Close to the equator the climate doesn’t change much with the seasons in Colombia, but it sure does with the altitude. I’ve always thought of Kathmandu, at 1300 metres, 4300 feet, as a useful rule of thumb for city heights. So between the hot and steamy Caribbean coast of Colombia and Bogota, the often chilly capital, at 2600 metres, two Kathmandus high, I’m also visiting Medellin, at 1540 metres a bit higher than the Himalayan city.

Medellin
In Colombia’s bad days Medellin was the baddest. Once upon a time this city could claim to have the highest murder rate on earth and it was headquarters for the cocaine cartel whose leader, Pablo Escobar, was so proud of his business and so unconcerned about government interference he had a light plane mounted at the entrance to his property. Today Medellin is a different proposition and, once again, there’s lots of the work of the city’s other best known citizen, Botero, on display. The plaza across from my hotel has noore than 20 Botero sculptures on display and in the Museum of Antioquia, looking out over the plaza, Botero meets Escobar. One of his paintings in the museum shows the drug lord going down under a hail of bullets, freeze framed against the sky.


A typical Botero sculpture in Medellin’s sculpture plaza

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