COLOMBIA: MEDELLIN, PART 2 - LUNCH, BOTERO PLAZA

 March 22, 2023

After walking around Comuna 13, we were hot, tired, and hungry. It was time for lunch. Our driver picked us up when we got down to the flatter part of town and took us to a restaurant Jakob thought we would enjoy.

There was plenty of street art to see on the way, even on the freeway underpasses.

La Familia Restaurante specializes in platos típicos, or local dishes. The most expensive thing on the menu was about $10.

Bob ordered Mojarro cartagenera, crappy fish cooked whole and presented in an upright position, as if it were swimming on the plate. (Crappy is a kind of fish, not a comment on the quality.) He said it was average (but not crappy). You can see it in the background below. I ordered solitos, which were small pieces of tender beef that were quite good. See them below. (Observation: There doesn't seem to be a way to ask for "medium rare" in Colombia. I had to say "menos de medio," or less than medium.)

Savannah had a traditional plate much like what I had eaten at the hotel restaurant the night before--chicharrons, plantains, a hard arepa, rice, pork sausage and blood sausage, etc. I was impressed with how willing she was to immerse herself in the local cuisine and try new things.

When we finished, our driver picked us up and took us to the downtown area, where we first walked through quite a few blocks of shopping--not the tourist kind but, shoes and underwear and socks and kitchen goods and cafés--the part of town where the middle-class locals shopped.

Eventually we made it to Botero Plaza, another example of Medellin's impressive re-creation of itself, turning what was previously a run-down area into a upscale, welcoming park. It contains 23 of Botero's voluptuous sculptures--not a slim figure in the entire bunch. All of the sculptures were donated by the artist himself.

By now I was a big fan, so we walked around and saw them all, and I took photos of about 2/3 of them. Here are Caballo (Horse) and Soldado Romano (Roman Soldier).

Hombre a Caballo (Man on Horseback) is one of my favorites, especially positioned in front of the Rafael Uribe Uribe Palace of Culture. (No, that's not a typo. "Uribe" is supposed to be there twice. It's named for the leader of Colombia's Liberal Party who lived from 1859-1914.)

This Gothic Revival museum was built in the 1920s and includes archives and an art museum. I would have liked to have seen inside. 😞

But I digress. Back to Botero's bronze garden. Cabeza (Head) and Pensamiento (Thinking):

To complement the Man on Horseback, here is Rapto de Europa, or Rape of Europa, which refers to a Greek myth.

Savannah's favorite was probably Gato (Cat). She bought a small replica for a few dollars.

If there is a gato, there has to be a perro (dog).

This is Mujer con Espejo (Woman with a Mirror).

Another reclining female form is Venus Dormida, or Sleeping Venus.

The poor guy with the impossibly short T-rex arms and massive legs is Hombre vestido, or Dressed Man. 

Just beyond him is his wife, also all dressed up. Is it rude to point out that the woman leaning on the pedestal while she talks on her phone has the same body proportions as the bronze? Botero wasn't all that far off.

Although not quite as buff as the Roman soldier above--although both are in the buff--this hombre would put any body builder to shame, as well he should. It's Adam (of Garden of Eden fame). He's facing Eve, but somehow I missed getting her photo. Instead, enjoy Esfinge, or Sphinx.

In the distance we could see the tallest building in Medellín, the Coltejer Building, built in 1972. It houses Colombia's premier textile company, which was founded in 1907. Jakob pointed out (no pun intended) that it looks like a sewing machine needle, a reference to the textile company it houses.

Next to Botero Plaza is one of the most beautiful malls I've ever seen, the National Palace Mall of Medellin. A metal and glass cat stands guard at the main entrance.

Built between 1925 and 1933 as a "palace of justice" (aka courthouse), this gorgeous interior now dispenses merchandise rather than judgments. There are about 200 stores, most of which seemed to be designer clothing-related. Jakob told us that when this building was a courthouse, it was infamous for its suicides. Those who were convicted were known to jump off the top floor to the tiled courtyard below rather than serve their sentence. That may have been part of the reason the courthouse was relocated. Eventually this building was renovated and repurposed in 1993 to become the shopping center.

It's not your average U.S. strip mall (or courthouse), that's for sure.

Medellín is known for its innovation in urban transportation. Yesterday I mentioned the outdoor escalators and slides in Comuna 13, but there are also very clean and efficient streetcar and metro systems and an aerial tram system called "the Metrocable."  The Metrocable has six different lines and nineteen stations that are used to transport people in the hilly areas of the city. The Metrocable was the first gondola system in the world used for public transport, but since it opened in 2004, several other similar systems have opened in Latin America. With its individual small cars, it is hard to believe it is very efficient, so I was surprised to learn that it transports 30,000 people daily.

Jakob wanted us to experience all the transportation options, so we took a street car to the  top of the mountain, followed by a metrocable/gondola ride, followed by a subway trip. It was interesting to a point, and that point came pretty quickly in the sequence. I think the three of us agreed that we would have rather done almost anything else--such as go to the museum next to Botero Plaza.

This sign was in the Metrocable terminal and I include it for reference. A McPollo sandwich or two pieces of chicken with fries and a soda costs $4.30, and a double hamburger or double McFiesta with fries and a drink costs $4.80. That's quite a bit less than in the United States, but it is probably pretty expensive for Colombians.

At the end of our transportation experience, Jakob returned us to our hotel because we were supposed to  meet my brother-in-law for dinner (the one coincidentally traveling in Colombia at the same time we were and with whom we had shared a meal in Bogota), but he had missed his flight from Cartagena, so we finished off our trip by having another average dinner in our hotel.

The next morning, after a breakfast that compensated for the blah dinner, we were driven to the airport, where we had our last opportunity to spend some money. We bought a cute knit ruana (poncho) for Savannah, a nativity set for me, and a Mirabel doll for Sav's little sister.

When we got to our gate, the attendant made Sav check her bag, even though it was regulation carry-on size and event though I argued that our layover in Bogota was very short. The attendant was very rude, waving me away dismissively and telling me there was PLENTY of time for our bag to be switched to our second flight. Of course, our flight was delayed 15-20 minutes out of Medellin, making the connection even tighter. There was just enough time for us to speed walk to the next gate. The flight attendant on that flight told me not to worry, that our bag would have been checked through all the way to LAX.  

Seven hours later we disembarked at LAX and then spent the next hour at the baggage carousel. Of course Savannah's bag did not appear, and of course no one was there to help us file a report, even though we asked every airport worker in the vicinity. FINALLY, someone from Avianca Airlines came and took a report, telling us not to worry, they would locate the suitcase right away and contact us the following day with delivery details. 

Of course that didn't happen. There was NO WORD from Avianca for days. Several days later, Sav's dad left two messages on Avianca's customer service site and left a voice message. Nothing. Almost all her souvenirs were in that bag, along with most of her clothes and personal items. I contacted the tour company that helped us plan the tour, and they also tried to reach out to Avianca. FIVE DAYS after we got home, the tour company was able to speak to someone at Avianca, who told them they would contact us on March 31, four more days away. No one ever responded to our son-in-law's messages.

Then we could see online that the file had been closed, but there was no explanation as to why. We had just about given up when over THREE WEEKS LATER, Savannah's bag showed up on her porch, everything intact. Never at anytime had they actually let any of us know what was happening. From the rude check-in attendant to the long wait for help at LAX to the lack of communication to the lengthy delay in getting the bag to its owner, this experience with Avianca ranks as the worst customer experience we have ever had with an airline. 

Of course, all's well that ends well, but it was a disappointing way to end our trip.

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