Part of our trip itinerary was to see Medellin, even though we only had 1 day. Hyrum has been before, but not me. It's only an hour flight (and maybe a 7-hour bus ride?). As soon as we arrived, we checked into our hotel, skyped for a minute with the kids, and hit the ground running.
Our first stop was, of course, the soccer stadium. Hyrum's favorite soccer team is from Medellin, so this is the stadium where they play matches. The brick roof is original and is quite the contrast from the rest of the stadium. It reminded me of seeing old building structures in Rome, but we had to laugh because this stadium roof is only about 60 years old. But historic in its own way, I guess.
Hyrum was like a kid in a candy store when we went to his team's official store. So many jerseys, jackets, toys, etc. He couldn't resist buying Tiago a Nike outfit--complete with shorts and soccer socks. I think that was Hyrum's favorite thing he bought the entire trip.
Next, we saw Medellin from above. The city is set in a valley, with mountains rising on both sides. The poorer areas are high up on the hills, and they've built a few telefericos to help with the transportation to the top. We went up to the top of one hill, to a National Park called Arvi.
We could see the whole city from up there. One guy in the teleferico with us was from Medellin. Near the top, he pointed out an area where a mudslide occurred about 15 years ago, wiping out dozens of houses. The city has banned the area for house construction, but some people still go up there and build their houses/shacks, for lack of better options I assume. Apparently the rest of the land is fairly stable, though.
The park itself was alright. I think there's a ton of hiking and exploring that can be done, if you had several days. But we basically walked for 30 minutes, bought some snacks, and went back down. The clock was ticking. It was pretty, though.
Next we walked around the city center. Below are the government buildings (Medellin is the capital of its department/state, Antioquia.)
There's a park called Pies Descalzos (Barefoot Park)... also the name of one of Shakira's albums. :) There's sand to play in (barefoot) and little pools to put your feet in (barefoot). Given how hot it was outside, I was more than happy to sit and let my feet cool off for a few minutes.
We saw the Plaza Botero. Botero is a famous Colombian artist, who does paintings and sculptures of short/fat people and animals.
(This picture below is from our last trip to Colombia in 2011, when we went to the Botero museum with several of his paintings. This Mona Lisa was actually a bit more exciting in person than the tiny one in France surrounded by hundreds of camera-wielding tourists.)
At the end of a long day walking around, there's nothing better than finding a quiet, delicious restaurant to relax and eat/drink to your heart's content. People from the region of Medellin are known as Paisas, so the famous dish bandeja paisa comes from there, too. It's pretty much what Hyrum orders at any Colombian restaurant, ever, and comes with a lot of food (meat, plantains, rice, sausage, avocado, arepa, etc. If only every night ended eating good food on a balcony.
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