Yayyyyy Medellin. (Pronounced: meh-de-jean) We arrived at our accommodation – Saman House – which was right in the centre of Poblado. Poblado is probably the most touristy place in Medellin, but for good reason. There are heaps of awesome restaurants, bars and cafes, and it’s safe to walk around at night. Because we arrived at 1.30am however, we saved our exploring till the next day.

We woke and excitedly went looking to start ticking off all the cafe and restaurant suggestions we had saved from trawling through Medellin travel blogs. First stop was Pergamino, apparently Medellin’s best coffee. The road Pergamino is on looks a lot like the streets of Double Bay in Sydney – very pretty. The coffee was good and so was the sneaky almond and chocolate croissant.

From there we took the metro to Parque Explorer, which is an aquarium/musuem/interactive TePapa-y type thing. My personal highlight was hearing the little Colombian babies yell out ‘Dory! Dory!’ when they saw her fish in the tank. Also we got to make comics of ourselves. After that we walked through the Jardin Botanical (that’s botanical garden – this is an educational blog also btw), had lunch and took the metro back to the hostel to chill before heading out for the night.

Medellin at night is something you should try to experience. All throughout the city they have these little kiosk things that sell alcohol and chips. And they all have TVs. As we were walking to dinner, we saw the Medellin football team were playing another Colombian team and everyone was crowding around these kiosks watching. We decided to stop, buy a beer and watch we game with them (which was a knock out game decided by a penalty shoot out). The taxis and scooters watch as they stop at the lights and everyone is yelling at the tv just hitting back beers and margarita slushies on the side of the road. Good times. We left to have a really yum veggie dinner at Herbario, and got another beer from the kiosk for our walk back.

Out where all the clubs and bars are there are the same guys from during the day walking around selling gum, lollies and cigarettes, except when nightfalls, another product appears on the menu. I’m sure you can guess what it is. Personally, I knew this stuff would be around, it is Medellin for Pablo’s sake. But honestly I was blown away with how open it was. We literally had a guy shake a bag in our face. We went to a hostel called the Lucky Buddha where we met some cool people and ventured on to do some salsa at one of the many bars. I say we, I found a really cool group of people to salsa with and Scott looked on with a drink in hand. Though I will say he got up with me at the end and was pretty good!

Guatape

The next day we were up early, bright-eyed and bushy tailed…lol, to catch a 2 hour bus to Guatape. Guatape is the town where all the wealthier Medellin folk go for their weekends or holidays. There are bars, restaurants and market stalls lining the streets and it all focuses around mansions on little islands in the lake. We stayed at Lake View Hostel and that night didn’t do anything except have the best pizza we’ve had all trip from a place called D’Luigi – if you got to Guatape, go. The next morning we walked up El Penom which is basically a massive rock with epic panoramic views of Guatape, and then did a tour of Pablo Escobar’s holiday house. It’s now a shell of a building thanks to the Cali Cartel (rival drug cartel) who came in and blew it up. There are holes all though the walls, ceilings and floors as a result of locals coming in after the explosion and looking for money that might have been hidden,which makes sense seeing as Pablo never used a bank. At his peak he was making $60 million US a day, and they spent $2500 USD a week on rubber bands to hold all their cash together. As you can see from the pictures below, the place is ruined now, but I imagine it would have been beautiful. Just like me, Pablo loved Bouganvillea, and all the walls we covered in it – that’s about where our similarities end though. We also learnt that their jeeps were kept running at all times to ensure a speedy getaway, and that his brother still lives across the lake. Something tells me a lot of families with houses in Guatape would have few stories to tell.

After our brief tour, we donned suits, picked up some guns, and played paintball throughout the ruins of Pablo’s horse stables and guesthouse. It was awesome. We played capture the flag and a “kill Pablo” scenario where I was Pablo. It ended with only me and Scott left against 3 of the “opposing Cartel”, but they ran outta time.Shame. It was quite a surreal experience playing paintball in his lake estate. Which by the way included a soccer field where he would get the Medellin team to come play private games (he also owned them). Pablo’s original ground keeper lives there in his restored house  – they are the ones who run the tour.

