Comuna 13 - from terror to triumph

This is the community where Pablo Escobar really came into himself. It was a ragtag slum of dispossessed people that fell victim to the corrupt governments of the 1950s. Desperation was one of the building blocks and this inevitably led to crime, gangs and utter lawlessness. The government turned a blind eye after razing the area a couple of times and let the area develop "off grid", meaning no services or utilities. This seems to be how Escobar endeared himself to the citizenry originally. He finagled a governmental position, giving him a veil of legitimacy, that oversaw the comunas in Medellin and it introduced him to the poor and desperate people of the city. He poured in cash (both illicit as well as government backed), ensured "protection" and calmed the simmering cauldron of terror - well, removed competitive threats, at least. You wouldn't have wanted to cross him, to be sure.

Escalators heading up the steep hills
of the Comuna

Finally, as the war on drugs spiraled out of control, all of the murders, drugs and violence became too much for the residents and they decided to say "No more." It was a bold move. Especially in the face of well armed guerrillas and cartels. They focused on art, music and strength of community. There's a great rap culture in the area and it's vibrant with murals. The government finally took note of the changes in the early 2000s and invested some money to make the area more attractive to tourists.

While the houses seem small, and are stacked up a precarious hill, there is little remnant of it's bloody history, except for the odd reverential picture of Escobar visible through a window or doorway. The people are welcoming and the Comuna has a festive air to it, like at any moment a neighbourhood party could break out.

View from the upper reaches of Comuna 13

Fun way to get back down the hill

It's a pretty dramatic testimony to the will of people with a common cause, no matter how tired or scared. It gives hope for the future.

Medellin - City of Eternal Spring (Sort of)

That's the official tag line of the city: "eternal spring". You might be more familiar with the city through TV shows like Narcos which, admittedly, colour the city with a particular light. As to the eternal spring thing, I don't know any Canadian that's going to call 28 & 29 degrees Celsius, "spring", but I guess for a tropical city, they can get away with it. 

Medellin is definitely different from Bogota. It's located at a lower elevation and a bit closer to the coast, so it has a very verdant vibe, especially in the neighbourhood of El Poblado. (It's super posh, one of the most expensive parts of the city.) It's also amongst the safest, which is why we decided to stay in the area. Add to this the fact that there are heaps of restaurants nearby, in the Zona Rosa and it was a major win for us.

The drive in from the airport took about 40 minutes and included a very long tunnel (actually a couple of tunnels) that required a toll. The traffic seems less manic here, but that could just be me, after the pure insanity of Bogota traffic.

Our hotel entry

Our hotel is located at the top of a steep hill, just because, near the end of a cul de sac. So whenever we want to head out to find something to eat, we trundle down the hill and then have to hike back up to get back home. (I tried to think of it as a built-in exercise program.)

Deceptively quiet Zona Rosa

I was still fighting my cold a bit, which was an added strain, but seem to be slowly recovering. That didn't stop us from getting out to see what the heck El Poblado is all about. We trekked down the hill and checked out all the interesting restaurants and goggled at the highrise condos. We finally decided to stop and try a Japanese/Peruvian mash-up that offered excellent sashimi and sushi, plus a nice environment for us to dip our toes into the Medellin culinary experience. We weren't disappointed. (My taste buds were still a bit off, so my margarita wasn't the absolute best, but we can't blame the restaurant for that.)

After the hubbub of El Poblado, I was quite relieved to have a quiet dinner at the hotel. We both ordered pasta and were happy with our choice. 

The next day we decided to do something crazy: take the metro. Medellin has a pretty famous (for all the right reasons) light rail system and we wanted to head out to Parque Explora - a science park, with a freshwater aquarium and replica dinosaurs. 

The aquarium is really the main draw. It hosts displays of all of the Amazonian fish and is one of the largest freshwater aquariums in the world. (Or so I believe.)

Oh, and I saved Ron from being devoured by a Tyrannosaurus Rex...that's me, a big hero, sacrificing myself so others could live.

Since the botanical gardens are right next door, we stopped there as well. We had to show ID to get in, but there was no cost, which was a pleasant surprise. The main entry, that usually houses their orchid exhibits, was a really interesting structure that had a Zen feel. The only down side was that most of the orchids were MIA.

