After a couple of weeks in sweaty Cartagena, it’s time for some cooler weather. Just a short 1 hour flight to the south of Cartagena is the city of Medellin, perched in a mountain valley at an elevation of ~5000’/1600m. Known as the city of eternal spring, temperatures are perfect – mid-70s during the day and upper 60s at night.
The city has a checkered past, to say the least. The hub of Pablo Escobar‘s cocaine empire from the mid-1970s to the early 1990s, Medellin was one of the most dangerous places in the world. There was violence associated with the drug trade, and there were armed left-wing rebels fighting the government who financed their operations with kidnapping. In response, the Colombian government encouraged the formation of heavily armed right wing militias, and the resulting militarization was not a positive for public safety.
Today, Medellin is emerging from a rapid and impressive transition. While there are still dangerous parts of town (like in any other metro area of 4M+ residents), the main areas feel very safe and are regularly patrolled by police in cars and on foot. A remarkably clean Metro system runs through the valley in the heart of the city, and the local government has connected the trains of the Metro to gondolas that service the unofficially-built poor neighborhoods that stretch up the steep slopes surrounding the city and provide local residents easier access to work.
At least in the tourist parts of town that we visited, Medellin is full of restaurants and bars, with locals and visitors enjoying the perfect weather and the lush, green environs. It’s a thriving, modern place, and after four fantastic days of visiting we hope to have the opportunity to return.
