Up, up, up to Parque Arvi

This Saturday we took a big family excursion to Parque Arvi. This is an amazing and accessible (in terms of being able to get there, not wheelchair accessible) eco-park on the top of the northern mountains surrounding Medellin. While there is a lot of general information about the park's attractions - hiking trails, butterfly gardens, lake with boat rental, zipline tours, cultural trails - most of it is somewhat non-specific. Since I lost/threw away all my notes and other guide information, I intend to stick with that tradition.

We started the day bright-eyed and bushy tailed. Everyone was ready for a BIG ADVENTURE DAY!

Well, almost everyone. I'll take three out of four.

We packed waters, swim trunks, and PB&J sandwiches. Since the last several days had been upper 70's to low 80's, we opted to leave coats at home.

The park is directly accessible via the Medellin Metro and Metro Cable system, which in its self is quite amazing. We left the apartment around 10am. The thought was we would grab a bus to the Metro and be on our journey. After seeing several of our intended route buses turn the block before reaching us we flagged a taxi. The driver explained that the bus routes change on weekends, so we were SOL. He was very helpful with information however, so the ride was more than worth it.

The Medellin Metro is clearly a source of pride in the city. It is immaculately clean, speedy, and safe. The Metro Cable was built to service some of the poorest areas of the city under the leadership of then mayor Sergio Fajardo. This was both an experiment in social justice to integrate these poor neighborhoods with the city, and a way to reduce the rampant violence and killings. By all accounts the project has been a great success. In addition to the MetroCable, an impressive public library was placed in the neighborhood.

While the houses are still fairly ramshackle and clinging to the side of the cliff, there are bustling public areas and children outside playing. Things in this neighborhood may not be the ritzy Poblado, but they are not without hope either.

The trip from our place to the last MetroCable stop lasted a little over an hour, but there was a lot to see along the way. Most of the peanut butter sandwiches didn't survive the trip, however, being gobbled by hungry kids along the way. Our family of four spent 8000 pesos (about $3 USD) on this leg of the trip. A second MetroCable line (Line L) took us up the final and sometimes harrowing leg of the trip to Parque Arvi. This leg cost the four of us (two adults, two kids) the princely sum of 18,000 pesos (about $8 USD). The views back down into the valley are quite breathtaking. Then the car continues another mile or so over a mixture of coniferous forest and jungle plants. Lots of bromeliads were growing off the various trees.

It was a beautiful sunny day when we arrived at the final station and disembarked. Clearly the government takes the security of visitors seriously. There were at least five heavily armed police at the station. Additionally, there were two or three teams of military security on motorcycles patrolling the park (one rider, one to hold the assault rifle).

There was a food fair at the top and information booths. Various bits of information put the walk to the "park within a park" that had the ziplines at about a 30-40 minutes. The info desk gave Kristen all this information as well. As it turns out there is also a bus that runs between the Metro stop and the Adventure park (I forget the name), but no one thought to share that with us at the info desk. The walk started out nice, but is along the road with no sidewalks to speak of for most of the way. Small food stands dot the way, so we grabbed some snacks.

At about 30 minutes in with no clear end in sight tempers were starting to get short. We finally broke down and flagged the (third) taxi to come by for the final bit to the ziplines. The name of this park starts with a "C", but I can't think of it. We paid 45,000 pesos for the family (about $18 USD) and hustled to make our 1:30 zipline entrance. I had to throw Reece over my shoulder since his little legs were just plumb tuckered out.

When you get to this park make sure to get your "Aventura" wrist band for entrance. It has a timeslot marked on it which is when you are allowed in for training and the course. Make sure to wear closed toed shoes. Kristen wore sandals and had to rent some nasty looking Crocs. The platforms and obstacles are super cool. Some are 30 feet in the air and 80 feet between trees. Your group starts out with instruction on how to use all the safety equipment (in Spanish). After some practice rounds they turn you loose. Clipping and unclipping was a challenge for the kids, but they got it for the most part.

