I had to visit. Pablo Escobar’s influence on Medellin, Colombia, and the world of drug-trafficking was too infamous. I took the metro to Itagui, and then asked a taxi to take me to his grave at the Cemetario Jardins Montesacro. Along the way, he told me his Dad use to work for Escobar, and he [...]
Recent Blog Posts
February 2009
The day after the Couchsurfing party, I met Martin from Germany, at the Universidad metro station. While I was waiting for him, I took in the view of the city from the vantage point of the elevated platform. Gorgeous! We then met up with Luisa, one of the students at the large University of Antioquia. [...]
I met Milena from Couchsurfing at the Juan Valdez Cafe in Parque Lleras. We walked across the street to Thaico for dinner and drinks. Like many of the restaurants in the Zona Rosa, special deals were available. Two for one entrees, and three for one cocktails were available most of the day and we took [...]
MyGreatWorld is a new and free approach to online photo-sharing. It is an attempt to provide an honest view of places in the world by organizing user-submitted photographs of similar locations. The home page starts you off with a clickable map of the world and a random selection of photos. Pick a continent, and you [...]
I took a taxi to Teatro Lido and found Jesusa at the back of the 2-block line. She was with a German couple – Ann and Amu. Only Ann stuck with us for the free dance performance this Friday night. Jesusa had referred to it as ballet, so I had contemplated skipping it altogether, but [...]
I watched Anthony Bourdain’s Colombian episode of No Reservations on YouTube from the hostel, and inspired to track down at least one place where he ate in Medellin, I confirmed the address of Brasarepa Restaurant with Salome, one of the hostel staff. I considered it a mission because I had failed in my first attempt [...]
Couchsurfing in Medellin often means meeting people socially, versus staying with them as most Colombians live with their families until marriage. I arranged to meet Jesusa from Couchsurfing downtown one afternoon. She was going to take me on a walk past some of the sights I hadn’t seen my first few days. I was late [...]
Medellin is very proud of its metro system, and unlike any other I´ve used, it features cable cars which extend off the train lines to reach up mountains to the poorer neighborhoods in the city. Based on the current exchange rate, the metro costs about 60 cents (US) per trip, including the metro cable if [...]