Overnight trip to Guatape

An hour bus ride from Medellin you arrive to Guatape. After a short moto-taxi ride and a 740 steps up a giant rock, La Piedra del Penol, you are on top of the world. Or so it feels from the rock. You are looking at what appears to be a Monet painting with the turquoise finger lake wrapping around and consuming little pieces of jungle land. Your not quite sure what your looking at, but it appears as a lake with little islands everywhere. Or is the land connected are they islands? The lake goes on for as long as your eyes can see. At the turquoise water line the orange earth takes where it roots the trees that soon become dense green jungle. The colors are amazing, no paintbrush necessary! Just the wonders of earth. This town is full of adventure and color. Not only did mother earth paint the scenery to be colorful, but man painted the town to be so. There are little murals painted all over decrypting different people of Colombia as well as animals, rainbows, you name it. You can spend a day just wandering the little town looking at all the different pictures. Not only that, but the buildings in the town look like a magical skittles commercial because they are all colors of the rainbow. I was outside a cafe here drinking a coffee (I had to b/c I was in Colombia) and enjoying the colors when a group of Colombian teenagers on a school trip sat down and befriended me. We talked and took pictures away as they fought to take solo-pictures with me (instead of group) until their teachers had to drag them away to continue there day!

On the lake you can go swimming, go on a boat tour (which includes drinks and food!), rent kayaks and apparently windsurf according to a big statue they have there. Although, I did not see anybody windsurfing nor feel any wind. In spite of all of these activities I felt the need to exercise. Spur of the moment I rented a bicycle and rode 26km by myself to the town over named San Rafael. It was a little local town tucked away in the cloud forest. Yes, that is a thing on this planet, not just in fairytales. The first 13 km took me winding around uphill alongside parts of the lake that I probably saw from the top of the rock, but looked unfamiliar. I was out of shape so that didn't help. Neither did the fact that my gears would downshift. All 13 of those km were entirely worth it as the next 13 were downhill! Winding around the windy roads, stopping off to dip in some waterfalls along the way! As I rode by people tending to their land they look at me like I was some kind of loco. Come to think of it I was the only biker I saw the entire time! Although it could have been that it was a Friday afternoon as well. It was safe to say I took the bus back!

If you are ever in Medellin Guatape is a must!