9/15: Medellin: Our 1st Uber Adventure & Cerro Nutibara

We had a nice, relaxing morning at our hotel in Santa Marta in the far north of Colombia before flying to Medellin in the early afternoon. Jorge, the assistant manager of the hotel, and I spent a good chunk of time going over still more of his very lengthy English homework that was due that night.

Some photos of the hotel we stayed at for three nights: It sure looked great on the surface as you can see. However, not three feet from our room was the kitchen so we awoke early every morning to the pungent odor of onions and garlic cooking, the loud noise of knives on cutting boards and pots and pans clanging! 

Our room was tiny and very dark and it was even darker in the minuscule bathroom that had only cold water in the sink and shower. When we told Jorge we didn't have any hot water, he expressed surprise asking if our reservation on booking.com indicated there WAS hot water. Turns out there is NO hot water in Santa Marta at all, he said, because the temperature is normally so hot! Only having a top sheet on the bed and nothing else was a little bare bones, too!

The kitchen is in the middle where the low screen is. Breakfast was included in the price but I wasn't a big fan of lukewarm food and eggshells in my omelet!

I wish we'd 'had' time to sit by the pool as it looked so inviting. The hotel was very clean and the location was dynamite so that partially made up for other things being out of whack.

Don't you agree this is a fabulous view? I'm sure you won't believe it but we were standing just outside the door to the Santa Marta airport when I took this shot!

I took this one on the second floor; it shows the road directly in front of the airport with all the high-end, beachfront hotels in the touristy area, i.e. well away from the Centro Historico where we stayed. I am sure those hotels would have had hot water!

Every Avianca Airlines flight we'd been on so far here in Colombia has been late departing and our flight to Medellin was no exception. We decided to be adventurous and order our first Uber car from the airport. I used the word 'adventurous' as we later learned Uber is illegal in Medellin or perhaps just from the airport, I'm not sure. The confirmation text told us, in English, to meet the driver in front of a certain gate at the terminal. 

That sounded simple enough. However, of course, he knew he couldn't pick up any passengers there and time passed while we wondered where he was. He called and told me in Spanish to meet him over in the parking lot. Easier said than done because we couldn't find it for what seemed like forever! I don't think he was too happy with us causing him to wait and wait. It was also a tough situation for us using Uber for the first time in a foreign country where we don't speak the language (shame on us, I know) and didn't know where to meet the driver. The airport was over an hour's drive from our hostel in the bustling city of Medellin, the second-largest metropolis in Colombia.

Our Maloka Hostel, a five minute walk from this little peace of heaven, was in the El Poblado area of town: perfect if you want to party all night to the throbbing music in all the outdoor cafes and bars! We had known our hostel had a reputation for being noisy so I had reserved a 'quiet room' on the  third floor. It sure wan't so quiet but the room was the best in any hostel we've ever stayed in and certainly the best all trip by far, including the Best Western in Panama City. 

There was a lightweight comforter, soap and shampoo on our bed, shower gel in our own private bathroom, a bathmat, hand towels AND we had daily maid service, too. It felt like the lap of luxury compared to our previous accommodation! The staff were incredibly friendly and helpful. I can't remember staying in a better hostel although the ear-splitting noise from the main floor bar until after midnight did cause us to lose a little beauty sleep. At our ages, we need all the beauty sleep we can get, too!

Ahh, the plans of mice and men! We'd originally envisioned, since our flight was due in at 3ish, that there'd be no problem using public transportation to walk around El Centro and see some of the sights before calling it a day. However, thanks to Avianca and the Uber snafu at the airport, we arrived later than we planned at the hostel. Alejandro, one of the young staff members, advised us it wouldn't be safe to leave then for downtown as 'everyone' was leaving that area then. He suggested we get a taxi and visit instead Cerro Nutibara, a hill southwest of the city center. That sounded like a great idea and we were off after searching for said taxi, again, not as easy as we thought! But the 20 minute ride only cost 9,000 pesos, a measly, for us at least, $3.

