Piedra del Peñol – Big rock with stairs and lots of people

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Piedra del Penol
650 stairs? No problem. 6,500 tourist climbing them with you? Problem

Our guidebook and everything we read on the internet warned that if you want to climb the Piedra del Peñol to do it early. But it’s hard not to linger when you have a delicious breakfast overlooking a lake with both coffee and hot chocolate.

Colombia hot chocolate

I’m not much of a hot chocolate drinker but this was truly amazing. It was made with local chocolate, sugar cane and milk.

Colombian chocolate
Panela
Sheryl Zeunert drinking hot chocolate
Only 6 more cups of this and I’ll be ready for those stairs.

Breakfast took longer than planned then the tuk tuk was more colorful than speedy.

Sheryl and Jeff Zeunert in front of a Tuk Tuk in Guatape

On the drive there it looked like this.

Piedra del Penol
Oh, look, there are three or four other people going up the road

Turns out that was the back way. For the equivalent of a US dollar we were able to have our tuk tuk driver go all the way up to the ticket area where there were a lot more people.

crowds at Piedra del Penol
This seemed to be more people than live in Panama City.

I did take a moment to read the rules.

Rules to climb Piedra del Penol
No ice cream or fruit allowed? What kind of stairs are these? What am I going to do with the pineapple I brought along?
crowds at Piedra del Penol
It couldn’t possibly be like this the entire way could it? Yes. It could. We were waiting in a line while climbing stairs on a rock.

When we got halfway up we not only lost patience but I got a glimpse of the stairs down. While not crowded, there weren’t a lot of hand rails and my balance is terrible.

View from Piedra del Penol
Jeff: At least it’s a nice view.
Sheryl: Can you carry me down the stairs?

We decided to cut it short, skip the rest of the way up and head back down.

religious statue on Piedra del Penol
I said a little prayer to get me down in one piece.

I’m not kidding when I say I’m bad on stairs.

Walking down the stairs at Piedra del Penol
Sheryl: Jeff, can you go in front of me and take a picture. Ok now can you come back up here and hold my hand. I’m stuck and can’t move.

When we got back down I told Jeff I felt bad I cut it short for him. He informed me he never wanted to go in the first place. If I had looked at the selfie we took at the beginning I guess I would have figured that out.

Sheryl Zeunert and Jeff Zeunert at Piedra del Penol

We were both happier when we were down at the base away from stairs and other people.

And then we ate a steak, chicken, and pork chop lunch.

Colombia parilla lunch
Vegetarians avert your eyes.

Is it worth going? Yes if you go early. Many people go as a day trip from Medellin which is two hours away. If you get up early and don’t let hot chocolate distract you, it would be a nice hike up.

Was is worth it with so many people? No, but that might just be us. No one else seemed to mind or turn back early. But then we also knew more coffee and hot chocolate awaited us at our hotel.

Comments

8 responses to “Piedra del Peñol – Big rock with stairs and lots of people”

  1. Anonymous

    What an amazing adventure ❤️

    1. Sheryl

      Thank you!!!!

  2. Anonymous

    Love your commentary… it makes me smile and laugh… hugs, it is so awesome to see you out and about and even attempting this climb!!

    1. Sheryl

      Thank you so much!

  3. Grace

    Excellent photos & commentary!

    1. Sheryl

      Thanks Grace!

  4. Terry

    OMG, you had me in tears!! The before and after pics of you and Jeff are awesome.
    So fun to read these!

    1. Sheryl

      Thanks so much Terry!

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