COLOMBIA: MEDELLIN, PART I - COMUNA 13

 March 22, 2023

In Hotel 10 in Medellín, breakfast was included with our room, and it turned out to be a very nice buffet that included Colombian dishes, muffins, cheeses, lots of fruit, juices, an omelet station, and more. It was a feast.

Medellín (pronounced Med-uh-ZHEEN by the locals) is the second-largest city in Colombia, after Bogotá. Situated in the Andes Mountains at an elevation over 4,900 feet above sea level, it has a population of 2.5 in the city proper, with an additional 1.5 million people in the surrounding metro area.

Medellín was named for a small village in Spain that was the birthplace of Hernán Cortéz. Today, the city is made up of 16 comunas, or districts.

We were picked up by our guide, Jakob, at 9:00 a.m. and driven to Comuna 13, located on the opposite side of the city. We walked a few blocks, almost immediately starting uphill. We said hello to Che Guevara . . . 

. . . then continued up several flights of stairs, where Jakob found a seat for us in the shade where we could look over the valley while he spoke eloquently about the history of his city. 

Medellín is built in an enormous bowl-shaped valley, and over the years the housing has crept further and further up the sides of that bowl. It looked very poverty-stricken to me, but Jakob said apartments in this area are actually very pricey. I checked online and found that typical housing costs (including utilities) are $1000-1200/month for a one-bedroom studio apartment in this area. That would be expensive in Colombia.

Jakob had just graduated from the University Medellín with a degree in history, and he not only knew his stuff, but he was also a fantastic storyteller.

Jakob focused on the story of Pablo Escobar, a national hero turned drug lord and international villain of the highest degree who dominated the cocaine trade in the 1980s and early 1990s. According to Jakob, Escobar and his cronies were almost completely responsible for the international spread of cocaine. Medellín was his hometown and home base. Jakob pointed out areas in the area below and around us--Comuna 13--where the cartel pretty much took over, where helicopters flew overhead in attempts to find and capture Escobar, and eventually where he was killed by Colombian National Police at the age of 44.  At the time of his death, he may have been the richest man in the world.

And at one time, Comuna 13 was the most dangerous neighborhood in the world's most dangerous city. It was located on what was then the edge of the city, and because it sprung up without a plan, it was full of narrow, winding streets and desperate residents, which made it a perfect place for drug trafficking and recruiting gang members. Paramilitary groups fought each other for control of the neighborhood, and car bombs, gunshots, kidnappings, and murders were a practically a daily occurrence. 

A decade after Escobar was killed, the government began to retake control of this area, and military operations were launched to oust the paramilitary groups that still reigned supreme here. In 2006, the mayor (Sergio Fajardo) began to invest in the infrastructure of Comuna 13, bringing it into contact and alignment with the rest of the city. Housing and transportation initiatives began to change the district's image. Young artists contributed by adding their unique touches, changing the overall atmosphere. 

These days Comuna 13 is a symbol of transformation and rebirth brought about by the will of the people and good urban planning. In fact, it is probably the main area for tourism in the city. Incredible! Some visitors come here to learn about the city's dark history, but many more are here to see and hear the art that contributed to the neighborhood's and the city's rebirth.

The most obvious part of the transformation is what seems to be an explosion of murals. Covering almost every vertical surface, they reflect the city's past, present, and hopes for the future. They deal with social and political issues such as Black Lives Matter, women's rights, LGBTQ+ causes, and protecting the environment; they reflect indigenous and religious values; they retell historical events and honor important historical figures; they draw on magical realism. They are incredible.

Focusing on art, the city has changed this area from one of the worst areas of the city to the one most visited by tourists. It has been so successful that other Colombian cities have followed suit. 

Comuna 13  is primarily located on one of the terraced hillsides, so there are many vertical spaces between levels that rise like very large steps to the top.

On one of the terraces, maybe the top one?, the city has even built a kind of boardwalk or balcony lined with shopping and restaurants that stretches something like a quarter mile along the hillside.  Visitors can buy souvenirs along the way, or pay extra to stand in an enormous lime green hand balanced on a balcony (No, we didn't), or stop for a beer, a cocktail, some weed, etc. (Didn't do those either.) It's all available. (But no cocaine--at least from our perspective.)

Jakob told us that during the pandemic, when there were no crowds here, the city almost doubled the size of the balcony. At the end of the current balcony, we could see that men were working to extend it even further. This has to be a gold mine for the neighborhood, and it is interesting to see how tourism is being consciously created. 

Here is one stretch of the murals, an open-air gallery that makes an art museum seem stuffy:

 

And here are individual shots of the four murals in the section:

I love this one. The contrast between the black clothing (a motorcyclist? a soldier? a gangster?), the flower head and halo, and the split-tailed hummingbirds is pretty dramatic.

Murals don't last forever, and when one starts to chip and fade, artists can apply to replace it with their own art. 

Artists usually sign their work. The next two are by Chota 13, the pseudonym for John Alexander, one of the more popular and prolific muralists.

How about this spectacular piece!

The jaguar is a popular image in Comuna 13:

We were always aware of the city below us, of which we had a good view from the balcony. We were really shocked by the density of the housing. What if a fire breaks out? How did they fare during the Covid-19 pandemic? How does mail get delivered? What about the power grid? 

This mural highlights the ways visitors can go up and down the steep hillside. Note the thing that looks like an escalator at the bottom of the "O." I'll get to that in a minute. Just FYI, there are no roads that go to the top. The hill is too steep.

You would expect that there would be lots and lots and LOTS of stairs, and there are. The hillside is the equivalent of 28 stories. Stairs were the original manner of ascending the hill, and some are in better condition than others. More recently they have added slides for a quicker way to get down. Ingenious, right?

