So after my initial couple hours in Medellín, I got a more balanced perspective on the city. As it turns out, the part of the city I'm staying in, El Poblado, is one of the nicest neighborhoods and isn't particularly representative of the city. You've got a pretty wide range from the upscale neighborhoods the likes of which I was staying in, to more middle-class areas, to grittier parts and some of the slums up in the hills surrounding the city. Overall, I really loved it there, though. It's a stunning place, there's lots of great nightlife, everybody is friendly, and the climate is fantastic. It was definitely a nice change from the sticky, steamy heat of Cali and Cartagena.
I hit most of the tourist highlights on the first day. It was raining on and off, so I didn't make real good progress. In general, the weather wasn't too great when I was there and it was often rainy or overcast. This was a big problem as I really wanted to go paragliding while I was there. With all the mountains surrounding the city and great thermal air currents, Medellín is a major center for this, and you can do it pretty cheap.
On day two I hit the botanical garden in the late morning/early afternoon. After that was the highlight of the city, riding the city’s metro system. Sounds a little boring, but it was an amazing experience. They've got a regular light rail system like larger European cities which is very modern, new, and efficient. There are just two lines, one that runs the length of the valley and a short one that runs perpendicular to it. There’s nothing special about that. The cool part is the two new lines that connect to the rail lines. This is the city’s new MetroCable system which is really just a gondola-style ski lift system which is used to connect the rail system to the neighborhoods way up in the hills. One of these two lines gets up high enough so that my ears popped. I spent the better part of the afternoon riding both lines and up taking photos. I got some fantastic pictures of the city. These probably provide you the best idea of the scope of the city and how it's built into the mountainsides surrounding the river.
At the top of each line I got out and walked around a bit. The top of one of the lines seems to be a new development area where they are constructing a bunch of new condos. However, the other line leads directly to a relatively poor neighborhood, where most of the houses have corrugated metal roofs with bricks laid down on them, apparently to weigh them down and keep them from blowing away. This is pretty typical in Medellín. The nicer neighborhoods are generally down in the valley and the poorest areas are located up in the hills where the accessibility (at least prior to MetroCable) was very poor. Needless to say it isn't the safest place for a lone gringo to go walking around, and as such I kept within a couple blocks of the MetroCable station and was trying to be as inconspicuous as possible with my camera and hence didn't get too many photos. The ones I did get turned out really great, though.
On day three the conditions were finally good enough for paragliding. I say good enough, as they were hardly ideal. On a sunny day the upward thermal drafts allow you to take off from one of the surrounding mountains, at which point in time the currents will catch you and carry you even higher, allowing you to actually land at the same point at which you originally took off. As it was, though, the currents weren't strong enough and as a result we did a slow downward spiral into the city, landing in a field in the valley. This actually worked out better for me, as it meant I didn't have to take a taxi or bus both ways on the long trip up the mountain, and got dropped off within about a mile of the metro system. Aside from the cab driver that hustled me a little on the trip up the mountain, my only complaint would be the landing site. There were horses grazing in the field, and thus we landed in big piles of horse shit. Luckily the only thing that was in contact with the ground was my shoes and the paragliding seat. Because the pilot had to fold up and put away his equipment that landed in the grass, I was a little hesitant to shake his hand when I was done. I did it anyways, but let's just say that I washed my hands very thoroughly before lunch.
In the afternoon I went to a large forest preserve which is connected to the city by another extension to the MetroCable system. The place is largely under construction, so there wasn't too much to see. The cable ride there was probably about the most interesting part. The view when you go over the ridge of the mountain and first see the city beneath you is really breathtaking.
