Amy

I like to semi-slow-trav: a week or two in one place, perhaps day trips out from there, a little time to smell the roses.

This wasn't that trip.

But I had a great time, anyway.

To begin, this was planned as a trip to visit the Feria de las Flores in Medellin, Colombia--or, at least, the Silleteros Parade part of it. That happened, but so did being totally lost in the mountains of Nicaragua, piranha fishing in the Amazon, and seven different lodgings the first seven nights. In here are also twelve flights, chicharrones to die for (possibly literally), and the best Metro I've ever ridden. (Yeah, Moscow Metro, that includes you. Although you're pretty awesome.)

I'll start with some logistics: July 29th to August 15th, with my (25 year old) niece accompanying me for the first ten days. Flights on Frontier, Spirit, and Jet Blue as well as Avianca and Copa. I'd arranged the lodgings ahead of time via Expedia, Booking.com, and HotelClick, plus direct booking for the Peruvian Amazon as it was my fourth trip there to the same place, Explorama Lodges. Since this was such a short time, most of the travel was via plane, but I did include one intercity bus ride from Medellin to Pereira. This report is likely to get long and rambly, so I'll try to highlight and link for lodgings and tours and such for those who just want the highlights.

welltraveledbrit

Amy so glad you've started your TR, thanks so much. I'm known for some crazy itineraries jumping all over the place, but I'm curious to see how you managed the logistics of all of this!

I last was in Nicaragua in 1989 and Peru in 1992, so it has been a while!

yestravel

I remember your planning threads. Looking forward to following along.

Amy

<b>Nicaragua 30th July-1st August </b>

First, let me explain why Nicaragua for what was meant to be two days: My niece, J, supports the World Vision program which provides community support in many places around the world through the "sponsorship" concept; that is, sponsors are linked with specific children in the community for letter writing and such, but the money is generally used for programs to benefit the community at large rather than for the specific child (as that charitable model has been known to cause resentment and not be terribly effective.) Anyway, she wanted to meet the child that she has been sponsoring for years, and after thorough background checks we were granted the visit for Thursday, 30th July, with a World Vision rep to pick us up and take us off to one of the villages...at 7:30 in the morning.

It was in the wee hours of the morning that we arrived at the <b> Crowne Plaza Hotel </b> in Managua, after an uneventful flight out of Houston on Spirit. (Those $10 upgrade front seats, though: oh yeah!) The slightly odd thing was that we were supposed to be going to Hotel Mozonte, and our driver hadn't told us anything different. I will admit that my Spanish is weak, at best, but I managed to get by; I think the driver just preferred to let the Crowne Plaza handle it. The front desk dude there was wonderful, though. It's not the first time that I've found amazingly great people at reception in the wee hours of the morning; I think they might be grateful for the activity, to be honest. The Crowne Plaza was fine in that slightly retro business hotel way, and, in fact, much nicer than Mozonte as it turns out. After three hours of sleep we ambled out to meet the rep from World Vision, and we were on our way past the "Arboles Amarillos" of Managua (not to mention the Hugo Chavez artificial Christmas tree memorial) to the countryside.

We passed farms and countless horses along the way, and I was thinking that the roads were pretty good when WHAM! onto the dirt roads we went. Meeting us at a turning was a family on a sofa in the back of a pick-up truck. (There seem to be many stories in the back of pick-up trucks in Managua, from the workers convivially standing shoulder to shoulder to the lone guy facing sideways on a stack of four purple plastic chairs, surrounded by what I can only assume were all his belongings.) The family on the sofa was that of J's sponsor child, and we bounced merrily behind them to a community center where previously underweight children were being given healthy meals and the mothers being taught nutrition. We heard a speech and the children had lunch, with pretty good manners for pre-schoolers. Then we moved on to a small kindergarten run by community ladies, in a shack that looked like a box car but was brave inside with paint and letters and pictures. The kids there sang (and I got them a little wound up; for some reason little kids respond to me that way.) The mountain landscapes are amazingly verdant and beautiful, but I have to say the roads were an adventure. We stopped for a meal with the family in a restaurant (great grilled chicken) called something like "De Sey" which I can find no trace of on the Internet, because for one thing quite frankly I never, ever knew where I was after leaving Managua.

