Medellin Royal Hotel

If you told me 12 days ago on my way to Heathrow that by the end of next week I would:<br><br>* have detailed knowledge of Pablo Escobar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pablo_Esc obar)<br>* argued about the origins of crack cocaine and whether or not the Cali cartel were involved;<br>* know how to make cocaine from scratch in a prison cell;<br>* go on a guided tour of the old Policia Nacional de Colombia HQ by a local policeman;<br ...

... with numerous individuals covering such topics as gun control laws, beign tasmanian, getting anulments from the Pope, etc etc. Needless to say i didnt manage to accomplish my task of buying a camera, however i did manage to make myself some new and interesting friends who kept me entertained with many more random conversations over the following eight days that i ended up staying at the hostel.<br>And i do need to point ...

... only one in Colombia I believe?) which makes it easy to get around and the viaducts above street level allow more views of the city below and around which beats having to take the bus anyday!<br><br>Most of the literature on Medellin provides a detailed history of the influence of the drug lords and the violence experienced not that long ago, but there are few reminders here now. The city is just like any big city - busy, polluted and easy to find your way around.<br><br>I ...

... definitely always be a very delightful memory...haha. Justine was not as fortunate to build up a tolerance to such things, and I don´t think she got to sleep all night. David took us to a really nice hostel where we coincidentally ended up meeting with a bunch of other travelers we had made friends with in other places. The hostel was full of a lot of great people and we spent a good amount of time checking out the city ...

... to leave, not really feeling like spending time in a big city so going to head for Salento tomorrow after a trip up the cable car here tomorrow morning. More details to follow.

... Mall and decides to try this, still no joy but finds someone who tells him it is on the third floor of the opposite building, a different part of the town hall. At long last we get to the office, pass over the cards and are told we do not have enough postage, since it is one pound twenty-five a stamp we are a bit flabbergasted, but ask how much. After being told the stamps we have are only good for the USA and not Europe, they eventually decide they are wrong ...

... much for granted. I was so blessed to have been born into a "privileged" home- with opportunity- choices- options. Do these children have ANY options in life? Could anyone ever ask these children "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Do these kids have a choice in what they will become? I met a woman in the Quilotoa Loop that comes from a family of 17. Five of the siblings had died before the age of 11 due to illness and lack of medical attention. She is the wife of a farmer ...

After returning from the beach in Boquilla, we showered and jumped on a bus to Medellin. 14 hours later and after a dodgy nights sleep for us both we arrived in Medellin. We got a taxi to our hostal and crashed out until the afternoon before heading to watch Ecuador vs Colombia (on TV),..awful game,..spent evening chilling out and wandering around a bit and eating brownie and ice ...

... le sue spericolate vetture che i pedoni pare non li vedano proprio o sará per le formose donnine di Botero le cui statue all'aria aperta paiono dei giganti dalle nostre altezze, comunque quanto ritratto in foto é il nostro aspetto al risveglio del terzo giorno. Inquietate dalla cosa, optiamo dunque per allontanarci dalla grande cittá prima di una mutazione definitiva.

... we were to visit. The view from the top is quite striking. Small slum like houses were bunched together all the way around the valley. Even the steeper slopes supported homes, which rested on wooden stilts. The homes were held together by wood, brick, iron roofing and plastic bags. I noticed lots of youth on the streets - some working and some just hanging about. We wondered along the main street, where Tatiana warned us against using our cameras. She ...