We got across the first few low platforms and maybe three ziplines and were starting our ascent when the afternoon rains began. For safety the instructors pulled everyone off and we waited it out for maybe 10 minutes. The kids were super disappointed and there were a few tears. Thankfully the guides let us back out when the rain let up and we got across another zipline. Then it really started to rain. And I mean pour. Back down we came, but being soaked to the bone, the kids didn't complain this time.

We huddled under the shelter with about 30 other soaking wet people and waited for the train (a tractor towing seat carts) to come by and take us out. Reece worked hard on his loose tooth to pass the time. You can see the rental shoes in the background as well. <sarcasm> I was very happy not to have the extra weight of coats or the two umbrellas we packed in my day pack </sarcasm>.

Once we got back to the Adventure Park entrance we were delighted to discover that a free shuttle bus moves you between this park and the MetroCable station. It's about a 10 minute ride.

We were very happy to see the station and head home with our soggy tails tucked between our legs.

Reece won the prize and yanked the irritating tooth free along the way.

The ride home was uneventful. Just a little worn out.

As it turned out, this was our dry run to Parque Arvi. When Heather, Dave, and Zak visit we'll have a much better plan to enjoy the day and cut out the wasted hours.

How to get around in rush hour

Don't use a cab.

Now that we've been here for a little more than a week we have seen a bit more of the city's heartbeat. Taxi's are awesome and plentiful weekends and mid-day. Boy-howdy when it hits 4 pm on a weekday, though. We stood on a corner for 25 minutes, and every taxi had a rider. Forget using the EasyTaxi app or calling. Not going to happen.

Traffic is pretty crazy as well. There is a main highway through town (AutoPista), but the rest of the roads are way over capacity and basically a parking lot. The exception to this are the hoards of motorcyclists that weave between the cars. It's a bit unnerving, but traffic is only moving (when it does) at about 10-15 MPH). The city does have a helmet law, but one cab driver told me there were "Muchas muertes" (many deaths) for moto riders.

What does reliably stop, however, are the buses. The ones in our neighborhood (South Poblado) are like large short buses. They are brightly colored and have a list of destinations on the front, with the metro stop they service displayed in easy to read lettering. There is an amount of "leap of faith" which goes into boarding a bus on any bus system, IMO, so this is easier to understand than most. The fares are prominently displayed and must have some correspondence to what you will pay, though I haven't figured out what that is. Two kids and two adults and I just ask the driver to tell me. It's usually about 50 cents to one US dollar.

The Metro system (train) is clean and fast and clearly a source of pride in the city. We are still figuring out the details, but it offers a great elevated view and quick tour to major points of interest.

How to get around in Medellin

Use a taxi.

But seriously. We live in the core of Seattle and are used to a certain amount of public transit. Medellin also boasts one of the best Metro (aka subway) systems in South America. The problem is that for the most part this isn't a pedestrian friendly city. It's getting better, but that's the reality.

It has been fairly troubling to not be able to walk to interesting parts of the city. I want to be able to access something on foot. For the first few days while we adjusted our time zone I walked to many areas. God help you if you do this once the sun has crested the mountains! The climate is temperate, but huffing up a 200-300 foot elevation gain is no joke in 75 degree (F) weather.

I thought Seattle had hills. San Francisco has hills. Neither has anything on Medellin. There are some flatish neighborhoods, but for the most park, the city is built inside a steep high-mountain valley. If you do much walking they will be bouncing quarters off your ass. I read a conversation thread about riding a motorcycle in Medellin and the quote was "some streets are not so much a steep downhill as sliding down a cliff".

So how about those taxis? There are so many in the city. I mean, so many. If you've ever watched some footage of NYC in the depression before the taxi medallion system was put in place you get an idea. The other thing is that they are dirt cheap. From our place in the Poblado, anywhere one would want to go in the city is about 10-12K pesos (~$4-6 USD). With four of us we can't afford to figure out public transit. It's cheaper and faster to take a taxi.