We got back in the evening, and <b> Hotel Mozonte </b> had us picked up to stay the second night there, in our original place. (Never did hear why we were in the Crowne Plaza the first night.) The public areas of Mozonte are lovely, with dark wood and great colors, but the rooms are pretty lackluster and none too sparkling. Exhausted after our hours of riding (and three hours sleep) we decided on dinner at the outdoor cafe area of the hotel, and, after arranging a tour to the Masaya Volcano for the next morning, went to bed.

Amy

Masaya is a national park as well as a volcano, and the Visitor Center is quite interesting and informative. It's also where we met Fatima, who became our guide ($15)...which was a good thing as the $60 "tour" provided by our hotel consisted of a silent driver who took us to the Visitor Center and then drove to the parking lot of the active volcano Masaya. Fatima was a gem, though, friendly and fun. She wanted to practice her English, and sometimes we worked in Spanish as well, but one way or another we climbed to the part of the active volcano that is still accessible and then up to the dormant ones where there were great views of the countryside. It was quite windy and not very warm, which was good considering how much we were climbing! We could have stayed longer, but needed to get back in order to get to the airport for our 5:30 flight...which didn't actually happen.

Pictures would probably tell more than words about the volcano, so:
https://missalg.smugmug.com/Travel/N...Nicaragua-2015

After a ride through the picturesque streets (mango sellers, baskets on heads, the works) we arrived at the airport and had an easy Aviance check-in for our flight to El Salvador which would then send us on to Lima and from there to Iquitos. It didn't work that way, however. A couple of hours after the plane should have left, it was finally announced that, well, it never was gonna leave, and after a rather long discussion we were finally booked on a Copa flight to Panama City and then direct to Iquitos for the next morning. This was actually a much easier flight and meant we weren't flying all night, but did lose us some time in my beloved Peruvian Amazon. On the other hand, we got complimentary rooms at the <b> Best Western Mercedes </b> directly across the street from the airport, and an included dinner that wasn't too bad. The hotel was somewhat like a series of sprawling cottages, but not bad except for the really, really loud pool music. Still, we got to sleep and up early for our flight to PTY/Iquitos.

Amy

<b> Peru: the Amazon 1st August-04 August </b>

The Amazon area of Peru is one of my favorite places on earth, my second home, a source of deep joy. I realized on this, my fourth visit there, that one of the reasons why is probably that I can be surrounded by plants and flowers and <i> I'm not allergic to a single one of them! </i> Of course, there's also the life on the water and the serene relaxation of the lodgings and the swirl of the night stars and the fact that I don't actually have to work there, but anyway it's glorious even for a brief time.

I have always stayed with Explorama www.explorama.com in one or more of their assorted lodgings; this time, it was to be the three-day, two-night "weekend special" at Explornapo Lodge, the most rustic and my favorite. However, our airplane dilemma changed that, as 'Napo is 100 miles away from Iquitos where the plane lands, and it gets dark always, of course, by 7PM. So when mi hermano Armando, always my guide, met us at Iquitos airport at 3:30, we got straightaway on the Explorama bus through busy Iquitos to the dock and onto the fast boat for Ceiba Tops, the more luxurious (A/C and hot water!) lodge only 25 miles down the river. There we were greeted with icy passionfruit juice and the key to our room with its parrot-bestrewn bedspreads and all the amenities...even washcloths! (NOTE: take microfiber washcloths with you if you go: this was the only place the whole trip that had them.) We had time for a hike and a bit of wildlife (mostly tarantulas: yay! They're so cool!) and a view of the immense ceiba tree for which the lodge is named. All of the meals are included, of course--one is pretty far from anything else here--and are reasonably tasty if not enormously exciting. We crashed soon after dinner, but had a funny-in-retrospect incident: about 2AM, a huge beetle fell off the ceiling (I assume) and crashed onto me, and I jumped straight up and flicked it onto the floor. That was good enough for me, but not for J: she hunted it down. She was not going to be able to sleep if it was still around!

