We have two types of houseguests, the friends who come to see us, hang out and let us be their tour guides and the other type who come with a pre-planned agenda of activities, tours and restaurants. Deb and Casey fall into the latter category. They had researched places to go, tours, activities and restaurants. We had the Pablo Escobar tour and Guatapé on our list but waited for house guests to accompany us. The Pablo Escobar tour we did with Deb, Casey and Paul. After Paul left we moved on to Deb and Casey’s agenda which included paragliding, Guatapé, coffee and cacao tours. Casey researched tours and came up with a fantastic private tour of Guatapé. Most tours that we had seen involved large groups in a bus lasting 12 hours with breakfast and lunch. Not appealing to any of us.
Casey booked us on a Trip Advisor tour of La Piedra Del Peñol “The Guatapé Rock” in El Peñol. Our private tour guide, Juan Carlos, picked us up at our home at 6am. It was a two hour drive to get there and he gave us a history lesson about the rock and also about the country of Colombia and its politics. Halfway there we stopped for a breakfast snack and coffee at this cafe.We arrived at this busy tourist destination at 8am, well ahead of all of the big bus tours. Although 741 stairs may seem like an intimidating number, the stairs are quite small and the journey only took us less than 15 minutes. Jim stayed behind as he did not feel up to the climb this day. Here we are beginning our climb. The high altitude did make us breathe heavily.This is an amazing natural rock formation (monolith) that is 2,135 meters above sea level and one of the most epic viewpoints in all of Colombia providing panoramic views of Guatapé Lake if you are willing to climb all 741 stairs.Deb led the way up and determined our rest points on the stairs but Casey and Sandy snuck in others when she wasn’t looking🤫. We started our climb around 8am and it was in a misty rain so we were the only ones on the stairs which was really nice. This view point was about halfway up and where there was a First Aid station with a nurse on duty and resucitation equipment😲.The rock is 935 ft long and 360 ft wide. It is composed of quartz, feldspar and granite. We found a dead scorpion on one of the stairs going up.Views from the top were spectacular. Jim and the guide were in the circled cafe.This is the man made lake which flooded the whole area.Casey took this amazing photo.Another tourist from the Netherlands took this photo of us at the top.Coming down. We really appreciated that the stairs were numbered. The way down is seperate from the way up which is nice.Post climb photo.El Peñol is privately owned by the family of the first man to climb it, Luis Eduardo Villegas Lopez. He bought the rock because it was useless as farmland for the original owners. He then built the concrete steps in a crack and began charging admission to climb to the top which was $6.Luis was the first person to climb his rock.After climbing the rock our guide took us to the town of Guatapé which is a resort town known for its houses decorated with colorful bas-reliefs.These tuk tuks, called motochivas, are the main means of transport around the town.The guide bought us these cookie treats which were a thin wafer filled with Nutella and very similar to the Stroopwafel we had in the Netherlands. We ate about half of this one.The guide told us that every plaza in Colombia has a church, a fountain, the mayors office and a statue of Simon Bolivar.Paroquia Nuestra Senora del Carmen de Guatapé is a beautiful church in the main square. Construction began in 1865 and it took 70 years to complete.Spectacular wooden ceiling of the church.Guatapé lakeside town is sometimes called the most colorful town in the world. It is known for its brightly painted buildings and murals called “zócalos”.The bas reliefs were amazing and depict everyday life , including local foods, cultural clothing and political events. This is a liquor store.Many art stores in the town.Our guide told us the story of a “crazy priest” of Guatapé who predicted the coming of a blue dragon which would destroy their way of life. The people mocked him and he died in disgrace. But years later the dam was built and their lives were changed forever as they were forced to relinquish their farm lands to the government so that the dam which would provide electricity for the area could be built. Sure enough, the lake that was formed by the dam looks like a blue dragon.This town reminded us of San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.As in most countries our guide doubled as photographer and was always asking for another group picture. See all of the other ones below.One moreand twoand the last one he had us dress up for. So there you have the Four Amigos.
This was the first half of our day. Next up is our coffee plantation tour nearby and then cacao tour tomorrow.
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