Medellin short story

After the first good impression of Colombia came an even better one the next day! Our host Dess and her roommate Jamir took us on a tour through Medellin, using 4 different means of transport: first a bus to a little tourist town up a hill with nice views over the city, then several taxis into the city centre and to a mall, then the metro and the metro cable (cable cars), which took us over the suburbs up the hill and had been built to give the poorer people a better access to the city. Also there is a modern library at the end for students and generally Medellin has become a much safer place than it was in the 80s and 90s. Dess said even the suburbs aren't as dangerous as they used to be, and we took a walk in her neighbourhood after dusk without being worried. We're aware you should be careful still but it was not nearly as threatening as people made us believe before the trip! I really liked the colorful houses and the slow life in Medellin, even downtown didn't feel very stressful.

Still Catha and I wanted to leave for the coast the next day and decided to take a night bus to Cartagena, which was supposed to be a beautiful town!
Before we went back to Dess' apartment, her and Jamir took us to the cool botanical gardens, no entrance fee and really beautiful!

So the next day we left Dess and thanked her for being such a fantastic host and making the start of our trip so easy by taking care of us. We tried taking the bus to the bus terminal in the north but due to contradicting information from different locals (blame it on our limited Spanish knowledge), we ended up taking a taxi (the driver talked a lot and we got to practise), bought a surprisingly expensive bus ticket and went into town again for the afternoon. We strolled through the busy streets chatting, went to a church where many people hang out - and wow there was some intensive praying - and after seeing some male prostitutes ended up in a little park for a coffee and a cigarette. Lots of locals hung out there and one helped us asking for a lighter, and despite some homeless people the park never appealed dangerous to us.

Before entering the bus we made guacamole and a pile of sandwiches (much to the amusement of others), gathered some blankets and sweaters since it is always so cold in busses with a/c. After we drove off from Medellin a guy in the bus got up and started talking to the passengers. First we thought he's telling us about the journey and got a bit nervous when he used the word 'muertos' (the dead), but then I realized he's some kind of priest talking about Jesus our savior. At least he wasn't collecting money after his intense 15 minute speech!