After a short delay of one day, Ecuadorean customs finally let me through. I´m in Colombia! On the plane to Medellín I met a friendly Slovakian guy and we decided to explore the city today.

At 9:00 a.m. we meet at a metro station in the center. We decided to meet upstairs in the central hall, not knowing that this is not a subway but an elevated metro! This makes the meeting kind of challengeing, but at 9:10 we´re ready to set off. We decide to check out the ´metrocable´ first. These are two overhead cablelines that provide a stunning view over the city. Our expectations are fulfilled. The cable brings us all the way over the poorer districts (communas) to great viewpoints at the ends. Obviously, these lines lead to better residential areas, so it gives me a bit of a discomfortable feeling by flying over the houses of all poor people here.But at the same moment it's so beautiful and astonishing!

Poverty is clearly much more visible here in Colombia than in Ecuador. There are many many more street vendors. Children are clamping and begging for many everywhere. It´s a different world.

After the metrocable, we decide to head for a kind of technology museum, but it´s closed for renovation for 10 months. It looks brand new, but apparently they have to rebuild it or so. So we head off for the other cable line, which provides an even better view over the city. On the top we walk through a neighbourhood with a lot of elementary schools that are just exiting. Children are playing in the street. It gives me a pleasant feeling and shows how peaceful Colombia can be, contradictory to all the bad news that the media are spreading every day.

We decide to head back and go to the university, where we straw around through the botanic garden. Here we encounter a small jungle route, a pool with turtles and a butterfly garden. After some lunch we walk back into town. There´s a lot going on on the streets. On our way we see a lot of areas where mechanics are fixing cars, looking for customers, just working on the streets; it looks like an interesting business model. In the center we visit the Plaza Botero, named after Medellíns figurative artist. On this square, some of his bronze statues are on display and the adjacent museum has a permanent exposition. For more information click here.

After the museum we decide to call it a day. We take a taxi to the bus terminal to buy some tickets. Tomorrow I´m heading south to Manizales. In the middle of the Zona Cafetera (coffee region) I´ll meet Taeke and Valentina. For those who are concerned: I´m happy to be here and so far I haven´t felt unsafe at all walking around the city that was once ruled by Pablo Escobar. Colombia has so much to offer and is working hard to show off to the world. Me mucho gusta!