We found it unusual that all motorcycle helmets had to have the same license number as the motorcycle itself in Colombia. By law, too, anytime a credit card is used, the user - regardless of whether the person is a foreigner OR a Colombian - must present identification. It wasn't a security concern because of possible fraudulent use of the card, but so the government, we were told, 
could keep track of taxes that might be due on those purchases. Big Brother seemed alive and well in Colombia, it seemed. The taking of everyone's photo on intercity buses seemed to make more sense in that context.

Nutibara Hill was one of the seven Guardian Hills of Medellin that was declared a protected environmental area. At the top of the hill was Pueblito Paisa, a replica (some say a kitschy replica!) of a traditional town from Antioquia, the department where Medellin is located. 

I guess our standards that night must have been lower than normal because we didn't think the square looked too kitschy at all!

We've noticed how the recycling 'movement' has caught on in some cities in Colombia and seemingly not at all in others. On Nutibara Hill, for instance, you couldn't walk far at all without noticing all three containers. We later discovered it was the same throughout Medellin. However, here in Bogota where we are now, there's nary a recycling container anywhere to be found.

We'd heard during our walking tour of Cartagena about how famous Medellin is for its flowers. I had known Colombia in general was but didn't which area of the country was most famous for its beautiful blooms. We were both amazed when we saw all the displays showing the 60th anniversary of the fabulous Parade of Sillerteros, the central event during the city's Flower Parade that was held just last month.

During the parade, millions of flowers are displayed with sillestas or chairs on the backs of peasants from the provincial town of Santa Elena. More than 80 varieties of flowers are used to create stunning landscapes, portraits, religious sayings and anything else the designers choose. 

The name silleteros came from centuries ago when the peasants and indigenous people carried on their back wooden 'chairs' or 'silletas' used to transport their children. 

Wouldn't it be an incredible sight to witness the parade? It would be like the Rose Bowl Parade magnified umpteen times! We read that the Silleteros have traveled far and wide to showcase their incredible talents.

This wooden cutout reminded us of our visit to the Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota, when our four children were young and each stood in a display just like this one.

This was one of ten modern and abstract sculptures that comprised part of the Sculpture Park at Cerro Nutibara, the first in the country when it was established in 1983.

The main reason so many people visit the hill is because of the spectacular 360 degree views over Medellin. Situated in a narrow valley, it felt like the city's skyline reached for the heavens against a backdrop of jagged peaks in every direction. 

Spaniards first arrived in the valley in the 1540s but the city wasn't founded until 1616. Historians believe that many early settlers were Spanish Jews fleeing the Inquisition. Medellin became the capital of Antioquia in 1826 but it only came into its own at the start of the 20th century with the arrival of the railroad, together with a highly profitable boom in coffee production and an emerging textile industry. 

By the 1980s the city's entrepreneurial spirit began to show its dark side. Under the violent leadership of Pablo Escobar, Medellin became the capital of the world's cocaine business. Gun battles were common and the city's murder rate was among the world's highest. With Escobar's death in 1993, the beginning of the end of the violence came.

The city looked quite magical as dusk neared and the city's lights twinkled far below.

Back near the plaza was this statue but we had no idea who it was of.

The plaza looked even more inviting when darkness was about to fall.

The 'statue' had both of us completely fooled when 'it' moved! I wish you could have heard the gasps of the people around him as, I am sure, everyone must have also been pretty sure they were looking at a statue. I, like others around me, put money in the box at his feet as I was so taken by him.

The 'statue' grabbed my arm and immediately began tying a bracelet made of embroidery threads in the colors of Colombia's national flag on my wrist! Steven caught the moment with ihs ipad.

It had been a long enough day for us so we decided to hail a taxi and head down the hill. Many other people also had the same idea then but, thankfully, we met a German woman, Kristina, who was staying in a hostel not far from us so we decided to share a taxi. 

While waiting, we found out she was traveling around the world by herself - now, that's a truly adventurous soul! We made plans to meet for dinner the following night. I couldn't wait to hear where she'd been and how she planned for a trip of that length and what places were on her itinerary!

Next post: More of Botoero's grand sculptures and a cable car ride.

Posted on September 20th, 2017 from Bogota, Colombia.