BOGOTA
Our flight was due in around 730, leaving me just enough time to gather my bags and get to the hostel before the dreaded 10pm hour. Fate, however, had different plans. Our flight was delayed out of Panama, putting my arrival time at 1030...the curse continues. In addition to our room being just above some sort of party room, I awoke to a little late night rendezvous in the bunk below. My bed was literally shaking; had I been in LA, I would have thought it an earthquake. After an extended throat clearing (much too long to be anything but a signal for STOP) they stopped. Paused is actually a better word as 20 seconds later the fun continued. Fortunately for me (and unfortunately for him), it didnt last a whole lot longer.
Nonetheless, I didnt let it deter me from enjoying the city. Thus far, Bogota is the nicest metro area that Ive been too and it has quite a lot to offer. We did a walking tour and ended at the gold museum, which was nice, but may have actually been an overabundance of gold. A few examples below:
We also stopped by Plaza Bolivar, which houses the legislative branch and parts of the justice department. This plaza has been plagued by violence over the past thirty years with bombings, shootings, and hostage situations. You can actually see the steeple of an adjacent church chock-full ´o bullet holes.
Part of Plaza Bolivar, minus the bullet holes
We also went ahead and toured the police museum, which is one of the better tours ive taken down here. The tour is free and right away you are greeted by a far too young columbian soldier speaking broken english. Service is mandatory in Columbia, though just for a year. The guides are friendly and very informative. The first half of the tour takes you pretty much through the war with the drug cartels, the second part is about the modern day police force. I really enjoyed the attitude they took about their history, it was one of humility with an optimism towards improvement.
On to Medellin...
Mom, close your ears. The road was pretty much as youd expect it: windy, hilly, and full of jungle. It took us thirteen hours to go 300 miles and seemed as if guerilla troops could hop out at any minute and take the bus. Again, this was just appearance. The reality was that it was beautiful scenery along a safe route.
Ok...now this is just getting a little old. Our delayed bus put us in late. No problem with the hostel this time, just the cabbie who took us there. He didnt know where it was and had to stop 11 times for directions (I counted), almost wrecked once (would have if I didnt tell him to look out), and went the wrong way down a one way street twice. On top of that, he charged us almost the full fare! He did take off 10% but it was still about twice as much as we should have paid. From now on Im making sure I get somewhere in the daytime.
MEDELLIN
Im not going to lie, the main reason for my going here was that it had been talked up so much on Entourage. E and the boys didn´t let me down, however, as this is definitely the best city ive been too thus far. Hell, its a remarkable city even considering Europe and north america. Some of the perks: the nicest metro Ive ever been on (tied with Munich, but provides a great view of the city), great safety (could walk around at night no problem), clean, cheap, and the people are all so friendly and helpful (without even asking theyll come up and give you directions/offer to help).
As we wondered around looking for the interactive museum, we stumbled upon some sort of temporary exhibit they had up. The exhibit went through Medellin, past and present. It honored those that were killed in the drug wars, while emphasizing a better tomorrow. Medellin currently devotes 40% of every tax dollar to education, that three times the amount of any other place in Bogota. They pretty much had enough of all the crime and violence, pulled themselves up by the bootstraps, and turned the city into an international destination for both tourists and business. It really is remarkable and Id recommend it to anyone.
A few pictures from Plaza Botero. Sorry, these are borrowed from my buddy Adam so theyre the best I can do for now. Notice the interesting design of the church. Botero was a famous sculptor/artist whose designs are all bubbly (see statues in pic 2). Its kind of hard not to smile when seeing these overly-corpulent statues, though one was used to hide a bomb several years ago.
We did take one day trip out of the city to Guatape, about 2 hours outside. Here there is a massive rock that you hike up to see this beautiful lake landscape that almost appears as an archipelago. We wanted to swim in the lake but the clouds rolled in and it was a bit too cold so we had to settle for a fresh fish lunch. The trout was fried whole and brought out to use, head, eyes and all. Still delicious though.
My three days there wasnt enough and I definitely want to go back.
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