Another country stigmatized by its past is Colombia. Its history is thick with violent conflicts, the most recent and publicized was during Pablo Escobar’s time, which ended about 20 years ago. Since then, the country has made great strides to improve itself. This is not more evident than in Medellin.

One of the government’s main approaches to improve conditions was to re-integrate the barrios (slum neighborhoods) back into the city. This was accomplished by literally sending in the national guard, since the roadless neighborhoods were essentially their own violent cities. The government built new public buildings such as libraries and tied all of the outlying areas together with an efficient train and gondola system. Colombians hold a high level of respect for their public transportation since it represents opportunity, the positive future, and healing of the city. There is zero graffiti and everyone seems to be on their best behavior.

Our first day consisted of an organized walking tour that took us through the El Central area. In the photos, the initial sculpture represents the history of the Colombian people, from the early years as farmers, through the very important growth years of the railroad, and into the violent years. We also visited the area where many Botero sculptures sat. The artist was famous for constructing disproportionate sculptures that were fat in different ways. The pictures of the birds, both intact and damaged, represents the violence and resilience of the Colombian people. Not too long ago, a bomb was detonated from within the bird sculpture during a concert, killing many people. Rather than replacing it with a new one, the artist put an intact sculpture next to the damaged one to send a message that the Colombian people will face the dangers in front of them and persevere. Pretty heavy stuff.

The following day, we took a bus to La Piedra del Penol, a massive rock rising out of the surrounding reservoir, in Guatape. This tourist attraction highlights the rock and its surrounding area by means of 650 stairs to the top which offers a panoramic view.

Our last big excursion was to a coffee plantation. This full day tour was great since it gave us the opportunity to see some different landscapes as well as something we’ve never seen before in person, coffee plants. Though it was not harvesting season, workers still walked the fields looking for the ripe red berries. Our guide showed us the fields, the grading, cleaning, and drying process, as well as the roasting process.

We spent our last day in Colombia riding around the trains and Gondolas to see more of the city. The self tour took us to what was one of the most dangerous barrios during Pablo’s time. After getting off the final gondola, we took a bus to a series of escalators. They zig zagged almost all the way to the top of the neighborhood. In the photos, you can see what look to be orange slides. These are all individual escalator sections. The complete transportation system allowed citizens to travel to a job in the heart of Medellin in less than an hour; a trip that would have taken most of the day 20 years ago or was impossible due to distance, cost, and safety. Each landing of the escalator system was beautifully decorated with graffiti art. The area was clean and none of the graffiti was damaged in any way. Pride. This was definitely a highlight of our trip.

Overall, we very much enjoyed Colombia. We have hopes of returning since flights are not that expensive and it’s just next door to Ecuador.