Bendigo’s Phil West is on a five-week trip with P.E.A.C.E Inc, principally visiting a project partner in Colombia. He continues his series of travelogues for the Bendigo Advertiser with this report from Medellin.
MOST famous for the infamous Pablo Escobar drug cartel, Medellin, with a populatin of 2.3 million, is a truly astonishing city.
Set in a deep valley, Medellin is known as the City of Eternal Spring and has the most perfect weather in the world – around 27 degrees almost every day of the year.
If not for the history of drug wars, armed insurrection and kidnappings, Medellin would be high on the “must see” list of any international traveler and certainly a top honeymoon destination.
At Christmas and New Year, Medellin becomes a spectacular city of lights.
A huge light display continues for over a kilometre along the city’s Rio Medellin, with food stalls and music.
A new series of creative light fountains were added this year.
They have a type of open “curtain” which allows people to run inside without getting wet.
Not surprisingly this was a favourite with children and teenagers.
The most extraordinary surprise that Medellin offers is an out-of-this-world cable car network which services the poorer mountain-side suburbs and shanty towns.
Words cannot adequately describe the views from the carriages as they rapidly rise hundreds of metres from the edge of the city up over the earthen rooftops. The final section travels over lush, thick bushland and takes you to the top of the mountain where there are guided nature walks, cafes and an artisan market.
However, Medellin (and Colombia as a whole) does have a dark side.
The extreme poverty, obscene gap between rich and poor, and the history of violence has made the middle and wealthy classes seem, to me, to be among the most fearful people on earth.
In both the capital Bogota and in Medellin, my friends were aghast when I had my camera in the car and started taking photos from the window.
They hurriedly told me to put the camera out of sight, fearful that someone from the footpath would run over and rip the camera out of my hand or worse.
In Bogota when I was paying for a taxi, my friends expressed concern when I had my wallet in public view for more than about three seconds.
I have never come across such anxiety about crime anywhere else, including in Cambodia or East Timor.
This universal fear leads to a very stressed collective personality which shows on the usually smile-less faces of the average person in the street.
Another very sad reality of the extreme wealth gap is the image of teenage street-prostitutes openly soliciting in the main public plaza.
It is bizarre to watch families with children in prams casually walking past teenage prostitutes as though it is completely normal.
While Colombians love dancing, fun and laughter, this usually happens in private or in the domain of the wealthy in their exclusive and luxurious shopping malls or upper class night clubs where drinks cost more than they do in Toorak.
Medellin is an amazing city and offers a breathtaking array of colour, music and lights.
It is a photographer’s paradise.
Although the city also demonstrates the extremes of the human condition, I would certainly recommend Medellin to anyone. Just be careful!
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