Feria de Flores is the biggest festival of the year in Medellin. On the last day, farmers from surrounding towns (particularly Santa Elena) create displays of flowers and carry them down the mountain and through the city. I didn’t brave the crowds for this display, but I caught a number of other activities and exhibits during the week long celebration. We started on Saturday afternoon by heading into the Stadium to see a concert that featured Marc Antony, who Sandra loves. I was surprised to see that men and women had to join different lines, which I thought might be so women could be searched by female police officers, but it seemed that only men were doing the searching, so I can’t explain it. I was very annoyed that they took my pens and bottle of water as some kind of security precaution, just as they confiscated belts from a number of others. We enjoyed the night, though most of the music was regaton and we left at 1am before Marc Antony had even appeared.

The next night we went to a smaller stage to see a number of performances by bands from the coastal region, which we enjoyed much more, and went again to that stage for a world music concert during the week. We’ll head to that stage again next year. I have to admit that I spent most of the night watching Sandra dancing rather than watching the stage.

Although we didn’t see the main procession, we did see a giant exhibit in the Santa Fe mall centre which came without the pain of standing around for hours, and was very impressive for the sheer number of beautiful flowers and the intricate arrangements. I think next year I’ll have to make an effort to get to the procession.