Guatapé, Colombia 🇨🇴 

We are up with a bounce today, enjoying breakfast on the terrace before setting off to climb up El Peñon, the 200m monolith that is the towns biggest attraction.

We hopped into a tuk tuk, probably the fifth or sixth mode of transport for Lesley on this trip. Bumped our way out of the town and fifteen minutes later we were setting out for the rock’s base. The steps look daunting but it wasn’t hot and we have plenty of time so we just took it slowly. It was actually relatively easy, the stairs felt safe and the views got better as you went up. We made it in 25minutes, which we felt pretty good about. 

Once at the top there is a magnificent 360degree view from the 740th step. There were hundreds of flying ants up there, which made us take our pictures faster and when Lesley was stung, that was it, we started our descent. 

We had a 1pm checkout from our hotel, so plenty of time to take a refreshing shower and pack up. The bus terminal is only 2 blocks down and we arrive to catch the 12:30 to Medellin without any issues. It went back down the windy roads and set us down at the north terminal in Medellin, so a short metro trip back to El Poblado. As we walked up the hill we elected to have a snack and I tried beer with lemon juice and salt rim which was refreshing.  Our walk invariably led us to Cremotti where we could try another combination for our magnums. 

Our hotel is a bit further up near Lleras park this time, it’s a bit swankier and cheaper than the hostel. It is nice to be in a new area and we found a great salad place for tea, trying to offset the ice cream.