June 20, 2018 – June 22, 2018

Since we had survived the drive through Bogota, why not drive through the second largest city in Colombia, Medellin! We made our way through the city, then through a 4 kilometre tunnel, and wound our way slowly to the north west of the city to a small colonial town called Sante Fe de Antioquia. There we camped for a couple of nights at Los Cabanas de Pino, where there was a very nice swimming pool!

Fountain in the town square.

The town has remained largely unchanged since 1826 when it lost its title of capital of Antioquia to Medellin.

We visited the Puente de Occidente, a bridge built in 1887 by Jose Maria Villa who had learned about bridge building working on the Brooklyn Bridge in New Jersey.  It was South America’s first suspension bridge.

We had parked above the bridge on a nice flat spot where tour buses also park.  A man was there selling water to tourists.  When we returned from the bridge we talked with him for some time and he insisted that we take photos of us with him in front of the truck with our camera.  He then asked me to take a picture with his camera of him with our truck, wearing Derek’s hat…I wish I had a copy of that one, he looked so proud!