Medellin...Pablo Escobars old stomping ground...
Trip Start
Mar 25, 2008
1
7
54
Trip End
Nov 22, 2008
Medellin,
Colombia
Saturday, April 12, 2008
This would have to be the nicest bus I have ever been on. There is comfy leg rests...kinda like a lazy boy reclining effect...they hand out fluffy blankies...and we all know I love a fluffy blankie to snuggle down with...there is a loo and also they offer snacks and lunch....altho I managed to not buy that ticket...hmmm... I had some supplies with me and all was good.
The drive was beautiful.....the scenery and mountains were amazing...I can't say I noticed we were on the journey for 8 hours at all....there was raging rivers of chocolate milk...the huge rapids which were churning up to 6 and seven feet of rough water....there must have been lots of rain further up stream
The drive to Medellin
. The roads were twistie and windy as we cruised up to 2900 metres above sea level....we just kept crawling up the mountians and then above us were even more moutains....I can't even imagine living in these small towns that are speckled along the way. I really really liked this bus trip!!!!I arrived at the Southern bus termail where I grabbed a cab to The Black Sheep Hostel...a Kiwi owned establishment which is a very chilled out place to hang...my only venture out was to the supermarket which was a 5 min walk down the road to grab some groceries to make dinner and have something for breakfast...I am actually happy to be able to cook for myself. I have booked a double room with private bathroom- with HOT water- for $20 pn and will be here for 3 days before I fly to Cartagena to finally meet up with Freya...I will be pleased to have my travel buddy with me...the Black Sheep is the first place I have actually had conversatiosn with other travellers...everywhere else I seem to be the only gringo in town!!!
To be honest I am quite happy just hanging out here....I will take some spanish lessons which I can do on the patio...and just chill for a bit.
The place is filled with comfy old couches, a big kitchen ...friendly people, hammocks and a TV room with DVD's etc....oh and wireless internet so I can book my tickets and accomodations further ahead
Mountains everywhere
! Sunday is BBQ nite so a tradtional kiwi style barbie so I look forward to that tomorrow nite ..the travellers here are varied...some aussie, some kiwis, a slovkian a few irish a few isrelis some americans and a coupla poms and some inbetween that I am not sure of...everyone seems to get on well and the house is huge so peeps just seems to settle in and hang out doing their thing...here is a chef amongst them so he cordinated a big feast for dinner....everyone seems happy enough and I am happy to be here.Had a great chat with Kelvin the owner this morning he is a very freindly guy and he showed me the whole place and we discussed some future plans for increasing room numbers and renovations. I think he is onto a very good thing!! :o) Good luck to him!!
I am here till Monday.....I may or may not go out tomorrow!!! :o)
Sunday...
Today I decided that I woud venture out for the day...Liza, Darren, Susanne and Justin- fellow backpackers where also stepping out so we caught a bus and headed to a market....personally I still have the can't fit anything in my bags problem...which I am working on solving..:o)....so i just looked and didn't buy....it's kinda the same stuff that is everywhere so nothing stood out anyway as a must have
Lush and green
.After the market we jumped on another bus and headed to an outlet store...grabbed some lunch- Hindu pollo arepia - chicken curry stuffed inside maize pita bread...yummy... and then jumped in a taxi to go and see Pablo Escobar's grave....he actually died on my birthday in 1993...clicked off a few snaps and then walked back to the metro to go to the free cable car that takes you to the top of the mountain....actually it is the means by which the locals get to their homes...this is the very poor part of Medellin....once at the top Liza, Darren and I walked to the look out and took a few more snaps and then headed back to the metro via cable car to get home intime for the BBQ. Actually a very tiring day...we meant to fit paragliding in but ran out of time...lots of public transport and walking.
Gliding may be squeezed into the agenda tomorrow before I have to catch my flight.....but if I had to decide right now I might say no as I am very very tired!!! :o)
BBQ was amazing and reason enough to come and stay at the Black Sheep- Kelvin has one every Sunday night...less than US$5 bucks for all you can eat steak, chicken, pork ribs, sausages, plantain, onions, salad and fresh french bread...OMG it was sooooo good to just have a normal meal....actually I don't remember the last Barbie I had that was this good!!!!
The family grave site
! Everyone was stuffed and happy and here was plenty of leftovers so lunch is pretty much sorted for tomorrow. I have decided against going paragliding tomorrow morning...my day will be too rushed with having to travel out there and back and then go and catch my plane...so I have decided on the softer approach and will go and have a massage in the morning and then do some packing and chill for a while reading my book which I want to finish before I go so I can swap it for another one to take with me....who knows when I will find another book in English.
So that's pretty much Medellin....once again not the place of old where it was run by the drug cartels, Senor Escobar and had a horendous crime rate....now it is run by Dr's performing plastic surgery on women that want silicon boob jobs....by the looks business is good about every 2nd chick here seems to have had the work done!!!!! Sorry guys no pics included!! haha!
Cartagena tomorrow.
