More of Medellin

We continue to have a fantastic time in Medellin. In the last week the stand out things we have done are; attending Sebastian's graduation party, pueblito pieser, the lights along Medellin river, a massive rock, a traditional antiokian restaurant and a farm park. 
On thursday 16th it was Sebastian's graduation, one of Necane's cousins. We did not go to the ceremony but we hear it was very nice and went well. We did however go the graduation party at a nice venue nearby where we are staying. Filled with all Sebastian's family and friends, we knew it was going to be a big night. The party was amazing and such a nice way to celebrate with lots of eating, drinking and dancing. We both got asked to dance a lot and Necane spent most of her night dancing with uncles and cousins. We are still trying to learn how to dance but think by the end of our stay here we hopefully may get it! The party stopped at the venue at 2:00am but carried on at the house we are staying with some finishing up at 7:00am. Frano was very hungover that day. 
That evening we went to check out Pueblito Pieser. The re-model of a typical antiokian village is situated on top of a hill in the centre of the city and has an extensive view over the city below. The beautiful small village included a fountain, church, and various houses and buildings all built in a traditional antioquian style of architecture and of coarse looked stunning decorated with excessive Christmas lighting. It was awesome to see a traditional village but was absolutely packed with hoards of people so it was quite hard to fully appreciate the significance of the re-model. After we explored the village we went to the lookout above pueblito pieser to observe the huge city by night. There was a massive nativity scene up on the lookout and the panoramic view of the city was amazing, as we went at night time, we could see all the christmas lighting displays along the Medellin river below.  After we got some sweet snaps with the city as the back drop we went down to the river to explore the famous light display. Crowded with thousands of people there really was a Christmas atmosphere about. The river is covered with thousands of water powered spinning lights that go further than you can see along with lots of displays along the river bank. Unfortunately the lights were switched off before we got to explore the full exhibition but we will return to see the rest. We then went to check out uncle Javier's club called ay-karamba which was so cool! It had different levels, laser lights, smoke machine and a nice big tv. There was a range of music playing salsa, meringue, regeton, cumbia, electronic and there were also some surprise songs that had actions that everyone knew. We cracked up laughing as everyone was all of a sudden acting like a gorilla, shimmying, and going low right to the ground. We had lots of fun and got the chance to see some really good dancers. 
On saturday the 18th we went to el penol with Sebastian and uncle Ivan (the youngest uncle). It is pretty much a gigantic rock, absolutely colossal in size. The rock has the dodgiest looking stairway up to the summit which we have no idea how they managed to build. While in awe at the rock itself we didn't realise the amazing surroundings around us until we were halfway up. The summit has the most beautiful 360degree view of the hundreds of islands created by the intentional flooding of the land. Our attention on the rock turned to the amazing green scenery as we took some stunning photos from the top of el penol. After a cool beverage we descended back down to the bottom of the rock and went to check out the city nearby. It was a replacement town as the original is submerged due to the damn. We enjoyed a staple Colombian meal of chocolo arepa and a massive chunk of feta before heading back to Medellin. 
We got back after the two hour drive and got ready to see what the clubs in medallion have to offer. We went to an area similar to Courtney place in that the whole area is dedicated to the night life. The bars and streets were over flowing with people so we found a wicked rooftop bar and enjoyed a couple of quiet drinks. We then went to explore the other bars and clubs in the area. Lleras Parque Was really nice and decorated with lots of christmas light. There was such a range of places from casual bars, discotechs, electonica, reggaton and pop clubs and also the more traditional salsa, cumbia and merengue clubs. A really cool night. 
On Sunday we caught the metro out to a traditional antioquian restaurant with Sebastian, juan Pablo and their mother blanca lilia. The place was a bit like a ranch as it had lots of horses and numerous other animals including a llama, donkeys, goats, sheep, rabbits and different kinds of birds. It also had an awesome straw like roof which really gave a traditional feel about it. We ordered our meal and a starter dish that we didn't know about came out first. It was a dish called chunchurria, a favourite of juan pablo's who had talked about it a lot over our stay here and was very excited about us trying it. We were quite hesitant to try chunchurria as it is pigs intestines, but we gave it a go and to juan pablo's disappointment we did not like it. However our meals came and to our surprise they were massive! We washed the taste of intestine out with our delicious meals before checking out the animals. Our favourite had to be the zebra donkey. The following day we headed over to a small town an hour out of
Medellin called San Pedro with Sebastian, auntie Amparo and her 3 year old son Miguel. We went to a commercialised farm. After a guided tour Frano and Sebastian took to the tracks on quad bikes before we enjoyed a meal in the restaurant. After we went to check out the town. Like all south american town plazas it had a beautiful church as the centre piece. It had a grand but modest exterior but the most beautiful interior. Large white columns lined the isle but the main feature was the amazing paintings on the ceiling. 
Today we had a good day exploring more of Medellin city. Medellin has the most effective public transport system. All for one ticket costing $1.50 NZ, you can catch a bus to a metro station, ride the various lines of the metro and included in the system are two separate gondolas taking commuters up to the suburbs in the hills. A really efficient and extensive system that corresponds to the city, landscape and the peoples needs. We took one of the gondolas up from the west end of the city and enjoyed the fly over tour with great views of the city. One part of the gondola travels over a very poor area. It was quite sad to see how some people are living, but they did appear to be better than some of the slums in Peru. After our small adventure we headed to a new mall called Santa Fe. It was a amazing multi-storey mall with various opening roofs, glass floor bridges and an ice skating rink in the middle. We had a look around the shops and got a feed before heading home. On the way we drove through parts of town beautifully lit up and decorated with Xmas lights, and we got a preview of more of the city we are yet to explore.