INSIDE COLOMBIA'S MOST DANGEROUS NEIGHBORHOOD (Comuna 13)

good morning it is day three in medellin colombia i'm on a coach a little tour bus kind of thing and today we are going to see what used to be one of medin's worst neighborhoods it's called kamuna 13 but now supposedly it's been turned around and it's become an art district so it'll be interesting to check that out we have a turkey stick for breakfast i already made a blessing one of the stops on the tour today was this crazy market again and this is where i got my sneakers done a few days ago um we're gonna try to avoid them this time you want to see some serious hustle look at this these guys are selling sunglasses they're walking around with all that on their back respect [Applause] these are the guys man how you doing everything okay [Music] once again a very heavy police presence those guys were so happy to see me ah that's funny i'm not sure what this is about but the next stop on our tour is we're going on one of the local subways or trains or something like that we're riding past one of the uh slum areas in media it looks like we're about to get onto one of these cable cars and head up there to that area so we're in the cable car and here we no problem look at the little birdie oh okay so we're at the botanical gardens of medellin these are one of my favorite plants i believe it's called the bird of paradise because they look like birds i love those anyway it's a nice day here weather is pretty good a little bit humid not too bad there's a light breeze it's keeping us cool look at this huge iguana hello we're just meeting up with some ducks at the botanical garden hello and there's another one no i'm not naming each animal another one right here oh aren't you pretty hello there's the brown one hello and we have all these iguanas hello how you doing and there's a couple more here hey dude oh sorry i scared you and this is the big one hello fascinating i don't think i've ever seen an iguana before and these are little coffee beans they're growing here in the garden this is what they look like before they're ripe i think when they ripe they turn red and then they get roasted and that's when they turn brown [Applause] so we're gonna try the sugar cane juice it's very good seriously delicious flavor i love it it's actually very good and then something changed okay so we are here in kamuna 13 or otherwise known in spanish as camuna tresse in the 80s and the 90s this place was one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in colombia not only that it was one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the world this place was filled with drug trafficking and lots of other crime and in 2002 the colombian government decided to clean it up they sent 3 000 soldiers into the neighborhood and a bunch of people were killed many many people were injured and many many many people were arrested and put into jail after the cleanup the government decided to invest in culture and tourism they built these gigantic escalators that connected this part of the city to other parts of the city and now this is a district full of art and culture and all sorts of cool things that we're going to be seeing today [Applause] how are you good [Music] okay don't worry dance [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] thank you thank you so as you can see across the street there are these t-shirts with the number 13 on them these all obviously symbolize comuna trese comuna 13 it's interesting that this district is called kamuna 13 because the number 13 in judaism symbolizes mercy it's as if you know god had mercy on the neighborhood and decided to give it a second chance 13. [Applause] another thing to take note of is how steep these streets actually are [Music] do it go so here we are walking through the neighborhood according to google it's still a bit of a dodgy neighborhood but uh all i've seen are nice people so far maybe in other parts it can get a little bit crazy so this place is called house neon it's a some kind of gallery of neon glow in the dark so this is the escalator that was talking about that were built to connect this neighborhood with the rest of the city and apparently an escalator can really accomplish a lot for a neighborhood's growth and development [Music] i will say this might be a sketchy neighborhood but boy do they have views and they have all these little mini bars little home bars like in someone's front yard [Music] so we're heading down the stairs now out of the neighborhood it's crazy to think that you know just 20 years ago this place was gang land very very dangerous people would get killed just by walking in the streets and getting caught in the crossfire but there is redemption now all you see here is music art food drink wasn't always like this sometimes if you're lucky you or your neighborhood can get a second chance you