Welcome to Colombia. How wonderful it was to leave Ecuador and arrive in Colombia. Poor Ecuador – we really needed a change. We caught the local bus into Medellin town centre and marvelled at how easy it was to take the metro – so incredibly clean and efficient (and cheap). Our hostel was in a lovely residential area and we felt for the first in a very long time, like we were in a truly modern city, safe and comfortable. Funny really, because the only reason we went to Medellin is because of Entourage – a show that Jen Holdstock got me into, and Bernard and I both enjoy quite a lot. We're so glad we went.
We rode the metro cable car network over the poorer areas of town – amazing views and clearly a lot of poverty in Medellin – some of the dwellings in the slums were so precarious that we wondered how many people were swept away with landslides every year. We took the cable car up to a national park literally just on Medellin's doorstep. The park wasn't that impressive in its own right, but walking around in a big park then catching the $2.50 cable car back into town was fantastic fun. Later we visited what has to be one of the highlights of my trip – the Museo de Antiquolla had a huge wing of Botero, a fabulous artist from Medellin. Botero gave so much of his most valued works for free to the museum (especially so after the death of Escobar). He is such a clever commentator on art, society and modern life. After the muesuem we had drinks at a local bar - imagine a small off-licence that has a 4 table patio out the front – that is a local bar! Fantastic.
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