Medellin, Colombia

With my friend Mauricio at El Peñal, overlooking the hydro-electric lakes of Antioquia, Colombia

Once the drug capital of Colombia, Medellin sure has changed its face and has become an ideal city for urban designers wishing to build their ideas. Purely by chance, my tavel plans took me to the heart of Colombia at the same time my friend Mauricio (we worked together at ZGF, Los Angeles) was to be visiting his hometown for his father´s 80th birthday. I arrived by bus and we met on the side of the highway just outside of Medellin in the town of Rio Negro where his family lives. My bus driver refused to tell me the actual time we would arrive so Mauricio was waiting on teh highway for an hour, concerned that I had missed the stop. What a great opportunity to get together now with my improving spanish. I think it threw Mauricio off a little, because when we were working together I couldn´t speak a lick of the language. It was great to be included in all the family jokes though I had a little trouble with the Paisa accent at times. My first night in Medellin, we went to a family birthday party at the home of his cousin who lives in a 400 yr old Hacienda turned house. Absolutely beautiful home with just as amazing views over Medellin.

Day two was another big family occasion...with a surprise birthday party for Mauricio´s father. We started the morning with a nice breakfast in El Poblado district of downtown, and then went off to explore all the architectural delights of medellin. For a small city, it has invested heavily in public spaces, parks, and architecture (I have noticed this trend throughout Colombia). we started off on the metro line that runs almost the full length of the city, along the river dividing the city into two halves. Then we took the new Cable car up into the hillside to see one of the new libraries. Here is where the urban designers dream comes into play - I felt like i was excperiencing a grad school urban design project come to life in the built world. It was neat, but surely there was some urban renewal necessary to make it come to life. The mixture of parks and transit and libraries all set within an existing framework of a city...it was great!

After the library, we went to the botanical gardens to check out the fabulous Qrquid House and then had to run since we were short on time. That afternoon we went to Mr Ortega´s 80th birthday party which was just as fun as I imagined it would be. We ate at an excellent Argentinian restaurant and I made friends with all of the old men at the table. It was quite a good afternoon and I thinkI was just as entertained by Mauricio´s family as they were by me!!! They were truly wonderful to me and included me in all the family events of the weekend.
On sunday, we went to El Peñal which is a giant rock much like the one you see in images of Rio de Janeiro. We climbed to the top for the obligatory photos, which were quite spectacular! On monday mauricio had to leave for Los Angeles and i was off on another tour of the city by his fabulous tour guide-nephew Sebastian who had a day off from classes at the University. We started the morning visiting the University of Antioquia (the region where Medellin is located). The university has some fabulous graffiti and you could sense the activity in the students there. Afterwards, we went to the museum of Antioquia and the Plaza de Botero. As exhusted as I am of museums, this was probably my favorite thus far. Excellent display of Colombian artists and a very moving exhibition about Displacement which focused on situations around the globe of individuals and groups of people who have been forcefully displaced from their homes by violence. It was a beautiful display of faces, voices, maps, and images of the shared struggle by people in all parts of the world. For Colombians who are experiencing this in their own coutry today, they can see that they are not alone in the struggle for equality and peace.In the afternoon, we had lunch with Mauricio´s brothers and then visited the new public library in downtown as well as the Plaza Cisneros which is a field of vertical light columns. We tasted some traditional Colombian sweets...Minisigui, Pulpo de Tamarindo, Tabla de Coco, and then I had to have Crepes & Waffles one more time before leaving the city. This is a phenomenon in Colombia and perhaps my new favorite restaurant. I just might have to open a franchise if I can´t find work upon returning to the US.

Crepes & Waffles...need I say more?!?

Sadly, I departed Medellin on Tuesday morning heading south for Ecuador. Due to some civil unrest on the Pan American highway where indigenous groups had taken control of the roads, I would have been unable to pass through the country by bus so I left Medellin on a plane to the South of Colombia. My time with Mauricio and his family was one of the best parts of my trip. They were so kind to me and we had such a nice time getting to know one another.