Imagine a city that lies on more than 380 km2 in a valley between 2 majestic mountain ranges, with houses stoke one to another and people wandering around like in a swarm. Beautiful and scary at the same time, this is Medellin, considered one of the most dangerous cities in the world in the 90s. It was home of the drug lord Pablo Escobar and the Medellin Cartel until Escobar’s shooting in the mid-90s and. Since that time, the city continued to fight against criminality and nowadays it is safe and nice to visit. It was even awarded the “Innovative City of the Year” in 2013 by Wall Street Journal thanks mostly to its newly implemented transportation system (which also includes cable cars!).

Though quite crowded and dirty, with its hundreds of stalls selling anything from food, clothes, souvenirs, etc. we still appreciated few things. The Antioquia museum presented us Fernando Botero, a living sculptor and painter, probably one of the most important during these days. We were impressed by his work inside and outside the museum (in Botero Plaza), a work full of volume: everybody thinks he creates fat people, but in fact his vision is about volumes. As I told the Bear, I would love to have one of his works one day! Of course, I still need to get some Dali masterpieces first! Ha ha

We loved Poeblito Paisa as well, a reconstruction of a typical but tiny Antioquia (Medellin’s region) village, full of color and personality on the top of el Cerro Nutibara (one of the hills in the city), with a nice panoramic view over the city.

And of course, as usual, we were lucky bastards again and we happened to be in Medellin during the “Fiesta de las Flores”, the most important festival of the year in the region. There were many events organized, but the flower expo in the Botanical Gardens was just breathtaking! I have never seen better, nicer, more beautiful flower arrangements in my whole life! Gorgeous!