The Vibrancy of Medellin
This was a short trip to Colombia. I was invited byThe Ministry of Culture to speak at GFACCT in Medellin.
The event was a great success and we had enough time to explore Medellin. The people are warm, kind and very welcoming. The hotel that I was staying at was bang in the elite sector of the city. Medellin if described is like a shape of a bowl. On all sides are mountains and in the centre are hill side homes and the city.
We were fortunate enough to meet some interesting people at the event. Yolanda a Spanish friend we made from Madrid suggested that we visit the notorious Comuna 13 district which at one point was the most deadliest city in Colombia. It is now the most popular tourist attraction and is worth a visit.
Our guide was lovely and he talked us through the history, graffiti art, hop hop, introduced us to a Fashion Designer and we also tasted some home made ice cream and Colombian coffee.
The next day we visited Museo El Castillo, we are not allowed to photograph inside of the castle but the castle has a sad back story of an affluent family who wanted to create a castle for their daughter. Who sadly passed away in her youth and the dad was kidnapped and killed. All the ornaments, photos, dolls, paintings are in tact and the castle has a depressing airy feeling to it.
Prior to coming to Colombia, I had my fear of the unknown, what we are told through the media is in contrast to what I experienced. Actually, Medellin has seriously taken me by surprise. The icing on the cake was sharing a car with Ana Lucia Dominguez, she is the Netflix star of the series Palpito. She was staying at the same hotel and spoke at the same event. So as speakers, we were sharing the same car. She was very polite and is naturally beautiful.
I look forward to visiting this vibrant, eclectic and interesting country again.
