On track now, we are ready to see some stuff. Like experts, we waked downhill almost 2 miles to Estacion Poblado. We passed shops, the restaurant where we had the Tomahawk Steak yesterday, and Parque Poblado where vendors appeared to be setting up for the weekend.
Our purchased Civica Pass metro cards came loaded with 5.9 pesos. We added 13,000 pesos to its balance. It seemed like plenty. We zipped through the turnstiles and noted our card balance was reduced a lot – then we remembered the exchange rate is outrageous here. A ride on the metro costs 2900 pesos or about $.70. We had fed the machine several bills but the balance only amounted to 18.9 pesos or almost $5. The rule of thumb here is, to divide the price shown in COP (Columbian Pesos) by 4 to get the like amount in USD. So while our Civica Card initially had almost 19,000 pesos, that amount is good for only about 3 rides each for two persons. Another way to understand the difference in currencies is, say a grocery item is priced at 24.00 pesos. That item costs the equivalent of six US dollars. The moral of the story, since we plan to ride the metro a lot, we need to insert more dinero in the machine to up the ante on our card.
In our first deliberate outing, we rode the metro to University Plaza and entered the Botanico de Jardin. Wow! No admission fee but we had to show our Covid vaccination cards. Often called the City’s Green Lung this tranquil piece of earth is a haven in the middle of the otherwise fast-paced city. In the late early 1900s, this land was a farm that also attracted city folk as a recreation spot. Rich patrons visited the farm then known as El Eden for relaxation, boating, swimming, hanging out in bathhouses, and dining. The land went through several phases with each laying a better and better groundwork for it to ultimately become this well-planned, well-groomed park. Even though it covers only about 35 acres, 4500 different species of plants, flowers, and trees are methodically laid out to provide perfect conditions for keeping each plant happy. Its relatively small size and nicely paved walkways that wind through the gardens create a leisurely walk and a chance to take in all the beauty. Stan and I have toured botanical gardens in nearly all major cities we have visited. This one had one of the best collections of unusual flowers I have ever seen. I hope that is evident in the photos.
One of the top things to do here is taking a ride on one of the aerial cable cars. No, these are not aerial tourist attractions. Instead, they are an integral part of Medellin’s public transportation system. Six aerial cable car lines stop at 20 stations. To understand more clearly the importance of these systems, it is critical to picture the geography of the area. The oldest parts of the city and the central business district of Medellin lie n the heart of the Aburra Valley. As the city extends from the center, the valley turns into beautiful green hills that slowly reach out to the Andes mountains. Mountains completely encircle the valley. Nearly 4 million people live in the valley.
Like most city centers, Medellin’s densely packed with city life . . . office buildings, apartments, hotels, churches, museums, shops, shops, and more shops, so many that kiosks crowd every plaza and most sidewalks . . same is true for restaurants. A person with a little bit of dinero simply cannot go hungry in Medellin. Most feature typical Columbian food served hot, fast, and very reasonably priced. But pizza, burgers, shawarma, and sushi are readily available too. And for those on the go, there are hundreds of carts selling fresh sliced fruit in a cup and others on the curb where sausages and pollo are grilled and empanadas are fried. Get ‘em and go.
In the city, there are tiny pockets of roughly built houses with tin roofs where people live. As the valley extends outward to the mountainsides, super-cool, tall multi-story apartment buildings and corporate offices spring up in the rolling hillsides As the valley begins it stretch up the mountains, it is covered with houses where the common folk live. Because most buildings here including houses are built of red brick, when viewed from afar, the closely-built houses all blend and look more like a swath of red-clay land that’s been cleared of all vegetation. Like cells of an insect hive or like ancient homes of cliff dwellers, these houses sit one next to the other often sharing a wall with the neighbor. As the community spreads from the city to the mountainsides, the higher and more steeply built the houses become. Before the aerial cable lines and the electric escalators, people who lived uphill could not easily go in and out of the city. They were poor, crime-ridden, and had little opportunity for anything better. When the aerial cable car lines were installed, remote communities began to thrive. Cable cars and other wildly innovative forms of public transportation have been the key to Medellin’s development into the progressive, prosperous city it is today.
We took the aerial cable gondola at the end of the tram line at Oriente station yesterday. Along the tram route ride, we passed through tight streets with plenty of street art and hundreds of kiosks selling everything from baseball caps to shirts, lingerie, and food. The carts were so close to the tram car I could touch the stuff from my seat if the window had been open. Once we boarded the aerial cable gondola heading toward Vila Siera in Commun 8, the views were breathtaking. Not so much for the beauty of the landscape or the thrill of the ride, but the up-close, almost eye-to-eye view of how thousands and thousands of people live in these densely populated residential areas. We could see the clean but narrow walks and stairs that lead from one level of houses to the next. From above, we could see people below walking about and working, pushing a cart, or carrying a load. Motorcycles and very small taxis buzzed up and the winding streets. Kids played in small patches of yard or patio, dogs wandered about freely and almost every house had laundry hanging or spread out on the roof to dry. Tiny restaurants and beverage shops served home-style chicken and rice, arepas, empanadas, water, juice, and cerveza.
We rode up and when the car finally turned around, we rode back down.
Not quite ready to go home, we departed the metro at the San Antonio station, said to be the heart of the Central Business District. Talk about busy! And again there was lots of amazing street art. We first found a place for a delicious lunch then walked a few blocks here and there among the crowd. If you want it, it can be found in the marketplace at the San Antonio station. You can buy undies, dresses, second-skin clothing, luggage, backpacks, baseball caps, sombreros, fancy socks, shoes, shoes, and more shoes, knock-off name-brand zapatos, sliced fruit, juice, water, and candy—mostly sold by children – I just give them the change I have and refuse the candy. Worn tennis shoes can even be re-soled here. It’s like being in Hong Kong except in Hong Kong the vendors speak English. Oh, and every vendor plays a different version of music turned up to top volume. Let’s dance!
Whew, it was a stress-filled, eyeful. We liked it but called it a day.
This bus system continues to confound us. We know some buses come near our apartment but we just have not figured this part out at all yet. On previous days we have walked the 2 miles from the Poblado Station to our apartment. It’s a pleasant downhill walk in the mornings but a tough, uphill walk in the afternoons. On this day we grabbed a bus. We were certain we’d seen this bus on our walk. Well, we got to see some new territory and it got us in the vicinity of our apartment but we still had a quarter-mile straight uphill walk to take to get home. One would think that in all our travels, we’d know how to manage a bus system in almost every city . . . I’ll just say this, they have their own unique scheme that the locals know all about and love to watch us tourists try to figure it out.
