26 Jun / 21 August - Medellin Colombia - Bomba Estereo, Fuego
It was heaps of beers and many months waaaay back in in Guatemala, when Dave and I decided to take time out from the backpacker circuit and settle into one of the lovely cities in South America to learn some spanish, and after much drunken deliberation while playing darts we chose to lay it down in Medellin, Colombia.
Medellin - The good, the bad and the ugly
Medellin is known as the city of eternal spring due to it’s pleasant climate which doesn’t change during the year. Lovely palm trees line the streets in Poblado which can only be outdone by the beautiful Paisa women with their delightful fake boobies and asses.
It is the home of Botero, an artist with a fetish for fat women who came up with his own distinctive fatman painting style. Below he depicts the downfall of the biggest drug lord of them all, and former resident, Pablo Escobar.
Medellin is famous for drug dealing and the Medellin Cartel which was started in the 70s turned it into the cocaine production capital of the world. The controlling gangs would lay waste to anything that might stand in the way of production and distribution. Pablo Escobar was the big boss until captured and charged with drug dealing. At that time he was one of the richest men in the world and he offered as exchange to being locked up, to pay off Colombia's entire foreign debt. A good deal for the country, but pressure from the states had him convicted. He instead used this money to build a new jail to house himself which was more of a 5 star hotel than a jail. After his term was served, he was released and subsequently hunted down and killed by the Colombian and US armies.
Modern day Medellin has a well defined class system, from the poorer suburbs in the north to the wealthy living in the south. Its town planning, road design and public transport has been well thought out and there is even a metro running its length which rivals the best in the world. The metro even includes a number of cable cars running up the step valley walls, all included in the less than 1usd ticket price.
The people living in Medellin are proud and happy. There are beautiful parks, lots of nicely designed buildings with great architecture and public events happening every week. All of this is very out of place for Colombia, which is not a rich country. Medellin somehow defies the other cities in this and and I can only think this is because most of the countries taxes end up here.
Settling In
Dave and I rocked up to the wonderful Black Sheep Hostel, a kiwi owned and run spot which is the best place to stay in Medellin. We set our task list to finding longer term accommodation and a place to study.
Both of these tasks were remarkably hard to accomplish, there is a shortage of short term furnished accommodation and in order to study you require a student visa, which neither of us had. After initial setbacks we had our first major win. We scored the nicest apartment in town, on the 21st floor overlooking the city and with swimming pool on the roof. Ohhhh yeaaahh!
It was the sweetest place I have every lived, the gym and sauna also came in handy. We were on our way and rolling, next stop we had to find a school.
 Black cat at the Black Sheep Hostel, a fun time here and it is where the coolest people stay. |  Kelvins Sunday BBQ sessions are awesome and cheap as chips. |
 Apartment was totally ace, set off nicely by the Litchenstein, oh Brad… |  Nighttime view from the top. |
 Illing by the pool |  Breakfasting like a king. |
Revenge of the Nerds
Finding a place to study spanish was difficult. Ideally we would be attending daily classes, and decided that one of the universities would be our best option. We were set back when we learned we needed to fork out 200usd to change our tourist visas into student ones, which is a requirement for studying in a Colombian university.
We had some promise with the private University Pontificia Bolivariana. The big boss man of the language school said we should come in for a chat about visas, and he would see what he could do. We went in, he scanned our passports and visa stamps with squinted eyes and said we had the correct one to study. He asked directly after that if we would like to go to class straight away!! Whoooop!!! Second win in a week, we now had a great place to stay and university to attend.
 The morning bus to school from Avieneda Poblado. |  Swimming in the Uni pool became a thrice weekly event. |
Our classes were 2 hours per day in the morning and we were with about 6 other people. It was my first time studying in a class setting and I loved it. We played games, sang songs, listened to stories, and did finger paintings. I really enjoyed being 5 years old again (which is about my language age) Our teacher was a top class man, John, kept the classes interesting and even lewd at times to keep our attention. It was fun, and I met some great people here.
Life in the Poblado Bubble
Poblado is the affluent suburb in Medellin. So affluent it is a little like Beverly Hills in the states. It has grand shopping malls, palm lined streets, beautiful plastic women, nightclubs and expensive bars. It was safe and pretty and not like Colombia at all.
 Yours truly doing what he does best |  Street performers dance and prance while the cars wait at the traffic lights. |
 Good people came out of nowhere, and friends were easily made. |  The city of Medellin has some great architecture. This park is for families, and has many fountains for children to play in |
 The beautiful botanical gardens are worth a stroll, they even have the foresight to build a space landing pad amongst the jungle growth. |  Parque Lleras, where all the action takes place on the weekend. Lots of street drinking and crazy locals to get drunk with and have crazy fun till the sun comes up. |
And so after a few weeks, everything was going to plan. I was loving Medellin, the place, the people and the study.
Laters x.brad
