Medellín, Colombia - Polarsteps

We are in the big city again! As you might know, not our sort of terrain, so we minimise it by just staying for two nights. Directly after arrival we catch the metro and find our way to the science museum. A playground full of scientific facts. Where NOT touching is forbidden. It got Dino's, an aquarium and several exposition halls of which we loved the 'mind' the most. Next to fooling our mind and eating delicious vegetarian food (go!), we booked a free walking tour. This is a milestone: our first free walking tour ever [if you know Frank a bit, you could hear him say, free walking tours don't exist, but let's not discuss that]. Diomel -he begged us to use his name in reviews- really did a good job showing us his city and elaborate on the history. The take home message: Medellin isn't the dangerous city as it used to be just 20 years ago anymore. AND we don't talk about Bruno🎵. Better call him Voldemort. It is really not appreciated by the older folks in town that people glorify the past of Mr Pablo Escobar (oops, did I really write down his name?). The tour guide wanted to tell the positive story about his home town. With the specific purpose that his audience will spread the word, I will give a shorter version of his history lesson. Diomel is critical about the serie Narcos and wanted to script a series of his own. Here it goes, the history of Medellin in four episodes. Episode 1️⃣: The beginning, before the 20th century. For a long long time, Medellin was just a no-name village. The Spaniards ignored it, since they couldn't find the precious, shiny metal: gold. Eventually they returned though, because of the nice climate. Then nothing interesting happened for a few hundred years. Episode 2️⃣: the growth, first half of the 20th century: Medellin with its all-round spring climate brought a re-newed interest to the Spaniards. In this period the town flourished because of the railway-industry and some substance that gives people a nice feeling, you take it in almost every day, starting with a C... Indeed coffee! The city grew and grew, with lots of illegal settlements on the boundaries. Episode 3️⃣: The downfall, 70s-90s: the market for coffee dropped and the Colombians found relief in another substance... This one also starts with a C and gives you a nice feeling.... Cartels started to form and the city grew and grew. A large percentage of the people worked in informal jobs and lived in illegal settlements. A former bodyguard started to ponder the non-logical organisation of the trade. He started to unite the cartels and became stronger and stronger, removing other organizations and making people dependent on his support. Suddenly, he was the only leader left. Of course we are talking about Voldemort. In this era lots of innocent people lost their lives. However, many people also got a home or a "paid" job. But is it right, when your people get houses in exchange for killing a whole other family? This period has left a strong mark on the city. Now a step forward ⏩ Change of law. The US got fed up with the Colombians, since their C-substance affected US citizens. Via of politics and probably a lot of money wired to private accounts, the US succeeded in changing Colombian law. Up to now, whenever you get caught with something that has to do with drugs, you will be extradited to the US. This deterred the Colombian businessmen and even Pablo turned himself in (just before the law was taken into place, he agreed to build his own prison, to avoid being charged under American law (he later escaped this luxurious cell). Episode 4️⃣: Recovery, 00's up to now: many believe that after Voldemort got killed in '93, life would be better. But it turned to the worse. Since there were many people in line trying to claim the throne. Violence was still a day-to-day situation. Until new policies (now the recovery-episode starts) in 2001 and 2004 were taken into place. The police succeeded in eliminating the power of cartels. Furthermore, massive city improvements were installed. Such as a metro system and even a cable car connecting the poorest neighborhoods to downtown. Episode 5️⃣ (coming soon): now and the future. Of course the city is still recovering from its past. There are more drugs available than ever. And since covid, the poverty in Colombia reached an insane 52%. But the city is getting safer and safer and it is expected that tourism will boom in the upcoming years. The last object of the tour was as he claimed the statue of hope. And it really left an impact on us. They are in fact two objects. Two identical birds made by the Colombian artist Botero (the one with the disproportional art). Identical, except one is heavily damaged. During a concert, explosions were put in this bird and killed several partygoers. The mayor wanted to get rid of the statue. However, he immediately got a call from Botero. He donated a new bird, under the condition that the other statue would stay on the square. In order not to forget and move forward. -just as we did, after a visit to Comuna13 with it's great murals and some relaxation in the botanical gardens, we head off to the coast!

Country Guides:

Colombia