Medellín, Colombia, (Week 1, La Ciudad de la Eterna Primavera)

Hello Family and Friends,

We have just arrive to Medellín and it is absolutely beautiful. Even just the view from the airplane was spectacular.

The mountains reaching through the clouds as we fly from Mexico City to Medellín

We landed in Rio Negro and drove through Túnel de Oriente to pass underneath the mountain to get to Medellín. The tunnel is 5.1mi long and the second longest tunnel in all of the Americas.

Took us 13 minutes to get through the tunnel.

Once exiting the tunnel we were met with our first view of Medellín.

First view of Medellín.

And here I was concerned that Medellín wouldn't have as much foliage as Mexico City. I expressed to Brett that Medellín is like a city in a national park. We are surrounded by the mountains.

One of the daytime views of the city from our apartment in Poblado.

The city lights from our apartment a little after dusk.

We were told that Medellín is very white. However I've seen more black people in our first twenty four hours in Medellín than our entire time in Mexico City. Brett says they are all tourist, but then while were were at the grocery store, we met a black couple who has been in Medellín for three months and are taking steps to become permanent residents. They might be "extranjeros", but they aren't all tourist.

The first real order of business after settling into our home for the month is to find a daycare for Atlas. Having care in Mexico was so great for the whole family and an absolute must from here on out. We met with our host, Maria, and she took us to this one daycare close to the house.

Brett, Maria and Danielle on our daycare tour.

This daycare has the total package. After visiting just this one Brett was like we don't need to look at any others, I want Atlas to go here. There is swimming pool where the kids have water orientation once a week. There is a farm where the children are responsible for feeding the animals and collecting the eggs. They then use the eggs to cook with during cooking class. There is also a garden that the children tend to and then use the herbs in the food that they eat for lunch. It is truly farm to table and we love this! In addition they have an art room where the children paint using various positions to build up strength. They also have a drama room. In addition there are four different playgrounds. Atlas made friends just while we were taking the tour.

Atlas just joined a class that was playing on the merry-go-round.

Taking Atlas to school has been great exercise for both Brett and I. You see, we are staying in the middle of a hill so no matter which way you go, you have to walk up. Atlas school is a 15 min walk up hill the whole way. Our first trip to the school, Brett expressed how he couldn't imagine how anyone could have heart disease in this country with all the hills. But then he remembered that they have cars.

Atlas ready for his first day at his new guardería (daycare)

We've settled in a bit, Atlas is in a daycare, and we should probably buy stock in Rappi (a delivery company that delivers everything from from medicine to food in Colombia) as we order a lot of things to the house. We might walk these hills to get Atlas to school, but for all other occasions we avoid them. So for our first weekend in Medellín we took a tour to Comuna 13. This area historically was considered the most dangerous neighborhood in Medellín and taxis would not drive there. However the neighborhood has gone through a revitalization and now it is a really touristy place where local Colombians are living and thriving.

This basketball court/soccer field use to be the place where they held public executions. Now it is a community space. That is the type of change this neighborhood has gone through.

We started our tour off with a breakdancing show.

Brett and I are the loudest people in the crowd.

Believe it or not the break-dancing show wasn't even close to the best part of the tour. I loved Comuna 13. I mean this place has it all. There are homes, shops, eating, and art all right there. You could really feel the sense of community. I told Brett that this is what I'm looking for when I'm looking for a home. I have so much respect for the people of this community and how they worked with the government to make their neighborhood a safer place. They didn't just say it's terrible and we are leaving. They said it's terrible and we will make it better. They definitely have more fight in them than I do.

Looking up the hill towards Comuna 13.

Looking down the mountain towards Comuna 13. On the distant hill is a mass grave where the mafia would hide the bodies of innocent people because they knew it's where construction trucks would dump dirt that would hide bodies.

One of the many stairways going through the neighborhood. We were told to not wander off as we could easily get lost in the labyrinth of stairs

A mural on one of the walls. Made me think of Nathaniel. Such a little kid, but also a big kid. I like to think that maybe Atlas saw Nathaniel in that little boy.

The family having our little insta moment.

One artist whose signature style is el vestigio (a mask that represents the different people groups of Colombia)

So much art all over the neighborhood. This one is in the shape of Colombia and depicts it bleeding due to all the gorilla warfare

We found so much black art in comuna 13. I just love the yellow in this one.

An artistic depiction of Comuna 13. The red stairs that are at the center of the picture represent the escalators that help traverse the neighborhood. 85% of the laborers were people from the neighborhood.

More views looking down the mountain of Comuna 13.

Brett being inspired and tagging one of the walls in Comuna 13.

If you can't tell by all my photos, this neighborhood has a little piece of my heart. Where we are staying in Poblado is very nice and very polished, but also very touristy and lacks an identity. It isn't a very integrated neighborhood of housing, shops and eateries. Both Brett and I separately realized that we are very comfortable in Medellín, but we might get bored if we lived here. Locals tell us they go to Bogota, the capital, to do stuff, but live in Medellín because it is safer than Bogota. Comuna 13 is a neighborhood in Medellín that is one of the less polished neighborhoods, but has all the modern amenities like internet, gas, and safe running water. It is a very integrated neighborhood of housing, shops, eateries and art. It would take us a while to get bored in Comuna 13.

All this and we are only on week 1!