Medellín, A Healing City and a Famous Artist

After an early morning flight we arrive in Medellin, Colombia’s second largest city. It is a city affected deeply by the drug cartels, especially the one led by Pablo Escobar. Many areas of the city were dangerous places to live or visit before the death of Escobar in 1993 and the peace treaty in 2016.

We visited Comuna 8 this morning , a neighborhood in the hills of Medellín. Formerly it was under the control of the paramilitaries. A former member of the paramilitary group began a project to help bring this area together. He along with others began a recycling business. The Grand Circle Foundation, the parent company of Overseas Adventure Travel, is helping support the project.

Luis of the Hill of Values and Corpo Santo

The project also has a garden and a community center. They treated us to a wonderful lunch of lentil soup, arepas, rice and a vegetable salad. We had a new drink called refago, a blend of a local soda and beer.

We next visited the Museo de Antioquia that features the works of Fernando Botero. We were not allowed to take photos of his paintings but there are sculptures outside that we could.