Why Do Tourists Come to Comuna 13 Now?

Beginner (A2) · Travel & Geography · 18 min · Premium

When I landed in Medellin I went straight out for coffee. Colombia is famous for it and I was not going to wait.

I ordered it cold, because it is warm in Colombia, and then sat with the cup in front of a park, watching people walk past, a bit lost and trying to work out what to do with myself. Medellin is a strange city in the best way. Mountains everywhere, and houses all over the mountains, thousands of them, right up the slopes.

The next day I joined a walking tour of Comuna 13, the thirteenth neighbourhood, the one everybody has heard of. It is famous because there was a war there. Years of violence. None of that now: there are tourists from America and Canada and Australia and Europe, bars and restaurants, painted houses in every colour, and graffiti on every wall, which is what people come to see. I could not read a word of what any of it said.

We walked the narrow streets, past the shops and the houses, and I took far too many photographs of electricity cables, because they are everywhere and I found them fascinating. There is a woman selling hats. There are motorbikes. There is a crowd.

I was a bit unwell while I recorded this one, so my energy is lower than usual. I say so on camera and I will say it here too.

Photo format, clear Levantine Arabic. More Colombian cities are on the way.

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