Medellin Explored

Large town on route between Bogota and Medellin
Unusual architechture

Hire rise buildings on slope of the foothills

House built by Three Little Pigs Construction Inc. I'm not sure it would keep the wolf out.

The route to Medellin, besides being mountainous, was fairly well populated. Small villages with their homes built close together and very near the road were common. I believe they live a mostly agricultural life. Men on horseback are seen often riding along the road and much of the land is cultivated. Women and children often sell food items such as fruit, or bottled water in front of their homes. The homes themselves are modest indeed. Some are little more than wattle and daub. It looks like the only builders in town are the Three Little Pigs. Most of the work went to the brother that used brick (though here it is mostly rough block). But the brothers that build with straw and sticks also built many houses. Luckily it doesn’t get too cold here because the buildings don't appear to be weather tight.

One of the conundrums I found in Bogota is repeated here in Medellin. Both cities are extremely affluent by South American standards. Cars here cost double what they do in the US due to a 45% import duty. I visited the BMW dealer to confirm this. New BMW 1200 GS Adventures cost $60,000 US. Yet they sell a great deal. The same is true at the Porsche, and Mercedes dealers. I’ve quizzed all my cab drivers asking them why so many eople are rich here. They say the drug trade is one of the reasons, but I can’t believe that alone could support a city of 3 million so lavishly. If it does then drug use is much more prevalent than I imagined. We’ll go to Cali tomorrow where I’ll see if that too is a very rich city. If so, it may well be the drugs.