On Saturday I took a day trip to Santa Fe de Antioquia. It's a quaint little colonial town about 1.5 hours from Medellín. It was a cute little place, although it was hotter than Hades there (apparently people from the city go there on the weekend to soak up the heat and sun and go swimming). It was definitely worth going, though, if for no other reason than because it had per capita the highest concentration of Colombian hotties I had yet to see on the trip. There was also some amazing mountain scenery I was able to take in from the bus on the way there. In addition, I met a new friend on the bus. We ended up grabbing dinner that night, and went out for drinks and hit a night club afterward. The two of us polished off an entire bottle of Don Julio at the first bar, and we made pretty good headway into a half bottle of Scotch at the night club, so it ended up being a pretty fun evening. Pretty expensive, but definitely fun.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Cartagena and first impressions of Medellín
Cartagena was absolutely killer. The old city is amazing. As usual, you can check out the photos here: http://picasaweb.google.com/tunafishandgrits/Colombia. I spent a full day and a half just walking around the old city and taking photos. It looks even better at night when they have the city walls and all the churches and squares lit up.
In addition to the ambience, the food situation was pumping on all cylinders there, too. This is where wealthy Colombians go to vacation, so there are tons of upscale and tasty restaurants. The highlights included a traditional turtle stew, some octopus and grouper carpaccios, an obatala beef stew (an traditional costeña dish). Just about everything here is served with coconut rice, which tastes fantastic. They must be putting something else other than just coconut in there as it comes out brown and has the taste of sweet spices like cloves. In addition, many of the restaurants were in 400 year old colonial homes or buildings. They were definitely more expensive than those in Cali, but still a steal by US standards. The fanciest and most expensive meal that I had was at this mod little place that would fit right in on South Beach, where I had the octopus carpaccio, oxtail braised in red wine with potato puree, and a couple glasses of Rioja, which came to a grand total of about $55.
On the first night here I met another new friend. We were eating at the same restaurant and started chatting, after which we hit a couple bars. We were also supposed to catch up for lunch the next day before left, but unfortunately we were unable to connect prior to her flight from Bogota. She's actually a Colombian pop singer. You can check out here music here: http://www.hannalatina.com
On the second full day in town I went to a giant mud volcano (don't ask me about the geology behind this, I have no idea). It's not too hot so you can get right in and swim (wallow) around. It was great fun, although I did somewhat regret my decision to dunk my whole head into it.
After the volcano, I was able to hit the beach for a short while. Beaches bore me a bit, so I didn't stick around too long. Just took a couple photos, went for a swim, got a little workout and stretch in on the sand, and headed out.
I just got into Medellín and am finishing this post while I'm waiting for the hostel to clean up my room. This is a great place--very stylish and upscale. It looks more like a modern upscale boutique hotel than a hostel. From what little I've seen, the city is absolutely amazing, too. The entire city is surrounded by lush green mountains, which you have to drive over when you come in from the airport. The taxi turned a bend at the top of one of the mountains, as which point you're looking straight down at what appeared to be a full kilometer at this huge city of 2.5 million people filled with skyscrapers. My jaw nearly hit the floor of the taxi. What little I've seen inside the city so far looks great, too. The neighborhood I'm in is covered with trees, has several parks with modern sculpture, and is filled with trendy-looking restaurants and boutiques (not to mention a fair number of Colombian hotties I spied walking the streets). I'm pretty glad I had planned to spend 4 full days here, as it appears I won’t have any problems filling the time.
In addition to the ambience, the food situation was pumping on all cylinders there, too. This is where wealthy Colombians go to vacation, so there are tons of upscale and tasty restaurants. The highlights included a traditional turtle stew, some octopus and grouper carpaccios, an obatala beef stew (an traditional costeña dish). Just about everything here is served with coconut rice, which tastes fantastic. They must be putting something else other than just coconut in there as it comes out brown and has the taste of sweet spices like cloves. In addition, many of the restaurants were in 400 year old colonial homes or buildings. They were definitely more expensive than those in Cali, but still a steal by US standards. The fanciest and most expensive meal that I had was at this mod little place that would fit right in on South Beach, where I had the octopus carpaccio, oxtail braised in red wine with potato puree, and a couple glasses of Rioja, which came to a grand total of about $55.
