Day 12 – Comuna 13

Today we booked a walking tour of an area in Medellin called “Comuna 13”. This Comuna is one of 16 comunas in the city and was once said to be the most dangerous. Our guide had grown up in that neighbourhood and was able to talk about it from his view point. Thankfully, we had booked a 9:30 tour. Since it was Saturday, things started to get very busy.

This area had been controlled by dangerous drug gangs and mercenaries. Our guide talked about how, as a kid, if he saw a gang member coming, he and his friends would take off running for fear of being killed. The gangs used this area because of the high look outs over the city, they could set up snipers in the hills. As well, the main road was a thorough fare to other cities around the country and with access to Panama to ship their drugs.

In 2002, the President with the assistance of the Americans sent in over 3000 troops with the aide of tanks and helicopters. The raid lasted for several days and many innocent people were killed in the crossfire. Since then, the government has been working to rebuild the area by developing the homes and community centres. Another thing that was needed was to connect the communities far up in the hills to areas below to make resources available for all. So they installed a series of 6 escalators that run up the side of the moutain. As well, many artists came from within the community and from outside. The hip hop culture was a huge influence on the area and now it is a tourist attraction for it’s many graffiti murals and artwork.

Our first stop was to watch a group of young hip hop dancers. Wow! It was awesome. They are so strong and talented. I think the kids liked this part the best.

As we walked up and up the steep streets we saw hundreds of different art murals everywhere. Our guide stopped and explained a few and it was interesting to hear the background and meaning behind the artists’ work.

He brought us to a tiny little store front and we all got a “popsicle”, frozen fruit on a stick. I had the green mango one – so so good. The boys tried it but they were not huge fans.

Continuing on, the streets were super narrow and lined on both sides with shops and vendors. The crowds were increasing and there were tour groups everywhere. The boys did really well sticking close by so we didn’t lose them. He took us to an empanada stand and we got to pick a different one to try. Oh, so good, again. Clark insisted on having ketchup on his, so Canadian!

Finally, we reached the area with the escalators. The boys liked just going up and down those while we waited for our group. They are in full use all day long and I guess because of the temperate climate, it works. We also stopped at his “grandma’s” house for some patacones – fried plantains with fresh salsa. It was very tasty, in an unusual way. The sweet plantains with the savoury salsa worked for me!

We walked on to a lookout point over the whole city. It is massive. City as far as the eye can see! On the way up, Tate saw some sunglasses he wanted. He’s been bugging me for a few days to get some. He already has some so I kept putting him off. Today he was adamant again that he saw some he wanted. Grandpa Sutherland had given them each $5 dollars to spend so that’s what he wanted to buy. So we walked back to the sunglasses guy and he picked out his pair. They are…flashy. He is so happy. I couldn’t say no.

Once everyone had a look at the city, we retraced our steps to the starting point. Even though it was a little crowded and chaotic, I’m so glad we did it. A very cool area with an amazing transformation story.

We couldn’t get an Uber to come into the busy area where we were waiting so we took a taxi to the nearest Metro station and got on there to make our way back to our apartment. We stopped for some snacks and then headed home. Mom and Dad crashed while the boys entertained themselves for several hours with the Jenga blocks, setting up more domino runs and knocking them down with glee.

After a late supper of sandwiches, the boys were ready to crash. Looking forward to our last day in Medellin.