Medellin and Manizales

Our second day in Medellin, we went downtown and explored.  The main attraction in the centre is many statues by Fernando Botero, a Colombian artist, who claims to be the most Colombian there is.  Given that he doesn't live here anymore, we're not sure what Colombia thinks of that, but his work consists mostly of human and animal figures that look like the Fat Controller from Thomas the Tank Engine and we rather liked them.  In the background is the striking Casa de la Cultura.

We have also been enjoying Colombian food.  Lots of juices with fruits we had never heard of, like lulo and tomatoes de los arboles.  Also, lots of shops which are half deep-fried parcels of things and small pies and half sticky cakes.  Being from Scotland, we feel at home, and are expecting to run into the Aberdeen advertising slogan for pies any second now.  There is even a Colombian only, vaguely nationalist orange soda.  Sound familiar?

We also rode the city's cablecars (and they didn't even break under the weight of all those empañadas), which is part of the metro system and a way locals actually use to get around as it is a very hilly city.  So these views came with a metro ticket.

Though there were strict warnings against any unsuitable behaviour.

Good job it said that, you never know when the urge to prance and/or bustle about is going to overcome you.

The next day, it was more cablecars out to Parque Arví, an eco-tourism park near the city.  It is really gorgeous and we were so high above the city in the cablecar that took us up there it was like being in an aeroplane looking down.  We wandered the park all afternoon;

and had lunch up here (where we were not supposed to be, shh);

but gave us views like this;

On the way back we met this chap (which the internet has been unable to help us identify);

We spent the next day chilling and watching another Colombian film, Los viajes del viento (which featured a surprising amount of accordian rap-battles) and eating chargrilled arepas.  On Thursday it was time to try our first hitch-hiking in South America.  We hadn't heard good reports about Colombia (that it was safe (especially in the west where we are), but could take a long time).  We certainly waited a while but still made it to Manizales in one day, so we shall see how things continue.

We are even higher in the mountains now and Manizales is a beautiful town, clinging to the steep slopes of several hills.  The town centre is very pretty and the statue in the main square asks the important cultural question "What if Simon Bolivar had been half-man, half-condor?!"

Yesterday we went for a walk out to a park, messed about and picnicked;

And today we hiked all the way into town and then up the 113m high cathedral tower, which gave some dizzying;

but stunning;

views.

This has been interspersed with munching plantains coated in local cheese and drinking lots of coffee, as we are right in the centre of Colombia's coffee region.  Tonight we are going to some local thermal springs as a reward for all the hilly hiking, and tomorrow we strike out for Bogotá.  Wish us luck.