The wee adventure


We live a pretty sheltered life in South America and don't get frightened much. Saturday afternoon was an exception.

Medellin is an Andean city that has two cable car routes that serve as cheap mass transport to poorer housing zones. We decided to try out their latest route which lifts you high up a hill, down a valley and then up again to over 6000 ft on the city outskirts.

We got off at the end of the route and the air was fresh and cold. Olwen needed the loo. A bus went past marked for the Seminary area so we jumped on. It trundled down the road for 10 minutes, stopped and the driver told us to get out and board another bus. This meandered off in a different direction, gradually emptied, reached a desolate housing estate and the driver said he was going no further.

South American desolate housing estates have never frightened me so long as I'm with a local. But if you're on your own you feel as secure as an overweight missionary in a cannibal settement - at lunch time. We sat on in the empty bus and every few minutes asked each other "What should we do?"

By the common grace of God the driver took pity on us and then over the horizon trundled another bus that really took us down the hill, and to the loo.

Photo: Don't look down: Medellín's latest cable car route


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