Smells like mountains, like a strange perfumed dampness; thousands of lights emanating from distant houses turn the land into a starry sky, and when, through the car window, a breath of fresh air that seeps in unfiltered reaches the last inch of my body, it welcomes me to Medellín, the new gastronomic mecca of Latin America and today one of the world’s most prominent tourist destinations.
This city has a magnetism so singular that it hurts as much as leaving behind a love when you finally pull away and watch it fade among the hills and the mist of its clouds from the plane. Its metropolis-sized streets are vibrant, winding, lush with vegetation and with a dizzying pace, and its people are helpful and have a drawling and contagious accent that enchants (yes, it happened to me).
But there is something else beating beneath the charm of its freshness and its steep hills: a rumor of spices and firewood that has been slowly cooking along its slopes. It is no accident that this very publication has recently named Medellín an unmissable destination. The city has transformed, leaving behind a violent past and today, rightly so, is the new gastronomic and cultural mecca of Latin America. Join me to explore, like a local, the city of blossoming and eternal spring.
What to do
To understand the miracle of this land and its transformation, one must first wander through its scars, and that is where I’m headed. There was a time when the slopes of Commune 13 were the epicenter of insecurity and one of the most dangerous places in Colombia. Today, walking through this corner of the mountain is to witness the transformation this city has undergone. I ascend its steep ridges on the surreal electric stairways that cut through the neighborhood like one of its many ravines.
In this vibrant and crowded zone, violence was banished by graffiti-covered walls, by corners that vibrate to the rhythm of hip-hop and reggaetón, by the endless array of shops where you can try local food, by the stalls where you are offered everything from the classics to the most inventive cocktails, by spontaneous outdoor performances and by the stalls of merchants selling all kinds of curiosities and knick-knacks. A plan not to be missed.
