Day 6 Meta-jean

 

                            

Marriott Hotel  Buffet is easily the worst of any recent trip. Loud ambient noise, stale pastries (every day!). 

Commune 13 The most violent of the Meda-jean neighborhoods until recently had been an isolated Commune high above the city, number 13. Today the art tour is getting a tour of the hood, led by a former gang member and now rap teacher and tourist guide. He gives us the background (our local tour guide, Juanncho, translates). There is a lot to share and THB is gonna keep it short; this used to be the poorest, most violent part of town and now is reasonably well-off due to tourism. How did this happen? The government laid siege to the commune for days and killed a lot of people, some actually gang members....skip a few years and the government put in cable cars and escalators and the locals could get up and down the steep streets and viable commerce took off. 

Now for a lot of pics! 

Here's where the rapper joins our tour, plus there is a toilet to use

Unofficial tour member

bullet holes

THB and Dana partake in another tourist activity

THB wins this heat

Top of an escalator and our 2nd long stop 

Not improv, this dance group has a QR Code!

This a main thoroughfare, the motorcycles are let through while the dancing is on

Many selfies and family vista shots taken here

Juanncho and DB discussing local history

Local treat: frozen mango or coconut with salty juice poured on top

it is late morning, by the afternoon it will be really crowded here, mostly with Meta-jeanians

Cavalo, rap teacher and guide

Botanical Gardens: A stroll through the grounds and lunch at Insitu, a throbbing restaurant in the middle of the gardens, with a holiday office party going on while the tour dined in a lovely spot

Popular spot for photo ops

Huge bee mid-picture

pork chop with excellent fried potatoes

Another photo op

After lunch:  A visit to the plaza in front of the Governor's Mansion, filled with Botero bronzes and hawkers, followed by the Museo d' Antioquia. The Museo is a bit of a surprise as many old works are mingled with new or updated stories. THB particularly liked a more accurate retelling of a famous assassination, covered up by the government. The parallels to the January 6 insurrection are hard to ignore. 

Assassination Retelling: very hard to capture in pics, still THB is trying. 

More Beatriz Gonzalez. In her 90s, she's everywhere!

Gallery visit at La Balsa and then a dinner hosted by the gallery owner, Ana Patricia Gómez Jaramillo. Many of the tour purchased pieces at this stop, and then it was a short drive to the top of a ridge where Patricia graciously hosted the tour. 

An intriguing video where half the face slides away

Security guard station at the front door, notice how many cameras are in action

view from the back deck off the living room

terrine

roast beef, this is an individual portion, not something for the table to share

floating isles

Pics from around town 

Book Review: The Betrothed**, a Seventeenth-century Milanese Story Discovered and Rewritten, Alessandro Manzoni (novel, translated by Michael Moore, preface by Jhumpa Lahiri, audio book - 80% and Kindle -20%, originally pub'd in 1828, new translation pub'd in 2022, 665 pages, 22 hours and 38 minutes, read brilliantly by Nicholas Boulton): An Italian classic updated in English by Michael Moore. THB loved the story of a couple separated just as they were about to be married and then lived through evil doings of a local bully, famine and the plaque in and around Milan in the 1620s and 1630s. Even the preface and introduction are concise and well written/read treatises on the art of translation and the beauty of the story of the young couple. How did THB come to buy both the e-book and audio book? The usual way, by mistake when he inadvertently bought both versions almost simultaneously. He started with the audio book, got hooked, and kept with it until traveling to Colombia where it was easier at times to read the kindle version, synched, by Audible. The book is both a historical masterpiece and justifiably an Italian classic. Highly recommended.