Colombia's unexpected green oasis

[Guest reader]

From BBC Travel

For years, the Moravia neighbourhood of Medellín was the city's rubbish dump. But in recent years, this former landfill has blossomed into a thriving arts and cultural centre.

Stroll through Medellín's working-class Moravia neighbourhood on any given morning and you'll see a hawker belting out "aguacates!" through a small loudspeaker while dragging a wooden wagon of gigantic avocados behind him. Scents of deep-fried cheese-and-dough fritters swirl from heated buñuelo displays. Glancing up amid the winding sea of humble brick-and-cement abodes, a grandma hangs her clothes out to dry on a thin wire on her balcony. Amid it all, motorcycles, delivery trucks and stray dogs do a delicate dance while navigating the narrow roads.

This multisensory experience may not seem entirely out of place elsewhere in Colombia, but it was unfathomable here just years ago. That's because, not only was Medellín dogged by its reputation as the world's unofficial "murder capital" for years, but Moravia once had a particularly undesirable reputation within the city: it was its rubbish dump.

Medellín is just three decades removed from its designation as "The Most Dangerous City" in the world by Timemagazine. In 1991, the homicide rate peaked at a world-high of 380 per 100,000 people as the country's drug war oozed into the streets and facets of everyday life. Today, those years appear to be long gone. The homicide rate is roughly one-fifteenth of what it once was, there's a genuine sense of revitalisation in the air and public projects are breathing new life into the city.

The Morro de Moravia (Moravia Hill) enlivens the urban landscape of Medellin (Credit: Alcadía de Medellín)

A squeaky-clean Metro system now whizzes above ground, cable cars string into hillside barrios, and public escalators wind through the once-unnavigable Comuna 13 neighbourhood. Each of these is not only a picturesque way for visitors to take in the city's skyline and sky-high Andes Mountains vistas, but they also connect those in some of Medellín's poorest and hardest-to-navigate neighbourhoods with the centre city and job opportunities. 

Medellín's central 'mountain'

When viewed from above, beige-and-brick structures dot Medellín's landscape. The northern half of the city is enclosed by mountains, but there is one noticeable green heap in the centre of town just north of the Parque Norte amusement park: the Morro de Moravia (Moravia Hill), which is blanketed in grass, walking paths and gardens and is punctuated with a large greenhouse on top. Yet, walking up the mountain, you're greeted with large signs and historical photos showing what life was once like on this now-serene hill: black-and-white images reveal a vast landscape of dirt, hand-made shanties built from rubbish and locals picking through the city's dumped debris. 

When the Ferrocarril de Antioquia regional railroad connected Moravia with the surrounding countryside in the 1960s, it brought displaced families forced to relocate to the safer confines of the city. Their once-quiet lives outside Medellín had been made dangerous by right- and left-wing militarists engaging in a partisan war over land and goods. Settling in Moravia – which formed in the early 1900s as a linear settlement bordering the railroad and slowly expanded out from it – was a safer bet. 

In the 1970s, the city authorised the area to be used as a municipal landfill, which led this slowly new barrio to explode into a mountain of garbage. As a result, a number of the previously displaced families were relocated to the western hills of Medellín. Other families resisted further relocation as the trash began piling up all around them. Of the families that resisted and remained, many operated recycling operations out of their homes to make a living.

Continues with photos

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20210713-moravia-colombias-unexpected-green-oasis

 

[Lucky]

 I would like to visit Columbia,  after COVID.

[davet]

The chair lifts up the mountainside make for an incredible touristic and cultural experience at the price of bus ride. Go all the way to the top and you can enjoy a nature preserve with orchids, etc.

[kjun12]

On 7/21/2021 at 8:34 PM, Lucky said:

 I would like to visit Columbia,  after COVID.

So would I but I don't think I will make the journey.

[joizy]

On 7/21/2021 at 6:34 AM, Lucky said:

 I would like to visit Columbia,  after COVID.

I felt very safe there COVID-wise. They took is seriously, locked down and got vaccinated. When I was there, they lifted the mask mandate and things felt very normal. I was having sex and going to restaurants and even though I caught some type of virus that was going around, I never got COVID (I had to have a negative test to return to the US). I'd say now is about as good a time as any to go.