Crystal woke up around 03:15 and couldn’t get back to sleep, whereas Justin slept most of the night, from 21:00 until around 06:00.  We had breakfast around 07:00, and again enjoyed the chicken soup with the cilantro more than the other breakfast items.  We were downstairs at 08:00, but couldn’t find Danna or John.  Whilst waiting, Justin realized he’d forgotten his larger camera, so he went back upstairs to get it.  When he came back down, Danna was there, and somehow she’d arrived without Crystal seeing her.  Whatever happened, it all worked out in the end, and we were on our way.

We were fascinated with one of the trees that we saw on either side of the long tunnel, a Cecropia with bright silver leaves, Cecropia telenitida.  Danna told us the local name is Yarumo.  She said that many years ago, the silver leaves were useful to lead the way in the moonlight, so the locals planted more of these trees along common pathways.  Danna also mentioned that mambé is a mixture of Yarumo leaves and Coca leaves, and activates the stimulant properties of the Coca plant far easier than just chewing on Coca leaves.

Danna gave us a bit of an overview on the demographics of Colombia, telling us that the country is roughly 20% indigenous, 20% African, and 60% mixed-race (some combination of Spanish, indigenous, and/or African).  Only in the last 20 years or so have the stereotypes and negativity against indigenous people and their customs been curbed, and nowadays there is renewed interest in more natural remedies and customs.  Whatever Danna’s grandmother did in her life seemed to work, as she lived to be 102, and Danna showed us a video of her dancing with her grandmother at her grandmother’s 102nd birthday party.  One of the indigenous customs is making chocolate balls with toasted grains (the 7 most important).  We couldn’t exactly follow this process, but hopefully we can look it up and see if we can make it at home.

The area east of Medellín is growing rapidly, and Danna explained the reasons for this.  Medellín itself is almost out of space, being surrounded on all sides by steep mountains.  Moreover, transit in and out of the city is very difficult, particularly for larger vehicles.  Accordingly, a lot of industry is moving out of Medellín to the areas east of the city, closer to the airport and to the highways connecting Medellín with Bogotá.  This increase in industry and jobs has then led to more people living in the area, which then spawned the need for more goods and services, and everything is feeding on itself.  Marinilla is one of the fastest growing areas, and it was in Marinilla where we turned off the highway to take a meandering road northeast to Guatapé.  Along the road we saw mangosteens everywhere, and it was surprising to see them growing in an area that wasn’t ultra-tropical.  We would’ve gotten some, but we knew we didn’t have any knives back in the hotel room to open them.  

We arrived at El Peñol around 10.  It’s a giant granite rock in Guatapé, and vaguely resembles Sugarloaf in Rio de Janeiro.  We had read it had about 750 steps to get to the top, but that on average it took only about 30 minutes to climb.  We figured that with all the walking uphill we do in Puerto, that it wouldn’t be that bad.  And, sure enough, it wasn’t - we got to the top in about 15 minutes.  Danna said this was her record, and she was surprised that we were walking uphill faster than she.  The views were really nice from the top - it was cloudy, but this may have given more variety to the landscape.  Justin was up at the top level for a bit longer, and met a couple from Germany (or somewhere thereabouts) with the woman wearing a Socotra t-shirt.  It was a bit surprising to see someone else who’d visited Socotra, especially in a random location in Colombia.

Ironically, the walk down was tougher than the walk up, notably on our quads.  Once back at the vehicle, it was a short drive into Guatapé proper.  Danna told us how the original town of Guatapé was destroyed several decades ago to make room for the artificial lake surrounding El Peñol (Embalse Del Peñol) and a hydroelectric plant.  The process of eliminating the old town and filling the lake took a while, as there were all sorts of protests and other delays.

The town of Guatapé was as colorful as advertised.  To our surprise, and to Danna’s delight, there were plenty of lazy dogs around.  She told us that in a perfect world, she’d be one of those pups just sleeping on the sidewalk, as she’s a big fan of lazy dogs.  So we showed her photos of Cerdito, and she was smitten.  Speaking of Cerdito, on one street corner we saw a Frenchie, but this one was quite active, playing fetch with a fútbol.  We stopped briefly at a chocolate shop where Danna arranged for us to have a local custom, hot chocolate with cheese - which is added to the hot chocolate.  It seems a bit odd, but then again, milk is added to hot drinks all the time.  We tried it and it seemed fine to us.

We walked through the town a bit more, stopping for photos often, and then got a bit outside the touristy areas.  There were still lazy dogs, but there was also a horse wandering on a hillside, and lots of pretty plants.  Along the walk Danna explained zocalos to us; unlike the meaning in Mexico, here in Colombia they refer to the artwork done on the outside of the thickest part of the walls, at the bottom.  Usually the zocalos have some sort of reference or significance to the owners, such as their practice or trade. We had lunch at a really nice restaurant, Don Oscar.  Justin got a margarita with Uchuva, a local fruit.  Crystal got a Malbec.  To eat, Justin got costillas de Cordero, and Crystal got ensalada César.  We had to pay for our drinks, but it was fine.

Our third stop of the day was a boat tour on the (artificial) lake.  We saw a bunch of fancy houses, including those owned (or previously owned) by David Ospina, James Rodríguez, Maluma, and a destroyed house of Pablo Escobar.  The boat captain spoke slowly in Spanish, and we understood the majority of what he was saying.  The coastline had clay soil everywhere, so we asked about landslides, and sure enough, they are commonplace.  The choice of the location for the lake wasn’t accidental, as there is a lot of granite underneath the artificial lake, so it doesn’t really drain.  We managed to avoid getting rained on, so we had good luck during our two full days of touring in Medellín and its surroundings.

We drove back the same way we came.  On the drive we exchanged WhatsApp with Danna so that we could keep in contact after the trip.  John had the radio set to 107.9, el sol el sol - the jingle from the station got stuck in our head [you can listen to it here].  It was raining pretty good when we emerged from the long tunnel, back on the Medellín side of the hills.  Crystal was exhausted when we got back to the hotel, so she stayed in.  Justin walked to the western side of El Poblado (over by where we’d been two days prior), but he didn’t really find much.  He had one drink at the original El Social, and whilst sitting there, he found a restaurant called El Autentico with great reviews.  The meal and the wine were quite good, at a very good price.  He walked back and got to the hotel a little before 21:00.  We were both cleaned up and in bed by 21:30.