Fortunately we did get back to sleep, as we had to be up very early (a trademark of the trip to this point, anyway) to go the next 75 miles or so on the river to Explornapo and arrive in time for breakfast.

welltraveledbrit

Thanks Amy - I'm enjoying the report. huge beetles and all! I haven't been to the Iquitos end of the Peruvian Amazon but I was in Puerto Maldonaldo years ago.

Amy

Thanks, welltraveledbrit, for your patience...Colombia will be along sometime soon!

The Amazon, continued:

Explornapo Camp has kerosene lamps, latrines in the back of the camp, a "screenhouse" style dining room...and free WiFi. Which works really well, actually. It's situated in the Sucusari tributary of the Napo River, itself a tributary of the Amazon. The rooms are thatch-roofed with partial curtained openings at the back (to spit your toothpaste out in the morning!) and mosquito-netted beds. Showers are cold water only; I recommend an afternoon shower as the best option! It really is refreshing--after you're done.

Squirrel monkeys crash around through the nearby trees and come close for the hanging bananas, while baby Charlie the Capybara loves to have the area between his ears rubbed. (He'll actually relax completely and make a purring noise after a while. Charlie Sr. was there the first times I went to Explornapo, and he reacted the same way.) Capybaras are, of course, the original R.O.U.S. (Rodents of Unusual Size) but cute as can be, nonetheless. Other wildlife includes the frogs, butterflies (we saw a blue morpho,) and pink river dolphins, lovely freshwater creatures with pink tummies.

After breakfast we went out straightaway for some piranha fishing with another two people staying there, a lovely young couple. You use meat on a hook to fish for piranha here, and I must confess that there were a number of times that the meat got nibbled off without me landing a fish. I did finally manage to catch one, but the guide of the other people caught the prize: his was so big that it chomped a previously caught fish right in half when it was put down in the boat. GLOMP! They got cooked for our lunch later on. It's actually very relaxing being in the calm still dark waters where the piranha hang out, breathing in all of that lovely oxygen and getting warmed by the sun, until you actually catch something, and then it's a bit nerve-racking. At least for me: this is the only fishing I've ever done, it must be admitted.

Time for a picture break, to make me feel even more homesick for la selva Amazona:
https://missalg.smugmug.com/Travel/P...an-Amazon-2015
Sigh. I love my hometown, but I do miss this.

After lunch back at the lodge, we went for a walk through to the Botanical Garden and the nice gentle shaman who is practiced in local herbs and creates salves and such. He took J through a ritual that involves smoke and a fan, and we toured the garden with its interesting collection of plants with a purpose.

After dinner was the very best part for me, though: las estrellas y las ranas, the stars and the frogs. This is a boat excursion through the overhanging trees of the Sucusari under wheeling symphonies of stars overhead. We saw a tiny bat, a red coral snake, a number of birds, and heard the amazing if non-musical chorus of frogs. It's magical--and do take your camera, which I didn't. (Not that you could capture those stars--that's the music of the spheres that needs to be seen to be heard.)

Amy

Monday was our last day at Explornapo: our very early Tuesday morning flight precluded spending Monday night anywhere other than in Iquitos. So early Monday morning we wended our way through the "jungle mirror", those still waters at their very reflective best in the early morning, to the ACTS (Amazon Conservatory of Tropical Studies) Field Station and Canopy Walk. The bridges of the canopy walk are built so as not to harm the trees on which they are placed; barefooted workers created this marvel that allows you to gaze down on the green sea of the surrounding forest from a height of up to 115 feet. Green parrots go raucously by, toucans are in the trees, bromeliads reach toward the sun, and people with height fears battle bravely on the swaying walkway. It's awesome. We stayed about two hours up there, and could have stayed even longer. On the way back, we stopped at one of the river villages. A group of young men who were staying at Explornapo were there playing and "trading" with the school children in the large, one-room schoolhouse typical of these villages. There are a variety of houses, from the traditional thatched-roofed elevated ones of all wood to more modern looking stucco, and soccer games tend to break out at the slightest provocation.

