Comuna 13 Graffiti Tour

If you do one thing in Medellín it should be this.

In the early 90s, Medellín was the most dangerous city in the world and at the heart of the war on drugs was comuna trece or community 13. This neighbourhood endured years of torment but things came to a head in 2002 when the government launched a series of 20 ‘operations’ with the guerrillas, cartels and paramilitary fighting a bloody war and innumerable civilians paying the ultimate price.

Comuna 13

After much bloodshed it was acknowledged that comuna 13 was crying out for positive reform, which arrived in the unlikely form of graffiti artists. Well known figures have created large artworks and murals around the community and on the tour we learned about the layers of symbolism behind each one.

The artists are highly respected and these days after school many kids attend graffiti, rap and hip hop lessons. Our tour also included a performance in each of these disciplines and ended with a delicious salty mango popsicle after about three and a half hours.

One particular thing that I liked was that the vibrant streets are constantly evolving with each artwork only staying for two to three years before new ones are painted over top, adding yet another layer, another story to Medellín’s most colourful neighbourhood.

Any tourism agency, hostel, hotel or web search will point you in the direction of the many tour providers that run this tour. I highly recommend BeColombia and our guide JP. Tours leave their offices at 9am, finishing around 1pm depending on how busy it is. Expect to be sharing the pavement with many others on the weekends.