A quick trip to Pablo Escobar's old stomping grounds in Medellin, Colombia

Medellin, Colombia: Host to the 2018 American Continental Championships (BMX)

This, my fourth, trip to South America this year had not been in the planning until maybe a month ago when I was approached to fill in at a race for a colleague of mine. Well, that decision was not a difficult one to make!

Approaching Medellin after many delays

Of course, flying across the equator for what amounts to a mere five days (including travel time) is not as leisurely as loafing around the house for the same span. As a matter of fact, I know numerous people who'd bristle at the idea. But I enjoy traveling and usually have a grand old time, starting from my first flight until I finally get back home. With my LBB to DFW and DFW to MIA upgrade requests clearing at the 100-hour mark it seemed as if this was going to be one smooth trip: Leave Lubbock on Wednesday morning with the 8:00 a.m. flight, have some hangtime in the Admiral's Clubs, enjoy domestic First Class and a decent Economy seat for the three-and-a-half hour hop to Colombia, and get picked up by a driver at 8:30 p.m. Easy as pie and at least as much fun.

Rerouted on Avianca after AA's mechanical issues I finally made it to Medellin

That was the plan. The reality was that I didn't get to Medellin until about noon on Thursday, and my luggage would take an extra day to arrive, being delivered to my hotel just shortly before my main work began. What happened was that after an almost hour-long mechanical inspection delay on the ground our 777 signaled an open baggage hatch about 10 minutes into our flight from Dallas to Miami, and we had to turn around. As appears to be standard in situations like this, nobody knew whether the plane might be fixed, whether there'd be another plane, whether we'd have to be put on a different routing, etc. Long story short: I missed my international flight and was re-booked onto an Avianca flight that left Miami at the ungodly hour of 3:10 a.m. on Thursday, and not directly for Medellin but to Bogota, from where I had to catch another Avianca flight that, in turn, was also delayed by almost an hour. Well, when it rains, it usually pours.

Artsy murals are de rigueur in Medellin

But, in the grand scheme of things, all this barely registered as it was just an annoying hick-up. Once I was in Medellin and exited the baggage area sin equipaje I was met by Hernan Diario Munoz, a 45-year-old former professional racer who not only has had numerous podium appearances and wins at tough stage races such as the Tour of the Gila, the Vuelta de Bisbee, and the national tours of numerous central American countries but who also rode the Giro d'Italia several times and even won the Tour de Lankawi back in 2002. And he still weighs only 60 kilo! Despite his racing in the international peloton he never picked up any English, but that was a good excuse to reactivate mi Espanol.

Hernan and I sharing one of many pints at Cerveceria Libre

Our driving really was quite limited since the American Continental Championships (BMX) were taking place at one of two very nice tracks that Medellin has; as a matter of fact, just a few years ago the World Championships were contested here. I arrived in time for the obligatory Team Managers Meeting, where I was reunited with my old Canadian friend Loyal Ma who was the UCI President of the Commissaires Panel for this event. The last time we had worked together was at a BMX World Cup in Quito, Ecuador.

Loyal Ma, aka Yoda, and I at the BMX track

On Friday morning, my colleague and good friend Carol Siqueira, who had been instrumental in getting me to the Olympics in Rio, arrived coming from Buenos Aires where she is busy with preparations for the upcoming Youth Olympics. And a few hours later I was reunited with my luggage so that the lack of equipment did not force us into a Plan B scenario. The world was back in order, and Carol and I did the job we had to do on Friday evening during the finals of these PanAmerican championships. Everything went well, and we were efficient enough to be able to have a welcome/goodbye beer after midnight--because Carol left a few hours later at 6:00 a.m. to go back to Argentina. Yeah, and you thought our life was glorious!

First there is work ...

... and then comes the well-deserved midnight perro caliente hot-dog snack

I wrapped up our paperwork and other details this morning (Saturday), and by about 2 p.m. I was free of all obligations. I used the time to explore Medellin a bit more than I had been able to during my first trip down here a few years back during the Vuelta a Colombia road race or since my arrival Thursday. Medellin, which most people will forever associate with drug lord Pablo Escobar, is a sprawling city of about two-and-a-half million inhabitants, located in a long valley and slowly growing up the slopes of the surrounding mountains. Really, the location is very scenic, and despite all those high-rise apartments and sprawling neighborhoods it is rather attractive, I think.

Transportation is an obvious issue here, and Medellin was one of the first South American cities to adopt a bike share program, the Encicla. Before coming down here I had done a bit of research and had planned to obtain a card to use the system, but then the delays and some related issues simply took away too much time--and the helmet I had brought didn't show up until yesterday afternoon anyhow, Maybe next time. But to stay with transportation, Medellin has a modern metro system (from what I saw and used it is not a subway but rather an above-ground train), that is well tied-in with a modern tram as well as a gazillion busses. The real kicker in this transportation plan, however, are the various cables, a ski-resort-like gondola network that is being run in various areas to access the steep hillsides and the residential areas up there. So, for the equivalent of a dollar you can ride the metro and connect to one of those gondolas and go for a very scenic ride up into the hills, sharing the ride with the locals. Unfortunately, it was rather cloudy today so that the views (and photos) were not as spectacular as they undoubtedly would be with a dash of sun.

After walking through one of the hillside barrios I returned to the valley floor and spent the rest of the evening walking around the streets of Plaza Botero, the center of "Old Town." As it was Saturday, the place was teeming with street vendors and hawkers of anything imaginable. Plaza Botero itself features something like three dozen bronze sculptures that were donated by Colombian artist Fernando Botero.

Once my feet started to protest I found myself a bar with a terrace that overlooked the square. Afternoon had turned to evening, but life kept pulsating all around me. Truly intriguing were the fruit monger's carts, which feature a car battery to drive the large rear wheels while the smaller front wheels are connected via a chain to a steering wheel that the operator uses to direct his cart slowly around the streets and sidewalks. Car battery? How fortuitous, as that also provides the power to the loudspeaker! You need to hear the emanating cacophony!

I slowly drifted back toward my hotel, taking in the sights and sounds of a pulsating South American city that has seen so much violence over the years but that has become an attractive destination for many foreigners. By 11 p.m. I was in bed, and at 4:30 a.m. Loyal and I were picked up by another driver, Tulio, who got us to the airport in time for a glorious sunrise. Fourteen hours later I was back home in Lubbock. What a cool five days!

Jürgen