Medellín Days 3-5

Saturday

Getting up at 6am while on vacation is no fun, but its more motivating when you are on your way to see one of the largest rocks in the world (650 ft tall) - Piedra de Peñol in Guatapé. On the way, the tour group stopped for a breakfast of arepas with cheese, empanaditas, and scrambled eggs.

The second stop was the town of Guatape, close to the rock. It is one of the most colorful towns, and, though lovely, it was quite touristy. The town created zocalos, art sculptures adorning buildings, to entice more people to visit.

As always, there was more art influence by Botero, in his depiction of Mona Lisa:

From Guatapé, we headed towards the massive rock. It has a daunting 708 steps to reach the top. However, the incredible view was worth the burn in my knees and quads.

It also helped that I made two friends during the tour - Nina from Vienna and Loup from Paris.

After the climb we went for a boat tour around the reservoir surrounding Peñol. We passed Pablo Escobar’s abandoned (also destroyed by a bomb) vacation house and many expensive mansions turned AirBnBs.

From there we had lunch - typical Colombian fare - grilled chicken with rice, plantains, beans, and a salad. My favorite part was the view - this part of Colombia grows all fruits, vegetables and grains that can be found in Colombia (except for rice). There was even a person sitting by the pool in a mermaid tail soaking up the beautiful weather (you can see it if you zoom in a bit)!

After the bus ride back to Medellín, my new friends (Nina, Loup and Dojna my roommate from Italy) and I went for a dinner of arepas and drinks. We found a small bar where we had mezcal tonics and the local Colombian liquor - Aguardiente (a liquor made from sugar cane with low-ish alcohol content and a flavor of anis).

Sunday

I gladly slept in Sunday morning, followed by a trip to a café. I tried a cold brew with horchata - so delicious, I’ll have to make some at home!

From there I met up with my new friends - the couple from London (Alex and Laura) and a new friend from New Zealand (Chetan). We took the metro to the Botanical Gardens, a free and lush park. The park has a butterfly garden where we relaxed for a bit.

Next up was more coffee - a black coffee and then a cold brew guandolo (cold brew with tonic, lemon and lime and a bit of raw sugar) - both were so smooth and not overly-caffeinating like coffee in the US.

By dinnertime we were able to gather the friend group at the rooftop pool at sunset and head to dinner.

I really enjoyed spending time with this new group of friends. As a solo traveler I meet a lot of new people, but I felt more myself, relaxed and joyful with this group in particular.

Monday

Monday morning I met up with the same friends for breakfast and coffee. We also went for buñuelos - a local street food involving the best ingredients - fried balls of dough with light cheese and an option to fill it with caramel. From there I had to say a bittersweet goodbye and head to the airport.

Onto the coast!

¡Hasta pronto!

Ellie