Although I hate stereotypes, it is inevitable to travel to Medellín and not think about everything that this city has suffered due to drug trafficking. Whilst the city is very beautiful and more cosmopolitan than I had imagined, there was a place that quite surprised me because of its transformation, especially considering that it was the birthplace of the hired assassins in the time of Pablo Escobar. I am talking about Comuna 13 San Javier.
If we look for the definition of resilience in the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language, we will find the following: “Capacity of adaptation of a living being against a disturbing agent or an adverse state or situation”. There are many cities where citizens, thanks to their ability to adapt, manage to face adverse situations such as living or surviving in a violent environment. What is happening in Commune 13 is the perfect example.
To understand a little about the transformation of this neighborhood, you must know its origins. Comuna 13 is a marginal neighborhood of approximately 160 thousand people, which is part of the 16 communes located in the hills on the outskirts of Medellín. Where there was and still is a lot of poverty, where hitmen lived, members of guerrilla groups, of the Medellín Cartel and which became one of the most dangerous places in the world.
Years ago, the simple fact of crossing from one street to another due to extreme violence and strife between armed groups could cost you your life. For example, there is a soccer field where we saw children playing and where they even recorded music videos, but in the past they used to play with human heads right there at the place where we were standing.
It is also a place that has suffered greatly not only from Pablo Escobar, but also from military operations that led to confrontations between guerrillas and the military. Residents were used to surviving.
Nowadays, you can walk and get to know by the hand of numerous tours that take you to that area to show you how they are transforming the neighborhood with family businesses, government investment, beautiful murals by urban artists and artistic presentations, because if anything has served to transform little by little the commune, it is precisely art and culture.
The first thing we did was contact AIC Tour Medellín, which offers an incredible free tour, that works based on tips. The most important thing is that you are guided by someone from the same community, who will tell you all the stories first hand. So we went to our appointment at a metro station and from there were taken by public bus to the commune.
We were very lucky not only because Yhonatan was an excellent guide, but also because we had a very fun group. The most beautiful part of this kind of experience is that throughout the journey of about four hours, you are really interacting with those on the tour and with the local people, which was exactly what we wanted.
As we were advancing through the steep streets, we stopped to analyze the colorful murals of various local and international artists who have participated in this transformation, having as a condition to capture something related to the commune.
The first business we visited was Cremas Doña Alba, an ice cream parlor where they make delicious ice cream “popsicles” and curiously you can add tajín chili powder, because according to what they told us, other Mexicans shared the taste and brought them the chile (I already promised to bring them chamoy when I return ;-)).
The houses and shops in the neighborhood are prostrated on the hill, but to facilitate the climb, they built some modern escalators that take you to the top. As we were going up, Yhonatan explained the murals to us, telling stories of the commune, some sad, others terrifying, but most positive, because what they are looking for is to put aside the yellowing and highlight how they are doing to move forward and change their environment.
We visited the galleries of the main urban artists of the commune and also stopped to see presentations of street artists who brightened up the afternoon with breakdance and rap. Those rappers had so much spark that with the little information they asked us, such as our nationality and typical words from our countries, they did a battle of improvised songs that left us speechless.
As you can imagine, from above, we got very nice views of Medellín and to escape the heat, we refreshed in a corner having a few cold beers while talking with the lovely lady of the stall.
We met lovely, hardworking people who survived the violence, including an older couple, some of the pioneers in starting this movement to rescue their commune. It was very exciting that they shared their stories with us and hugged us when we said goodbye, leaving us with the lump in our throat.
We also loved the AIC Tour agency because it is a family business that grew up in the commune. As we told them that we own a travel agency, after the tour, we spent a good time talking to them, walking and eating more mango ice creams. I was left with a beautiful memory of that family whom we promised to contact when we return to Medellín “to have a few beers and go dancing there in the commune.”
Finally, the night came and curiously we did not feel insecure being there. As we had to wait several minutes for the bus that takes you to the subway station, we went to a small grocery store, bought some beers and sat down at the sidewalk tables to wait for the bus to arrive, happy, remembering the most exciting moments we had experienced that afternoon in Comuna 13.
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