Falling off the 13 hour overnight bus between Cartagena and Medellin into the early morning light, the first thing that strikes you about Medellin is the ring of large green hills ringing this city of 3 million people. The second thing that strikes you is that a horrible journey on a terrible bus without sleep is not good preparation for arriving in a city of 3 million people at rush hour. We had a flight to Panama booked for the following day so we only had what remained of the day we arrived to see something of Medellin.
After a short nap, a cup of strong coffee and a refreshing shower, we headed towards the Plazoleta de las Esculturas to see first hand what must be one of the finest displays of public art anywhere in Latin America. Medellin may be better known as the former haunt of Pablo Escobar, but its other internationally famous, and still living, resident is renowned sculptor and artist, Fernando Botero. It has an abundance of bad architecture, streets packed with diesel-fume-pumping traffic, a lot of homeless people and on the walk there from our hotel we found ourselves on a street populated by trans-sexual sex workers and drunks.
Its refreshing to see people posing, touching and climbing on the artworks โ not something you normally see in a gallery. Wowโthose are some crazy sculptures!!! And I can totally relate to riding a bus overnight, getting no sleep whatsoever, and then being bombarded by a city. So exhausting, but memories you will never forget! Colombians come prepared with blankets, wooly hats, glovesโฆits ridiculous.
You must be logged in to post a comment. Skip to content. Like Loading Jessica March 28, โ am. Post author lapoubelle March 28, โ pm. Jessica March 29, โ am. Good to know! I love the sculptures! Post author lapoubelle March 27, โ pm. People treat the sculptures like familiar objects and are so casual around them, I love that. Leave a comment Cancel reply. Next The Panama Canal: one million ships and counting.
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