Medellin

Medellin alike Bogota is characterized for me as mostly out of city sights and activities, so that's how I'll retell it.

Piedra de Penol

This is one of the absolute things to see if you're in Medellin. Although it does require a day trip out of the city, it is fully worth it.

It's essentially a huge rock rising from the ground that people climbed and now built stairs for tourists, making it one of the things to do near the city. The nearby landscape is awesome as well and you'll see soon why...

After about a 2h ride from Medellin terminal I am approaching the rock. Of course they've now built a few cafes, restaurants on top of the rock, obviously they gotta make money.

The stairs are out of themselves a work of art. They are built into the rock where a natural crack exists all the way from the top to bottom, so the constructors used this crack for natural mounting points for the cement holding the stairs. But of course, they had to adapt to the shape of the crevice itself so the stairs are really weirdly shaped and feature tons of non-right angle turns and twists.

About midway to the top, there is a statue of the Virgin overlooking the landscape. The landscape is comprised from inundated small little islands with gravelly shores and interconnected between each other with cute little bridges. The islands have all different shapes and some are uninhabited. Some have huge hotel resorts built upon them (the western culture is slowly extending its hairy arm here, unfortunately). As far as your eyes could see the islands appear out of the water being surrounded by a range of mountains somewhere far in the background.

Climbing higher...

At the top, a shot with "kvitochki" :)

Unfourtunately my camera does not have a panorama mode, because that's essentially what I was trying to do :) as you turn around 360 the landscape doesn't cease to disappoint you.

The tower on top of the rock housing some restaurants and a gift shop and a mirador.

No comment...

I thought how awesome it would be to sail between the islands but unfortunately the high walls obstruct the flow of wind so you;d have to be rather creative to catch those sudden gusts channeled in an island corridor.

Pic of the day. you can almost see the curvature of the earth :)

THe little houses look so cute in the distance.

Leaving Piedra de Penol toward a nearby village, Guatape.

The village is famous for its colorful houses and balconies precipitated with flowers.

Children playing on its cobblestones streets, it almost seems like a town from a fairly tale.

The colors are really more impressive in person.

While on the rock I met with another russian guy :) the second one i meet in my 4 months of travels. At any rate we decided to take a pic for posterity with his son and his colombian "tesha" ;)

Medellin

The actual city of Medellin is very special, it has a very nice feel to it, a modern one, a progressive one. It imprinted in my mind as a much more pleasurable and calm feeling than Bogota, especially in the new up and coming part of Medellin, El Poblado, this is where most hostels are anyways. At night however it is largely run by tourists and you can almost speak english on the streets and expect someone to pick up on it. I didn't like that aspect of it but you can't have everything.

Another thing that Medellin is known for is its Explorer's Park (which is awesome if you have small kids and want to engrain in them a deep love for science :), the botanical garden and the planetarium all next to each other. I decided to visit the planetarium on one of my evening trips and it turned out to be a great experience, and i practiced some spanish while reading the spanish description of all the celestial bodies/events/ etc.

Parque Arvi

This is another day trip totally worth doing. The north part of the city is bordered by a huge reservation, parque Arvi. To get to it you take the metro and then the cable car service, part of the metro system, so you get a decent top view of the poorer suburbs of Medellin. I can't call them slums, because I've seen worse slums in China, but they are on the poorer side of living, somewhere where the tourists don't usually venture, but it brings perspective.

As the cable car takes you higher you get to see Medellin on the palm of your hand. It's a really brilliant idea to build cities limited in growth by mountains, it certainly prevents the abhorrent expansion of suburbia.

The park itself is rather gorgeous, the tall trees almost breathe a new life into you with their massive coronas and strong posture.

On the trail...

The path is really gorgeous, between a combination of pine trees and large foliage bushes with a narrow path guiding your way...

...across a really cute bridge :) Needless to day I fully enjoyed that day although I couldn't help but think that it would have been even more amazing if I had someone there to share it with - "happiness is only real when you share it with someone".

The next day I climbed upon a little hill close to El Poblado right in the middle of the city where they have built a few houses in the Antioqian style (traditional houses from the Medellin area). The highrise ground offers brilliant views of the city and it's red brick construction.

History and progress coexisting. The metro is one of the coolest things to do in this city, it's especially refreshing given that you can't find this anywhere else in NE south america.

More shots of Medellin's highrise brick buildings.

Botero plaza being overlooked by an old cathedral, chess style :)

The Botero plaza in the center of the city is a place of walking stone paved streets, huge mall centers and everyone selling everything in the streets...oh and chain food restaurants that always try to lure you at any price.

As i was leaving this city i took this last shot to remind myself of everything it offered me. It's true what every traveler I've met has said about Medellin, it's got a certain feel about it. Everyone's got a different explanation and description as to what it is but at the end it's just a nice, warm feeling that keeps you wanting to return to this place, with its progressive tendencies, nicest people and brick highrise buildings...some feelings are just not meant to be given a name and classification...i think.