Medellin. A city shadowed by a history of drugs and corruption. A city progressing and overcoming, yet still slightly tainted. A city full of life, an exuberant nightlife, beautiful women, implants and epic street food.
We stayed in El Poblado, a cute and posh neighborhood with all the nightlife. Kind of like SoHo but not. One thing I love about all the cities in Colombia that I've seen so far is all the green. This is an endlessly beautiful country with lush landscapes and powerful energy vibrating off of every corner. So we went to the Plaza de Botero to see the famous fat statues and walked around the cultural center. Then we chilled in the botanical garden. Next day we got up for the Pablo Escobar tour where we saw an ex-cartel house, Pablo's grave, along with his parents and some of his wing men. It ended at his dad's old house where we met his older brother, Roberto Escobar. I felt like a total touristy badass shaking hands with an ex-criminal and the brother of pretty much the biggest drug dealer who ever lived. It was pretty bizarre, especially considering he spent the entire time talking about his cure for HIV. I guess it's good that he's supporting a good cause for the world after 12 years in jail and a lot more in the drug world. There are pictures of him and Pablo in front of the White House on the day a 10 million dollar reward from the US was posted for turning them in. That should say something about them.
Anyway, aside from the touristy stuff we ate too many palitos de queso, which are kind of like huge mozzarella sticks but better. And we danced the nights away to salsa, reggaeton, electronic, and house music with a really fun Chilean girl we met at the hostel, which meant we got to practice more Spanglish.
It was a good city. Fun, interesting and delicious. A recipe for greatness. But a city nonetheless, and I'm in need of some good beach time at the end of my trip so Cartagena is my new spot. More on the carribean coast later. Loving Colombia so much. Le sigh.
