Tag: guatape

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

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

    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.

  • Guatape – Doors, tourists and boutique hotels

    Guatape – Doors, tourists and boutique hotels

    Guatape is a small very colorful town two hours from Medellin. We opted for a personal driver to get there this time.

    I look drunk, but it’s just being drunk on the comfort of a private driver.

    Carlos, our driver was so nice. He didn’t even seem to mind when got lost in our way to our hotel.

    Carlos: You guys are great. Let’s take photos.
    Sheryl: You are our new best friend.
    Jeff: Can you come back in three days and drive us back to Medellin?
    Carlos: No way.
    Sheryl: why do you hate us?

    But then again, he said he was “busy” when we asked him to drive us back three days later. So maybe he did mind.

    boutique hotel depending on your definition of boutique

    We stayed at a “boutique” hotel a bit out of town. The setting overlooking the lake was boutique.

    Boutique view

    The room was definitely not boutique. After one night sharing a double bed we felt every one of our 55 years.

    You snore. I only slept for one hour.
    You snore louder. I only slept for half an hour.
    Breakfast was boutique

    During breakfast the hotel owner sensed our poor night’s sleep, or overheard us fighting about if we should mention that we were supposed to have a king bed. She wasn’t able to move us to a room with a bigger bed , but one with more beds. Eight.

    The room, not boutique.

    Getting into town required a tuk tuk.

    Driver: Even I barely fit in here.

    The town was a dazzling array of brightly colored buildings. But, we were not the only ones visiting. There are a lot of other tourist on day trips from Medellin.

    Sheryl: Go away tourists. I want to be the only one here doing this. Move away from the doors.

    I could have taken 4,000 more door and wall photos, but we decided to sit down away from the craziness of the touristy town square.

    Jeff: How many tourists behind me?
    Sheryl: None, they all caught their tourist bus back to the city.
    Jeff: Great and you are done photographing doors? Sheryl: um…yes

    Of course when the other tourists left it gave me a clear view of other things to photograph.

    Cats
    Flower advertising
    Churches

    Gudape is a beautiful town with the lake and colorful buildings. But, the main attraction is this giant rock which we planned to climb the next day.

    Sheryl: That looks fun.
    Jeff: you hate stairs.
    Sheryl: I read there are only 650.