Teddy and me posing with the huge roots
 of this tree

After enjoying both, we stopped in El Centro to visit the Plaza Botero, which hosts a dozen of his bronze sculptures. The energy in the centro historico is frenetic. There are vendors everywhere, each with a megaphone or boombox.They had almost anything a person might want, from underwear to books, jewellery to charging cords. There also seemed to be a lot of working girls in the Plaza and a bit of research told us that prostitution is legal in Columbia. The press of humanity was quite overwhelming, but we still got to see the sculptures before hopping back on the metro and heading back to our own neighbourhood, where we stopped for a quick lunch of tacos - yum.

I then had a very satisfying nap and we finally headed out for dinner at a burger joint, trying to keep our budget under control, after our splurge on lunch the day before. They do make pretty solid burgers in Columbia. As a weird aside, if you want fries you order your burger  "francesa".

We climbed back up the hill and watched a bit of TV before crashing and burning. 

Up next: Comuna 13

Columbian Pesos - How Great Thou Art

When I say great, I mean HUGE...the numbers, not the notes. It took a few days to wrap our minds around the exchange and how prices are displayed. At this point, for a very rough exchange $1 Canadian is equal to about 3000 Co$ (pesos, but they use a dollar sign, quite frequently.) They can also be known as COP.

Next to the # is a tiny "mil",
meaning 1,000

Note that the bills get increasingly larger, as the value increases.

When you look at menus, you'll see prices like: $30,000 (a mid priced entree) or $9,000 (local beer). It can be quite overwhelming, especially when they tell you the total verbally...in Spanish. The actual currency notes are less challenging, as they sort of drop the final three zeros, so my North American brain can wrap itself around it. What's crazy, at least to me, is that they are unapologetic about the huge numbers. I'd be tempted to write 1m or 25m on a menu, price tag etc. Generally, this isn't the practice in Columbia, and they go whole hog.

The coins are a bit crazier. The largest coin I've seen is $1,000 and the smallest $50. There seems to be a range of sized for the $100 peso coins, which makes it that much more difficult, as relying on size goes right out the window.

It's the size of the numbers that is strange and takes some time to adapt. We had a receipt today for $247,000...crazy! And our hotel was over 1million COP for the week. Heart stopping, at first glance, at least. 

Eventually, you'll get the hang of it, but be prepared to just trust the change you're given for the first day or so.

Up next: Medellin...but, maybe I said that before.

Bogota - Artisans, a garden and a big ass hill

 Day two and three in Bogota.

On Sunday, the district of Usaquén hosts what they call a "Flea Market" or "el Mercado de las Pulgas". It isn't like any flea market I've ever heard of, as it's filled with local artisans and vendors. The closest thing to used goods was a vinyl kiosk and a young man who crafted interesting wall art with old records. There is a flood of leather goods, beaded jewellery, hats, toiletries, coffee, food - you get the point. I can't even begin to guess how many tents were there, but it numbered easily over 100. At times it got a bit overwhelming, returning the greetings of the vendors as they tried to tempt us with there wares. The colours, scents and sounds were a kaleidoscope.

We got away from the hustle and bustle of commercialism by stopping at a lovely cafe for a bit of a snack and a caffeine pick-me-up.

We headed back to the hotel to arrange for a cab and headed out to the Jardin Botanico for the afternoon. Okay, it probably wasn't the best choice for a Sunday, as everyone's family decided to do the same thing. The line was probably an hour long to get to the ticket booth, but, fortunately, South America has this wonderful concept about cutting Seniors a break, so Ron managed to skip a good part of the line to score us some tickets. Of course, we only remembered this exciting perk when we'd already been waiting for half an hour, as we saw a pair of older ladies march past everyone and go to the "priority" line. We splurged on tickets that included access to the Tropicario - basically a gigantic greenhouse featuring plants from the Amazon and and another section with desert plants. We got to see a wide range of amazing flowers and flora and we sweated our way through the wending path of the conservatory.

It was a bit of a relief to leave the building and find a light breeze playing through the gardens. They had a very nice rose garden, as well as a lot of indigenous plants. Add in a few water features and fountains and the price of admission was definitely worth it.

