Medellin

The next day we drove to the center of town to the bank on the main square. As soon as we parked this great guy started to chat us up. He was so funny. People here are SO friendly!

Now to head to Medellin (Meh-de-jene), which was the previous stronghold of Drug lord Pablo Escobar.

We then got on the road west and over two mountain ranges to get the 350 km in about 6 hours. Daniel was so tempted to stop and wash the bikes along the road here where the locals had tapped into the waterlines.

We headed up into the clouds.

Unfortunately it started to rain, but not until the last hour.

Luckily it stopped briefly just as we entered the city, which made negotiating the traffic a whole lot easier. Arriving in the city you are struck by all the red brick buildings.

As is often the case GPS coordinates on line are inaccurate, so when we got to the location of the hotel it was a pharmacy. Like so many times in this country within seconds the pharmacist pops out and asks what we are looking for and then gives us detailed instructions to where we were staying about 4 blocks away.

We took Trevor’s advice and used the metro. This is the cleanest most efficient system we have ever seen. This is a city known for courtesy, when a woman or older person gets on the train people get up to give up their seats.

There is a really nice botanic garden here and a nice way to spend an hour or so for free.

Not to be missed is the Botero square and the museum. The square was jumping, as a marching band was getting ready to perform.

The artist has donated over 2000 large and small works to the city. There were tons of people posing with the statues.

We walked into the museum and were looking at the maps and this lady walks up and starts rapidly speaking Spanish to me. Then realizing I speak English she dragged her husband over to explain the layout of the current exhibits and the location of the judges selection of best new artists to us. Again random acts of kindness here are common.

Pablo Escobar is dead.

This installation was made of mud!

These guys wanted my opinion on the glasses they were buying.

We headed to the famous Irish pub for a Guinness, some football, and a meal. The women here are very friendly with their plastic surgeons it’s plain to see and quite forward. Dan went out alone to get a slice of pizza and then to the store for a drink. Both the ladies in these shops propositioned him! Always finish the day with ice cream.