On the first night here I met another new friend. We were eating at the same restaurant and started chatting, after which we hit a couple bars. We were also supposed to catch up for lunch the next day before left, but unfortunately we were unable to connect prior to her flight from Bogota. She's actually a Colombian pop singer. You can check out here music here: http://www.hannalatina.com
On the second full day in town I went to a giant mud volcano (don't ask me about the geology behind this, I have no idea). It's not too hot so you can get right in and swim (wallow) around. It was great fun, although I did somewhat regret my decision to dunk my whole head into it.
After the volcano, I was able to hit the beach for a short while. Beaches bore me a bit, so I didn't stick around too long. Just took a couple photos, went for a swim, got a little workout and stretch in on the sand, and headed out.
I just got into Medellín and am finishing this post while I'm waiting for the hostel to clean up my room. This is a great place--very stylish and upscale. It looks more like a modern upscale boutique hotel than a hostel. From what little I've seen, the city is absolutely amazing, too. The entire city is surrounded by lush green mountains, which you have to drive over when you come in from the airport. The taxi turned a bend at the top of one of the mountains, as which point you're looking straight down at what appeared to be a full kilometer at this huge city of 2.5 million people filled with skyscrapers. My jaw nearly hit the floor of the taxi. What little I've seen inside the city so far looks great, too. The neighborhood I'm in is covered with trees, has several parks with modern sculpture, and is filled with trendy-looking restaurants and boutiques (not to mention a fair number of Colombian hotties I spied walking the streets). I'm pretty glad I had planned to spend 4 full days here, as it appears I won’t have any problems filling the time.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Cali & Popayán
I ended up getting into Cali right on time on Wednesday. By the time I get checked into my hostel and situated, though, it was already 11:00 PM. At that hour on a weekday it's pretty slow in town, and I ended up hitting a dive bar in the neighborhood I was staying in. I ended up meeting a bunch of people, including an American who was taking a 4-month break from her job. After the bar closed we ended up going to a small party at the house of one of they guys there, an artist that makes handicrafts typical of his ethnic group. Apparently he's quite a well-known guy. My Spanish is hardly perfect, but for the life of me I had no idea what he was talking about. My impression is that he was one of these flaky, conceptual artist types, and I got the impression that whatever he was talking about would have been blather even if he was speaking in English.
My American friend that I met there ended up heading to Popayán together the next day. It was a several hour long bus ride with some fabulous mountain scenery on the way. Probably the best part was all the snacks. Up until the point where we got out of the city, whenever the bus stopped in traffic or at a light guys would jump on the bus selling little snacks like raw coconut pieces, fresh fruit, fresh squeezed juice, pastries, etc., and then jump off at the next stop. So you can score all kinds of little treats. It’s kind of like a drive-through, but in reverse.
Popayán was nice, although I wasn't bowled over by it. I got some good photos during sunset, though. You can check them out here: http://picasaweb.google.com/tunafishandgrits/Colombia
We returned from Popayán to Cali the next afternoon. There was plenty of time so that I could grab a couple meals and do some walking around. I never got too much in the way of history or fancy photos, but I knew that was going to be the case before even going there. The appeal of Cali isn’t it's history or architecture, but the nightlife (and reputedly the women, although I didn't see anything special).
This was a Friday night, so it was perfect timing to hit the salsatecas. For everybody reading this that isn't one of my salsa geek friends I'll spare the gory details, but in summary the salsa style is very different there. As such I wasn't up to my usual standard, but I got by just fine. I noticed a fair amount of surprised faces on the ladies I was dancing with. As far as I could tell, they were thinking something along the lines of "Whoa! The tall white guy isn't that great, but he actually knows what the hell he's doing!" (which now that I think of it is probably not too different from what they're thinking at the Latin clubs in Chicago).