We left Explornapo around 2PM to go by small speedboat to the town of Indiana, where tuktuks took us through the town to the other side, going from the Napo to the Amazon, where we got on a larger boat and went back to Ceiba Tops for about an hour. Sadly, then it was back to Iquitos far too soon and into the <b> Hotel Victoria Regia </b> which was fine if you didn't mind waiting at 5:30PM for your room to be ready and that they didn't have anybody awake in the morning to check you out. The hotel restaurant was not bad. J wasn't quite ready to handle the bustle of Iquitos to go in search of another restaurant, and we did, amazingly enough, have to get up really early the next morning. Again.

Bokhara2

Thanks Amy, this is fascinating!

Amy

Thank you for reading, Bokhara! On to Colombia...

Iquitos to Lima to Cali to Cartagena took most of Tuesday; Cali airport was rather warm and not the most comfortable, but at least all of the planes were on time and got to where we needed to go. When we arrived in Cartagena, we easily got a cab to <b> Hotel Boutique las Carretas</b> in the walled Old City. The cab cost about $12,000COP, a little over $4 US, much cheaper than the offered hotel shuttle would have been. Overall we had good cab experiences in Cartagena, but we did tend to find out from the hotel how much the fare should be and cleared it with the driver before getting in, as most of the cabs aren't metered.

We didn't take any of the horse-drawn carriages for which Las Carretas is named, but it was nice listening to them clop-clop down the street in front of our balcony. The hotel itself is quite lovely, with big white beds with colorful throws, nice natural woods, and an awesome tiled courtyard where breakfast is served. It's an amazing breakfast, I have to say: scrambled eggs with bacon, cheese, and tomato is one option, plus you get some Colombian cooked treat to go along with it, and then there's the buffet of fresh fruit, breads, pastries, and so forth. It was lovely, as our pace finally slowed down a bit and we could savor our breakfast time there.

Of course, part of the reason our pace slowed down was because we weren't catching transportation somewhere, but the other part is...well, Cartagena is HOT. Yes, we had just been in the tropical rainforest. Yes, Philadelphia this year has been both hot and humid. But Cartagena is the kind of hot that is almost like a living presence, a constant reminder of one's frailties. We got somewhat accustomed, I suppose, but the tiny pool on the roof of the hotel was quite a welcome respite.

Staying in the Old City means it's easy to wander around to most of the tourist sites, as we did in the morning, but we did book a tour for Wednesday afternoon: the Cartagena Connections Street Food Tour. http://www.cartagenaconnections.com/...food-tour.html

That food. Oh my. That food is going to get its own post.

welltraveledbrit

Happily following along and so pleased the food is getting it's own post!

yestravel

Can't wait for the food tour. Enjoying your TR.

Amy

We met up with the tall, beautiful, slightly hyperkinetic Juan Sebastian of Cartagena Connections at the Parque Fernandez Madrid right up the street from our hotel; it's one of the many frowsty little green squares that one comes upon in walking around the Old City. We started right out with mango strips at one of the carts: the street vendors aren't licensed, but establish their own sites and tend to be there every day (except Sunday.) Some have been at the same site for many years, and evidently there's enough business for a lot of them. We then had beautifully gooey cheese empanadas, and continued on through the city on the way to the neighborhood of Getsemani.

This isn't about the food, but one digression: it was on this tour that my leather Teva finally gave up the ghost and the sole flapped off the front almost to the heel. It is at times like this that it is lovely to have a travel companion with you who keeps hairbands (the cloth-covered elastic ones) with her. Worked a treat once I figured out to attach it to the front fastening on the sandal.

