Medellin - short but sweet

We arrived in Medellin on Sunday morning after a very uncomfortable overnight bus ride from Cartagena. (cold, cramped, Spanish movies playing loudly, all the lights going on at the frequent stops along the route). We had become accustomed to the lazyboy type seats, complimentary food and drinks, pillows and blankets and english movies with headphones in Peru.  We are definitely not in Peru anymore!!

We took the metro and then the cable car, which is part of the metro system, up the hill to Parque Arvi.  There is a butterfly museum there that we wanted to go to but unfortunately the last portion of the cable car wasn't running so we just checked out the view and went back down.

One of the things that just dawned on me (obviously slow on the uptake) is that, unlike in our part of the world where the houses get swankier and more expensive the further up the hills you travel, the hillside homes in South America are a little more run down and the houses more squished together.

We were warned that all of the museums and attractions shut down on Mondays so, we decided to take a trip to Guatape.  We had read about Guatape, a small resort town about a 2 hour bus ride from Medellin on several travel blogs and every one of them loved the place.  Maybe our expectations were too high but there was a very odd feeling in the town.  It was quaint, but it felt as though they were really sick of tourists and were just putting up with us because we were somewhat helpful to their economy.  The main square was set up for a 200th celebration so maybe they had celebrated long into the night and were just tired,...

Chloe refers to Guatape as "Toyland".  Very colourful with handpainted decorations on all of the buildings.  Chloe wants me to tell you that it felt weird colourful, not good colourful.

  Just outside the main part of the town is a large hill called Penon de Guatape that you can climb up (the 635 steps) and get an amazing view of the lake and trillions of islands in the area.

"the rock" with the stairs we climbed up.

Back in Medellin we went to the science museum (quite similar to telus world of science with all of the hands on activities) and wandered around the downtown area.  My favourite were the Botero statues in the main square.

We got a good feeling from Medellin - friendly people, spring like temperatures (although we are in the rainy season so a few unexpected bouts of rain to deal with) and nice little neighbourhoods - we stayed in the Poblado area, Zona Rosa neighbourhood.  Would have liked to visit a few more smaller towns and check out Columbia a little more but, we're off to Ecuador this afternoon.  As usual, so many things to see and do and so little time.

Things to see and do in Cartagena, Columbia

Play in the warm waters of the Carribean Sea on Playa Blanca (White Beach), Baru Island!  We had quite an adventure getting to the island of Baru but as we suspected, once we were there it was wonderful. 

Wander the streets inside the walled old city of Cartagena (Centro and San Diego areas) and admire the colourful buildings, beautiful flowers and interesting architecture.

Join a bus tour of the city on a tacky tourist bus where you are the only English speaking person.  Although the tour company ensured me that there was a bilingual tour guide, the amount of information given in English was somewhat limited.  On one stop at a church on a hill above the city (La Popa) the tour guide gave a very long explanation about the church and, I'm assuming it's history and significance (took about 5 minutes while we sat in the pews).  After finishing his detailed explanation, the guide looked at me and said, "This is a gold plated altar and it is dedicated to Saint _____" and off he moved to the next point of interest.  Thankfully my fellow tour participants were very kind and between my very limited Spanish and their knowledge of English, helped fill me in on some of the missing information.

los zapatos viejos (old pair of shoes) with Barajas Castillo, a massive fortress having a complex tunnel system, in the background.  Just 2 of the sites I saw on the tour.

 Float in the warm mud of El Totumo Mud Volcano.  This was an experience that I had read about in several blogs and one that I had really wanted to try myself.  As many people have reported before me, it is a strangely bizarre yet wonderful feeling.  The strangeness begins when you enter the mud and find that you have a hard time keeping upright.  The mud is so thick that you can have your legs pointing straight down and you will remain buoyant, with your shoulders above the water.  The next strange feeling to overcome is deciding whether to give into or avoid the roaming hands of the local men who are quite insistent about giving you a rub down as you float in the mud.  We all chose to avoid, though several people enjoyed their rub down and found it quite relaxing.  (you pay $$ for this service - they say 3000 Columbian pesos but they always try and talk you into paying more).

Try as we might to dunk Paul under the mud, Chloe and I could not do it.  The kindly Australian mate (behind Chloe in the photo) offered to help Paul by pushing down on his shoulders with all of his weight.  Following the dunking, we all laughed hysterically as Paul tried to figure out how to open his mouth and eyes.

Good-bye Cartagena!

Romancing the Sun

As nice as the Cusco experience was, there was two elements that were somewhat iffy during our stay there. Sunshine and heat. So when we were deciding on where to go next the allure of spending some quality time on the Caribbean coast was very strong. So strong in fact that we ignored the weather forecast information that said October in Cartagena could be "hurricane-like" with double the average rain and decided to take a leap of faith.

It turned out that our time in Cartagena was full of hot, very humid days highlighted by a trip to Playa Blanca to experience sun, the salty surf, and a little glimpse of the sea-life that inhabits the Caribbean Sea.



Sometimes it seems that a little faith can actually be rewarded.