Unemployed & Unimpeded: paisa

To get the most out of our week in the city, we decided to do a walking tour of downtown and a second tour of important places around the city relating to Pablo Escobar. The walking tour was the longest we have ever been on (4 hours) but it was well worth it. Our guide, Hernan, was extremely knowledgeable and remembered each person's name after hearing it only once. We started out close to the government offices and walked through all of the famous plazas and marketplaces. In the mid 1990s, the government started transforming these drug-ridden areas into parks and monuments to show residents that progress was being made and that the cartels were losing their grip on the city. Today, Medellín has a look and feel of a bustling American or European city.

The second tour dove into the rise and fall of one of world's most infamous criminals, Pablo Escobar. While Pablo owned hundreds of properties in Medellín, we only visited a handful. Most of them have been repossessed by the government but you can still see the amount of influence that he weilded in the city. At the height of his power, most cops and government officials in Medellín were either under his authority or killed off. Since he spent generously on public projects for the poor, there were many that became sympathetic towards him. However, by the time he was killed, it was impossible to ignore the physical and emotional damage attributed to his reign of terror. We would recommend reading Killing Pablo if you're interested in learning more.

Starting the tour with Hernan

Looking up from the Plaza of Lights

Our bingo friends

Local mall in a building from the 1920s

The mall's skylight

Dutch architecture near downtown

Walking along one of the main avenues

One of Pablo's primary residences

Young Pablo's ID card

The house where he was shot

Admirers still leave flowers at his grave

Set in a deep valley in the heart of Colombia lies the city of eternal spring, Medellín. While many people outside of Colombia still associate Medellín with the drug cartel, Pablo Escobar, and violence, locals know that times have changed. Since the 1990's, the city has done an amazing job minimizing the drug presence and transforming their image into an innovative and exciting hub for Colombians and travelers alike. This dramatic change has not gone unnoticed. In 2012, the Wall Street Journal awarded Medellin City of the Year and they were also garnished for their Sustainable Transportation along with San Francisco. As soon as we stepped foot in the city, it was apparent how much Medellín had set themselves apart from the rest of the country. The locals, or Paisas, have an immense amount of pride and were clearly excited to see travelers experiencing their city and culture. We took the metro to our hostel located in an affluent district called Laureles. Shanta's brother, David, flew in from Houston the following day and we began exploring the city. We took a trip up the wall of the valley in a cable car and arrived at the ceiling of the city, Park Arví. The view of the city was obscured by the dense forest but the food vendors at the top made up for it. With empanadas in our stomachs, we set out hiking with the remaining daylight. To cap off the night, we drank our way through the gringo district, Poblado, which became a nightly routine. It was there that Shanta found her coveted Mexican food and David was mistaken for a Colombian local on multiple occasions. In Poblado we also discovered a coffee shop that Colombians claimed served some of the best coffee in the country. Despite keeping each of us awake until 4am, the locals were right about the quality. We spent the next week taking tours, seeing festivals, and bouncing from bar to bar at night. On David's last night, we went to a crowded local's bar a few blocks from our hostel. After a few drinks, we noticed Colombians crowding around an older man. When I asked the table next to us who he was, I was told that he is a national celebrity, Bazil Alexander, who used to be famous for his salsa songs in the 80s. The Michael Bolton of Colombia got up, grabbed the microphone, and began belting out some of his greatest hits while the bar roared in excitement. Shanta and David squeezed in for a pic, and Bazil managed to give a perfect smile mid-verse. David took off the next day and Shanta and I couldn't manage much more than drinking water and recovering at the hostel. Check back in the next few days for posts on our city tours and the famous Medellín flower festival, Feria De las Flores.