We <3 Medellin!

When we mentioned that we were flying to Medellin, the response we always got was: 'Oh cool, I love Medellin!'. Now I know why. I love Medellin too (and I don't want to speak for Cony, as she is currently at language school, but I think she does too). ;)

Two days ago we did the Communa 13 Tour. Communa 13 was basically the most dangerous neighborhood in the world. Left-wing groups, right-wing groups, government groups, and the drug cartel fought a war on the streets of the very poor neighborhood. Even in 2002, people were dying in the streets. The horror that people experienced day after day is unimaginable for us. And now: an electric escalator allows people from all walks of life in the neighborhood to easily reach the center, there are tourist shops, a library, free schools, and courses. The neighborhood is unrecognizable. The colored graffiti and the stories of the locals are the only reminders of the terror of the past decades. These stories, combined with the joy of life and hope that the residents have not lost all this time, were (at least for me) one of the most fascinating things I have ever seen in my life (if not THE most fascinating).

In the evening, we decided to join a pub crawl with our ever-growing Medellin group. The 'good' thing is that the same reggaeton songs are always played in every club, so you end up knowing almost all of them. 👍 The night was fun and we had a good time. However, the fun ended the next morning when I had to move hostels with a hangover. But it was worth it: the new hostel, just one street away, is beautiful! Cheers to that. Later, we took the cable car over the slums of the city and looked at the giant city from above. After dinner, we went to sleep...