Day 21 - Medellin (A Little Bit of Tango)

Soo God has a funny way of showing up when you least expect it. My luxurious accomodations at the GEO Hostel offered a fabulous kitchen for meal preparation and a shower with hot water and the option to NOT wear your shoes. However, where it failed was to be filled to enough of a capacity for me to make some friends to venture the skreets with. Just as I was about to leave the hostel to move into another, I met two solo travelers from Germany and California and one stopped and asked if she could join me to explore the city! Ha! So I decided that I would stay at the GEO until at least they left.

In an effort to further explore the city and manage this continuous off and on rain that is Medellin, we opted for the Turibus which takes you around the city and lets you get off for about 20 minutes at each "tourist attraction." Enroute, we stopped at the Exito Express, lol, and there was a fruit stand right outside. I do not know if I mentioned before but the fruit here is ridiculous and tasty. Anywho, I learned there was a sweet mango and a not so sweet mango. Both are eaten with salt, lime, and pepper. The one on the left of the second picture is the sweet mango. Delicious!

Back to the Turibus, although the tour was in Spanish, my Cali acquaintance gave me the English synopsis for each destination. The tour ended up being fabulous because it gave me an idea of what I wanted to see and did not really need to see and take pics all at once.Soo here are a few nice to sees.

A famous.. rich person bakery established many years ago, Astor's. They are known for this black folk chocolate and something else. Very interesting. They also had these really cute pastries. I am sure it is a parents nightmare.

 

Here are some shots from Parque Berrio where the famous Botero has a lot of his sculptures. These things were amazing and huge. Botero is known for his "voluptious" sculptures. His rationale is that he's not into fat people per se, but moreso, he wants to magnify objects to exploit its shapes, features, etc.

This is the a government building that offers tours. I haven't done it yet, but how cool!

A local taking a break in the park!

One of the park hustlers selling fruit! They get it in down here!

Some shots from the University of Antioquia and Parque De Los Deseos. It's a really cool space for kids, adults, and students to hang out. 

Ever seen shredded mango? If not here ya go. It looked cool!

We traveled through a few other places, like this park.. Kids are soo innocent when young. 

...but ended at Nutibara Hill, where there are fabulous views of the city. It also houses an recreation of a village, Pueblito Paisa, which is meant to display the look of a typical village from the surrounding area back in the day.

Soo I think I mentioned this, so if I did sorry, if I didn't, oops! This weekend is the International Tango Festival. There are tons of workshops, concerts, and the championship to determine who is the best tango person/s in the world. Around Medellin there are a ton of free events. Where there is Free, Tango, and Locals, sounds fabulous and so we've made plans to go. 

En route, we decide to head off the beaten path to try to find some grub. Found this cute little place (forgot to take a picture of it) and can't remember the name at the moment that offered Colo-Mex and Pastas. It was raining and I was running! Oh my goodness, it was soooo amazing! The cheese dip and tortillas, enchiladas, the whole 9! And this dip, the green one for me, was spice-fect! 

Now I had to include a pic of this Redd's. I call it the frontin' beer. This is really a cider which is fine, but for the guys who want to walk down the streets with 4 and 5 of them ackin' like they doing summin, I have to give the *twisted face*.

The conclusion to the day was a magnificent show of tango in the park. These dancers were so precise, graceful, talented, and sexy! Whooo.