In an Amazing Race like feat, Tamar and I packed our bags to leave Villa de Leyva at 1 PM, hopped a van and a bus to arrive in Bogota about four hours later, hailed a taxi and went directly to the airport where we purchased plane tickets to Medellin and boarded the plane an hour later. Phew! I should add that on the aforementioned van and bus back to Bogota, we met two women who would alter the course of our trip (consider this a bit of foreshadowing--look out my blog is getting all literary-like).
Medellin has a reputation as a city rife with drug violence. This may have been the case in the late 80s and early 90s, but it has certainly turned itself around since then. The city is very modern and cosmopolitan, and felt very safe. While we were there we actually took a Pablo Escobar tour to learn about the Medellin cartel and the history of the drug wars. Pablo Escobar was the leader of the Medellin cartel, and was responsible for much of the violence that plagued the city until he was killed by police in 1993. After 1993 things began to change for the better and now Medellin seems like a nice, laid back city with beautiful spring-like weather year round, a clean, modern metro system, and a cute sculpture park filled with works by Fernando Botero.
Boarding the flight to Medellin:
The only city in Colombia with a Metro
Medellin Botanical Garden
Sculpture plaza filled with works of our friend Fernando Botero
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