The city of eternal Spring

To begin

I am still thinking of the most appropriate way to talk about this beautiful city, starting with its architecture, its people, its climate, its culture or with my first impression...

My first impressions

Medellin already has international fame for being the birthplace of the most beautiful women and the most handsome men. Its characteristic accent and its style of clothing made me compare the city to my first impressions of the metro in Milan (a story for a different post), but the thing that made the biggest impression on me was that the city has a special way of making you feel calm.

I came from Bogotá on a ten hour bus ride carrying my suitcase which weighed 15kgs. I can't remember very well what time I arrived but I remember that it was early to the South terminal, which is a terminal that is not very glamorous or of lots of facilities, but it was light and I remember it was clean. I took my suitcase off the bus and I asked for the address of the metro. For all this I had arranged to meet my Colombian friend that came to my city to study and he had returned to his homeland after finishing school. He gave me the instructions and the address of his home and I headed for our reunion.

I took the metro (clean, tidy and friendly people) past various stations until I arrived to the place where I had to take a bus that were to go up the hill (Medellin is a city that is constructed in a hill which makes it impossible to walk around it completely by foot. Down from the housing area to the most central part there are not so many issues, the problem is climbing up the hill again, maybe that is your daily leg exercise). I arrived at a shopping centre and I took advantage of the WiFi to contact my friend and to look up the way to get to him (the most tiring kilometres of my journey so far).

A spectacular view

I should say that we met up, we chatted and we told each other about any news from our lives but I had to show off the view that surrounded us:

In the photo: a view of the municipality "El Poblado".

The city has the nickname "the city of eternal Spring" and all Mexicans will know that it is the same nickname as the Mexican city, Cuernavaca, Morelos and that it is for exactly the same reason. Medellin has a very neutral climate of 20°C which means that it is always green with a very natural environment (another point that made me love the city).

A walk through the centre

I suppose that I stayed for four days in Medellin with hopes to stay longer, but it was the start of my travels through South America and I decided to travel around the city as much as I could, so during those days my friend and I went back to the city. We visited Plaza Botero, The Rafael Uribe Uribe Palace of culture (from outside), the botanical garden, the Explora park, the park of "los pies descalzos" (barefoot)... etc.

I think that there are so many things to see that I get confused of the order that we visited them. What I do remember is that we got off the metro at a metro stop, "El Prado" if I remember correctly, and we decided to walk, and walk, and walk (I have always thought that the best way to get to know a city is by foot, to travel around as much as your feet can bare, to stop to rest and eat something to recuperate energy and after, to continue walking; on the majority of occasions without a map in your hand, simply following the streets and the destinations that catch your attention) and that's how we arrived at the destination of the following photo.

In the photo: Plaza Cisneros.

The Plaza Cisneros or Park of the lights is a square with a hundred immense posts which are inserted between bamboo trees and water fountains. Just to the right of the image you will find or I found a tourist information kiosk with a map that was fairly detailed with information of the city of Medellin. Just behind us, where the photo was taken, are the Vasquez and Carre buildings and the old train station (the train played an important role in the development of this city) and in front you can observe the EPM library.

But, what is interesting about this square in comparison to other places of interest in Medellin? In reality it is more of a personal matter but from when we got off the metro, the thing that caught my attention was the hundreds of posts aligned with trees, a special type of artificial tree, and it was then I realised that Medellin had something that I had never seen before or not in the way that I had seen it in this city.

Innovative spirit

In the photo: Building "Ruta N".

For all those that didn't know the potential of this city, let me tell you that in 2013 Medellin was named the most innovative city in the world, above New York, for its interest and drive for culture and the innovation to search for the growth of the city and its inhabitants. For example, the construction of Parque España, a library that was built in the middle of a municipality of people with very few resources (a type of Colombian favela) to search to keep the youth away from crime and narco-trafficking.

In the photo: Orquideorama (an organically expanding wooden meshwork of modular “flower-tree” structures that weaves its way through the garden's heart) in the Joaquin Antonio Uribe botanical garden.

In the photo: museum of modern art.

These projects, among many others, show the potential of this city, that has made a comeback from a violent and destructive period with the narco-traffic boss, Pablo Escobar, to a period of development and innovative potential.

It would take too long for me to explain all of the projects and the advantages that they have brought to the city, so it is better that I invite you to get to know this city up close and give it no less than 5 days to fall completely in love with it and not want to leave it behind.

Living with nature nearby

As I have mentioned before Medellin is a very green city; it is very natural with a good amount of parks, whether they are linear or in a pocket, I don't know the percentage of green area per inhabitant but I can guess that it is very high in comparison to lots of Latin American cities. The Botanical garden has around 14 hectares and it also houses many plants that I had never seen (and I've been working in an urban planning and landscaping office) and small animals that are already too familiar with humans.

In the photo: a type of vegetation unknown to me yet.

In the photo: a type of lizard of about 60 centimetres long.

In the photo: a natural river some kilometres from Medellin.

I had to make a clarification for the previous photo: the photo was taken near to the Peñol stone in the region of Antioquia but 80km from the city, and it is to show that Colombia has the advantage of not being very populated still and it is made up of lots of places like this. To give a a slight idea of its total population, there is approximately 50 million people over lots of land. Every square kilometre of its surface has 45 thousand inhabitants and in Mexico (my country of origin) there is approximately 60 thousand. Perhaps the difference is not so notable but we have almost tripled the population of Colombia.

I went off topic a little with this theme but I wanted to emphasise the rich nature of the city...

And the women, how beautiful are the women

I think that until now there are reasons enough to visit this beautiful city, but I would like to close this experience with something that was another reason for me to return to Medellin: its women, with fame around the globe for its beauty... so, my friend, if you want a beautiful girl on your trip go to Medellin for one (my attempt of the Paisa dialect).