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This is an email I wrote to a potential trainee who heard about kidnapping, bombs and assassinations, and therefore wanted to know about the real day-to-day life here in Medellín. Hi! This is Flo, the trainee from Germany. I am 23, blond with blue eyes (so easily determinable as a rich foreigner) and live in Medellín since February. I am male, but I don't think there's a real difference. You may think (like I did) "of course they always say it's safe and there's nothing", but what you can read below is about my real situation here and there's no hidden second truth. Okay, here we go: Like in almost every big city of the world (NY, Paris, ...), there are some neighborhoods which are known to be dangerous and where one must keep out. Medellín is located in a valley and these dangerous neighborhoods are somewhere up the hill, thus far away from normal life. So there's no influence in my day-to-day life here. I walk alone around in the city, I go by metro, I have a lot of fun at night, ... I have never been in some kind of insecure situation. In addition to that I had some walks around in poorer neighborhoods (where the Colombians told me later, that's not a place for me) and I felt safe and there was absolutely nothing dangerous. The only security precaution I can think of at the moment is that after 9 pm you may take a cab instead of walking. But we've been walking around in my neighborhood after this time too, so it's more a guideline. To summarize, my day-to-day life here is pretty much the same as in Munich/Germany. I can do everything I want without thinking of safety. But to be honest (like I told you) one has to think about security when going somewhere outside the city. The forests and the hills are where the guerilla lives and therefore some places are not to be visited, for others you have at least to think about what could happen. For the ones you will usually go (like fincas of friends, some villages, ...) there's no problem. For going to other cities it may be better to take the airplane, but because the bus trip will take many many hours it may be the better solution anyway. (I went by bus too and nothing happened.) Thus if you wanna have an adventure tour in the jungle and wanna see some coca-fields - you must be crazy or forget it. But if you wanna have great parties on a finca and you're also happy seeing coffee-fields instead - there's no point of not coming here. I've one of the best times of my life and don't rue coming here. If you have any further questions or want me to explain something more in detail, please let me know. Adios! Flo |
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