Hi. Welcome to WNS. I'm Maria. Today I'm in the capital of Antioquia: Medellín
We took a flight from Bogota at El Dorado airport
And then, a bus to San Diego mall
In this video we're going to a town about two hours away from Medellin
It's very popular and it's visited every day by locals and foreigners
And I'll show you why
Get your imaginary backpack ready because we're going to Guatapé.
A town famous for this giant rock: la piedra del Peñol
Something surprising to me was that this rock and everything around it is private property
Some guy bought the lands around it years ago, the people who lived here felt unhappy with the rock so they saw no problem "getting rid" of it
That person bought it and now it's all this...
If you're coming here do it early and in low season. Lines are loooooong
About 1000 people come on a day like this
Nowadays climbing to the top of the rock costs about 5 USD
Make sure you bring cash. They won't take cards.
The first time someone climbed the rock was in 1954
The guy who bought the rock climbed up with his friends and since 1970 these concrete steps were built to go up this 220 meters tall rock.
Guess how many steps you have to climb up to get to the top? Let's ask Cody and see how he's doing.
How are you doing? Fine. A bit tired.
After going up and up we get to the top. The view is amazing.
Below you can see the reservoir Peñol Guatapé
It was built in 1972 and it brought the attention of more tourists
In order to build the reservoir they had to destroy the old El Peñol town and move everybody.
Up here you'll find toilets, places to have a drink, and to exit you'll need to go through the gift shop.
OK, Let's go down cause I'm getting hungry. Let's go have lunch.
We took longer going down. There were more people at that time going up and the space to move is not a lot.
There are some really narrow steps, this one is ok, there some more that are really narrow and some others that are a bit wider.
We just went up and down that huge rock, ten minutes going up. Not bad at all.
So I told you guys it's about 650 steps. Keep that in mind if you come here
We saw a lot of people feeling sick, not being able to up, feeling like they couldn't breathe very well
We had lunch at a local restaurant and while we eat we listen to live typical music
With our full bellies we are going now for a ride on a boat around the reservoir.
We'll use this boat "el rumbero" or the man / person who likes to party.
This is the biggest reservoir in Antioquia and it generates 34% of the electricity we use in Colombia.
On the weekends people come to practice water sports like kayaking or sailing
If you prefer something more chill you can just do what we did and ride around the reservoir
When you are done, you can go to town and take a look at the colourful houses. Pay attention! Here, walls speak to you.
Check out the bottom of the houses!
Guatapé is also known as "el pueblo de los zócalos". Zócalos are those decorative designs
at the bottom of the houses.
Zócalos represent stories, or personal preferences, or family traditions, They can also just be decorative.
Just so you know, we went to Guatapé from Medellín with an amazing tour company called "Guatapé Tours".
It's a very practical option to learn about the place you visit and be comfortable. They take care of everything and do the tours in English and in Spanish.
We're back in Medellin at aeroparque Juan Pablo II because there are some courts... no.. I mean, baskets... yeah, disc-golf baskets. Cody loves that sport. There he is with his discs.
My experience in Medellin was great and it brought me very nice memories of my dad. He was from this region, so this was very special to me.
I suggest you come check this place out when you have a chance.
Let me know in the comments what you liked the most about this video. That's all for now, thank you for watching and remember:
If you're going to learn a language: Why Not Spanish? Chaooooo!