Parque Arvi

30 June, Saturday

The plan of the day was to meet at 830am at Estacion Avecedo in order to go to Parque Arví! That meant waking up at 630am (torturous) and taking the bus and metro by myself for the first time. I am ashamed to admit that it was thoroughly terrifying. 

The Medellín bus

On board the bus

Fun facts about Colombian buses:

1) Buses do not have numbers, instead the destination is written at the front and back of the bus

2) There are absolutely no bus stops, you can flag a bus down or drop off at any point on the bus's route

After boarding the bus, I had no idea at all where I was supposed to stop. The bus twisted down roads and went up and down hills and I was just utterly bewildered. Where are the bus stops?! Road signs!?Announcements!? The happy latin music blasted onboard the bus did not help at all. Finally I decided to ask someone, simply 'hoping' that I would spot the station just wouldn't do. Not with my current state of Spanish. 

Asked a Colombian girl on board the bus, and though I spoke no Spanish and she spoke no English, she brought me to the right station. Thank goodness.

Estacion Envigado

Estacion Avecedo!

From the Avecedo station we could take the Metrocable over to the other side of the mountain where Parque Arví was. Because the Metrocable was built for the 'poorer' people who lived across the slope of the mountains where it can be rather inaccessible by car, tickets were affordable and cheap. And the view was amazing:

Metrocable

Tiago (from Brazil) - my treasured translator!

View of Medellín city

All of us squashed in the cabin!

Market at the entrance of Parque Arvi, selling amazing fruits

Forgot what it's called but the orange thing was waay yummy

Lulu - local ACIDIC fruit

Our Espanol speaking tour guide

Police barracks

We walked through a ton forests and trees. But the best part was riding this horse! I got a pretty white horse too. It always felt like I was about to fall off - I was holding on to dear life almost the whole time. But it was not a wasted lesson.  

To move faster: Tap/kick the horse lightly 

To move slower: Pull the reins

To turn right or left: Swing the reins to the right/left such that it touches the horses cheek

To jerk to a stop: Horse does this of own accord when peeing or pooping on the road

How could they cut off its mane!

Tiago with a butterfly in fingers O.O

Group picture! 

Chiva - A bus you can rent to hold dancing parties 

Sebastian doing a Smiling Campaign where you pass
on this yellow smiling bead everytime you see someone smile. :D 

It was really fun. We milled and chilled around the park and on the grass alot, telling jokes in Spanish. Someone always has to translate for me, and I would either laugh 2 minutes off time or not find it funny translated at all. 

I wanna learn Spanish so bad! 

Another thing I love about Colombia - fruit stalls just about everywhere along the street! How I miss fruits. Why the heck are they so expensive in London!?

Delicious mangoes mmm