Medellin

After the painfully long journey from manizales to medellin, we found our bougie boutique hotel in an area called Laureles,which was beautiful and leafy. We had an interesting first day ( if u know u know) and thus spent the next day recovering.

Nonetheless we pushed through and went to the Memory House museum to learn about the history of Medellin which has been fraught with violence. We struggled through the chaotic centre back to the hostel, bumping into a friend from Sheffield... What are the chances?

We headed back out for a bite to eat and ended up at a salsa bar with live music.

The following day to Communa 13 for a tour. In recent history this was the most dangerous area of Medellin due to its position in the city for the narco trade, tightly packed housing and low income families. It was a very emotional tour by a woman who had lived in the neighborhood her whole life and had directly been affected by the conflict and violence. The area had been turned around after a horrific and conflicting operation by the military which took out many gang leaders but also killed many civilians. In addition to a huge amount of investment in social support and mobility. Communa 13 is home to the famous outside escalators which connect the steep hillside with no vehicle transport with the rest of the city. The graffiti and break dancers were a highlight. The main take away the tour guide wanted us to share was that Medellin and Colombia are so much more than Narcos and drug trafficking!

We then hopped on the cable car for a beautiful view across the whole city, looping back down to the metro. The heat was unbearable so we decided to hit up one of Medellins roof top pools. By the time we got there we were very hot and bothered. Only to be met by a popping in all the wrong ways pool party. Lot's of Americans... And we were met with 'for the next half an hour there's a free bar for the ladies' we swiftly excited.

After some sweaty enquiries else where we finally found a pool to suit us just as the sun set. We had a lovely time nonetheless and splashed around to our hearts content.

We finally headed for dinner with Conner, our friend we had bumped into the day before.

Our time in Medellin was interesting and we were excited to get back to the country side.Read more