Early in January 2006, we flew to Medelline with the crew of Gonzo2. This is a city in the Colombian mountains noted for its beauty and it’s wonderful display of Christmas lights. We flew rather than taking a buss because busses are not considered a safe way to travel. There is still a threat from Guerillas to the extent that some of the highways are shut down at night.
Medelline is in a valley between the mountains and has a river running its full length. Along side the river, they have developed a train system that can quickly take you to any part of the city for a small sum. It terminates on one end at a sky lift which takes you several levels up the mountain to various suburbs. It was not designed for tourists but is great fun to ride and provides a spectacular view.
The Christmas lights are all over the city but are concentrated along the river where the displays are designed professionally to be sold world wide. Other attractions are a beautiful castle furnished with expensive antiques, several museums, statues sculpted by Boltero, beautiful old churches, good restaurants, and giant shopping malls.
We took an 8-hour tour through several villages over the mountains inorder to view a large meteor that is said to be 2/3rds under ground. To our surprise they have installed a system of 700 stairs so tourist can climb to the top to enjoy the view. This explains the big rock in the pictures. The view overlooks a series of lakes with little mountain top islands peeping out. At the end of this lake is a bridge that has military blocking it. They say that on the other side is not safe. It was explained to us that all of this area was controlled by the drug loards as recently as two years ago and has been re-claimed a little at a time. They view their country as being at war with these drug people and will win it all back in the next couple of years. Our guide has even purchased property on the other side of this bridge withour having ever seen it. He hopes that its value will increase greatly when the war is over. We didn’t invest; however, it was tempting.
All for now,
Bob and Norma