Since loading my blog on my flight from Minneapolis to Miami yesterday I managed to make it to Colombia. It was a tiring long day of travel from Hayward, Wisconsin. It was literally a 21 hours from my house to the Diez Hotel. I was so tired I didn’t wake up until 7:25 AM this morning. But when I did, I immediately headed for the rooftop where breakfast and coffee is served. The view of the massive South American city of Medellin was a sight to behold.
I’m here a day early to check out Medellin enroute to the Darien Lodge with friend Ben Furimsky. Ben put this trip together and I am along to document the day by day fishing in my blog for the lodge. Also here a day early for the sights are friends, Jess Mcglothlin, a well-known photographer and writer from Montana and Scott Wessels, the owner of the famous Bears Den Fly Fishing Co in Massachusetts.
For me, arriving early has good purpose beyond the tourist standpoint. Number one, it assures that if I were to have any flight issues, I’d have an extra day to make it. Furthermore, it gives me a day of rest. I got that by sleeping late this morning. Once I finished breakfast I did some email then at 2 PM the four of us hit the town with Luis, a tour guide/transfer driver for Darien Lodge.
We began the tour with a full rundown on the disastrous cocaine era Colombia went through in the late 1970’s through the 90’s. We visited actual famous bomb sites. Saw memorials where many innocent were killed (estimates of around 46,000 people over a 20 year period) and we went to the actual site where Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria, the ultimate cocaine drug lord was shot down in 1993. He may have shot himself during the raid which is why no one was able to claim the 10 million dollars that the US government had out for him. It sounds like an odd tour but was actually very interesting. I’ll add – Colombia is presently a safe and beautiful place to visit these days.
There were two other highlights today. We rode the gondola up over an area of Medellin. The ride is not a tourist gig, its actual clean and efficient transportation for the city. It was a great ride, slow and up over some of the city where homes are literally layered one on top of the other all the way up the mountainside. It was really neat to see from above.
Last, we scored some beers and walked Comuna 13. This area was once a terrible slum of Medellin but in the mid 2000’s the government invested in cleaning it up and turning it into a beautiful tourist area with a fabulous walk up a mountainside. There are shops, restaurants, street food vendors and bars all the way up. And if you don’t like hiking steps and steep roads, there are escalators as well to make it easy.
Probably the coolest part of visiting the Comuna 13 was seeing the mural art on the walls and sidewalks. They were colorful and beautiful and many were symbols of the history of this great city. Its really neat.
Despite not making a single cast on what should be a fantastic fly fishing trip to Colombia, today was a great day. Medellin is spectacular and I feel well rested to get on with things tomorrow. We ended the day with steaks near the hotel that were delicious and coincidentally, my beloved Cubs were up on the big screen beating the Braves – what day!
Way cool Jeff! Love the way you include culture and other aspects in your travels for fish.