Admin Mrs. Itchy Feet You remember me telling you all about upon arriving at the airport in Medellín, Colombia; the ATMs refused to give me any cash money? I ended up having to call a ride-share instead of just taking a cab. The next day, I was wandering around looking for a bank outside of the grocery store across the street from my apartment, when this gentleman got out of his parked car to help me out. People are so nice around here! Turns out, he is an expat from the States and his wife is an expat from Germany, and he gave me the best newbie advice for some fun local adventures.
“Let’s go to the mall… today!”
The entire interaction with the gentleman was so funny because he was trying to help me find the bank, but was also so excited that I would be in Medellín for three months and would get the opportunity to truly explore this gorgeous city. You could really tell that he loves it here. His job was to watch the car with his adorable dog inside while his wife was in the store shopping. After chatting it up for quite a while, he was like, “You have to meet my wife! She’s the social one.” You sell yourself short, my new friend.
With that, he runs into the store to get her and now I’m watching his car with the doggo inside! I’m making friends everywhere. His wife was a bit put off by the whole getting pulled from the store to talk to strangers thing and clearly thought I had an agenda but warmed up to me pretty quickly. We ended up exchanging numbers so that I could get info at a more convenient time. Oh… and she let me know where she thought the bank should be.
The ginormous Santafé Mall is right across the street from the grocery store and I found an entire floor of banks with ATMs (as well as car sales and another massive grocery store). Cash in hand, I texted the couple a few days later. They told me I just had to do the Free Walking Tour offered by Real City Tours. Technically, it’s not really free because you should tip, but the suggested tip of COP$50,000 is only about USD$11 so it’s completely worth it. Tour booked online!
Get to it!
I headed to the meeting spot early because I never know how lost I will get. The Metro is so fast! As I was waiting, I started chatting with an older gentleman who spoke a bit of English. With my broken Spanish, I gathered he was very proud of his country. He said that it is customary here to say Hola to everyone you see. This is so true! I walk down the street and people left and right are wishing me good morning and asking how I’m doing. It’s the most wonderful thing for a major city! Reminds me of Mazatlán, México.
He also reminded me that the weather here is amazing, and it’s always springtime. I need to get better at Spanish so that I can have more random chats with people I meet in the Metro. After making it to the tour meetup spot and getting assigned to a tour-guide (Dio!!!), we were off. Dio walked us all to a spot where we could sit in the shade while he gave us a bit of history of this amazing city.
You can’t talk about the history of Medellín without discussing the infamous former drug lord Pablo Escobar. However, the people who were alive to witness his reign of terror and the people born after and educated by Netflix on the subject have very different opinions whether he was good for the community. With that in mind, the tour guide refused to say his name for fear of causing controversy with anyone who might overhear. “He who shall not be named!”
A bit of history
Our tour guide was born in Medellín when the city was one of the deadliest in the entire world. A gunshot to the head killed his best friend when they were only six. A gunfight killed his uncle. His cousin was tortured and brutally butchered. He routinely saw bodies in the streets while walking to school. Dio even told us about a commercial airplane (Avianca Flight 203) that Pablo Escobar blew up because a targeted political figure might happen to be on it. He wasn’t on it, but everyone on the plane (and several on the ground) died, including the person carrying the suitcase bomb under the mistaken impression that it was a recording device.
People have put an incredible amount of work into transforming this city into what it is today. We walked around the downtown area, checking out the amazing architecture and discussing some of the history behind the buildings and statues. We went by a British-donated steam engine train from a time before the Panama Canal made obsolete the idea of a railway between the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean.
We also discussed the Metro system, which is the pride of Medellín. It is such an achievement and absolutely transformed the city. You can see the love locals have for it as it’s clean and safe with no graffiti. The Metro is actually one of the main reasons I chose this city. I can get around most everywhere for very little money. No need to rent a car or pay for a taxi. And gondolas! So wonderful!
Did that just happen!?!
At one point in the tour, Dio told us to move our wallets and cell phones to our purses or pockets with zippers because of the high frequency of pickpockets in the area. The common technique is to drop something directly in front of you so close that you throw your hands up to keep your balance so you don’t trip. Meanwhile, a second person swiftly steals your wallet before you realize it. There’s no getting it back!
