Medillen

After hands down the most redicilous bus ride of our trip so far, where the driver spent about 4 and a half of the 5 hours passing other people on blind corners, we arrived safely in Medillen. We found Medellin to be a nice, clean, and well organized city with a modern European feel (especially in the popularity of the Spanish mullet haircut). The city runs North South nestled in a valley between sweeping hills. We quickly learned to navigate the easy metro which can get you pretty much anywhere you need.

View while waiting for the metro.

We spent 4 days wandering around looking at the sights, eating at the international restuarants, Molly recovering from a cold, relaxing, and awaiting our flight to the Amazon.

We timed our arrival to Medellin with the bicentennial of Colombia’s independence on July 20^th. But unfortunately for us their meager celebration was held the night before, whereas in Manzinales, the town we had just left, nothing was happening until the 20^th. Having heard from other travelers of Medellin’s great party atmosphere, we were a little let down by the lack of festivities for this major holiday! A few days later, we did get to see the night life in action at a free concert and short film festival held in the botanical garden's outdoor space. It turns, however, out neither of us are fans of Colombia's popular music.

We visited the botanical gardens where they have recreated most ecosystems found in Colombia and have an impressive display of Orchids, the national flower.

We also toured the small but interesting modern art museum. This is a picture of a mural outside the art museum.

For an interesting cultural experience, you don’t have to look much farther than the grocery store. Make your own conclusions, but here are a few ridiculous photos. Ps anything Asian--from bok choy to pad thai to chop sticks—is referred to as Chino.

For better or worse, for the first time we found ourselves surrounded by Americans in our hostel. Outside of the international embassies that seem to be youth hostels, we have found ourselves to be some of the few non-Colombian tourists. It is pretty exciting to travel in a country which has recently become a safe travel destination and is still relatively off of the ¨gringo trail.¨ And truly we have felt in each and every place we have traveled in Colombia. President Uribe has absolutely transformed the nation and pushed the guerrillas deep into the remote parts of the Amazon where their organization is slowly falling apart. Colombia will most like explode with tourism in the next few years as its reputation slowly changes in the international eye. We are really glad we chose to explore Colombia and would recommend it to anyone. We feel that we only scratched the surface and there is so much more to explore and enjoy in this lively and beautiful country.