Medellín & Guatapé
Medellín is the capital of the department of Antioquia
On our first day in Antioquia we took a day trip to Guatapé.
The first stop was El Peñón de Guatapé (the Guatapé rock) and the Peñol-Guatapé Reservoir reservoir.
Climbing the Guatapé rock on the manmade stair cases is not easy, but can be completed in around 20 minutes if you’re reasonably fit. The views are well worth the effort.
The reservoir itself is completely man made but because of the natural shapes of the land it surrounds it looks like a beautiful natural lake.
In the evening I visited an Atlético Nacional game.
I asked around and was told I that as long as I was sensible, it should be safe to visit as a tourist. I bought an Atlético Nacional shirt from a street vendor for £10 before the game and wore that to blend in. It was easy enough to get a taxi to the ground and once inside the outer perimeter of security it felt safe.
Inside the stadium itself there was still an electric ultra-driven atmosphere. I would highly recommend it to any tourist visiting Medellín. After the game I followed the crowd into a heavily populated and tourist-friendly area and once a bit away from the match day traffic I called an taxi.
Atlético Nacional won the game against Millonarios 2-0.
Below is an image and a video I took of the atmosphere in the ground just prior to kick off.
As in most cities, we did a walking tour of the city to get a feel for the place.
The tour of Medellín briefly showed us parts of the city that are not typically visited by tourists, I could feel the eyes of pick pockets on our group, with many individuals veering off their path seemingly to circle around the group to look for any obvious loose items that could be taken.
Most of us had our back packs on our fronts by this point and I was scanning over my shoulder several times a minute, but our tour guide seemed relaxed telling us he wanted us to see a little outside the tourist-bubble Medellín and that we were not going to be attacked.
The tour led us past many statues made by Medellín artist Fernando Botero, including a particularly poignant pair of bronze statues show below.
The original statue, “El pajaro” (The Bird), was blown up in 1995 when a bomb was placed underneath it or inside. Online you can read that this was by the group FARC, but our tour guide said that no one really knows who did it or why. The bomb exploded while a concert took place in the square that the statue is located. At least 23 people were killed in the explosion and over 200 injured.
In the year 2000, Botero donated a new statue “El Pájaro de la Paz” (The Bird of Peace), identical to the original prior to the explosion, but he insisted that the original statue remain in place next to the replacement.
He said that “I want the mutilated bird to remain as a monument to human barbarity, and the new bird to stand for peace and hope.”
The names of the victims are now written on the base of the original statue.
However, it would be unfair and inaccurate to give a picture of Medellín in 2025 as being a place that tourists should not visit. The city itself is surrounded by stunning scenery with mountains all around. Areas like El Poblado are full of upmarket cafes, restaurants and places to stay that make it a very desirable area to live for anyone able to work remotely.
In some areas you do need to be careful, especially at night, but Medellín is also a very enjoyable city to be in with a thriving nightlife and is well worth a visit.
One area we didn’t manage to visit properly was Communa 13. This is an area that has a violent history, has areas that are quite inaccessible to but is gradually turning into an area of art and culture. We visited it at night, which is quite unusual, on a fairly tame bar crawl that did at least take us to a good view point. Everyone we have spoken to recommends the day time tour; if we go back we definitely will!
