City's killer makeover

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This was published 12 years ago

City's killer makeover

The Art Hotel.

The Art Hotel.

Ute Junker wanders the reinvented streets of a former crime capital.

I'VE come to Medellin to see a miracle. Fifteen years ago, this Colombian city was known as the murder capital of the world, thanks to a killer cocktail of street gangs, drug cartels, guerrillas and the paramilitary, all fighting it out with armies of bombers and motorbike-riding assassins.

Today, according to all reports, Medellin has reinvented itself. A succession of energetic mayors has invested heavily not only in public safety but also in education, transport and infrastructure. I hear so much about leafy parks and trendy restaurants; chic bars and a city celebrating its new lease of life, I decide to check it out for myself.

Landing at Medellin, we're off to a good start. The airport is clean, modern and, reassuringly, equipped with no more than the standard number of sniffer dogs. I find the secure taxi rank, hop into a cab and we head off.

Twenty minutes later, I'm wondering whether I have made a big mistake. Although we've been driving steadily, we seem to be getting no closer to town. If anything, we seem to be heading deeper into the countryside. Is it possible that Medellin's newest industry is abducting tourists? My Spanish - pretty good when it comes to talking about food or directions - is non-existent when it comes to kidnapping. Literally rendered speechless, I sit back and see what happens next.

For almost an hour, we drive through a succession of beautiful hills and valleys without coming across any sign of a city.

Finally, as we drive around yet another crest, the narrow valley below suddenly comes into view - and there's Medellin, scattered over the valley floor.

My accommodation, Art Hotel, bills itself as Medellin's first boutique hotel. It has everything you want from a boutique hotel: a designer warehouse feel, a wine bar and even a steam room. Its biggest selling point, however, is its location: in the heart of the Zona Rosa, Medellin's chic entertainment district. Parque Lleras, Medellin's most upmarket entertainment area, is just a few blocks away. I head over to see what's on offer.

What I find is a sprawling square filled with trees and fairy lights, surrounded on all sides by funky open-air restaurants and bars offering everything from Latin to sushi to Thai. Strolling the streets that radiate out from the square, I discover exquisite little boutiques stocking cutting-edge fashion. My fellow flaneurs are the sort of chic, inner-city types you'd find in Surry Hills or Paddington. And when I finally settle in for a meal, I'm thrilled to discover that dinner and a drink gets me change from $15.

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Next morning, it's time to explore. I hop on the yellow Turibus which, for about $10, offers a four-hour, bilingual tour of the city. There are only 10 passengers - three Colombian couples, three gringo backpackers and me - which suggests Medellin's tourism industry still has some way to go.

However, it soon becomes clear Colombians have already learnt the first lesson: how easy is it to have fun with stupid tourists (that would be us). Our first stop is the Plazoleta de las Esculturas, a city square that displays a number of sculptures by Fernando Botero, Medellin's most famous native son (if you don't count drug baron Pablo Escobar). Botero's bronze sculptures play with scale and form: muscle-bound men are rendered on a diminutive scale, horses tower above our heads.

Most of Botero's humans seem to have mislaid their clothes, which is where the fun starts. Standing in front of an oversized, voluptuous nude, our Colombian companions indicate that it's good luck to rub the statue's naked breast. We can see where passing hands have rubbed away the colour to reveal a metallic sheen so, always looking for a bit of luck, I rub my hand over the huge breast, provoking happy laughter from the locals. None of them, I note, seem to need luck themselves.

At the next statue of a naked woman, we're prompted to rub her big toe for luck, which we do cheerfully. Perhaps inevitably, when we get to the naked man, we're instructed to rub his most private part. I hesitate. How far am I willing to humiliate myself for the sake of intercultural relations? Oh, what the hell. I give the statue a quick rub, provoking cheers from my new Colombian friends.

The Turibus is a great way to get a feel for Medellin's complex character, which veers between cutting-edge architecture and narrow colonial streets; leafy upmarket neighbourhoods and sunny plazas where old men snooze on benches. One of my personal highlights is the Parque de Los Pies Descalzos: the Barefoot Park.

Set amid looming skyscrapers, the park brings a touch of Zen to downtown Medellin. Visitors are encouraged to take their shoes off and commune with nature, walking variously over stone, sand and leaves. Add in giant mazes to be navigated with your eyes shut and it's a playground for grown-ups.

I'm also keen to check out the Metro, which has become the symbol of the new Medellin. The first thing any local asks a visitor is: "Have you been on the Metro yet?"

Deliberately designed to link the poor areas with the rich one, the elevated Metro crosses the entire floor of the valley, offering clean, fast and cheap transport. However, what I'm really interested in is what happens at the end of the line.

In Medellin, as in other mountainous South American cities, the poorer you are, the higher up you live. No elevated rail system can reach the higher slopes where the poorest of the poor live, so Medellin's government found an innovative solution. Where the rail can go no further, a cable car takes over - and as it's all part of the Metro, one ticket covers it all.

It feels odd to have such a bird's-eye view of Medellin's slums but there's odder yet to come. Amid the shanties, three alien-looking buildings emerge: hard-edged and black, they resemble geometric boulders. Surprisingly, we're looking at a public library. Commissioning architects to design libraries for the city's poorest areas is one of the mayor's pet projects. In giving the poorest of the poor access not just to information but also to beautiful buildings, Medellin is showing just how far it's come.

Trip notes

Getting there

LAN Airlines offers daily one-stop flights from Sydney to Santiago, Chile, with four weekly services from Santiago to Medellin via Lima, Peru. Fares from Sydney to Santiago start at $2229, including taxes. For more information, call 1800 558 129, or visit lan.com.

Staying there

Art Hotel has 54 stylish rooms arranged around a skylit atrium. Room rates start at about $US95 ($97), arthotelmedellin.com.

Eating there

The waiters in their panama hats may be a bit cheesy but El Hato Viejo (Carrera 49, No. 52-170) has a lovely balcony and serves local favourites such as plantain soup.

Touring there

Intrepid Travel offers a nine-day Experience Colombia itinerary, which takes in Medellin as well as Bogota and Cartagena. Prices start from $1695. intrepidtravel.com.

More information

colombia.travel/en/

The best of Medellin

1 Museums The Museo Universitario (museo.udea.edu.co) and the Museo de Antioquia (museodeantioquia.org) both have interesting collections of pre-Columbian art; the latter also has a fine collection of colonial and modern art. Kids will love the interactive science exhibits at the Parque Explora (parqqueexplora.org).

2 Modern architecture The Coltejer Tower, a 1970s skyscraper shaped like a sewing machine needle, pays tribute to Medellin's role as the centre of Colombia's textile industry. More recent design highlights include the Parque Biblioteca Espana, three geometric, slate-coloured buildings, and the Biblioteca EPM, a series of gravity-defying concrete slabs that looks gorgeous lit up.

3 Day trips Santa Fe de Antioquia, 80km from Medellin, has a perfectly preserved colonial centre, with white-washed houses built around courtyards and decorated with intricately carved woodwork. For a more active day out, the Rio Claro is a stunning river canyon where you can go caving, kayaking, rafting, or birdwatching.

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