Medellin

This city was once the most dangerous place in Colombia. As little as 10 years ago a tourist would not have dared set foot here. The vast amount of crime that Medellin experienced was down to the drug cartels which ran the city and whom the police had no control over. However today things are much different and I have to say that Medellin is my favourite city so far.

I took the night bus here (17/7) a journey which was nearly 18 hours.... This was my first experience on the night buses and I will admit I was a little nervous. I was parro and was convinced that everyone on the bus was a thief but besides that and the cold it was grand! For some reason these busses think there is a need to have the air con on full blast for the full 18 hours which turns the bus into an ice box. Now I had been warned that they were cold so I had my hoodie and trackies on but I forgot the most important thing.... socks! My feet were FREEZING, so cold that I couldnt sleep. In the end I had to take a headrest cover off the seat beside me and stick my feet into it. This was perfect untill the bus driver woke me up later that morning looking less than impressed at my antics. ooops.

Medellin is the only city in SA that has a metro. I was very ipressed, cleaner, faster and more frequent than the Luas. Once again my preceptions of SA have been totally totally worng!! I hoped on this at the bus station and made my way to find my hostel. I found it easily with the help of some lovely locals along the way. Tiger Paw hostel was located in a very very nice part of town and also had the 'zona rosa' (nightlife area) right around the corner. Perfect.

There was one man responsible for the main cocaine trade not just in Medellin but in the entirity of Colombia - Pablo Escobar. Escobar was the head of the Medellin drug cartell and a very powerful man in Colombia. I knew the gist about him before I went but not uch more than that. On check in I saw the hostel ran a Pablo Escobar tour so I signed up to go that day.

I can only describe the tour as jaw droping. Firstly we went to his grave, then the place where he was shot and then we went to meet his brother Roberto, at his house, which used to be a former safe house for the cartel. There was bullet proof cars, bullet holes in the walls, secret hiding places in the walls and secret panles in furniture to stash money. All this was 100% genuine. We spent a good hour at his house, taking photos and asking him photos. Our guide was fantastic and I swear some of the stories were insane. I have the photos up on FB of everything with some small explinations but if you do want an outrageous read check out Wiki .... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pablo_Escobar
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19/7

Hooked up with a girl from the hostel, Natasha, today and we went into town to explore 'el centro'. The city is great, really lively and it has some stunning buildings. The main square also features massive culptures by the famous Medillen artist Botero. He sculps and paints FAT PEOPLE and I think hes awesome!!!! So funny.

The weather in Medellin is PERFECT. Hot but not crazy hot like the coast and lovely and cool in the evening. And its like that al year round, its crazy.
I left Natasha around lunch time as she was heading off to do the Escobar tour and I wanted to go up on the cable cars.
Medellin is built in a valley and the houses sprawl up the sides. The cable cars are part of the metro system and go up the side of the valley with stops along the way in different neighbour hoods. Now these neighboourh oods are not the type of places Id be getting off but once you stay in the cars your fine. These are the highest, steepest cable cars Iv ever been on.... they just kept going up and up and up!!!

 At the second last stop you have the option to pay more money and keep going, so I did! A this stage the cars had left the houses behind and we were in the mountains surrounded by green. I was kinda like where the hell am I going but I just rolled with it........ and ended up in a national park! So random. So thats how I spent my evening, roaming around a lake and stuffing my face with corn on the cob! I love when good things happen by surprise!!!

Colombians know how to party and have a good time. The following day was Colombian Independance day and as alcohol would not be served tonight would be the night to party. A few of us decided we would like to go SALSA (Im still learning - its hard) and so the hostel receptionist gave us the name of a local club to go to. IT WAS AMAZING. It was packed to the rafters, we were the only non locals, there was a live salsa band playing in the middle of the room and everyone was giving it socks. I have to say I really like salsa and the atmosphere of these salsa clubs. Its traditional in the way that guys ask girls to dance, so every dance you can have a different partner... but its all just a bit of fun!! Its soooo easy going and it really is a super night out!

Tonight I discovered that Kebabs are the same at 6am no matter where you are in the world...

20/7

Managed to drag myself out of bed early today to head on a little day trip with Natasha and Harold. We were going to go to Santa Fe a beautiful colonial town about two hours outside Medellin to celebrate Colombian Independance Day. The place was just gorgeous, so quant, market stalls, bands playing, great weather, ice cream and street food.

There was a massive police pressance here too, Iv gotten so used to seeing guys standing beside me with machine guns, I actually find it comforting in a weird way.

Just outside Santa Fe is one of the first suspension bridges ever built so we took a otor taxi out to have a galk which was a bit of craic.

Back at the hostel I packed up my case again and headed for another night bus, this time to Colombia's capital - Bogota