When I arrived in Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia, I had a long list of all the things that I wanted to do while in this magnificent city. Of course, riding all the gondolas was at the top of the list! For someone who is afraid of heights, I really do love me some aerial cable cars. A couple of vlogs regarding Medellín showed dramatic trips up to Parque Arví. However, a recent tour guide mentioned it was cool but not a must see if you only have a week in the city. Lucky for me, I have three months to see all the sights!
Gondola! Gondola! Gondola!
I’ve been watching the weather because you really don’t want to go when it’s cloudy. The cable car goes so high into the mountains that it doesn’t take much before you are in the clouds. Once that happens, you can no longer see the gorgeous vistas. What’s the point of that!?! So every morning I would wake up and look outside to see if today was the day. Let me tell you, it took a while to get a cloudless morning. And to be fair, it looked hazy over the mountains, so I was worried.
Walk to the Metro, add more money to my card, and jump on. Jump off at the station Acevedo and jump on the aerial cable car to Santo Domingo. Easy-peasy. All that is one price. Less than US$1. Now, if you don’t want to pay any more than that, you can stay on the cable car back down to station Acevedo and go all the way home. I want more because the views are spectacular! It truly is amazing how high up the gondola goes.
With that in mind, I jump off at the Santo Domingo Station to walk across a pedestrian bridge to another aerial cable car station. I scan my Metro card again which deducts COP13,200 (around US$3). Good thing I topped it off before I got on the Metro because there is a line at the ticket booth. I get to skip that and hop right onto the longest gondola I have ever been on in my entire life!
So worth it
Even if you decide to skip hiking around Parque Arví, you absolutely must ride this cable car. It just keeps going and going with tons of amazing views all around you. At this point, I’m oohing and aahing at everything! It’s probably 20 full minutes on the gondola. Imagine that! How long is that single cable!?! I know it’s not the longest in the world, but I bet it’s up there. My ears popped a few times. The vegetation has even changed, as it’s much cooler in the mountains.
At the top, I jump off and head to the ticket booth. One of the tour guides from a previous tour in Medellín told me I could walk around without actually paying for a ticket, but it was not safe. I’m not sure if that means I could fall off a cliff unsafe or I could get robbed unsafe. I’m not risking it either way. Unfortunately, my Spanish is not the greatest, so I couldn’t really tell what was being asked of me at the ticket booth. I fill out a registration form with info about where I’m from with my driver’s license and pay COP30,000 (about US$7).
Now the person in the ticket booth calls over a guide. Did I buy a ticket for a tour? She speaks English and is asking me where I’m from while taking me into the park. Is this a private guide? Just around the corner, this gentleman is absolutely ecstatic about something in the trees. He’s got a really nice camera and is trying to get a picture. Once I spot it, I understand perfectly. This guy is a birdwatcher and just got an amazing shot of an Inca Jay!
Into the wild
The tour guide was so impressed by his photo that she takes out her phone to take a picture of his camera screen displaying the Inca Jay. Too funny! It is a really pretty bird. The guide continues on with questions about how this American pronounces certain words like “Seattle” and “Colombia”. I think she likes my mixed Colorado/Washington accent. After guiding me to a gate with a very prominent ‘restricted access’ sign, she opens it and lets me loose. Now abandoned in the woods, I realize I must have purchased the self-guided ticket.
The trail is so weird. It’s really skinny with lots of steps going up and down and around. In addition, there are all these strange art pieces. Sculptures of body parts and hooded figures. The trail is supposed to tell a story using the forest and the art. I bet the tour guide would have given me all the details. Sigh. That’s when I spot it… my first wild tarantula! I’m so excited. I have always wanted to see them in nature, but they blend in really well. Picture for you all!
After the art-sculpture trail, there are a bunch of other trails to take. There are also a couple of wooden lookout platforms and several picnic areas. You could spend all day here! I wander around, looking at flowers and trying not to get lost. The place is pretty empty, or at least very spread out. I decide on one of the circular trails and head down… and down… and down. Um… there will be a hill to climb in my future.
All about the water
What’s cool about this trail is that along the way, there are all these signs regarding water use in the area and around the world. One sign displays the amount of water needed to produce various foods, such as chicken, beef, and pork. Another explains why it’s important to keep our waterways clean. I pass only a single tour group the entire trail before I start the long hike back up… and up… and up.
Luckily, the weather is nice and cool and amazing. Towards the top, I hear a big racket in the trees. More Inca Jays!!! I try so hard to get a photo, but they are just too high in the pine trees. Sorry! I do get lost at the very end of the trail. There are all these signs for emergency exits but I can’t find just a regular exit sign. I finally settle on one of the emergency exits and this nice guide shows up to help me the rest of the way out through another restricted access gate.