There was a beautiful fruit known as granadilla: the fish eye look and the act of slurping down seeds and all made this a least favorite for J, but I loved it. So fresh and clean tasting, if that makes sense. And we needed some of that with the rest of the food tasting that went on:

Arepas con huevos y carne: wrapping up the Spanish/indigenous/African blend that is Cartagena in one deep fried package, served by a beautifully serene Afro-Caribbean lady from her cart that featured five different sauces--I liked the tzatziki-type one best.

Corn arepas with cheese--a little nook tucked in-between larger restaurants.

Carts with cheese and guava paste.

And the chicharrones. OHmygoodness. They were a moment of true revelation. They would probably kill you if you ate them too often, but you would be in pork skin heaven. There are bits of meat attached--it's not just the skin--and crackling amazingness beyond. This is what bacon wants to be when it grows up. J (in her size 2 jeans) and I scarfed these up at the little open front restaurant on the border between Old City and Getsemani; I don't know the name or even if it has one, but if its purpose in life is chicharrones it has succeeded magnificently.

I will point out that with our late-ish 9:30 breakfast this tour served as both lunch and dinner for us!

Fried doughnut-y things but made with cheese in the dough.

I'm sure I'm missing something, but just writing this is making me wanna go back. The food was reason enough, but the tour was quite interesting, too, especially with the colorful and rapidly gentrifying Getsemani. We ended up the tour there with frozen fruit freeze-pops served out of a private home window (there's a school nearby that seems to be the biggest customers) and wended our way back, replete and only slightly lost on a few occasions. Thanks to a lovely family who seemed delighted to help, though, we got back to our hotel and into the pool, disregarding all of those warnings about waiting an hour after you eat. It's a wonder we didn't sink, actually.

Amy

There aren't pictures of the chicharrones: we were too busy eating them. But some of the rest is here, in the Cartagena-only Colombia album. (the rest is in another one)

https://missalg.smugmug.com/Travel/Colombia-2015

Amy

After breakfast on Thursday we sallied forth to just beyond the Clock Tower where a line of taxis awaits, and for COP $7,000 took the brief ride to Castillo de San Felipe, an imposing fortress on a hill overlooking the city. It was built, of course, by the Spanish as a defense against invaders/pirates (like Sir Francis Drake), as Cartagena was a port that saw a lot of activity.

The audio tour is well worth it in our opinion, as otherwise you'd be climbing around a very large pile o' rock in the blazing sun with only the view to keep you happy. The 32-stop tour is easy to follow and informative, and includes some pretty cool tunnels in addition to the structures themselves and the surrounding territory, plus historical commentary, of course. Admission and tour were COP 17,000 and 10,000 respectively. We were there for about three hours. Fortunately, you do get some great winds up there, but have I mentioned that Cartagena is HOT? (rhetorical question)

We had a late lunch at La Mulata, recommended by Juan Sebastian and the hotel lady independently. http://lamulatacartagena.blogspot.com/ It's crowded and seems to be a favorite of the locals, always a good sign, and it's definitely cheap for what you get ($50,600 for the two of us). I found the food to be hearty and earnest, but not wake-me-up-and-go-back-there good. Service was a bit slow, but it's got an interesting atmosphere.

J needed to get some candy and cookies for the family, so we stopped in a supermarket to pick those up (as she was leaving on Friday.) There's a good selection of caramel, coconut, and guava treats, and of course the supermarket is a way better choice for those than, say, the Bogota airport on your way out. (hits self upside head)

Before a light repast at Piccolo's Pizza (eh, okay, not great) we walked on the walls in the foggy sunset. There were quite a few people walking with us along the very broad walls, and they are punctuated by restaurants/clubs. The Old City is quite active by night, very much a tourist city.

Altogether Cartagena is picturesque beyond belief, interestingly diverse, easy to get around in, and did I say HOT?

