Guatapé

Guatapé

This is now the blog about our two-day trip. Guatapé is 2 hours away from Medellin by car. A holiday destination for Colombians, it is a huge lake that is very "twisty". We went there with small backpacks. We saw a very beautiful landscape. Among other things, we saw the 'Piedra del Peñol,' the largest rock in the world.

We then walked to our hostel in this cute and colorful town.

The atmosphere was very relaxed.

We then went on a boat trip on the same day. We set off and admired various mansions on the lakeside, including the villa of a football player from Real Madrid, Arsenal, and Barcelona (I don't remember their names because I am not interested in football) and a huge mansion belonging to Escobar. Everything was well-maintained and as we turned the corner, we could see old palm trees, overgrown hills, and a rundown, dilapidated, and partly exploded villa.

We then reached a pier and entered the property. It was 9 hectares in size. It had its own discotheque, a stable for 16 horses, a guesthouse with 16 bedrooms, a family house with 5 bedrooms, a clubhouse with a sauna, whirlpool, and Turkish bath, and a large swimming pool. We slowly walked towards the house and learned about everything that had happened there.

We came across many exotic trees from all over the world on our way. We also learned that Escobar had imported 4 hippos from Africa, and now there are over 40, causing a real problem for the ecosystem and the inhabitants of Colombia. It was a strange feeling to be on a property that once belonged to one of the most dangerous and powerful people in the world.

Among other things, we learned that this place was where the most powerful drug dealers, the most corrupt politicians, etc. would meet for a party. Escobar would stop the music and ask for attention. He would then select a worker who was tied up and say, 'This man stole $10 worth of cocaine from me!' He would then hit him and mercilessly drown him in the pool, in front of everyone else. 'This is a lesson for all of you, this is what happens when you deceive me!' And he did exactly that. He killed over 680 police officers, 50 government officials, and countless civilians. All just to continue his drug trade and prevent his extradition to an American prison. However, one day, 'Los Pepes' (a state-backed anti-Escobar group) raided and attacked his properties. He found out about it through a mole and was able to escape through a secret tunnel. Five minutes later, a bomb exploded in his house. We were also surprised to learn about Colombia's bloody past.

The next day, we set off to Piedra del Peñol. First, we stopped at a bakery. We got 4 croissants for 3 francs. We started walking, I took a bite and it tasted very strange. We asked if we could have some without filling. The lady took the bag back and put about 10 small bread rolls in it and even gave us back 1 franc. It was more or less a walk along the road, not many people walked there because it was overgrown. But we found some nice spots with beautiful views.

 Muriel then ate 2/3 of those bread rolls along the way until she felt sick. Every time I looked back, she was eating :-D. But I also had 2-3 of them. There was another path, but it was 2-3 hours long and we wanted to avoid the tourist buses that would arrive in the morning from Medellin. We arrived and there were hardly any people. The clouds cleared up and we had perfect conditions to climb the 680 steps to the top of the rock.

Muriel decided to leave the backpack at a kiosk, and I carried the water and snacks (as usual) :-D. From the kiosk, we walked about 200 steps up (not including the 680 on the rock), and then we walked a bit uphill until we reached the entrance. At the entrance, Muriel suddenly had a thought. 'How do I get this stamp now, going up and down again is really exhausting in this heat. Hmm. Well, maybe you could do it?' I knew exactly that it would come to this. So we agreed that we would walk halfway down, she would get the stamp, and I would walk back up halfway. That's what we did, fair enough.

Shortly after, we arrived at the bottom and took the bus back to Medellin with two new stamps in our passports :-)

See you soon

Ernesto and Muriel