June 18, 2018 – June 20, 2018

Lago Guatape is a reservoir to the west of Medellin and is a weekend getaway for Colombians. The little town of Guatape is charming, almost every building sporting zocalos (painted decorative panels). In addition, there is the Piedre del Penol, a huge monolith that you can climb to see the views of the surrounding islands and water.

We arrived at the hostel where we were hoping to camp, only to be told that they do not allow dogs. They pointed across the way to another place, Hostel Antioquia Viva, and said they thought they might allow dogs.

We opened a gate and drove in. It almost seemed that there was no one around. As we approached the house, a young man came out. We asked if we could camp there for the night. He, in Spanish, seemed to indicate that it was not possible, but he was saying more than just no. We didn’t fully understand. Suddenly, he started speaking english, with hardly any accent at all. He said that they had just moved to this location, and that they use to allow campers at their old spot but were not going to be offered camping anymore. But, since we were in a camper, and not a tent, he felt that he could make an exception!

Derek and Andreas at the hostel.

We stayed for two nights, and over the days we had several interesting conversations with Andreas. He had lived for a while in the Darien Gap on the Colombian side, and had also lived with some indigenous people in the Putamayo district of Colombia, an area that is remote and jungly. He had, while staying there, participated regularly in ayahuasca ceremonies. For those of you who don’t know, ayahuasca is a drink made from plants found in the jungle. When you drink it, it can make you quite sick, but then you may have quite a spiritual, hallucinative experience. Westerners are starting to visit places in the jungle to be lead through ayahuasca ceremonies, and many say that it completely changes their lives.

He was an interesting young man, and we felt like we connected with him in our short time at his hostel.

Piedra del Penol behind the colourful town of Guatape

Tourist bus.

At the town plaza.

Such a colourful town.

Derek and Piper posing with some of the zocalos.  Every single house had zocalos, some depicting animals, some nautical, some religious, some just abstract designs.

The stair to the top of Piedra del Penol.

From the stairway we could see people taking photos of themselves with our truck and camper.

Turn up the volume for Derek’s narration…maybe he needs to become a realtor!