So, I’m sitting in the airport in Quito on layover as I head back to Medellín and couldn’t help but remember my first day there and the time I spent in Parque de los Pies Descalzos (Barefoot Park). I found the idea behind the making of the park to be pretty interesting so I thought I’d go a little more in-depth and share it with you since I’ll be here a couple hours anyway.
To fully experience the “attraction” of Barefoot Park you must take off your shoes and walk over a stone path in a bamboo forest, hug a tree or touch the grass (I chose the tree), navigate through rock sculptures in sand with your eyes closed, and at the end of the experience you can relax and dip your feet in a wading pool.
Walking around barefoot is supposed to stimulate your inner energy (according to what our guide told me, though I wonder if something was lost in translation), and the various places you visit in the park are meant to teach you life lessons. Walking over the stones in the bamboo forest is suposed to teach you a lesson in discomfort and acceptance, touching the grass or trees is a lesson in grounding yourself, navigating the stone sculptures in the sand (with your eyes closed!) a lesson in awareness of others before yourself, and stepping in the wading pools is supposed to let you reflect on the days events and cleanse your self. And your feet which at that point would be pretty dirty after walking barefoot over all sorts of stones, grass and sand.
I thought the whole zen aspect was a little silly at first, but I found it fun and relaxing all the same. Of course, you don’t have to do any of this while you’re at the park, but the guides patrolling the grounds will be quick to shoo you off the sand or away from the pools if your shoes are still on your feet and you get too close. And it’s kinda fun to walk around barefoot, besides.
I’m told it gets very crowded on the weekends and during the lunch hour, when locals or EPM employees come to take a load off and hang out and have a picnic. I was there on a Friday afternoon and it wasn’t busy at all. If you don’t like crowds or (probably) screaming children I’d suggest you go during the week too.
You can find the park across the street from the headquarters of Empresas Publicas de Medellín, the major utilities provider for the region (and whose engineers and architects are behind the creation of the park). Fun fact: EPM’s head office is often called an “intelligent” building, in that it was constructed to be green and energy efficient. Also, it looks like a space station.
So give it to me straight. Barefoot park — is it hokey or something you’d be willing to check out if you ever made the trip to Medellín?
-C