Can you spot Teddy, on the "T"?

We were delighted to discover that Ron's new phone has a pretty impressive zoom. The picture above the one with the purple water lilies is from the edge of the pond. The actual waterlily photo is on extreme zoom. Yay!

Once done, we diligently messaged our hotel to request a ride home. They sent us the license plate and code for the driver, but moments later, they messaged back saying there had been a change of driver and that he was about to arrive. Sadly, he'd already driven past where we were waiting, as the Botanical Garden entrance is quite large. A bit of madness and a quick jog up the road later, I found the taxi, but he'd already cancelled the request. He was annoyed at the point, having wasted 10 minutes or so without a fare. He agreed to take us back to the hotel anyway and added on a 2000 peso "multa" (fine) for us not being where he wanted us to be. He wound up lightening up during the drive and got us back tot he hotel safe and sound.

We went to Ko Asian Kitchen for dinner, as we'd had a "street food" lunch, whilst waiting in line at the garden. Ron's Chorriperro was okay, but I opted for a hamburger...not the right choice, at all. We were quite desperate for something fresh and stomach friendly, so Ron wound up with a dumpling soup of a special menu and I had a Poke bowl. We both had a Club beer and enjoyed the fresh meal enormously. We wandered back to the hotel, well after 8pm, feeling satisfied and safe. Weird that, isn't Bogota dangerous?

The next day we tackled Monserrate, a hill that overlooks a good swathe of the city. There are two choices to get to the top; a funicular or on foot. Of course, we couldn't pass up the challenge to make the almost 800 metre (2600 foot) ascension. I haven't mentioned it yet, but Bogota's elevation (2633 metres/8,675 feet) is actually higher than Cuenca's (2450m/8070ft), which basically means that there's even less oxygen available to feed your lungs as you ascend. Did we care that we were still getting over colds? Did we worry that we really haven't done anything extremely strenuous for a while? Yes, but we decided to take on the challenge anyway. It took us an hour to get to the top.(It's estimated that the average climb is somewhere around 45 minutes to an hour, so for old, broken folks, we did pretty well.)

Only 1/3 of the way up

Zoom in of el Centro

The hill in the mid-ground has a church

 

 If you click on the above image, you might be able to see a statue of Jesus. Cue our amazing zoom:

I'd be remiss if I didn't add some photos of the animals we saw on the way.

How can I resist a sweet little flitting hummingbird? It's impossible. The climb down made my legs shake. The stairs are uneven and the rock pathway is the same, but we felt quite accomplished once we were down. 

Near the start - deceptively well spaced and level-ish

 

You must know what's coming...we messaged our hotel to get a ride back. We were quickly provided with a license plate number and code, only to have the order cancelled by the driver. Apparently, Mount Monserrate is outside of the standard taxi service area. The front desk clerk was a bit beside herself, as she couldn't get anyone to help us. We decided to do the unthinkable and randomly hailed down a cab. (Danger! Unsafe! We're all gonna die!) A young driver stopped for us and after much discussion over the address of our hotel, he had us on our way. His little putt-putt must have only had three cylinders, as the climbs up the hills were slow and a bit noisy. He was actually quite talkative, with an accent that was hard to understand, but he got us "home" safely and didn't add a stipend onto the fare. Turns out, we didn't have much to worry about.

For our final night (yes, we went out in the dark) in Bogota, we opted for a quick pizza at a place called La Impostora. It's a new joint, that only serves personal sized rectangular pizzas, as well as grilled sandwiches. It's a neat concept and the pizza was pretty good. (Ron's was excellent (the Juana with serrano ham, goat cheese, fig sauce), mine needed a bit more blue cheese (pepperoni with blue cheese.) I'm going to go out on a limb and say that there are fairly safe areas in Bogota. Like everything common sense applies, but we felt perfectly secure wandering around Chapinero.

That wrapped up our first stint in Bogota, but we'll be back in a week. The weirdest thing about the city is that it rained almost every night, once we were safely ensconced back in our hotel. (The day we went to Monserrate, it rained like mad in the afternoon, too, but we were safely tucked away in our suite, trying to get a rest after our big climb.)

Next up: Medellin!