Paisas and coffee

What comes to mind first when you think of the city of Medellin? Probably something related to Pablo Escobar, drugs, and high crime rates. All of that is in the past, and today's Medellin has little to do with it. It is now a modern city with friendly residents, located in a beautiful valley, with a fancy metro system and crime rates similar to other cities in the area. We feel safe and comfortable here!

Also, we're lucky because we arrived during the annual Flower Festival (la feria de las flores). Medellin is known as the City of Eternal Spring, and there are flowers everywhere. The festival, which has a 60-year tradition, includes many events and spectacles throughout the week. The whole city celebrates, and the highlight is the 'Parade of the Silleteros' (el desfile de los silleteros), where millions of people gather to admire the beautiful flower arrangements, traditionally carried on a kind of chair on the back of the silleteros. Good seats are paid, and the good standing spots are taken early, so we have to settle for bad standing spots and stretch to catch a glimpse of the spectacle!

Medellin has even more to offer artistically, as it is the birthplace of the painter and sculptor Botero, known for his voluptuous sculptures. Several of these sculptures are exhibited in the central square of the city and somehow represent the female beauty ideal that prevails here 😉 Another unique feature of Medellin is the cable car system used as public transportation to reach the neighborhoods located on the hillsides. From up there, you have a great view of the valley in which the city is located. On one of the city's hills, there is also the 'pueblito paisa', a reproduction of old Medellin. It's not particularly remarkable, just a replica, but it offers a perspective on the city's size. By the way, the inhabitants of the city and the region are called paisas.

We quickly got used to the fact that strangers on the street, especially cashiers or saleswomen, frequently call us 'darling', 'sweetheart', or 'beautiful', and that everyone is at our service ('a sus ordenes'). It's part of the local etiquette. However, in Medellin, a juice seller took it to the extreme when I tried to buy a sugarcane juice (guarapo) from him. As I approached his stand, he said 'a sus ordenes mi reina,' which means 'at your service, my queen' 😁 not ironically or with any ill intentions (David was there, too), just overly polite.

From Medellin, we travel to Salento in the coffee region of Colombia. Salento is very touristy, so we're happy that our accommodation is located outside the town, on a hill, not far from the coffee farms, with three dogs and a horse. We take it easy here, resting and recovering from the past eventful, beautiful, but also exhausting weeks. We sleep a lot, read a lot, enjoy the peace and quiet, and savor the excellent coffee. One morning, we walk to the nearest coffee farm and learn some interesting things about the coffee plant's processing until it becomes that delicious hot beverage. After a long time, we also go hiking here, which feels great! We hike through the Cocora Valley (Valle de Cocora), where it looks a bit like Germany or Switzerland, except for the huge wax palms and enchanting hummingbirds! It's a beautiful hike!

From Cartagena, we traveled by bus to Medellin. We stayed in a nice hostel in the Poblado neighborhood. Medellin is a beautiful city with a lot to offer. The city has left behind its reputation for crime and being Pablo Escobar's stronghold. We visited the city center, full of life and Botero sculptures, as he was born here. The city also has a cable car that takes you to the highest parts of the city, offering privileged views of the city.

During our time there, it happens to be the Flower Festival, the biggest festivity in Medellin. The most important part is the 'Parade of the Silleteros', where for 60 years, peasants from a town called Santa Elena come down to Medellin to show the artworks they have created with flowers on their backs. Unfortunately, we couldn't see much of the parade because there were too many people trying to do the same, and there was no space left. We also had time to visit 'pueblito paisa', a reproduction of a traditional village from Antioquia, the region where Medellin is located.

From there, we headed to Salento, a small village in the coffee region of Colombia. It has become a tourist center in recent years, and due to the crowd, we are glad that we booked a hostel outside the town, with beautiful views of the valley. One day, we visited a coffee plantation, where they showed us the farm and explained the entire coffee production process. We also got to taste their coffee, and even though I'm not a coffee lover, I have to admit that it was quite good.

Another day, we went hiking in the Cocora Valley and walked through the cloud forest. We saw many butterflies and different types of hummingbirds. We also went up to the top of the valley, enjoying the magnificent views. On the way down, we passed through the most representative area of Cocora: the meadows with the enormous wax palms.

In summary, Medellin is a fantastic city, and the Cocora Valley, despite its touristy nature, is worth a visit!