Parque Arví

Last weekend, we visited a park just outside of Medellin called Parque Arvi.  Having been confined to the city through a combination of laziness and our studies, we were looking forward to the chance enjoy the wilderness.  The way out there was, to our surprise, by way of a thirty minute cable ride.  Our view before departing:

The view from the cable car over a beautiful valley which we have, of course, forgotten the name of.

Despite 360 degree views of untouched nature, we soon learned that once we got to the park, there was very little in the way of true wilderness and almost none of it was open to individual hikers. Most of the park had to be seen with a guided group.  Since we arrived about an hour too early for a tour, we killed time walking around the stalls at the top of the mountain and agonizing over which of the empanada vendors we would visit.  We chose one that looked pretty popular, and them immediately made a spectacle of ourselves when we put aji picante (mild hot sauce) on our food. Before spooning it on, we were warned.  After we didn't heed the warning, all eyes were on us to see how these gringos would react to the obviously unbearably spicy sauce.  After we did not in fact die, and indeed seemed to enjoy it, the woman who had originally warned us went a bit crazy.  We had our picture taken multiple times in various poses: with her, with the empanadas, with the aji, with her father.  We finally had our first taste of fame and loved it. Her father, who spoke incomprehensible spanish, then proceeded to follow us around for the next thirty minutes talking about (we think!) different regions in Colombia and possibly things to be careful of while here. We eventually had to break off our chat to make it to the tour on time, but managed to get one or two last photos together before we left.

Before the hike, which was described as a three hour hike to a lagoon, we were warned that it was pretty long and difficult.  The group even did some stretches together before we got going.  It was not difficult.  The hike meandered slowly up a hill, with our tour guide stopping to point out plants every ten minutes or so. A few of our favorites:

Those shapes on the tree are large bromeliads

The fact that we took pictures of the last two was pretty comical to some people on the group.  As they explained it, these plants are so common it was almost as if I were taking pictures of trash.  The lagoon when we finally got there was a dried pit, but a pretty one.  Here the group stopped for a lunch/snack/drink break to recover from our walk.  Matt and I wandered away for a bit and were quickly told to not leave the group. Here is our lagoon.

The walking tour, while not the solitary hike we were hoping for, proved really fun.  Shortly into it, we were all asked to introduce ourselves and after learning we were American, a nice couple introduced themselves to us and we chatted with them for the next three hours.  Carlos was a photographer, and we ended up having our photos taken many more times that day.

We were instructed to "soft kiss" 

Here I am, exercising cultural sensitivity and respect as I skip down a paved road that has been in place for hundreds of years.  I had been instructed to "skip like a little girl"

The main highlight of the walk was an incredible view looking down onto Medellin as a storm rolled in.  It was beautiful and a great perspective on the city we've been dwelling in for the past month.