Comuna 13- Medellin

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Maybe my favorite thing in Medellin was the free walking tour to Comuna 13. What used to be a shady neighborhood full of violence is now a peaceful neighborhood full of graffiti from local artists and their very famous electrical stairs.

The tour began at the metro station San Javier and then walked for about 10 minutes where the tour really began. Our guide, John, started telling us the story of how comuna 13 began. Comuna 13 used to be one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the whole of Colombia! Having battles between gangs, paramilitaries, the government, and narcos wasn’t anything strange for the people in this barrio.

As we walked up I got a feeling of “oh no, hopefully I’m ok, not like my Favela tour in rio” (in which we were caught in the middle of a gun battle between the police and some “bad guys”) but the more we walked the safer I felt. This place has changed dramatically from being a war zone to a peaceful and colorful neighborhood.

Ciudad Medellin Graffiti!

"Life"

This comuna had its very bloody period but it is amazing the transformation it has overcome in the last couple of years. Art has come into this community and transformed it to a better and safer place for everyone. I bet the change wasn't easy, the government got involved and killed a lot of people but finally this area came out of its dark past and changed for good... how I wish that for my country and my people who live in fear every day of gang members.

After the government destroyed part of this comuna the people asked for help for the reconstruction of their neighbourhood. Slowly but surely the change came and the comuna got better. Comuna 13 is situated in a steep hill so electric stairs were put in place to help residents go up and down the hills, a cement path was made to help people walk along the street and with these improvements came art.

Comuna 13 is filled with graffiti, not simple graffiti but art that tells a story. Our guide walked us through the streets of the comuna and explained the different meanings of many of the paintings we found along the way.

One of the first art piece in the comuna!

Messages are all over the paintings!

Justice, peace and love, unity, liberty, strength, resistance, are some of the words written in this wall.

In comuna 13 you not only find graffiti, but also some delicious popsicles!!! I got a mango one with lime... YUM!

One of the main artists in Comuna 13 is a guy called Chota. As a boy, Chota grew up in this comuna under the guerrilla, paramilitary and gangs, and now decides to tell his story, his barrio's story through art.

Chota talking to us.

This design below shows a hand that represents the government and the "Orion" operation with the dice with "comuna 13" and "october 16, 2002." The Orion operation is the biggest military operation in Colombia and in this painting the houses represent all the people who disappeared and those who abandoned their houses. The black, white, and grey paint and the tear in the person's face represent the solitude of the comuna, the fear of people not wanting to live in the area and in a way the blame to the government for not protecting innocent lives and instead killing anybody who was on the way. The dry leaf on the left side of the face and the red blood in the eye and veins of the leaf represent once again the solitude and pain of the comuna because the people are leaving.

The vines represent life and the green inside the right eye represent hope, which was always with them.

The musical note represents art and in a way it's a calling for other to join in the art movement.

This is another design by Chota called "Verde Esperanza" (Green hope.) The green hope represents what never died in the comuna: hope. On the left under the eye there is a flower with a tear because they had to shed tears in order to see the barrio blossom.

The next painting is also by Chota and called "Lovers." He painted this over a cement bench where many lovers used to stop by and look at the beautiful view from the comuna.

View from the Comuna!

Now going up the escalator surrounded by many paintings!

Many of the pieces in these walls are temporary, there are spots assigned for a limited time to even foreign artists.

Chota is promoting art in the comuna, especially for the youth to give them an option different than gangs and crime related activities. The arts is being introduce in the neighbourhood also through dance and music, as we walked by we stopped to see a group of locals perform some break dancing.

The history of this comuna is painted all over them, these walls served as canvas to paint their past, their hopeful future, and the strength of this community.

The three paintings below are a child, a youth, and an adult that are the legacy of the comuna and the importance of inclusion.

El nino, el joven, y el adulto.

The kid below is an "afro" child designed by Chota and called "el soñador" (the dreamer.) Chota says that the boys' dream is to be prosperous and to live in a happy and cheerful neighbourhood (to the left.) This child has and alternative and creative lifestyle and his big smile shows the happiness of being a kid and living in harmony with his family.

"El Soñador"

Another graffiti by Chota

So many pretty birds!

I walked through the neighbourhood looking at the houses, at the way people live, thinking of how far this community has come, of how much pain they have gone through but also how much they have overcome. I walked in disbelief that only a couple of years ago those streets were a war zone, that people lived in fear. Comuna 13 is not free of violence and crime but it is admirable how a community "took the sourest lemon life has to offer and turned it into something resembling lemonade" (that's totally a "This Is Us" quote!!!)

The art was very cool and the last stretch was like an even bigger explosion of art with many paintings one after the other and an amazing view of Medellin!

Almost at the end of the tour John made a stop by the very famous slides of the comuna 13 where kids gather to go up and down the slides!

We then went back down passing through all the paintings again and finding new details in them. To me it was amazing visiting this neighbourhood not only to learn more about Colombia's past but also to see how a community can grow from its bloody past and become a culturally and artistically rich neighbourhood!

Even the cemetery had graffiti!

So to anybody visiting Medellin comuna 13 is A MUST!!!! 💙💜

About Post Author

Andrea

Hi! It's me... Andrea! In 2016 I decided to drop everything and take a year to enrich my life and travel around the world. It turns out the world is just too big for 12 months! Still on the road and sharing my experience as a solo female traveler around the globe!