The New Medellin
Friday, February 22nd, 2008Day 108
We don’t usual stay in dorm rooms, but here in Medellin it was our best and cheapest option. Surprisingly last night was one of my best sleeps in a while. It may have been that I was overly tired from the overnight bus or maybe we have now travelled so long that I can sleep anywhere. Usually I am a very fussy sleeper. If something doesn’t sound right or the temperature is off then normally I just can’t get to sleep. Not anymore though, 8 other strangers sleeping around me in a room? No problem, I’m out as soon as I lie down. 35 degree heat and humidity? No worries, I’ll be asleep soon. Roosters 3am, blaring latin music at 5am, crying children and screaming spanish mothers at 7am? Didn’t hear any of it. So really I don’t think the amount of passport stamps or the collection of exotic souvenirs shows how much you have travelled. Nope, its the ability to sleep through anything, the ability to fall asleep and sleep through the loudest version of Daddy Yankees “Gasoilna”. Incidentally a regaeton favourite of mine. Sleep through that and you must be a well travelled lad.
So after a great sleep and good shower we left the hostel and went right back to the little cafe from yesterday morning. Fantastic coffee and cheese pastries again for breakfast. Sitting on the patio with the sun filtering through the canopy of trees it felt like a beautiful spring day back home. After breakfast we walked 10 minutes to the metro. The metro here in Medellin is not underground but rather above ground trains and then running along raised tracks through the downtown. It follows the river and then branches out with a few different lines, from the map it seems to cover a vast part of the city. They use tickets here which can only be bought at a booth and often they don’t work in the turnstiles. Other than that I was impressed, the platforms were spotless, the trains large and clean. We were whisked away and in under 10 minutes we were in the centre of Medellin.
We exited at a large square in front of a strikingly modern building, a new library. On the near side was a pedestrian street with some older building. The square however was all modern. Hundreds of small towers were spread throughout the square. At night they will light up. In front of the library are benches surrounded by bamboo giving shade in the otherwise open square. We sat there for a while moving to different spots around the square people watching. I commented how in Toronto we haven’t had any new public space of this scale built in a long time. We continued are tour walking the long pedestrian street that stretched across much of the centre of the city. There were some interesting colonial buildings but where Medellin impressed most was the fantastic modern architecture and beautiful new public spaces.
Back on the metro we rode out to cable car connection. Since the city is built in a steep valley and much of it has spread up the steep mountainsides, it would be very tough to extend the metro up the mountains. So a cable car was built that connects with the metro. 4 stops right up to the top of the mountain. This was great, riding the elevated train and now the cable car was an attraction in itself. We lined up and soon were riding with 4 others high above the neighbourhood to the first station. This cable car was such a great transportation idea, one of the best parts was that it connected a working class neighbourhood with the main metro line. People who will actually use public transport and most likely don’t even own a car. At the last stop we exited to find an incredible public library. A very modern looking black square of a building, hanging off the mountainside. It was quite a sight and a great contrast from the modest red brick dwellings it hovered over. As we walked back to the station we noticed that everywhere the metro or cable car has been built it has improved the look of the neighbourhood it passes through. For example under and all around the cable car stations are beautifully landscaped parks, walkways and childrens playgrounds. The more of Medellin we saw the more we enjoyed just being in the city.
For dinner we looked for a place back in El Poblado. Most of the restaurants around here are trendy, expensive affairs and being vegetarian made it that much harder. After some looking we settled on a middle eastern place and had a pretty good plate of falafel, hummus and veggies. We ate outside and the people watching couldn’t get much better. Our other observation that night of Medellin was the amount of silicon. People have said Colombia has the most beautiful woman in the world and Medellin the most beautiful in the country. Not so sure if that’s true but after tonight we both agree that it may be the plastic surgery capital of South America. Either way Medellin the city is proving to be quite beautiful and modern. Its hard to believe that not so long ago this was one of the most dangerous cities in the world. So far the transformation we have seen has been incredible.
Michael Coroneos