Made in mEdellin

After a final Christmas Eve dinner with family, we had an early bedtime and were up before 5 am on Christmas morning to begin our journey to Colombia.

16 hours and 2 very smooth connections later, we were at the first destination of our trip, Medellin, Colombia. When we walked out of the baggage claim area, a massive cheer erupted from people waiting for their loved ones - we were treated like rock stars, as people threw confetti on us and shouted "welcome" in Spanish! After a 45 drive through the dark, we arrived at our hotel. The park one block away from our hotel was rocking with a couple hundred people celebrating Christmas in untraditional style, so we headed out at 1 am to watch the young and foolish drink and dance the night away.

Today was spent touring Medellin, which is an amazingly modern, safe city that is the polar opposite of its reputation. Our guide Willi (just Google Willi's Bedt Tours Medellin), gave us a very thorough history of the region from the 1500s to today. In the span of 15 years, the city has completely transformed itself from murder capital of the world to cutting edge. The people are amazing - everyone seems to have bought in to a community minded approach - I don't think I have ever met a more fiercely proud people.

All in all it has been a great day - we are now in the airport waiting for our flight to Cartagena, where we have a free day tomorrow.

By the way, Medellin Rum (that's the brand) gets two thumbs up from the Banmans - we are working hard to free Cuba on our first day in Colombia!