We are in our last few days here in Medellin. Check-marks are being placed on our list of important to-dos. After our fantastic, over-the-top paragliding experience everything else might seem downhill or a bit anticlimactic. No, oh no! It all was still fun, exciting, and educational.
El Castillo Museo
This elegant castle was built in 1930 by a wealthy physician José Tobón Uribe. In 1943 a wealthy industrialist bought the house for his family. In 1971, when all family members were dead. the estate was left to the city of Medellin. It became a museum very near to our apartment. It has beautiful gardens and grounds and inside: a nine-room fully-furnished grand castle.
The Stone of El Peñol, La Piedra y Pueblo Guatape
Anabal, our driver picked us up, and away we went for a long drive out of Medellin, through mountainside farmlands and ranches. The colors were vibrant. Imagine patches of pale green lettuce juxtaposed to fields of cabbage and corn. Green, all shades of green thrown up on steep hillsides. Horses! Yes, horses are the way of the world up here, and here is also where cattle graze. Our car kept climbing and winding.
We stopped at a replica of a village that was flooded when the El Peñol-Guatapé Reservoir was created in the 1970s. The flooding made a picturesque scene of islands from the many hilltops that once existed as dry land. The flooding drowned a village and made a reservoir that provides power to most of the entire country. Though the town was rebuilt and people received new houses and compensation, they lost their homes. When the water levels are low like they were when we were there, a cross on an old church’s steeple proudly stands erect above the waters of the lake. I read that many of the old-timers make a boat pilgrimage to the cross in remembrance.
As we drove on we could see La Pedra in the distance. Like Stone Mountain in Georgia, this giant stone reaches 720 feet in the sky and seems to pop out of nowhere. Although there are many legends concerning the stone, one seems to last: the man who inherited this worthless piece of soil and eventually climbed this stone monolith. A complex ladder was built alongside its crack and people began to visit. Today the gigantic stone is a privately-owned spectacular tourist spot with amazing vistas, shops selling native handicrafts, restaurants. Bars and frills are at the stone’s base. The ladder is gone but visitors can take a series of 740 brick steps to the highest observation deck at the top of the rock
We climbed those steps; it was hard but not nearly as challenging as we thought it might be. We were rewarded at the top with fresh air and incredible views of the lake, the islands, and the neighboring town of Guatapé in the distance. The view reminded us of the view from Christ the Redeemer statue on the hill overlooking Rio de Janeiro, with conical sugar-loaf islands in the bay. We congratulated each other for making it to the top – just as everyone did as they popped out of the last section of steps cut through the stone, breathless from the altitude and the climb. Here we are, in our seventies and climbing a stone in the middle of Columbia!
From El Penol, we visited Guatapé. This town was nothing less than charming. Known as The Pueblo of Zocalos, this brilliantly, festively colored town proudly shows its history and culture in the 3-D zocalos or murals on nearly all buildings. Its unique beauty simply dazzled our eyes.
After a late lunch, we began our two-hour return drive to Medellin. Heavy traffic and a brief detour to visit a perfectly lovely set of hidden waterfalls caused our trip to be much longer. What a day!
The next day we visited museums.
Casa de Memoria presented in a moving but intriguing way the horror of Medellin’s violent past and present. Collections of art depicted impressions of the fear, shame, violence, death, and hopelessness of the times not so far gone. Videos of real people affected in that period by death, rape, intimidation, massacres gave a real-life look into the horrible time. These videos showed how real people played a significant role in overcoming the violence, mafia, and cartels that penetrated the poverty-stricken villages. Their stories brought tears to my eyes.
In contrast, the Museo de Antioquia featured a huge exhibit of the almost comical works by Fernando Botero. A native of Columbia yet a renowned contemporary artist, Botero donated hundreds of pieces including paintings and sculptures in his easily recognizable style. The art museum, considered a national monument, is in the heart of Medellin’s historical center. It was the first museum in Antioquia and the second in Columbia. Its collection of international art is impressive but not overwhelming as some museums seem to be.
Today is our final day for discovery. Tomorrow is packing day.
How can one visit Medellin without at least a mention of Pablo Escobar? Some tours are available offering an expensive all-day visit to a museum, his grave, the site of his home in Medellin, the monastery that served as Escobar’s private prison, and a visit to the roof of the Placito de Flores where he was killed trying to escape on the rooftop. The site of the apartment building that was his home during his reign of terror was gutted by a bomb and stood vacant until the city demolished it and replaced it with a park . . . that does not honor Escobar but is a memorial to victims of his era Because of the violence and deaths at the hand of Escobar, locals don’t encourage the tours because they only line the pockets of the remaining family. In their honor, we did not take the tour. The museum, however, is only a three-minute walk from our apartment. We walked past and I took a photo. Escobar never lived in this house; he used it as an occasional hideout though. And that’s all I will say about the king of cocaine. He deserves no more.
We took time today to ride the end of the line of the metro. We visited interesting-looking churches and marched once more through the busy marketplace between Parque Berrio and Parque San Antonio. Knowing what things might be like on Saturday, we secured our valuables. I gathered up all the cambio we had and prepped myself for handing coins to beggars, people selling penny candy, and to homeless who simply said hello. It was a madhouse of course. One whole city block under the aerial metro rail between the two parks was a huge Saturday yard sale. Used clothing, shoes, and housewares went for pesos.
We were not able to enter the Iglesia Jesus Nazareno. Its Gothic architecture with the many smaller steeples is graced with the “Mother of God, the Most Holy Mary” on its tall primary steeple. A woman with her dog knelt at the locked doors in prayer. Although there are more we did not get to visit, this church is considered one of Medellin’s most beautiful temples.
Next we returned to Iglesia de la Veracruz. A mass was in progress. We knelt and prayed for our safety, health, and special care, and salvation for our daughters and Tessa. We prayed for our friends, family and peace for the people of Ukraine and Russia. Outside, prostitutes had already begun to find their posts for the evening.
I will say this one last thing for tonight, Medellin street food is fantastic!
🥰❤❤😘