So we start walking into the throngs of people in the downtown area. I notice a few men scanning our pockets as we walk past. I figure we are safe because we listened to our guide and are all on high alert. We keep walking and stop to discuss some more history. Did you know that the main crop of Colombia used to be coffee but is now cocaine? The country got rid of most of the violence of the trade by leaving the illegal distribution of the drug to other countries, such as México. The situation resembles California before cannabis legalization. Fascinating.
At Parque San Antonio, the group learned about a bombing that killed many during a ‘90’s music festival, perpetrated by someone who planted a bomb in one of Fernando Botero’s sculptures. The famous Colombian sculptor called the mayor to tell him he would remake the original sculpture, but only if the city left the mangled remains of the one that exploded. The two sculptures sit side by side to remind visitors of the damage violence causes.
WTF!?!
As the group moves on, I notice the same man scoping our pockets again. We’re definitely being targeted. I spot him dropping something next to a member of the group. I just think he is a jerk for littering! Within a minute, that man has “fallen” and drops his hat directly in front of a couple in our group. There is a scuffle, the woman exclaims loudly, clearly freaked out, and the man is gone in an instant. My heart is pounding! Did that just happen directly in front of me!?! I run up to the couple, who are clearly upset, and ask them to check their pockets. Nothing taken!
Why in all the world was this large European male targeted out of all of us? Well, he clearly had his cellphone in his front pocket with no zipper in big baggy shorts. Easy pickings if the thief could just get the target to remove his hand from his pocket (which he did not!). After the tour, I get the chance to speak to the couple (still very rattled). The guy had “fallen” and while down, grabbed the European’s leg and shook it. Probably trying to get that hand off the cellphone. There must have been another human right behind or to the side that none of us saw. So sneaky!
The couple told me a crazy story about a time in Italy when a passing scooter driver grabbed the guy’s cellphone from his hand. A nearby taxi driver told him to get in so they could chase the scooter down. He jumps in and they take off. Meanwhile, his wife missed the entire first part and only sees him in the cab driving away from her. He doesn’t have a cell phone to let her know what’s going on. On top of all that, the taxi driver is driving and texting someone without letting the guy see what’s on the screen, with no idea where they are going.
How freaky is that!?!
The European finally convinced the taxi driver to bring him back to the original spot so he could meet up with his very freaked out and confused wife. We are all just glad he didn’t get kidnapped and murdered! What a story. It reminds me so much of when my cellphone got taken at a bus stop in Seattle, USA. I ran after the guy too! Not smart. Luckily, I had Find My Phone turned on so the police could track it down at a pawnshop and get it back to me. I had my phone back within two hours of it getting stolen.
The group let the tour guide know what happened. He seemed genuinely surprised, especially considering how big the tourist was. After a bit of research, I learned that spot is a prime location for pickpockets in the city (every city has one). The grab-the-leg-and-shake technique is popular right now and the primary targets are large males with phones in their front pockets. Fascinating.
I highly recommend the tour. It was so informative and well put together. You can tell the guides are passionate about their city. Well, I’m starving now, so I quickly take the Metro back to my neck of the woods. That is where I found this adorable restaurant (Don Predro) tucked into what looks like someone’s house. They only have one thing on the menu, and that is the meal of the day. You get a choice of meats or vegetables and it comes with a soup and a drink (you want the lemonade!). It’s so good and only US$5 for a lot of food.
Laureles
Real City Tours did such a fantastic job with the Free Walking Tour that I decided to book their Food Tour. Food tours are hard for me because I can’t eat gluten without getting pretty sick. However, Colombia is a corn and yucca based country and the tour would be in English so I went for it. Plus the tour is in the neighborhood of Laureles and I have heard wonderful things about that area.
I was not disappointed. It was an easy light-rail to get there. At the meetup point, I discovered three other people from Seattle. How random! In addition, there was a couple from England. It was a pretty small group, which was so nice. We all had a good time discussing our various cultural differences with the Colombian guide. The food was amazing at every single stop and I got to eat everything including the fried things because the breading was all yucca. Delightful!
