The goat chomps away, taking no notice of the plane coming into land 20, 30 metres overhead. On the other side of the fence, however, there are excited cheers and waves from the crowd; a couple of young men flap their arms, pretending to give landing signals to the pilot.
We are at the Southern end of Enrique Olaya Herrara Airport's runway. This is the smaller of Medellin's two airports, used for commercial flights to Antioquia's regional airfields, and also by the private aircraft of wealthy businessmen, politicians and, no doubt, narcotraficantes.
Every afternoon, large crowds gather here to watch the planes come and go. Ice cream vendors arrive on their bikes to keep them refreshed. Like everywhere in the city, armed soldiers are never far away. A usual highlight is when a jet aircraft winds up its engines in preparation for take-off, when the majority cling to the fence, enjoying the sirocco-like blast of hot, dry air.
Many are regulars: unemployed or retired men who come to pass the time, catching up with friends. Teenagers and young couples make up the numbers. At weekends, the crowd swells to a hundred or more, including many families on their weekend outing. It is like a festival, with even more opportunistc food & drink vendors appearing.
None of the people that I spoke to had ever been inside an aeroplane before, let alone flown in one. Air travel is the reserve of the wealthy. Even amongst the middle-classes, most would travel to, say, Bogotá by bus (a 10 hour journey on twisting mountain roads), rather than by air. Yet another reminder of how fortunate we are to enjoy cheap air travel.
We are at the Southern end of Enrique Olaya Herrara Airport's runway. This is the smaller of Medellin's two airports, used for commercial flights to Antioquia's regional airfields, and also by the private aircraft of wealthy businessmen, politicians and, no doubt, narcotraficantes.
Every afternoon, large crowds gather here to watch the planes come and go. Ice cream vendors arrive on their bikes to keep them refreshed. Like everywhere in the city, armed soldiers are never far away. A usual highlight is when a jet aircraft winds up its engines in preparation for take-off, when the majority cling to the fence, enjoying the sirocco-like blast of hot, dry air.Many are regulars: unemployed or retired men who come to pass the time, catching up with friends. Teenagers and young couples make up the numbers. At weekends, the crowd swells to a hundred or more, including many families on their weekend outing. It is like a festival, with even more opportunistc food & drink vendors appearing.
None of the people that I spoke to had ever been inside an aeroplane before, let alone flown in one. Air travel is the reserve of the wealthy. Even amongst the middle-classes, most would travel to, say, Bogotá by bus (a 10 hour journey on twisting mountain roads), rather than by air. Yet another reminder of how fortunate we are to enjoy cheap air travel.
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