I don't think Tameka slept last night because she presented me with an elaborate plan to explore the city this morning when I woke up. At least the plan began with breakfast and coffee.

We put a lot of miles on our walking shoes today. The most investing part was taking the metro train down to the central district and taking a 3.5 hour, history and culture, walking tour. Our tour guide, Juli, was an excellent storyteller. In addition to walking around and seeing notable buildings and art, she explained the turbulent and violent history of both Medellin and Colombia as whole. In the 1980s through the early 2000s, Medellin was considered one of the most dangerous cites in the world. During that period there were over 200 bombings in which several thousand people were killed during a complex civil war. Juli, elaborated on how through many liberal social programs, the city emerged from that period and is now considered safer than most US cities. Extreme poverty has been reduced from 49.7% to 9.2% through a series of infrastructure projects, including many public libraries and public schools, that helped united disenfranchised communities.

We also visited Botero park which is a public display of 23 sculptures by the famous Columbian artist Ferdando Boteo. Botero innovated a style of proportional exaggeration to emphasize political criticism and humor. We visited a site in which one of these sculptures was blown apart by a backpack bomb during a pubic concert killing 24 people. Botero donated a replacement sculpture to be displayed next to ruined piece as a symbol of the cities past and its hopeful future.

We really enjoyed our brief exploration of Medellin and appreciate having a better understanding of the history. We will be heading south from here as Tameka has to return her motorbike in Cali on the 30th.