MedellíN

Medellín is the second largest city in Colombia, after Bogotá. The city has an population of about 2.5 million people. The way to Medellín took approximately eight hours. I had a first class seat in the first row =) I also had a nice neighbor, how could it be otherwise, he came from Germany. At some toll stations I saw people jumping on trucks to come home. Nice and cheap way to come home =)

I did in Medellín a free walking tour. I think it was my tenth tour =) but, as so often, I liked it!! I learned a lot about Pablo Escobar and the historical background. The best thing during this tour, the statues of Fernando Botero Angulo (born 19 April 1932, in Medellin). He is a Colombian figuratice artist and sculptor. His signature style, also known as “Boterismo”, depicts people and figures in large, exaggerated volume, which can represent political criticism or humor, depending on the piece,
I met also many nice people druing this tour. We decided to go to the most popular bar in the city, with live music, Colombia style =) we had a lot of fun, very cool!!

My hostel was in the center of Medellin and I had a really nice rooftop where you can drink your own beer. One evening I saw teenagers fighting against the police. It was really rough, I was really scared but I was safe at my rooftop. So I had a great view to this incident during drinking my beer =) The incident was resolved after half an hour, but it was not a friendly incident, several people were seriously injured.

However, I also had a personal deep during this time. I traveled too fast, no healthy food, little sleep ….. everything was a little bit too much for me. I longed for family and friends.
I knew that my german friends, Johannes and Daniel, were currently in Santa Marta. I looked for flights and I had luck. I found a cheap flight to Santa Marta. I booked the flight and gave them the good news =) and for me, I needed them for talks and familiar environment. And in advance, they really helped me a lot. afterwards I had enough strength to travel on. THANKS

At the last day, befor flying to Santa Marte, I took the Metro and went to the cemetery, I wanted to look at Pablo Escobar’s grave. I found it and I got a exact explanation from a friend of Pablo who was just filling the grave with flowers. It was a little bit strange but the guy was really friendly and he told me many storys about the time of Pablo Escobar.

The subway stations in Medellín are very clean. There are no graffitis, no trash or other dirt. The construction of the subway station was the beginning of a new beginning, a rebirth of Medellín. Everyone should remember the bad times.

After the interesting conversation at the grave, I went back to my hostel to snapped my backpack and drove with the taxi to the airport. I looked really forward to see my friends again!!