Amy

Early the next morning (are we sensing a pattern here?) I left for Santa Elena; J's flight wasn't until later. For Santa Elena you fly into Medellin airport, and $50,000COP and lots of asking later, your taxi dumps you at the end of a road that has a hand-scrawled Casa de Campo sign and you carry your luggage down a dirt pat, hoping to find the way. The Santa Elena village is in the mountains, and it's where many flowers are grown (vertical climates being important to this process, of course.)

<b> Casa de Campo </b> is a guesthouse in a remote corner, with a gorgeous setting, random goats, a communal atmosphere, and a lovely guardian German shepherd, Biuk, who accompanies one on walks around the area. You can get great homemade Italian food there, which uses the goat milk cheese and garden herbs, and you can sleep on a futon-ish mattress in the Black Cat room with its lovely window, and you can wander around a lot with Biuk.

I was there for only one night, and appreciated the rare beauty of the mountains and the flowering trees, but would have liked to be able to visit a flower farm. Everyone seemed a bit vague about where they were, and it seems that the central part of Santa Elena is in fact fairly far away from the Casa.

Nevertheless, I did see some preparations for the Silletero Parade (which originates there) and delighted in the cool air and wonderful sky; it's a very peaceful place, but it was fixin' to get pretty rowdy on Saturday night from the looks of the police pouring in on Saturday morning when I left to get the quite crowded bus into Medellin.

yestravel

Love your pictures. I have 1 question - is it hot in Cartegena

Amy

Mmmm, a shade warmish...

The bus dropped me outside of the terminal in Medellin, and I got a taxi to <b> Estelar Apartamentos </b> in the upscale El Poblado section. I had wanted an apartment by this time because (a) I like apartments and (b) I'd actually be here for FOUR WHOLE NIGHTS! Estelar is in a huge building with the Bank of Colombia, and I was on the 8th floor. It was nice, but just missed in a few areas: furniture wasn't comfortable, kitchen had NO pots or pans, "laundry room" was a sink with cold water, clothesline, and ironing board...Handwashing in the bathroom sink it is, then.

There's a supermarket right next door, and I went over to stock up for my little stay. It's got a wide variety of food available, but one thing that still puzzles me: there were about 47 different varieties of margarine, but no butter. And I asked! "Donde esta la mantequilla?" "No, solamente margarina" was the reply. By the way, a lot larger Spanish vocabulary than mine would have been really helpful, and Colombian Spanish isn't the easiest to understand. I got by okay, but better Spanish on my part would have helped considerably.

Sunday 9th August was the Desfile de los Silleteros: Parade of the Chair Carriers. The silleteros used to walk the flowers down to sell in Medellin on their backs (and previous to that had actually brought people down that way) so now there is a huge parade, part of a week-long festival, celebrating that. The displays range from full chairs to huge circular "signboard" style, all looking quite heavy: I was glad it was overcast and not too warm on Sunday and not the bright sunshine that came later.

The parade was due to start (ominous words) at 2:30, and I knew that I had to be there early, so by 11:30 I was at the beginning of the route, under an overpass/bridge called Puente Guayaquil. I had tried to get tickets and a pass with a tour group, but the concierge was unable to get ahold of them. I'd recommend doing that, because my view was past the police and through the gates. Nonetheless, it was a wild and lovely time with the masses of people (at least ten deep) who were there, and a nice family who sorta adopted me and even got me one of the ubiquitous plastic stools. I have to insert here that the percentage of wonderfully nice Colombian people is off the charts high; just really, really lovely people abounded.

The waiting time was a bit enlivened by an arrest that took place about five feet away from me, which brings me to the other point about Colombia: everybody's concern about safety. Caveat from the beginning: I'm from North Philadelphia. Seriously? An arrest is gonna bother me? Actually it was kinda nice to see the police officers and the "logistics" guys bantering with the crowds and the general peacefulness. I didn't feel particularly threatened anywhere, but did use street smarts for the most part. Again, I live in North Philly, so...not exactly an unjaded opinion. But Medellin is lively and lovely and I'd have no problem recommending it to anybody.

