there usually about twelve - but loads more people will squeeze on and they leave the doors wide open while they drive around. Once you've found a seat, you hand the money for your fare to the person infront - they hand on again, and again until it reaches the driver. He then sorts out the change while maneuvering around traffic and hairpin bends and then passes you the change back the same way!
I think its great!


We decided to get the night bus to Medellin as its 13 hours. So we got a taxi from the hostal to the bus station. Having travelled a bit and having got a few taxis in Bogota I thought I was pretty prepared for anything - but that was the scariest drive of my life! There were loads of scooters and I was sure we were going to kill someone; we did clip a car! The roads in Colombia are ridiculously bad. In Bogota they advise you to not step in puddles after its been raining because you just dont know how deep the pot holes will be! as a result the cars have to weave in  and out of lanes to avoid them. Taxis also drive extra fast, and while I cant help but respect the agility and skill of the drivers, I really wish I hadnt just learnt to drive because at least then I wouldn't know how many laws they are breaking!
They also lack the european fascination with seatbelts. Colombians think we are positively ´cute´ for thinking you need them if you sitting in the back seats!

This particular guy was ridiculous tho, and we were both thankful to arrive at the bus station without having the life of a motorcyclist on our conscience.

The bus journey was actually fine - we both slept for most of it and the obligatory violent and gory films were in Spanish so I could ignore most of them, except for the bone crunchings, gun shots and squelchings. However, the first twenty minutes of our journey involved just the dvd menu soundtrack on really loud. Everyone else on the bus seems to think this was fine, but after hearing the same 3 miute loop for the twentieth time, we managed to get some one to speak to the driver. It really seemed that everyone else was going to just sit through it indefinately though!

Medellin has definately lived up to its name as the city of eternal spring. after the oppresive heat of cartagena I cant express how nice it is to be somewhere where I`m not perpetually covered in sweat, sun cream and deet. Its hot and sunny, but its a dry heat with a fresh cool breeze. Its a city of 3 million people surrounded by beautiful mountainous countryside that almost looks like Switzerland.

The city itself is just like any city. There are nice bits and not so nice bits, but the centre is definately not as run down and dirty as some people had been saying. We´re in the upmarket area of Poblado where all the hostels are and its full of parks and green spaces. The centre of town is a couple of stops on the metro, which is the cleanest form of public transport I have ever seen in my life. I believe its the same one which took years to build because the drug cartels kept assasinating the directors of the company because it would compete with the cartel - owned bus services in the town. This is a city with a dark history, of which i will no doubt learn more about when we do the Pablo Escobar tour. Nowadays, however it is as safe as a city can be and very much part of the established backpacker route.

But for now it seems like a typical metropolitan city. There is a music festival happening today, with live concerts happening all over the city in different squares. everything from electro swing to ´doom metal´ (?) so we going to check that out.








I need to buy a card reader as none of the hostels have computers that recognize my sd cards - so as soon as i find one i will upload some photos to make this blog a bit more interesting!


Any way - I'm going to stop now because all the letters have been rubbed of the keyboard I'm using which means that I can only type if I dont think about it too hard. Which, paradoxically, is making my head hurt.