I had one more full day in Cali which I spent scarfing street food and milling around. I wouldn't say the food is fantastic, but you can get some really good stuff if you know what to grab. The highlights are all the tropical fruits. They’ve got all kinds of fruits that even a hard-core foodie like myself has never heard of (lulo, anyone?), and they're all fantastic. The overall quality of all the produce here is phenomenal, so you can just get some fresh fruit or fresh-squeezed juice at a little mom-and-pop dive and it tastes live heaven. Food-wise, he best thing I had there was a stew called sancocho with chicken, yuca, and green plantains. It was a very good thing that I liked it, as I had it twice in one day. I had it for lunch when I ordered it not by name but just as the daily special. I then went to dinner later, looked at the menu, and said, “Ah, sancocho, I remember reading about that. I really must try it”. I was mildly annoyed when they brought it out and I realized it was the same thing I had for lunch, but hey, it was good, so I got by OK.
While eating lunch on this day I started chatting with a Colombian gal that lives in Miami. The restaurant I was eating in was her brother’s place, whom she was back visiting for her niece’s confirmation. We ended up catching up later that night and heading out to the clubs, first to a salsa place and then a mixed club. This was nice as I didn’t have to worry about going to some of these places (many of which are a long cab ride outside of the city) by myself. I realized this might not be advisable when I got into one of the cabs alone the night before to be taken to a salsa club in the outskirts and the conversation with the cab driver went something like this (in my half-assed Spanish):
Ryan – “I would like to go to Juanchito, please. Chongó.”
Cabbie – “Where are your friends?”
Ryan – “I’m alone.”
Cabbie – “And you want to go to Chongó by yourself?”
Ryan – “Yes.”
Cabbie – “You sure?”
Ryan – “Yes.”
Cabbie – “Really?”
Ryan – “Um, maybe. Not a good idea?“
Cabbie (now realizing he’s about to lose a fare for a 20-minute ride) – “Oh, never mind. Let’s go.”
However, I felt pretty safe once I got there. You had to get frisked by security in bulletproof vests and walk through a metal detector to get into the club, so what’s to worry about? Anyways, I did feel a little more comfortable going out with a native the next night, so it worked out well.
I’m actually finishing and uploading this post in Cartagena. This place is incredible. I’ll fill in on details in a couple days.
My American friend that I met there ended up heading to Popayán together the next day. It was a several hour long bus ride with some fabulous mountain scenery on the way. Probably the best part was all the snacks. Up until the point where we got out of the city, whenever the bus stopped in traffic or at a light guys would jump on the bus selling little snacks like raw coconut pieces, fresh fruit, fresh squeezed juice, pastries, etc., and then jump off at the next stop. So you can score all kinds of little treats. It’s kind of like a drive-through, but in reverse.
Popayán was nice, although I wasn't bowled over by it. I got some good photos during sunset, though. You can check them out here: http://picasaweb.google.com/tunafishandgrits/Colombia
We returned from Popayán to Cali the next afternoon. There was plenty of time so that I could grab a couple meals and do some walking around. I never got too much in the way of history or fancy photos, but I knew that was going to be the case before even going there. The appeal of Cali isn’t it's history or architecture, but the nightlife (and reputedly the women, although I didn't see anything special).
This was a Friday night, so it was perfect timing to hit the salsatecas. For everybody reading this that isn't one of my salsa geek friends I'll spare the gory details, but in summary the salsa style is very different there. As such I wasn't up to my usual standard, but I got by just fine. I noticed a fair amount of surprised faces on the ladies I was dancing with. As far as I could tell, they were thinking something along the lines of "Whoa! The tall white guy isn't that great, but he actually knows what the hell he's doing!" (which now that I think of it is probably not too different from what they're thinking at the Latin clubs in Chicago).
