Colombia Day 6

We had planned to sleep in today because we have had a lot of early mornings this trip, and then take a free walking tour in the afternoon. We had heard great things about said free walking tour, and you know thetwinsontour love free stuff. However, they limit the group size and you can only sign up 36 hours in advance. We had tried to sign up 37 hours in advance, and then we forgot. By the time we remembered, 12 hours in advance, it was too late. So we were frantically searching for something to do while sitting at the food court at one of the many malls near our hotel (they always send us to the mall because there are no stand alone restaurants near our hotel, except McDonald’s) we found another Graffiti tour. We emailed them and they wrote back within 5 minutes even though it was after hours. Amazing response. So just like that we booked another Graffiti tour!

So no sleeping in too late today because we had to meet for our Graffiti tour at 10am. The first 2 hours of the tour we spent riding the Metro and a different set of cable cars than we had the other day. We kept getting off at each stop of the cable car so that he could explain some cultural stuff to us, then we got back on the cable car. We really got our money worth out of that one metro ticket.

At the halfway point, we stopped for a snack. Anyone who knows thetwinsontour is aware that thetwinsontour love snacks. Especially included snacks. And oh boy was this yummy–an arepa with a giant hunk of fresh Colombian cheese on it and a glass of lulo juice. Yummy, yummy. We devoured it.

Then it was time to hop onto a small little city bus to get to the neighborhood with the grafitti. Right as we were getting off the bus, it started to thunder. If you are reading that sentence as ominous foreshadowing, then you are reading it correctly. No sooner than we had stopped in front of our first mural than it started to rain. And then the heavens unfurled. We sought refuge under an awning. And it rained and rained. The owner of said awning invited us into his living room to seek shelter from the rain and even allowed us to use his toilet!! (my aunt doesn’t even allow me to do that!)

inside a Colombian house

sitting on a Colombian couch–they have a little snack stand in the front of the house which is what you see in the window

Eventually our guide decided that the rain had let up enough for us to continue. Said we were tourists and were here for the experience so we wouldn’t mind getting a little wet. Now thetwinsontour are always prepared. Always. (ominous foreshadowing). Yep, our raincoats were safely stashed away in the hotel because it had been so hot and sunny the previous days. Fortunately someone talked her reluctant sister into packing the 99 cent rain poncho that she has been dragging around the world since 2006. Of course, trying to put on one of those ponchos is not so easy–made me feel like George W at the inauguration ceremony. Luckily, I didn’t struggle as much as W, and got my poncho on after just a few seconds of fighting with it. Then we were off, happily snapping graffiti selfies in the rain.

Our graffiti destination was Comuna 13, a favela high up the mountainside that actually has escalators to get people up the hill. There are 6 sets of escalators in total. The elevators are also a Trip advisor top 10, but I don’t think we would ever have been able to find them on our own. They are clean and well maintained, with a guard at the top of each one (job creation more than safety), and each is covered by a canopy to protect from the elements.

The best graffiti artist (in our opinion, so it is true) in Medellin is Chota (Instagram @chota13). They all sign their work with their Instagram name. We went to a coffee shop near his home where his paintings cover the walls. Do you know who else went there recently? Bill Clinton! I don’t know if he bought any artwork or what kind of coffee he ordered though. I apologize for not being more informed because if I know what kind of hotdog he got in Iceland I should know what kind of coffee he got in Colombia. My only excuse is that I was mesmerized by the bright colors of the paintings.

Several people purchased paintings from him. If we had a few days, we could have had one custom made and delivered to our hotel. Since we are leaving Medellin tomorrow at 6:30am that was not really an option. Luckily, we were able to chat with Chota, and he had one ready to go at his house. He showed it to us, and we loved it. You have to study it to see all the details. It is a woman with a bird face. You know thetwinsontour don’t like birds, but we make exceptions for works of art as they don’t poop on you or try to peck your eyes out. In the background you can also see the Metro Cable car, so it is really a fantastic Medellin souvenir. Chota believes that color is life. Thetwinsontour agree with this 100%! Thetwinsontour love bright and colorful things–especially in their house, which is a giant cacophony of color. And of course we took our photo with Chota. The sad thing is, it will probably cost more to frame our painting than it cost to buy it.

our new painting by Chota

We had no other plans after our tour, so we headed towards the botanical gardens, which had rave reviews on Trip advisor and a butterfly house. Sounds fantastic, right? yeah, it was closed until Saturday. Well, fuddy-duddy. So we just walked around a bit looking at the grafitti murals under the Metro tracks for a while, and then headed back.