Big City

Medellin is the first big city I´ve been in for a while (around 2-3 million people) and I must admit there´s a certain level of comfort in being there: people in suits walking out of office towers... supermarkets (with prices on items!)... museums... an elevated tram system... and everything else you´d expect from a big city. But as far as cities go, it´s quite gritty and not visually charming. Not to say it´s charmless, it´s full of character and characters but there´s no eyecandy like a Granada or Cartagena (no pictures unfortunately...). It´s the kind of place yuo need to stay in for some time in order to fully appreciate and discover.

The whole city is in a valley, surrounded by hills/mountains.

Spot the only human walking in this shot...

I took the next bus...

Artist Fernando Botero is the local boy done good and he happened to have a show on the passion of christ (a constantly recurring religious theme) while I was there. Medellin´s Botero museum is basically all donations of his work as well as pieces from his own collection. A generous man...

Outside the museum is a Botero sculpture extravaganza

I went on a museum binge, as the Natural history museum had a cool show with amazing sculptures. My top 6 below:

 

Next destination is also a big city, the capital Bogota.

Full Medellin picture set here