The City of Eternal Spring

I´ve been in Medellin, so called La Ciudad de la Eternal Primavera (appropriately named, the warm breezes and occasional passing showers that water the abundant flowers are very springy), for about 4 days now. And honestly, I don´t have much to show for it. I have another 2 weeks until Angel flies in, so I am taking the sight seeing easy, trying to spread it out over as many days as I can. To my credit I have done some touristing every day. My method of attack is to explore one subway stop a day, which should occupy about 12 days. Granted, it is a bit tedious. The time I´m not being a subway vagrant or reading (luckily I found an awesome book exchange, whew!) I spend shuttling between my hostel´s wonderfully stocked, impeccably clean kitchen and the grocery store.

Today I took an expedition on the cable car system of the metro. One of the few (if not only) cable cars used for mass transit (and not for tourism, although just about everyone on there had their camera out), it connects the poor and once very derelict barrios that line the mountainsides that flank the city to the center. Not long ago, before the metrocable was built, these areas had the highest crime rates of the city (which is saying something, Medellin wasn´t the safest city anyway). The sidewalks are all staircases, the houses mostly shanties. Makes you wonder how they ever got down into the city before (buses aren´t even a viable option). As a secondary function, the metrocable provides beautiful, sweeping views of the city.