The Square in Bogota
Saltento's Giant Palms
Monumento a la Raza in Medellin
Botero's work
Hanging with Roberto Escobar
Hola amigos!
Let me say you shouldn't expect any fancy writing this morning. Weekends in Medellin are wickedly crazy and I put it up as one of the best in South America (one could argue the best)!
Before I get carried away about Medellin, let me tell you a few funny observations we have had in Colombia.
First and foremost, maybe since I´m American - Plastic Surgery - Colombia is said to be South America´s capital of Plastic Surgery and its also said that people travel from all over the world and especially the US to have operations performed here for 1/3 the price in their home countries. Just go out for a night on the town and you will see many recipients of the doctor´s handiwork. Apparently LASIC eye surgery was invented in Colombia.
Fernando Botero - you may or may not have heard of this guy, but he is the most famous Colombian artist. Have a look at the above bronze sculptures pictured, seem strange. Well they say the camera adds 15 pounds (I guess they say 5 or 10 kilos in Europe); Botero´s palette adds 100 pounds (45kg)!! At least! He is famous for making people and animals look as Cartman says "festively plump"! The paintings and sculptures are as interesting as amusing.
One of the frustrations of travelling is being overcharged. It happens everywhere, Europe, Asia, South America, etc. Much of the time it’s a small amount and you don´t notice. We had lunch a few days ago and I noticed the bill was higher than I expected. Unfortunately only after paying, I caught a quick glance at the next table´s bill it was 25% lower for the same food. We tried to argue it further, but they were not budging. In Colombia, the lunch specials are usually all the same price. Knowing they ripped us off and unable to get our money back we left quite peeved. Just to further on how nice some Colombians are; a lady dining in the restaurant was trying to help us as she figured out what they did. Unfortunately she couldn´t resolve the problem either, so just out of her generosity, purchased two drinks for us. No reason, but just to say sorry it seemed.
Our path this past week - Bogota > Salento > Manziales > Medellin
Sunday - Museo Del Oro: We arrived into Bogota around 7:30am it might have well been 5am with the amount of people out. Thankfully we checked into our hostel quickly and then were able to make our way out to explore the city. One of our first stops was the Museo Del Oro - South America´s biggest collection of gold artifacts! You could have bankrolled the Iraq War with the amount of gold in this place. Besides the quantity, the ornate metallurgy was superb for being made 2000 years ago! That night we went out with one of Marina´s classmates from her time studying English in London. Andres, who coincidentally is Colombian took us out to see the finer side of Bogota and enjoy a few fun bars. Its common in Colombia to order a bottle of alcohol instead of individual drinks, therefore it makes for a very messy night - I bet he really enjoyed work the next day...
Monday - Salt Cathedral: We made the 2 hour pilgrimage outside Bogota to a huge complex of salt mines. You wouldn´t believe it, but these seriously pious people, built a church down in the tunnels. When I say a church, I should say its more like a stadium church! You can fit nearly 10,000 people in this place and a whole lot more in the joining tunnels showing the Stations of the Cross! Meanwhile, everything was made of salt, well except the pews.
Tuesday - Solento before sunset: We had a long day travelling to get to Colombia´s coffee zone. Thankfully arriving in the gorgeous little town of Solento before sunset and enjoying the bright red landscape as the sun retreated. Later we sat in the lively, but relaxing square to enjoy a few beers.
Wednesday - Valle De Cocora: Any trip to Solento MUST include the plush green valleys of Cocora. This is the only place in the world where palm trees grow to such a height (60 meters, 130 feet)! We hiked through the forest and walked on fallen trees over small rivers reaching a small farm in the woods where we had a drink. Despite being in the coffee zone, Colombians seem to love hot chocolate, wait there´s a catch, with cheese! Yes, they dump a big piece of cheese in their hot chocolate. Later we hiked up to the viewing point to see a huge group of clouds along the tops of the trees and the giant palms in the distance.
That night we were kicked out of our first hostel in South America, the second on this trip. Different to our experience in Nepal, I think this guy was just crazy and stupid, not greedy. There was a mistake in the price we were quoted (only a few bucks so not a big deal), but the guy came to our room, seemingly drunk and started yelling. I guess he didn´t like that I laughed and told him this is not how to talk to people, so we got booted. As you would expect from my writing thus far, no he wasn´t Colombian, he was English - can you believe that.
Thursday - Chipre Monument: We arrived in Manizales around midday knowing there would not be a whole lot to see in this University/college town; the real attraction was the night life. Our one accomplishment in the day was reaching the high viewing area in this mountain town. Very different to St Louis´s monument to westward expansion, Manizales´ monument is to what seems, ´upward´ expansion; depicting the grueling effort required to build the town higher and higher. That night we were ready to paint the town red, but unfortunately the town was painted wet by torrential rains (typical in Colombia), however this didn´t stop us so we still went out and enjoyed a mediocre nightlife.
Friday - Beer Pong: Once we arrived in Medellin, the rains followed us shortly after. Thankfully we stayed in a fun and crazy hostel which kept us dry and having a good time. That night they arranged a beer pong game which me and my Aussie teammate dominated the tournament winning free beer for the prize!
Saturday - Pablo Escobar tour: I´m almost getting goose bumps writing you about yesterday! Wow, what a wicked time. If you don´t know who Pablo Escobar is, stop reading and Google him! He is the biggest drug dealer of all time, pretty much introduced cocaine to the world in the 70´s and was on Forbes’s list as the richest man in the world. Besides being a ruthless drug lord and mass murderer, he was a major philanthropist in his home down of Medellin and is some part responsible for what the city is today, which is one of the best in South America. The tour we arranged took us to Roberto Escobar’s house, who is Pablo´s brother and accountant in the cartel. There we saw some of Pablo´s interesting processions such as his bulletproof Chevy truck given by the Cali cartel, personal pictures, and a Harley given by Frank Sinatra. He also told us stories of his glory days and what it was like to be in his shoes. Later we visited his old apartment building the Cali Cartel bombed starting the wars, the building where he was killed and also Pablo´s grave. Later in the night we found a Hooters and went out with a few backpackers who had never experienced real fine dining :D How I miss the chicken wings. If haven´t ever been to a Hooters, Colombia is a good place start! ;D I won’t even begin to tell you about our night, we don’t have another hour and it was a ton of fun!
So what’s happening now...well once I finish writing you all we are catching a bus to the Caribbean coast and the city of Cartagena! Then over to Taganga (near Santa Marta) for a bit of scuba diving.
Until next time,
hasta luego,
Dan and Marina
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