To date I have not had good luck with the taxi apps (Easy Taxi and that other one). I've had better luck walking down to a major intersection and waving my hat.

In terms of the drivers, most are awesome. The people in general are muy amable (very friendly) and very helpful. Every single driver gives you change on the fare and will always round down to your benefit. After a while I finally figured out how to give them a tip without being insulting. No one expects a tip, but they appreciate it. Round up the change, or around 5-10% is nice.

We still haven't taken the cable car, but I'm looking forward to it.

In terms of longer hauls, we paid the equivalent of $35-40 for transport from the international airport to the city. One driver has offered us 275K pesos (~$100 USD) to be our driver for the day and take us to some regional sights. It ends up being less of a PITA than a rental and is probably comparable in price once you factor fuel and insurance.

Getting a Feel for the City

We've now been here a bit over a week. Since we decided to "live" in the city we don't have the same pressure to see everything right away. As a result I feel like I can enjoy what we've seen and get a feel for everyday life.

In terms of fun and socially enriching experiences, we went into the city center and toured Plaza Botero. The Plaza sports many, many sculptures by Francisco Botero. Botero is a Colombian artist who creates figures of accentuated fatness, for lack of a better term.

A moment ago the boys were trying to pick "la nariz de la cara" - aka face's nose. Below is a bit of an overview of the plaza. This doesn't do it justice, but one can see the sculptures are quite prolific and the plaza attracts a healthy crowd.

To those who may be timid, there were plentiful police and security wandering the area. One's biggest worry was the hat vendors, and they were much less aggressive than most vendors I've encountered while travelling.

One of the biggest challenges was keeping Kristen and Reece off their cellphones.

Inside the museum were wonderful displays. The building itself is beautiful. I'd give you the history, but to be honest there are too many cool things about this city to dive in to every detail. The building has some beautiful frescoes. Botero's paintings are well represented as well.

Below we see the interactive exhibit. Shown are the artist's son, then the author's wife and author's son. Curses be to blogger for the trouble in making the layout not suck.

  



After we were all wore out by the museum we went to get some MEAT lunch. There were some more obstacles in the way, but we eventually found a good meal.

In terms of what a good meal costs??? It depends on the area, time of day, and etc., etc., etc.

In this case we ordered 3 "menu del dia" (menu of the day) for 10,000 pesos each. That works out to about $6 each portion for rice, potatoes and yams, and more pork than a reasonable person can eat. The huge pitcher of fresh lemonade was an additional 17,000 pesos (~$8.50 US).

All in all, a great day.

A Brief Introduction - The First Week

Welcome everyone! It has fallen to me to document our Colombian adventure for posterity's sake. We started a few posts on the Book of the Face, but it occurred to me that my parents don't participate in that, so we needed a different venue.

For those who don't know us, let me introduce myself and our family. We are a family of four consisting of myself and my wife (early 40's) and our two young boys (7 & 9). We have been living in Seattle, WA for about 15 years and have a house in Capitol Hill/ Central District, for those familiar with the city. I work as a software engineer and my wife owns a catering business.

Rather than continue to bore you, here's a shot of my youngest, Reece, on our first night in our new lux apartment.

Since we will be here for two months we opted for a swank pad in the Poblado - aka the Beverly Hills of Medellin (more in another post). Below are some daytime shots. We are on the 26th floor and the view can be a bit vertigo-inducing if one gets too close to the edge of the balcony.

It's a beautiful view, day or night.

We did find a good meal and do a little exploring after figuring out how to get around (also more on that later).

Kristen and I ordered a platter of traditional Colombian foods, while the kids stuck with pizza and sandwiches and lemonade (comfort food keeps the whining at bay).

Rather than make this too long, I'm going to break this up into multiple posts. Look for more soon, o my brothers and only friends.