It’s noon now, and the entrance to the park has completely transformed. There are a ton of people all over the place. The line for the ticket booth is crazy long. There are all these tented booths setup selling food and jewelry and art pieces. I am so amused to see a vendor selling handmade hats and scarves. It must get cold up here! I get a few more pictures, then head to the Arví gondola station.
Back down
So many people are getting off the aerial cable cars, but nobody is going back down. Packed cars are ascending the mountain, which makes me glad I arrived early. I throughly enjoy the amazing ride back to the Santo Domingo Station. I hear that the area is really pretty and fun to walk around in. Unfortunately, I’m now tired and hungry, so I only get a few pictures of the street art before heading to the other gondola that will take me back down to the Metro.
On the way home, I pop into the grocery store and grab the very last roasted chicken from the heated display. US$5 for an entire chicken with roasted potatoes. I have all the fixings for choclo (or chocolo) in my apartment. Choclo is a type of arepa made with sweet yellow corn, sugar, and fresh cheese. I stuffed mine with some of the roasted chicken meat and a bit of mayo. Noms!!!
As I have said before, I really struggle with city living versus small village living. It’s nice having all the conveniences of a big city, but I always miss the nature aspect of small towns. That’s what makes Medellín so great. Just a short Metro ride away and you can fully immerse yourself in a gorgeous forest. No need to waste money on a vehicle.
Museums and hills
But if you want some human culture, Medellín is also amazing for that. I finally visited the inside of El Palacio de la Cultura Rafael Uribe Uribe just outside of the Parque Barrio Metro Station. The incredible thing about The Palace is that it’s free to enter! I just gave them my ID (Washington, USA driver’s license) and wandered about. There were lots of paintings and sculptures and really old fancy chairs. Plus, the architecture is amazing and you get to go up onto the roof for some spectacular views of the downtown area. I highly recommend!
The Plaza Botero surrounds The Palace with its many rotund sculptures from the famous Colombian artist Fernando Botero. People dub his signature style “Boterismo”. How fun is that!?! This is the place to not only get photos of his work but also touch them! However, if you want to see even more of his art in all manner of styles, you must go to his exhibit inside the Museum of Antioquia, which is right across the plaza. It cost me around US$10 but it is so worth it. I spend hours wandering through all the exhibits, but my favorite by far is Botero. Unfortunately, they don’t allow photos, so I have nothing for you. Sorry!
Okay, after all that human culture, it’s time again for some nature. Lucky for me, Medellín put a lot of effort into keeping the city green and creating parks. Unlucky for me, a lot of those parks are on hills and Cerro Nutibara is no exception. I opt to take the stairs up and my legs are burning when I finally make it to the adorable Pueblito Paisa at the top. There you can get refreshments and check out the village church. An assortment of sculptures also adorns the hill in the sculpture garden. This park is very cool!
Sunday!
Do you remember me telling you that the city closes the road outside my apartment for pedestrians on Sundays? Well, I discovered that the city does this in other areas too. It’s off to the Metro with one line transfer to jump off at station Estadio. The roads around the Medellín Sports Coliseum are closed and people are renting out rollerblades and roller-skates to all the walkers and runners enjoying the sunshine. There are booths setup to sell fruit and beverages, plus water stations for all the adorable dogs out for their walks. There is even some kind of church service going on because… Sunday.
However, I am not here to watch uncoordinated adults attempt rollerblading for the first time (though I could stay for hours!). I’m just passing through on my way to the Parque Natural Cerro el Volador. You see, on Sunday mornings, the city closes the road that travels up and around this massive hill (mountain?) for pedestrians. Now to get to that road, it’s about a million stairs and they are steep! I thought my legs were burning on that last hill! Luckily, once I finally reach the road, I am treated to loads of humans walking and running all sizes and shapes of doggos, some on and some off leash. So cute!
Just about at the top of the road, even more stairs veer off to bring me to the Mirador Cerro el Volador. What I sight to behold! Gorgeous vistas of the city and mountains! Several folks are up there getting some amazing selfies. My map displays a trail going down the other side of the crest of the hill. Lies! The trail looks all paved and manicured but then slowly gets smaller and smaller and transforms into grass while effectively becoming no trail at all. Sigh. Back up to the top.
I end up walking all the way around that mountain (I know it’s called a hill, but really?) and back down the stairs to the Metro. I catch up with yet another closed road and spot even more dogs taking their owners for a walk. What a cool area! I think in total I walked about 11 kilometers with an elevation gain of 1400 feet (yeah; I switched from metric to American units to make it sound more impressive!). It was worth it, but these hips are going to regret this in the morning. It’s an adventure!
so cool, we’re thinking we might have to go to Colombia next winter instead of coming to Thailand.
But I’m thinking of heading to Thailand next winter! I already bought tickets for Indonesia so I’ll be on that side of the planet.