Doing the Tourist Thing

For 7 glorious days, I was a tourist in Medellin. I say glorious because although I have done touristy things in Panama, it never fully feels like vacation because trips to civilization are usually combined with doctor appointments, practical item shopping, and email catch-up.

My friends and I were blessed to see Medellin through the eyes of a local, Omar’s cousin Carlos. Every day he would accompany us on an adventure in the city, adding his personal insight on politics, history, and architecture.

Medellin back story: The city is located in a valley in the Andes, and once the valley filled neighborhoods grew up the hillsides. In the 1970s through 90s the city was notoriously dangerous due to gang warfare, mostly caused by Pablo Escobar’s drug cartel. In the past 10 years the city has managed to not only clean itself up but grow into a Colombian tourist destination, nicknamed “City of Eternal Spring” due to its perfect weather.

My 2 favorite things about Medellin:

1. Street food. On just about every corner in the city there is a street vendor selling something cheap, fresh, and delicious. Imagine a pack of starving wolves roaming the city: that would be me and my friends. Most of us rarely eat meat in Panama (see previous post Peeling a Pig) and have fast enough metabolism with our active lifestyles that we can eat around the clock. This was the daily routine. Most street food ranges in price between 50 cents and $2 USD.

a. 9 am: Breakfast in the house

b. 11 am: Freshly squeezed orange juice and fresh sliced mango on the street

c. 12 pm: Arepa con queso (thick white corn tortilla with cheese)

d. 2 pm: Tinto (little plastic cup of espresso coffee)

e. 1 pm: Empanada (corn turnover with meat, cheese, and potatoes inside)

f. 3 pm: Freshly cut and deep fried potato chips and plantain chips

g. 6 pm: Dinner at the house

h. 11 pm: Street meat – grilled pork, beef, or chicken with an arepa

2. Metro cables: The city is equipped with a modern metro to travel around the city center, with transfers to gondola metro cables to reach the communities up on the hillsides. This is one of the few cities in the world that has a gondola as part of public transportation instead of just for a tourist attraction or ski lift– a ride anywhere using the metro costs approximately 70 cents.

The metro cable also connects to a large nature park which provides an easy escape for city dwellers. The city built its newest large public library up in one of the poor hillside communities, Santo Domingo, which can be accessed by metro cable. Medellin is investing in the poor by improving access to the city center as well as improving educational resources available right in the poor neighborhoods.