Some of the stairs have more than one use. This transition from one level to another is an amphitheater for a drum group. I wish we could have heard a performance!

Then in 2011 the city added 1,260 feet of outdoor elevators, divided into six sections. They go both down and up, and take about six minutes from bottom to top (or top to bottom, which is what we did). 

There are also stairs that parallel the escalators, which are important when the escalators break down, and of course the wall between the escalator and the stairs is covered with murals. However, of the 12 escalators (6 up, 6 down), only one was not working when we were there.

Of course, we stopped on most of the levels on the way down.  This is a photo spot for sweethearts . . . 

. . . and another spot for those waiting for a sweetheart.

When Savannah saw this sign advertising edible ants, she said she wanted to try them. Jakob said many of the people selling these ants are refugees from Venezuela, and he had always been too grossed out to try them himself. They have an extra large "booty," as Jakob described them, and roasting makes them crunchy. He couldn't believe Savannah wanted to try them. 

Of course Bob couldn't say no to his granddaughter, and we purchased a packet. They are about the size of a pea. Jakob and I tried one, Bob had a couple, and Sav ate what was left. Bob beamed. "That's my girl!" he said.

Jakob got us a much better snack at this little shop on one of the balconies.

It was frozen juice and chunks of fruit suspended in a plastic cup above an inch or two of lemon juice. You squeeze the cup to keep the frozen part out of the lemon juice, but you can relax your grip just enough to briefly lower it into the sour juice. We used the wooden stick that was frozen in the mixture to pull it out and eat it like a popsicle. It you want, you can add salt and red pepper powder. We loved it! This was another fabulous Colombian food experience. Really the best food we ate on our trip was street food.

The shop had a poster on the outside with small photos of celebrities who have been there. Most of the faces were Colombian politicians, musicians, and movie stars.

But we did find "Bill Clinton Expresidente USA" . . . 

. . . and "Michael Douglas Actor."

I also found Frida, peering at us from a denim jacket a few feet away. The t-shirt below her says "Love art, not war."

Even though we were not on the main art level anymore, there were still murals everywhere.

This one reminded me of our photo of Savannah with the giant moth on her nose.

In addition to all the art, we watched several dance groups. WOW! They were unbelievably limber,  athletic, and coordinated. They add a lot of energy to Comuna 13. Here is a group called Black and White:

You can see another video of these dancers here. Make sure to watch to the end. They are amazing.

We stopped to watch a second group near the bottom of the hill.

These dancers actually had a seating area with umbrellas for shade and an interesting mural next to the "stage."

Have I mentioned that Colombia has a distinct motorcycle culture? I don't think this was designed as a "moto" parking lot, but that's what it is.

The motorcycle lot is a definite hang-out area for the 20-somethings.

Can you see Chota 13's signature? His work is everywhere.

On one of the murals near the parking lot, Jakob pointed out this hummingbird that references the Blackhawk helicopters the U.S. gave to Colombia during the country's revolution in the late 1990s. Other murals depicted gas masks, guns, and soldiers, and Jakob noted that the Medellín artists are trying to say that it is important to remember the past, but also to look forward with hope.

Everything is symbolic in this work; I just can't remember what the symbols mean.

Okay, these are the final murals for this post. If you made it this far, you may think this is an exhaustive display of all the street art in Comuna 13, but it's not even close. 

The "art" for sale in the shops, mostly Botero copies, is hardly worth a glance after a few hours in Comuna 13. Time to move on to another neighborhood.

READING AND VIEWING

When we told friends and family we were going to Colombia, the universal reaction was Wow! Is it safe??? When I was a young woman, the answer to that question was Definitely not! No one in their right mind would take the risk of being kidnapped or murdered by the drug cartel that dominated every aspect of Colombian life, especially in the Medellín area. Colombia was considered the most dangerous country in the world, and Medellín was the most dangerous city in Colombia.

After hearing Jakob's tales about Escobar's escapades, I knew I had to read a biography of his life. It was a bit hard to find one that appealed, and I ended up with Pablo Escobar: My Father by Juan Pablo Escobar, the eldest of the drug lord's two children.

The author admits that not even he knows the truth of every aspect of his father's life, but his first-hand account is compelling, shocking, horrifying, and thought-provoking. How do you write about a man who was your affectionate, protective father, but also a cruel, self-centered, self-indulgent, murderous crime boss? If you are interested in Pablo Escobar, the origin of the cocaine epidemic, organized crime, Colombia, or any other number of related topics, I suggest you read this book.

Before the book was written, however, there was a 2009 documentary entitled Sins of My Father that focuses primarily on Juan Pablo Escobar, who changed his name to Sebastián Marroquín in order to dissociate himself from his father's crimes and the Medellín cartel. I watched this documentary (Spanish, with English subtitles, on Amazon Prime) after I read the book. 

If you don't have time to read the book and want a good overview, this does that, but it is not nearly as detailed as the book. On the other hand, it is interesting and moving to see video footage of Sebastián interacting with his father, and later, making peace with the sons of the men his father had murdered.

Another good read is District 13: The Drama of Armed Conflict in Medellin, Colombia by Yoni Alexander Rendon. This is not a beach read by any means. It covers the Operation Orion, the military intervention that began in Comuna 13 in 2002 and which led to an intense inner-city war that literally took place in the streets. 

The author includes many testimonies of the people who lived through the conflict--whether as participants or as innocent bystanders. It is by no means a comprehensive account of the history of the District. It is, instead, a snapshot of part of the violence that scarred the place and the people, told in the voices of those who experienced it first hand.