Sunday, January 6, 2008

Sight Seeing

Saturday was the first opportunity that I´ve had to get out and about to explore massive Medellín and surrounding areas. Alejandra (pictured here) (the daughter of Gloria, the kind woman who does the cooking and cleaning in our apartment) was my companion and guide, and I was very grateful to have her with me. We saw all sorts of attractions of the city, including the following scenes:

residential areas,



the National Library,
the metro,






Parque de Luces,

la Iglesia de Veracruz, tons of hustle and bustle in the city,

many Bolero sculptures (including this one of a bird, which was the site of a bombing that killed many people in el Centro de San Antonio. The plaque below it lists their names.),




and los "alumbrados" (fabulous light displays).










We also waited in a long line
to ride the cable cars (featured here) that transport people to the tops of the surrounding populated mountainsides.This was an enjoyable way to see the city from above, and you can share some of this experience with me by watching the enclosed video. Please note our little "guide," who entertained us by giving us her own descriptions of the views that surrounded us. In this scene, she is telling us about the people of "caracoles," which translates to mean "snails." I´m not exactly sure what this means!! =)



After the day´s adventures, I attempted to ride a taxi back to my residence here in Envigado. I felt quite uncomfortable as the driver continued to call me "princess"/"beautiful," ask for my phone number, tell me about how he´d like to marry me, ect., and I hoped that my ride with him would end quickly. However, we got very lost (I wasn´t much help because I definitely do not know my way around these parts yet), and it took FOREVER for me to arrive to my home-sweet-home! It reminded me of scenes from The Amazing Race as we stopped and showed every single passerby the address and asked for any suggestions they could give us to help us find it. I was very relieved when I finally made it to the apartment building, 1.5 hours later! 80)

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Hil, Your a regular tourist. It sounds like your having fun.
I can't wait to read about your next adventure...

Mike said...

your taxi cab adventure made me a little nervous!

Unknown said...

Just tell that taxi cab driver you are MY princess!