After that we headed back to the town, got on the bus and went back to Medellin.

Back to Medellin

This time we were staying in an Air BnB in a different area called Laureles, which was a nice, peaceful change from a hostel. We headed out that night for a really good dinner at a place called Olivia Pizza – would recommend.

The next day was the walking tour. The Real City Medellin walking tour is voted the best walking tour in South America, and when you have a city with history as rich as Medellin, it’s not hard to see why. Our guide was Carmilo and he was fantastic. The information he gave us was great but it was his love for Medellin that made the tour so good. One of the things Scott and I were most interested in was how Medellin has changed so drastically in the last 20 years from being one of the most dangerous cities in the world, to one of the most up-and-coming. Carmilo explained that after Pablo died in the 90s, a lot has changed; the introduction of the metro being the most important. The metro is world-class, and the people see it as a symbol of progress and pride. This is evident in the fact that there is absolutely no rubbish, or graffiti of any kind anywhere on the metro – the people are proud of it and they see it as the beginning of the new Medellin; a way to make getting around the city safe and appealing. The other reason for such a drastic change is the simple fact that the new generation of Medellin people, or Paisa as they are called, want Medellin to be different. They aren’t burdened by the drug history that their parents were, and they truly believe they can be on part of the rest of the world in terms of culture and tourism. And the third reason, Carmilo explained, is the very fact that we were there. Tourists are still very new to Medellin (and they do stare at us), but he said that seeing us makes them happy because we are living proof that the international opinion of Medellin is changing. And the more tourists that come, the safer Medellin will be, and the more ‘clean money’ will be put into their economy to continue to improve it. There are definitely still dangerous parts, and guys still yell out ‘Gum? Lollies? Cocaine?’ at you at about 1 in the afternoon, but it is an awesome city and you can tell it’s only going to get better.

After the tour we went home to nap and then went out for my belated birthday dinner. We started by having a drink at a bar called Envy which is on the rooftop of a hotel called Charlee. It was very beautiful and the gin and tonic was strong – two thumbs up. Also, there was a pool and sushi menu soooo pretty great. We then headed to dinner at a place called El Cielo. El Cielo is all about experimental dining and our night consisted not of courses but of 13 ‘moments’. You can read about El Cielo in the ‘Medellin Food’ post. It was pretty insane.

One of our other nights in Medellin was with some Kiwis and Aussies, one of which I knew from Sydney, Hayden. We got into Medellin at 8pm from Salento and by 8.30 we had two straws in a 3 litre jug of Mojito – yum. We spent the night dancing and drinking, good times.

…Not such ‘good times’ the next morning though when we woke a little rough. But there was no time to feel sorry for ourselves as we had booked to go and watch Medellin play in the football semi final. The game didn’t actually start till 4.30 but the tour started at 1pm when we got picked up and taken to a store on the side of the road where we brought beers and drunk with the locals. Everyone was wearing their team colours and it was an awesome ‘game day’ vibe. We then moved to another store – more beers – and then walked to a little stall where we all brought Medellin football shirts, before heading into the hectic stadium. The entrance was lined with cops on horses and cops with massive guns. Girls go through one side, guys through the other. We were all body searched twice, had excited fans yell ‘gringo!’ at us multiple times, and then found our seats. The fans at the game were the most insane fans I have ever seen. There is no music over the speakers because they make their own with drums, trumpets and singing. (Much better than ‘Tonight’s gonna be a good night’). And the other thing is, they never stop, not once throughout the game are they not singing, chanting, dancing, and cheering. It’s awesome. The game came down to a penalty shoot out which ended up lasting for 21 shots at goal. Everyone around us was crying or literally covering their eyes in fear, and then, Medellin won. It was insane. The noise and celebration that lasted as we walked out of the stadium, down the road, and then in traffic all the way home was more sporting celebration than I’ve ever been witness to. Kiwis could learn a thing or two about how to really celebrate a win #2011rugbyworldcup. The game ended up being one of our highlights of South America, and of the places we have been, Medellin is officially our favourite South American city.