Medellin

Medellín is a hip Colombian city of music, art and hard-charging people tucked into a mountainous part of the country. It’s gritty around the edges but has some beautiful pockets to it. It was for many years ground zero of the drug wars but is happily peaceful and quite safe now. On this trip, I checked out Parque Arvi, a wilderness area on the edge of the city fully accessible to the city’s transit system. Imagine being able to jump on the metro with your camping gear and being out in the sticks within the space of an hour or so.

After the government cleared out the narcotraffickers from the barrios, efforts were made to improve the lives of people living in the poor barrios on the mountainsides. Many of these people had to struggle up and down steep hills just to access the public transit system. A series of metrocables, or gondolas, were built. Not only are they huge improvement to the inhabitants of the city, they are a great way for tourists to check out the surrounding areas, including Parque Arvi.

One annoyance about the park is that tourists will often be required to have a guide with them as there are still security problems including the occasional mugging.