So the parade finally started at 3:30, and there were dancers and musicians and very prancy horses and the greatest marching band ever along with the groups of silleteros, and there were floats and celebrities and so on for a good long time. As the silleteros came down the crowd would yell something to get them to turn, and when they did there was great joy and big applause.

I left about 5:30 as it was pretty much ending there, but there were lots and lots of people still left. My taxi driver was interesting, if a tad scary: dude had wild eyes and wild curly hair and couldn't seem to see to read the apartment/hotel card, and was trying to face me to have a conversation the whole time. Quite the ride.

Dinner was pasta with smoked salmon and tomato: yes, one can cook pasta between two shallow bowls in the microwave if that is all that one has.

Amy

The next morning I had to find the Metro station in order to meet up with the "Real Medellin Free Walking Tour." The front desk had indicated that it was "just over there, beyond those buildings," but that turned out to be about a 20 minute walk. I followed the pedestrian traffic in the general direction and got a few verbal confirmations that I was going the right way, but close to the station I was a bit lost. Fortunately for me, a marvelous lady named Gloria escorted me up to the station, used her pass to get me through, got me on the train, and gave me her number in case I needed any more help. I was quite serious when I said that I met a lot of really, really wonderful people in Colombia.

The Metro is actually quite easy to use (once you've found the station, that is) and is a joy to ride. The trains are wide and quiet and everyone that I saw was being amazingly polite and helpful to each other; one young man actually gently led an older woman over to an empty seat. (They were not traveling with each other.) The tour guide mentioned later how much of a source of pride the Metro (only one in Colombia) is, as it was a huge accomplishment that happened during Medellin's darkest times.

I got to the appointed meeting place quite early, early enough that I popped into a vintage Internet cafe at the little mall adjacent to the station. They are, of course, going the way of the dodo, and at about 25 cents for 20 minutes I'm not quite sure how they survive.

Our group was about 24 people, a mix of Canadian, Dutch, British, French, and American, led by the passionate and very interesting Pablo. It's pretty cool that he manages to be that passionate after 1,000plus tours, but I really could have listened to him for even longer than the four hour and a half hours that the tour took. http://www.realcitytours.com/ The payment is tip based, with about $35,000 to 40,000COP being a reasonable tip.

We went through the Centro with stops at the "Lights of Hope" and the building that has become the Ministry of Education after being an open-air drug market, and the Palace of Justice that now has enormous quantities of off-brand sneakers, and the church where the prostitutes hang out, and the reefer-laden air of Bolivar Square, and of course Botero's voluminous statues everywhere, looking like old friends. We had a lunch break (I got the fried cheese ball thingy across the street from the above mentioned church) and some of the time was spent with all of us sitting on stairs in various places and listening, but I really felt like I got a good view of the busy downtown. The tour ends at San Antonio Square, where there is a Botero bird that was blown up, killing people at a concert, but also a bigger, bolder "Bird of Peace" that Botero put up afterward as a symbol of hope and resistance.

Medellin is "the city of eternal spring" as far as weather is concerned, but the spring was quite summery that day, going up into the 80's with brilliant sunshine. Medellin has always been a busy city, very industrious, but of course Pablo Escobar and his reign created a huge stigma. Drugs haven't disappeared, of course (the market keeps growing, supplies keep growing) but there seems to be a concerted effort to keep all of the power and money from being concentrated in one area, and that has made an enormous difference.

After the tour I went back on the Metro to its best part: the cable cars! For the price of a Metro ticket, you can ride the cable cars up the mountains. I chose to go from Acevedo station, and it gives you a great view and you can walk around the town a bit from up there. The cable cars helped bring the people living in the poorer sections to the city and to work, so again, part of a wonderful system that the residents are justly proud of.