Colombia has adopted its own Socio Economic Tier system, ranging from 1 to 6. Tier 6 is the wealthiest and Tier 1 is the poorest neighborhood. Poblado is Tier 6, for example.
In Colombia, each city is divided into communities or Comunas and each communa is assigned a number. Each comuna consists of tens of barrios or neighborhoods. Medellin has 16 comunas.
Comuna 13 is one of the poorest communities in Medellin. It is quite sizable, but historically has been infested with drugs, gang violence and extreme poverty.
But, now Comuna 13 is thriving, not necessarily with affluence, but with transformation that has given the residents renewed hope and possibilities. The transformation has been propelled by the installation of six (6) escalators to make the ascending and descending easy, the graffiti tour in addition to the connection of the community to the Metro system via a Metro Cable Line J.
We went to San Javier, part of Comuna 13, via Uber taxi and hired a tour guide, namely Jimmy. We could have taken Metro A and change the train to Metro B at San Antonio to San Javier. From there, we could have taken the Metro Shuttle to the Graffiti Tour site. We took this route with Amanda and Ray when we took them to the site.
For three of us, we paid Jimmy $25 for a 2 and 1/2 hour tour. He is 25 years of age, not knowing who his father is. But, he looked quite upbeat and pleasant.
We started the tour by watching several boys performing break-dancing on the floor A professional tour guide was wearing a t-shirt showing his profession..
From the entrance, the streets and houses were covered with graffiti arts. They were fascinating.
At one location, the inside of a house was painted with graffiti that showed arts in 3D. We had to wear 3D glass to fully experience the arts.
As explained above, the installation of 6 segments of escalators was one of the important drivings forces behind the transformation in Comuna 13.
While they were installing the escalators, one owner refused to sell his house and the city had to build around the house. Now the house is thriving with the tourists and visitors, including Bill Clinton. Several photos of Bill Clinton were displayed.
We visited a few places where the artists were painting their own artworks.
One painting gave a reality show concept with two gigantic fingers sticking out of a wall as if picking us up with the fingers.
Wherever you go, you will find the colorful graffiti artworks that depict the stories of their own, usually sad and painful.
We stopped over at an open air bar that had a panoramic view of the City of Medellin. We spent some time enjoying the view as well as sharing our life stories.
The panoramic city view was showing sharp contrast of the rich and the poor.
Jimmy took us to a pathway that had a concrete wall covered with graffiti artworks. Again, there were stories after stories. We saw the pathway under construction for extension. Jimmy said that another 1 km of the wall will be built to stretch the graffiti tour route.
Jimmy took us to his home, passing through the steep stairs in narrow alleys. It was on the third floor of a building, to which we had to climb a steep metal staircase. The house had a nice view of the city, but naturally small. He is married and they have a new baby. His sister was living also with them. He invited us to write something on the wall. I wrote Dream Big! He and his sister posted in front of the wall.
.We watched a little boy who showed us a trick with his playing cards. We were tricked and could not figure out how he changed the card to Spade 3 which I picked in the first place.
As our tour was ending, Jimmy took us to a place where Hope or Esperanza was clearly written on the wall. Yes, indeed. Hope is what drives us to elbow through any challenges we may face in life. That hope is real only in the life giving God of Hope, our Lord Jesus Christ.
We took the Metro Cable Line J to go over a hill to a valley and further to another hill. We stayed on the Metro Cable to return to San Javier to return home The houses below were clearly shacks and tin-roofed houses showing their life in poverty.
The tour made us feel how blessed we are and also feel challenged to be more intentional about reaching out and helping out the people in need. - Jeffrey
In Colombia, each city is divided into communities or Comunas and each communa is assigned a number. Each comuna consists of tens of barrios or neighborhoods. Medellin has 16 comunas.
Comuna 13 is one of the poorest communities in Medellin. It is quite sizable, but historically has been infested with drugs, gang violence and extreme poverty.
But, now Comuna 13 is thriving, not necessarily with affluence, but with transformation that has given the residents renewed hope and possibilities. The transformation has been propelled by the installation of six (6) escalators to make the ascending and descending easy, the graffiti tour in addition to the connection of the community to the Metro system via a Metro Cable Line J.
We went to San Javier, part of Comuna 13, via Uber taxi and hired a tour guide, namely Jimmy. We could have taken Metro A and change the train to Metro B at San Antonio to San Javier. From there, we could have taken the Metro Shuttle to the Graffiti Tour site. We took this route with Amanda and Ray when we took them to the site.
For three of us, we paid Jimmy $25 for a 2 and 1/2 hour tour. He is 25 years of age, not knowing who his father is. But, he looked quite upbeat and pleasant.
We started the tour by watching several boys performing break-dancing on the floor A professional tour guide was wearing a t-shirt showing his profession..
From the entrance, the streets and houses were covered with graffiti arts. They were fascinating.
At one location, the inside of a house was painted with graffiti that showed arts in 3D. We had to wear 3D glass to fully experience the arts.
As explained above, the installation of 6 segments of escalators was one of the important drivings forces behind the transformation in Comuna 13.
While they were installing the escalators, one owner refused to sell his house and the city had to build around the house. Now the house is thriving with the tourists and visitors, including Bill Clinton. Several photos of Bill Clinton were displayed.
We visited a few places where the artists were painting their own artworks.
One painting gave a reality show concept with two gigantic fingers sticking out of a wall as if picking us up with the fingers.
Wherever you go, you will find the colorful graffiti artworks that depict the stories of their own, usually sad and painful.
We stopped over at an open air bar that had a panoramic view of the City of Medellin. We spent some time enjoying the view as well as sharing our life stories.
The panoramic city view was showing sharp contrast of the rich and the poor.
Jimmy took us to a pathway that had a concrete wall covered with graffiti artworks. Again, there were stories after stories. We saw the pathway under construction for extension. Jimmy said that another 1 km of the wall will be built to stretch the graffiti tour route.
A group of young boys were explained about the animals hidden in a big graffiti artwork of a lion on the wall. Some were plausible and others were a little pushy. But they were passionate.
Jimmy took us to his home, passing through the steep stairs in narrow alleys. It was on the third floor of a building, to which we had to climb a steep metal staircase. The house had a nice view of the city, but naturally small. He is married and they have a new baby. His sister was living also with them. He invited us to write something on the wall. I wrote Dream Big! He and his sister posted in front of the wall.
As our tour was ending, Jimmy took us to a place where Hope or Esperanza was clearly written on the wall. Yes, indeed. Hope is what drives us to elbow through any challenges we may face in life. That hope is real only in the life giving God of Hope, our Lord Jesus Christ.
We took the Metro Cable Line J to go over a hill to a valley and further to another hill. We stayed on the Metro Cable to return to San Javier to return home The houses below were clearly shacks and tin-roofed houses showing their life in poverty.
The tour made us feel how blessed we are and also feel challenged to be more intentional about reaching out and helping out the people in need. - Jeffrey
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