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The Americas
  • Greg Clayton
  • Daniel Tarpey
  • Greg Clayton
  • Daniel Tarpey

The Americas

A 149-day adventure by Greg & Daniel Read more
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  • The Americas

    Palace of Culture Rafael Uribe Uribe

    April 29, 2024 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    This morning we set off on the metro towards the historical centre of Medellin. We got off the metro at Parque Berrio and headed into the Palace of Culture. The building stood out from the exterior and on the onside it was a strange mixture of offices and a few displays.Read more

  • The Americas

    Plazuela Nutibara

    April 29, 2024 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    In the square outside of the palace there are a few dozen fat statues of various people, animals and body parts. Strange but definitely interesting!

  • The Americas

    Pueblito Paisa

    April 29, 2024 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    Our final stop on the whistle stop city tour was Pueblito Paisa. Sitting at the top of the hill is this quirky colourful village with views out to the surrounding mountains.

  • The Americas

    Playing Football

    April 29, 2024 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    One of this afternoons hostel activities was to play football across the road! We teamed up with another hostel and ended up with 4 teams of 5 people. There were also a number of locals participating for some reason. The game was King of the court and one team (made up entirely of locals) went unbeaten throughout although some of the games were closely contested. Either way it was great to be back playing, even if we were wearing walking shoes!

    After this we showered away the sweat, had our first tuna pasta in over a week and played table tennis and pool.    Read more

  • The Americas

    Comuna 13

    April 30, 2024 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    We were up bright and early this morning to take the tram to Comuna 13 for the 9:30am walking tour.

    Comuna 13 is one of the 16 'comunas' (or comunes) within Medellin. Its a very popular spot to visit due to its vibrant street art but also its marred history, as it was a neighbourhood of guerilla warfare all the way up to 2002. In 2002 the Colombian military massacred all of the guerrillas and many civilians in an operation to take back control of the comuna, which they managed to do successfully after over 20 failed operations in the past.

    Our guide was a local who grew up in the area after 2002 and was able to share many interesting stories about how life in the comuna has changed for the better overtime.

     Our first impressions were that it was superbly hilly but also lived up to its colourful name! We were also treated to a break-dancing performance and a rap from the locals.    Read more

  • The Americas
    1

    Comuna 13 Continued

    April 30, 2024 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    Our tour continued on through the cramped yet colourful streets. We even stopped to do some graffiti and go down a slide!

  • The Americas

    View from Comuna 13

    April 30, 2024 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    With Medellin being built in a valley, there are great views of the city to be found all around but I think Comuna 13 has one of the best!

  • The Americas

    Comuna 13 Escalators

    April 30, 2024 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    One of the improvements made to Comuna 13 in the past decade has been the instalment of 6 escalators to help the locals (and tourists) get up and down through the hills without breaking a sweat. These escalators looked very out of place from the rest of the neighbourhood!Read more

  • The Americas

    Estadio Atansio Giradot

    April 30, 2024 in Colombia ⋅ 🌩️ 27 °C

    A quick stop off for a lap of the main stadium in the city, home to both Independiente Medellin and Atletico Nacional!

  • The Americas
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    House of Memories Museum

    April 30, 2024 in Colombia ⋅ 🌩️ 23 °C

    A well kept museum with great displays about Colombia's chequered past however it was almost all in Spanish so we understood very little!

    This was our last stop of the day as we headed to the supermarket (where I got ID'd to use my debit card??) to rustle up a brocoli and mushroom fettuccine with cream cheese, it was delicious! We then watched the Boca Juniors penalty shoot out, played some table tennis and some pool on our totally lop sided table (see photo evidence)Read more

  • The Americas

    6 Months on the Road

    May 1, 2024 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C

    Today is the day I celebrate 6 months on the road! And what better way to celebrate than with a 6 hour bus journey from Medellin to Salento. The bus wasn't till 11am however so we were able to start the day with a pain au chocolat, before boarding a lovely minibus with personal TV screens. Leg room was still however questionable.Read more

  • The Americas

    Arriving in Salento

    May 1, 2024 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    We arrived into Salento just as the sun was setting, but our first impressions were good! It seems to be a proper old school Colombian town.

  • The Americas

    Evening in Salento

    May 1, 2024 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    After quickly dropping our bags at our hostel we headed out to a lovely veggie restaurant. There was a man on a saxophone outside playing delightful melodies so all was well! We finished the night with an hour of pool on a proper table at a local billiards club, where Dan extended his lead in the series to 7-1. We also had another activity in between...Read more

  • The Americas

    Cancha de Tejo

    May 1, 2024 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    We headed to a place neary to play 'tejo', a popular local game involving tossing metal slabs at sachets of gunpowder. The aim of the game is to hit the gunpowder sachets to make them explode. This was great fun and very different to anything we've seen so far. We made ourselves jump with the explosions a few times and eventually became half decent at this local delicacy.Read more

  • The Americas

    Jeep to Cocora Valley

    May 2, 2024 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    This morning we were up and out early(ish) to visit the Cocora Valley!

    The valley is the main attraction to Salento, the only place in the world with wax palms reaching up to 60m high!

    We jumped into a shared Jeep with a return journey costing just over £2 each for the half an hour trip each way.Read more

  • The Americas
    1

    Arriving at Cocora Valley

    May 2, 2024 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    We arrived safe and sound and opted to take the short circular route via two viewpoints. Here's some shots from our ascent.

  • The Americas

    Cocora Valley Viewpoint 2

    May 2, 2024 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    The furthest point of our trek was up to the second viewpoint. The views over the valley were great and we were able to get very close to a collection of the wax palms. We sat here for a while to have some snacks and watch the clouds pass by.Read more

  • The Americas

    Afternoon in Salento

    May 2, 2024 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    We made it back to Salento just as the rain was starting so perfect timing! We took shelter to watch the first half of Roma v Bayer Leverkusen and then went to play pool for an hour. Two soft drinks and an hours pool set us back just over £4 at the local billiards club, unbelievable value! I managed to claw back the 7-1 pool deficit to 7-3, let's see if I can continue to close the gap...Read more

  • The Americas

    Salento Viewpoints

    May 2, 2024 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    At the top of the town are two viewpoints, one looking over the town and one looking out to the valley behind. We took the steps up to hear before heading back to our hostel via the supermarket to shower and make dinner. After dinner we headed back to our favourite pool bar for 2 hours of pool. Unfortunately despite some very close games, Dan extended his lead back out to 10 sets to 3.Read more

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