Medellin Travel GuideWhat should a Medellin travel guide focus on? Medellin is where my wife is from and where I now live. I've been back and forth between Norway, the U.S. and Medellin since 1999 and have gradually grown to appreciate and love more and more of Colombian culture and the wonderful people here. Medellin is the second largest city of Colombia and has had a lingering reputation due to associations with Pablo Escobar and the drug cartels in the city. There is much more on offer and the city has changed enormously over the last 10 years or so. The progress has been impressive with new roads and infrastructure, apartment and office blocks, restaurants, cafes, shopping malls, museums and public libraries. 
It wasn't long ago that there were only a handful of rather old-fashioned and stuffy restaurants here but now, you have El Herbario, Carmen, In Situ, Bonuar and the list goes on... Maybe not such a big deal, but there are now several Mac stores that didn't exist only 5 years ago. It's interesting to note that literally in the last 3 years, BMWs, Volvos, Mercedes & VW have become major competitors where it used to be mainly Renault and Chevrolet. No, it's not all about buying stuff, but the city has become modernized and is on-par with in terms of offer with any mid-sized town or small city in Europe or the U.S. This was not the case 10 years ago and it looks as though the trend is not only going to continue but is accelerating. I think it's interesting to observe how the world changes. Europe and the U.S. are facing enormous economic and political problems and South American countries are having their shot at economic growth and improved stability. There are enormous social injustices and huge amounts of corruption that still go on here, but there also seems to be a positive trend. Medellin is an interesting and thriving city. There are issues with pollution and traffic and poorly designed road networks but as money keeps flooding into the city, so does what's on offer. Additionally, a tunnel connecting the El Poblado area to the Oriente (Higher area to the West of the city where the airport is) in addition to the fast growth of infrastructure and services up in the Oriente, what we have happening now is that this entire area of what used to be separate villages and towns, are becoming interconnected to form a greener, less polluted and extremely beautiful alternative to Medellin for living, school etc. Medellin will be only 20-30 minutes away once the tunnel is completed. There's a reason I choose to live here...
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