On the outskirts of Medellín, we spent time in Guatapé, a small town on a man made lake. The lake was made in the late 1960s by the Colombian government to supply the area with hydro-electric power. Of course, to do this, the valleys that were once dotted with villages were flooded and families had to relocate to higher grounds. One of the stops on the boat tour we took of the area, given by an old man we could barely understand, was a site where there once was a church--all you can see now is a church steeple that barely rises above the water. It was pretty eerie and made me wonder what else resided in the depths...other stops on the tour was a strange, yet informative history museum (where they gave us free Little Debbies-esque snacks!) and an island that had been turned into a tourist destination complete with cabins. The island also had an eerie feel, because besides one guy selling food, there was absolutely no one else on the island--almost like it had been deserted because of some end-of-the-world fear or something like that. Strange, but not unlike many other strange tourist destinations we had seen in Colombia.
One stop, however, made up for the weirdness of this boat tour--Pablo Escobar's house and nightclub. Even before walking into the abandoned, billionaire's house (Pablo once offered to pay of Colombia's debt, some US$13 billion, in exchange for immunity from prosecution--the government refused) you could tell the house was made for partying. This concrete-wall mansion was overgrown with trees and vines and there was graffiti on every other wall. Next to the pool and hot tub out back was another two level building complete with a spiral staircase up to a lookout post. Even just by being there we could tell this cocaine-smuggler had been super influential in Colombia's history.
From Medellín, we had an hour flight to Bogotá (instead of what could have been a 30-hour bus ride). We had heard Bogotá was wet, raining all day every day. But we had no idea how wet a city really could get until we got to Colombia's capital. There was so much water in the streets and a huge lack of drainage systems, which resulted in powerful rivers running down the sidewalks, sweeping away whatever was in the way--from plastic bags, to garbage cans, even someone's umbrella. The only good thing about the rain was that it was predictable; everyday at 2pm the clouds would start rushing in and everyone would run for cover. Each day we sought a different hiding place. The first day a restaurant, the second day a shoe store where we had time to spend hours deciding on the perfect pair of flats, the third day Bogotá's world-famous Museo del Oro (Museum of Gold).
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| An exhibit at the National Museum of Colombia. "A country made of soccer." |
