Medellin

After a surprisingly safe and comfortable Viva Colombia flight we touched down in

Medellin. Located in Antioqua region of Colombia the Paisa people were historically a

mixture of Jews and spainards. We were told that throughout Colombia the Paisa

people are stereotyped as being thrifty business owners and money-hungry ... I

wondered where those ideas came from. Upon our arrival to Medellin we went straight

to the Happy Buddha hostel in El Poblado. Happy Buddha seemed to be one of the

most popular hostels of all the travelers we met, so were excited to see what all the fuss

was about. Checking in was a fiasco when we were first given the master key to the

hostel and led to a room with one bed for the 3 amigos. We were starting to get pretty

used to the lifestyle and eventually made it into a suitable room.  Being the rainy season

in Colombia the forecast for our time in Medellin looked bleak. We soldiered on through

a bit of light rain and explored the El Poblado area. Our hostel was home of the famous

tree bar and we decided to enjoy a few tacos before drinking for the night on the bar

learning the moves to the Salsa dance.

In order to get ourselves more acquainted with the beautiful city we signed up for the

Real City tour our guide Juan would take us around the city for the next 4 hours

educating us on the rich history of Colombias founding as well as the effects the cartels

had on the lives of the Colombian people from oppressive war and corrupted politicians.

As we walked through the city he warning us about "Papaya level X" - safety alerts.

Explaining if you give an opportunity to someone, someone will take the opportunity

from you.


 We walked through areas once a place of terror and destruction that have

now turned into places of hope and light. Being in Medellin the town from which Pablo

Escobar operated the Cartel, our guide explained to us that we shouldn't use his name

openly in public as this was not openly accepted. Opting for the term "famous criminal"

as to not offend the many Colombians who were very curious to see what we were

doing. Juan now in on the savage joke (during the trip we had settled into

nicknames: Rich - El Salvaje and Mike - Miguelito .... somehow Corey escaped

unscathed) was openly using it and the notoriety of the name was only growing

amongst the tour group. We passed through the streets of Medellin and were alerted to

updates on the extremes of Papaya levels. We passed through Plaza Botero seeing the

famous artists sculptures that he donated to the city.


We walked by groups of savvy

negotiating old men as well as parks were Guienea pig gambling allegedly took place.

As the tour came to a close we were beat from the activities of the day. Having needed

to help Andrius with his western union transfer we walked around the city trying to find it.

Afterwards we went back to Pablado for a late lunch and relaxing in Paraque Lleras. Our

hostel hosted a bar crawl on Wednesday night and we were MedellIN for the activity.

After preparing for the night out with Ron and a few games of America vs The world we

went out on the town with the group to a few bars in the area.

Thursday morning began early as we were taking a day trip out to a small town of

Guatape. We were running a bit behind schedule and rushed to the bus terminal where

we just made it. Fortunately the concept of a sold out bus doesn't exist at she alerted us

that only 3 of the 4 of us would be getting seats for the 2 hour winding journey. We

couldn't avoid the non stop blasting of salsa music on our trip and this ride was no

exception. When we arrived we were relieved to find out that we were on time to make

our Paintballing in Pablo Escobars mansion tour. We grabbed a quick bite before

boarding a salsa boat to his home. When we arrived we miraculously ran into Jennie

and aoife who we thought were going to miss the festivities. Team Blue and Team Red

suited up while listening to our Spanish speaking guide explain the rules in Spanish.

Questions in English were answered by blank stares and grunts/hand motions.

Deciphering enough to get the basics the blue team (cheaters) (Corey and George)

outplayed the rest of field (Wally rich Jennie Aoife). Games ranged from capture the flag

to Medellin vs Cali cartels. Something about shooting paintballs in one of Escobar's

mansions seemed pretty unreal. The fact that the compound was built on the top of an

island with 360 degree views of the water only accentuated that feeling. No one left the

game unscathed as welts amounted on each of us.



Afterwards we were given a tour of

the property of the man who at one point claimed to have 800 homes, ran a cartel that

made over $60 mil a day and spent $2,500 on rubber bands just to hide the cash. This

particular house had been browned up by a rival cartel but Pablo was not there. His

houses had double enforced walls and his cars were always kept running just in case of

safety. It's tough to grasp the power Pablo had at the height of his reign. After we

returned for a light lunch we headed to the famous Piedra de Penol, A massive rock

with 740 steps that take you to the top observation deck. After barely surviving the climb

we all had a good laugh as cheers for El Salvaje were yelled by random tour group

members from the day before. The views of the town from the rock were amazing and

we stopped for a cerveza before heading back into town for another 2 hour oversold bus

ride back to Medellin. We went out and hung in a park bar before heading to a few other

places afterwards.




Friday began a bit later than usual as we were picked up at 11am to head up to the

mountains of Medellin where we had signed up to go paragliding. Not fully

understanding what we had gotten ourselves (a few of us had never even seen a

paraglide) into we watched as brave tourists strapped themselves to kits other and jump

of the side of the mountain and floated along from there. Admittedly, we also saw one

freestyler fall out of the sky causing a frantic panic at the launch site. Juan assured us

that we were in good hands with just a peice of cloth attached to some tiny strings with

a guy operating it who doesn't speak a world of English. This really helped Rich's

confidence as he wobbly legged walked up to the paraglide to be snapped in. As each

of us jumped of the cliff to experience life as a bird it was an amazing opportunity to

view Medellin from above while looking around and seeing that we were flying amongst

the clouds and birds in the peaceful mountain air.




With everyone's feet back safely on

the ground we all took time to appreciate the experience before hopping back on our

bus. Juan took us to Comuna 13 on the way back. His only way to describe the place

was that the way the world viewed Colombia a few years ago is how Colombians

viewed Comuna 13. Easily the most dangerous place on the planet only a few years

ago. It was home to both left and right extremists and the breeding ground for cartel

recruits. Needless to say we were thrilled to have come back from paragliding and

getting through the Comuna safely. A trip to Medellin can't be complete without taking

the metro and cable car to Santo Domingo. The metro is an important symbol in

Colombia and operates incredibly well. The cable car helped conned down town with

Colombians living in flavela shacks up in the mountains. What was a treacherous 4 hour

hike up a mountain became an easy cable car ride. Unimpressed by the views after

paragliding we were thrilled to check the trek off our list of things to do.





Having finally gotten approved to attend Shabbat services we rushed to get there on time. The

address system was not easy to follow and locals weren't too keen on knowing where it

was, eventually we arrived at what we guessed was the synagogue. The synagogue

was behind barbed wire and security quizzed us on our heritage before taking our

passports and letting us in. Fortunately we arrived quite early and the sermon was

translated from Portuguese to English for us before creating Shabbat together.

 Unfortunately, we had to cut Shabbat dinner short as we had dinner plans at the

critically acclaimed Carmen and got there just in time for a delicious meal. Being our last

night in Medellin we wanted to go out with a bang we rested up and finally got a shower

in after having lost running water for the day in the hostel. Off to the tree house bar

again before hanging at a bar in Paraque Lleras where we were barely able to talk due

to the blasting salsa music. Just as we parted ways with George to head home we ran

into a group of people we met on the metro cable and they convinced us to stay out

instead of heading home. We attempted to go to a few salsa clubs but, in true South

American form, the bouncers were not happy with Americans in shorts. We eventually

found a place and hung for a bit before heading back to the hostel so we could catch

our early flight to Bogota.