So over the last two weekends we finally got to do some touristy bits in Medellin and now I’ve finished school I finally have time to write about them!
Last weekend we went to the final parade of the festival of flowers, the festival is held every year in Medellin to celebrate the flower industry here, (fun fact Colombia is actually the world’s second largest exporter of flowers after Holland) the parade represents the path of the flowers from the agricultural land surrounding Medellin to the city. Hundreds of people, men, women and children with large flower displays on their backs walk around the city with music, dancing and acrobatics. We got to the parade an hour early, but still found it difficult to find a place, there were people selling stools and ladders in the street and everyone was trying to get higher than the person in front so we couldn’t see to much, but we got to enjoy the atmosphere and the dancing to the side of the parade, there was a police band that were particularly good and we had a quick salsa. They also had helicopters circling the event that had sirens like a police car, which was weird as I’m not sure who they were trying to make move out of the way?
During the week we didn’t get up to much touristy stuff, we mostly hung out with people we met at the school, we made friends with two nice girls form Bath and became affectionately known as the Brexit crew by the Americas, Swiss and Germans we also met. We had several nice lunches, nights out and even a pedicure and an unfortunate hair cut – there was a miscommunication somewhere along the line and I ended up with a fringe! (It was a lot of fun, especially the part with a swimming pool sized ball pit!)
On Thursday we decided to take a ride on the cable cars they have here, they’re cheap forms of public transport to the very top of the mountain parts of the city, but it makes a cheap afternoon with good views! It was also funny as local children were sat on a rocky outcrop cheering every time a cable car went past and they could get the people in it to wave, we thought we’d be nice a wave, which resulted in cheering and then a chant of ‘heelllooo gringos!’
On Saturday we went on a graffiti tour of a district of Medellin called comuna 13, it was once considered one of the most dangerous places in the world. On the tour we learnt about the history of the comuna and why it was so dangerous. It started as a shantie town in to 80s when people from rural areas wanted to move to Medellin for better work, because Medellin is built in a basin the only free land was up the steep mountains surrounding it, unfortunately this makes it hard to get water and electricity to the town, the authorities didn’t want the cost so declined to establish the comuna as part of Medellin. This meant the area was also not policed, it soon became a breeding ground for local gangs, drug manufacturers, right wing paramilitary and left wing gorilla groups who were all fighting for territory and ownership of the comuna. Eventually the government decided to try and address the problem in 2002, it did this by attacking the comuna with the brute force of the police, military and weaponised helicopters, unfortunately hundreds of innocents were wounded and several killed, including children, the operation only ended when the locals took to the street with white flags. The people involved in the criminal activity also knew the tiny streets and back roads much better than the government forces so kept escaping. The government’s solution to this was to work with right wing paramilitary groups who knew the area better, they paid them for every member of left wing guerilla groups they killed, unfortunately this then led to hundreds of innocent people being kidnapped, dressed in guerilla uniforms and murdered. After more extreme and violent raids the guerilla groups and the paramilitary groups were pushed out of the city, unfortunately this then lead to a power struggle between local gangs which, you guessed it, lead to more violence. In the end the thing that brought a better state of piece to the area was not brute force, but better transport links. To make up for the violence the comuna had suffered due to government actions, the government invested several million in improving roads, building schools and most importantly installing 384m of outdoor escalators and cable cars. This enabled people from these poorer communities to reach the main city in minutes instead of hours, meaning they were able to commute and get jobs rather than turn to crime. The comuna still has its issues but today is much safer. The tour was amazing! We were lead by a local guy in his 20’s called ‘crazy face’, who was young when the raids happened and remembers how the comuna has changed with time, he showed us lots of amazing graffiti by local artists and explained the political and cultural statements behind them, we also tried local ice-cream, saw dancers and singers preforming in the streets and tried empanadas, a popular snack in south America that’s like a cross between a pastie and a hash brown, it’s flavoured onion and potato in a deep-fried coating, it looked uninviting but tasted delicious! The tour was so interesting and I probably haven’t done the complicated history of the town the justice it deserves so if you’re interested there is a more detailed article here.
Our local guides
We’ve really enjoyed our time in Medellin, especially out time at the school and the people we’ve met. Next stop is Cartagena on the coast!
I’ll keep you updated,
Lots of love,
Alice x
Ps. shout out to Gerardo, for making the girl so bad at languages in school that her teacher thought she was special needs, able to speak basic Spanish in 10 mornings! Ahora hablo tres idiomas; inglés, un poco de español y mierda!