Here’s the thing. Colombians love cheese. There was so much cheese! Luckily I brought dairy-aid with me because me and cheese aren’t the best bedfellows. Their love of pork also fascinated me. The guide mentioned that during the Spanish Inquisition, persecuted Jewish folks would hide the fact that they were not Catholic by inviting people over to their houses and serving pork dishes. That’s one way to stay alive.
Christmas!
Laureles really is a beautiful area. It’s flat, walkable, close to Metro, and appears to be a very safe area. If I come back to Medellín (which I suspect I will), I think I’ll stay in this area. Surprisingly, planners designed the neighborhood around a central university, not a church. Very unusual for a Catholic country. I like it. Plus, there is a fútball stadium. That would be fun!
Speaking of Catholic countries, they love their Christmas. But I have never seen love like this. I already told you about La Alborada starting Nov 30th, with the massive amount of fireworks all… night… long! But have you heard of pyrotechnic hot-air balloons? Those exist. It’s a gas powered hot-air balloon about the size of a shed. They are all different shapes and sizes but most are kind of UFO or diamond shaped. They have a rope attached with any number of loud fireworks. At night you can see the fire inside the balloon and watch the fireworks go off. During the day, you hear is a bunch of explosions with lots of smoke while the balloon rides up into the sky.
Is this safe? Absolutely not. Is it legal? I have no idea. A commercial plane (Avianca Airbus A319) hit one of these balloons in 2020 while landing in Bogatá. That balloon was filled with tinsel, and nobody got hurt, but officials recommend avoiding airports while launching. Yup. Smart. Just what we need. More plastic. I have seen hundreds of these things during the month of December. I do not understand the appeal.
I should have known that Colombians would love explosions. My dad told me all about the exciting game of Tejo that he learned while on a work trip to Bogatá many years ago. Players toss steel disks (tejos) at a metal ring (bocín) lined with packets of gunpowder (mechas). You score points by causing the gunpowder to explode or getting your disk inside the ring. You must drink beer while playing! It’s like a national sport. Unfortunately, the nearest Tejo court would be hard for me to get to so I might have to skip this.
More Christmas!
What I will not skip is checking out all the Christmas lights! And candles! And parades! Medellín loves Christmas lights so much so that they compete for the Guinness Book of World Records for the most lights on display. They truly go all out for Christmas. It was fun to see all kinds of lights go up in individual windows in all the skyscrapers throughout the city. Entire neighborhoods would get in on the action, with lights strung up across the streets.
I did get the chance to see a Christmas parade. I got completely lost getting there, which was stressful at night. But the second I found it, I realized where I went wrong. Without an ocean to get me oriented, I sometimes can’t find north from south. I’m surrounded by mountains, so those don’t help. GPS for the win! I usually skip parades because I’m so short. If there are too many people, I can’t see over them so I can’t see anything.
With this one, I found an empty platform for an elevated viewpoint. The second I found it, everyone else spotted it too, but that was fine. I don’t mind getting cozy with cheerful people. The parade was a work of art. There wasn’t a single gas engine. All the floats were human powered. Plus, so many dancers and acrobats and costumes. They did a spectacular job and I’m so glad I went.
Candles Day
Once I got to Medellín, a good friend of mine texted me to be on the lookout for Candles Day where tons of people light candles all over the city. Never heard of this but I’m in! It’s actually called Little Candles Day or Día de las Velitas. The day is a religious holiday on December 7th on the eve of the Immaculate Conception. Interesting. It was cool to watch my condo complex prepare by placing wooden planks along the sidewalks. It’s much easier to clean up wax that way.
Wood also burns, but that’s a minor detail! Candles were being sold everywhere. People in the street had them for drivers stopped at lights. Vendors on the sidewalk were offering them up. All different colors, but mostly the same size. My condo complex put up a big nativity scene and lots of people gathered to light candles with family. It was fun to see but I’m not religious, so I decided not to join anyone.
I always thought that Germany would be the best place to go for Christmas with all their markets. Not so! If you like lights and fireworks and parades, December is the month for you in Medellín. I don’t think I’ll come back in December just because the fireworks are non-stop, therefore, making it hard to sleep. I do, however, really like it here, so I might have to visit again. Three scarlet macaws just loudly flew past my window! Amazing!
