Guatapé - Big Rock, Pablo's Villa and beautiful town

Hearing about wonderful Guatapé all the time, we decided to actually stay there for a while. To be exact, for 2 weeks.

Guatapé is known for his big rock, which just stands out of the earth with no other rocks around. It's possible to walk up the 740 steps and to have a beautiful view over the flooded area of Guatapé. Because of a hydroelectric dam, the region became a big, green lake with weird shapes, being 6365 hectares big. Another characteristic of Guatapé is, that each building has beautiful, little tiles along the facade's lower walls in bright colors and dimensioned images called 'zócalos'. This makes the town unique, charming and quaint.

We worked in a Hostel, where we did ordinary hostel work, had walks with the dog, but also had a project, like building stairs in the very steep backyard.

In our free time we hiked with Jhon who showed us the nature off the treks. We saw beautiful waterfalls, had great views and got to know some local people, who told some stories of, for example, big ants killing her little baby ducks. Jhon is a local rock climber, who climbed the peñón several times. Once he lived in the rock for 2 months in a hammock out of protest against the private ownership of the rock. His high trained body was full of big scars. Unfortunately he didn't tell us where he got them from and out of respect and politeness we didn't asked.

With our new friends Stav and Roy, a couple from Israel, who stayed in our hostel, we went to see the bombed villa of Pablo Escobar. After taking a boat, we were guided by a former maid of the 'patrón'. She showed us the residence and told some old gangster stories.

We had a great time in that beautiful, colorful town with its outstanding lake and rock. Special thanks to Stav and Roy with whom we spend a great time, having some drinks, nice talks, a funny tuk-tuk ride and big laughs.

Next stop: Cali!