Arriving in Medellin, Columbia by airplane dropped us from Panama into Columbia in a couple of hours. Panama has a lot of American influence (language, food, culture) but right away Columbia felt more foreign with very few people speaking English and the food being more particular to Columbia. I have to admit that we still held on to some of the narco, drug cartel image of Columbia, especially in Medellin and Cali which had drug cartels named after them. When we arrived the preconceptions were quickly dispelled. What we found was a country and cities that are very proud of how much they have changed since the Medellin and Cali drug cartel days.

At three million people Medellin is a large and modern city. Other than a few churches, there is not much of the original colonial architecture left. An efficient metro train system shuttled us from one end to the city to the other. For all of its modernity, there are many areas where the poor have built homes that cling to the hillside. Many of these areas have no road access so the residents must walk up sidewalks or paths to get to their homes. As an extension of the metro, two scenic cable car systems transport residents from the far suburbs over the steep hills and valleys of the slums to their homes and jobs. The cable cars also provide transportation points for those who live in the slums to access their homes.  Although not intended as a tourist attraction, there were many visitors enjoying a ride.

One of the cable cars glides up and over the slums to the Cloud Forest Eco Park. This vast natural park provides hiking trails, lakes and jungle adventure for the residents of Medellin. As we went up in the cable car it got colder and more misty until the tram was enveloped in the clouds. We were surprised by the festive farmers market atmosphere at the top with vendors selling all sorts of foods and crafts.

In another hillside slum, the City has installed a series of six escalators to assist the residents in accessing their homes. Inaccessibility of the slums breeds crime and unrest. The escalators and other public improvements like parks, playgrounds and murals have made neighborhoods more livable and safer. We took the metro-train and a bus to the area of the escalators and then had to walk up a narrow street that the bus could to access to reach the start. In this once most dangerous neighborhood we saw children playing, people shopping and neighbors visiting.

Medellin is very impressive and livable.  For the first time we found ourselves saying, “we could live here”.