I had one more full day in Cali which I spent scarfing street food and milling around. I wouldn't say the food is fantastic, but you can get some really good stuff if you know what to grab. The highlights are all the tropical fruits. They’ve got all kinds of fruits that even a hard-core foodie like myself has never heard of (lulo, anyone?), and they're all fantastic. The overall quality of all the produce here is phenomenal, so you can just get some fresh fruit or fresh-squeezed juice at a little mom-and-pop dive and it tastes live heaven. Food-wise, he best thing I had there was a stew called sancocho with chicken, yuca, and green plantains. It was a very good thing that I liked it, as I had it twice in one day. I had it for lunch when I ordered it not by name but just as the daily special. I then went to dinner later, looked at the menu, and said, “Ah, sancocho, I remember reading about that. I really must try it”. I was mildly annoyed when they brought it out and I realized it was the same thing I had for lunch, but hey, it was good, so I got by OK.
While eating lunch on this day I started chatting with a Colombian gal that lives in Miami. The restaurant I was eating in was her brother’s place, whom she was back visiting for her niece’s confirmation. We ended up catching up later that night and heading out to the clubs, first to a salsa place and then a mixed club. This was nice as I didn’t have to worry about going to some of these places (many of which are a long cab ride outside of the city) by myself. I realized this might not be advisable when I got into one of the cabs alone the night before to be taken to a salsa club in the outskirts and the conversation with the cab driver went something like this (in my half-assed Spanish):
Ryan – “I would like to go to Juanchito, please. Chongó.”
Cabbie – “Where are your friends?”
Ryan – “I’m alone.”
Cabbie – “And you want to go to Chongó by yourself?”
Ryan – “Yes.”
Cabbie – “You sure?”
Ryan – “Yes.”
Cabbie – “Really?”
Ryan – “Um, maybe. Not a good idea?“
Cabbie (now realizing he’s about to lose a fare for a 20-minute ride) – “Oh, never mind. Let’s go.”
However, I felt pretty safe once I got there. You had to get frisked by security in bulletproof vests and walk through a metal detector to get into the club, so what’s to worry about? Anyways, I did feel a little more comfortable going out with a native the next night, so it worked out well.
I’m actually finishing and uploading this post in Cartagena. This place is incredible. I’ll fill in on details in a couple days.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Time to suit up folks
Ready for South America. Here's the itinerary by day:
1. Arrive in Cali late
2. Cali
3. Popayán
4. Cali
5. Cartegena
6. Cartegena
7. Cartegena
8. Medellín
9. Medellín
10. Medellín
11. Medellín
12. Salento and the Valle de Cocora
13. Salento and the Valle de Cocora
14. Bogota
15. Bogota
16. Santiago
17. Valparaíso
18. Santiago
19. Mendoza
20. Mendoza, get really drunk
21. Mendoza, get even more drunk
22. Córdoba
23. Buenos Aires
24. Buenos Aires
25. Buenos Aires
26. Buenos Aires
27. Montevideo
28. Colonia
29. San Clemente (Argentinean coast)
30. San Clemente (Argentinean coast)
31. Buenos Aires
32. Buenos Aires, red-eye home
For those of you that are geographically impaired, 1-15 are in Colombia, 16-18 in Chile, 27-28 in Uruguay, and the rest in Argentina.
1. Arrive in Cali late
2. Cali
3. Popayán
4. Cali
5. Cartegena
6. Cartegena
7. Cartegena
8. Medellín
9. Medellín
10. Medellín
11. Medellín
12. Salento and the Valle de Cocora
13. Salento and the Valle de Cocora
14. Bogota
15. Bogota
16. Santiago
17. Valparaíso
18. Santiago
19. Mendoza
20. Mendoza, get really drunk
21. Mendoza, get even more drunk
22. Córdoba
23. Buenos Aires
24. Buenos Aires
25. Buenos Aires
26. Buenos Aires
27. Montevideo
28. Colonia
29. San Clemente (Argentinean coast)
30. San Clemente (Argentinean coast)
31. Buenos Aires
32. Buenos Aires, red-eye home
For those of you that are geographically impaired, 1-15 are in Colombia, 16-18 in Chile, 27-28 in Uruguay, and the rest in Argentina.
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