A few weeks ago I wrote a post about the clear sunny skies, beautiful public parks, and my perception of presumed safety in and around Medellin. That post was written after my first week in the city. Unfortunately, after nearly 5 weeks in Medellin, my perception has changed.
On my first two visits to Colombia, I skipped the big city of Bogota (nearly 8 million people in a metro area of nearly 13 million people) and only spent a couple of days in Medellin (about 2.5 million people in a metro area of slightly over 4 million) as my interest in this beautiful country lies mostly in its amazing natural landscape and mountain sport activities. While this trip was planned to include more of the same, I had a few other goals for this trip including sharing the beauty of the country with my wife Brenda, learning a bit of Spanish, and actually seeing what it might be like to live somewhere in Colombia. With its proximity to the small pueblos and natural wonders of Antioquia paired with it’s central location with easy travel access to other parts of the country, excellent Spanish schools, and sizable expat community, we chose Medellin as our base for a 2 month visit.
My flight from Colorado landed in Bogota late on the evening of Friday February 9th so I decided to take one day to explore Bogota before heading to Medellin. I took a walking tour of the historic Candelaria District and made a strenuous climb to the Temple of Monserrate for a birds eye view of the city and countryside surrounding it but, quite honestly, that was more than enough of Bogota so I boarded a flight early on Sunday arriving in Medellin to begin the new adventure.
My first day in Medellin was mostly housekeeping activities. I checked into my Spanish school, acquired a Colombian SIM card, an access card for the metro transit system, and a cheap used bicycle to get around the barrio. I started Spanish classes on my second day which lasted three weeks until Brenda arrived. During that time, I attended school 4 hours each day, got familiar with the public transit system, spent nearly every afternoon enjoying a hike in one of the cities many beautiful public parks, learned a bit of Espanol, and enjoyed mostly clear sunny skies.
Unfortunately, much of that has changed. A day or two before Brenda arrived, the weather patterns changed and daily cloud cover above the city has trapped the pollution diminishing the air quality leaving a constant haze of smog much like Santiago, Chile. Additionally, we started venturing further abroad from barrio Laureles to explore other parts of the city via car and public transit and came face to face with the horrific traffic and the crowded metro system during rush hours. We took a couple of short trips to Valle de Corcora near Salento which was amazing but encountered some transportation challenges with overbooked busses, delayed flights, and bad taxi drivers on our way back. We also went to Guatape and a few other small towns in Antioquia but were very sad to see many sections of Lago Guatape nearly dried up from the drought that Colombia is currently experiencing. Additionally, we had to come back to the city a day earlier than planned because a host we had booked lodging with failed to honor our reservation.
We returned to our apartment in Medellin late on Friday evening, took Saturday to re-group and make plans for our final roadtrip to Jerico, Jardin, and Chinchina. Yesterday, we returned to the beautiful Parque Arvi on the outskirts of Medellin which we had visited a couple of times prior for a nice hike in the pine forests in higher altitudes with cooler temps. The Sunday morning drive to Arvi was actually pleasant with little traffic, beautiful scenery, and the energy of cyclists peddling to the top of the mountain. We arrived at the carpark and set off for a 6 mile loop hike. In the first 5 miles of our trek Brenda and I shared some great conversation, doted on a few dogs, and were enjoying sharing the park with other families, seniors, dogs, and even a scout troop but things suddenly changed.
In the matter of a split second, we were approached from behind by someone telling us to be calm and tranquil. At first we didn’t totally realize what was happening as we had just passed and were still within sight of a couple that we thought were just sitting enjoying the woods. Unfortunately, once I figured out what was happening, I made a poor judgment call trying to call for help and resist the robbery. What a mistake that turned out to be! Had we simply acquiesced, we would have simply turned over our phones and the small amount of cash we were carrying and would have probably walked away unscathed but, turns out that the other couple that we had just passed had also just been robbed and we were the second victims. My call for help and initial resistance angered the robber and he fired a shot that grazed my neck and beat my head with his pistol. Thank God he didn’t harm Brenda but he took everything that we had in our possession and I was a bloody mess!
I remained coherent and didn’t feel much pain but we were both really scared. As the robber ran away, the other couple who were victims to the crime provided some assistance to help stop my bleeding and helped Brenda & I back down the trail to the road where others had heard the gunshot and seemed to be ready to assist. I was coherent the entire way back to the road and in the back of the police truck that quickly carted Brenda and I to the closest ER in Guarne about 10km away. I had a head and neck wound that were bleeding profusely and, quite honestly, we were terrified as my entire body and the bed of the truck were drenched in pools of my blood. As terrified as we were, oddly, I remained calm and coherent for the entire ride and my admittance to the ER.
In Guarne, they gave me something that immediately slowed and eventually stopped the bleeding and I was surrounded by a team of 6 or more medics who were trying to clean me up while, at the same time, assessing my condition. All but one of them spoke only Spanish and the one English speaker was doing his best to let me know what was happening. I remained coherent and actually comprehended and communicated using some of my newly acquired language skills. After my initial triage, the ER doc proceeded to place 31 stitches in my head where I had been beaten with the pistol but did nothing to the wound on my neck other than clean and try to stop the bleeding. He told me that there was a possible fracture and possible damage to the blood vessels in my neck and arranged for an ambulance transfer to a hospital in Medellin that was better equipped to assess and deal with the neck wound.
As I was being transferred back to Medellin by Ambulance, the Colombia National Police assisted Brenda with a ride and access to our apartment as we thought the robber had taken our car and apartment keys and we needed our passports and a way to pay for my medical care. They also brought Brenda to the ER where I was at in Medellin.
I’m writing this post from a hospital bed in Medellin just 24 hours after the event occurred feeling a combination of anger, sadness, and gratitude all at the same time. I’m angry at myself for resisting the robber and making a bad situation worse. I’m angry at the robber! I’m sad that my wife had to endure the stress of the event and, at the same time grateful that the robber never tried to hurt her. I’m grateful for the help from the other couple who were also victims to this horrible crime for their efforts to lead Brenda and I to help. I’m grateful for the kindness and patience of the medical staff and the police officers who have assisted and, since I’m writing this, you can guess that I’m mostly grateful to be alive and relatively well in spite of all of this. Turns out that the gun the robber used had rubber bullets which penetrated my skin but did not cause any serious damage to my blood vessels – no vascular surgery required! Also turns out that there are no fractured bones and that the wounds to my head and neck are mostly superficial. I did lose a bunch of blood and am still experiencing a bit of dizziness when I stand up but it’s looking like I’ll be released this afternoon and able to proceed with whatever new plans we make.
Lastly, I’m sad that the natural beauty of Colombia and the kindness and friendliness of the many friends and acquaintances I’ve made here will likely forever be tainted by this traumatic event and it has certainly reinforced some of the reasons we prefer not to spend much time in or near big cities. Medellin is a vibrant city full of arts, architecture, culture, and beautiful parks and green spaces but, apparently an under current of violence from its past still exists.
