It's been too long since I've been on a bike and I'm not in top-notch bike shape. My legs are tired and my butt is incredibly sore... It's only been since I arrived to Medellín that I've started to feel my strength again.
I arrived to Medellín around noon and found a cheap hotel. I didn't want to waste any time, so I took a midday "escape-the-heat" nap and then started towards Arví National Park. Most people access this park by taking a series of gondolas, or as the locals call them, "cable metros", to the top of the mountains surrounding Medellín.
Alas, I arrived too late in the day... the daily quota for allowed people had already been met. So, I decided to take matters into my own hands... I thought I would just hike up the steep valley walls and get there on foot... well....
I began hiking the 3,500 total vertical distance by going through some of the "not-so-good" areas" of the city. The city is arranged in barrios, with the less-wealthy areas "higher on the hill". This translates as me walking through worse and worse areas as I got closer to the top of the mountain. In so doing, I saw less and less desirable things... like a fairly major drug deal. Luckily, me and the spotter both decided to just play it cool... by the time both of us realized what was actually going on, we both decided it was best to just act like we didn't know what was going on. Absolutely nobody was expecting a tall gringo to show-up in the middle of the proceedings. Well, that was one disaster avoided...
After another hot hour of hiking, I made it to the top. After wandering around a bit, I ran into the Colombian police force. Again, they didn't fully expect to see a tall gringo to show-up in on the top of a mountain. They questioned me for quite a while. I told them that I had hiked up the mountain, something they just couldn't believe, but they didn't have much choice.... there wasn't any other way for me to have arrived there. They eventually let me go, warning me that I should be safe. Ya....
I arrived to Medellín around noon and found a cheap hotel. I didn't want to waste any time, so I took a midday "escape-the-heat" nap and then started towards Arví National Park. Most people access this park by taking a series of gondolas, or as the locals call them, "cable metros", to the top of the mountains surrounding Medellín.
Alas, I arrived too late in the day... the daily quota for allowed people had already been met. So, I decided to take matters into my own hands... I thought I would just hike up the steep valley walls and get there on foot... well....
I began hiking the 3,500 total vertical distance by going through some of the "not-so-good" areas" of the city. The city is arranged in barrios, with the less-wealthy areas "higher on the hill". This translates as me walking through worse and worse areas as I got closer to the top of the mountain. In so doing, I saw less and less desirable things... like a fairly major drug deal. Luckily, me and the spotter both decided to just play it cool... by the time both of us realized what was actually going on, we both decided it was best to just act like we didn't know what was going on. Absolutely nobody was expecting a tall gringo to show-up in the middle of the proceedings. Well, that was one disaster avoided...
After another hot hour of hiking, I made it to the top. After wandering around a bit, I ran into the Colombian police force. Again, they didn't fully expect to see a tall gringo to show-up in on the top of a mountain. They questioned me for quite a while. I told them that I had hiked up the mountain, something they just couldn't believe, but they didn't have much choice.... there wasn't any other way for me to have arrived there. They eventually let me go, warning me that I should be safe. Ya....
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