Day 22: Tuesday, October 23rd
Left Rango, stayed at Hostel Estaciones in Guatape

Dear Obiwan,

Obi! I miss you so much, the next two days were relaxing and beautiful. Today I left Medellin for a one night stay in Guatape. I heard both from various travelers I’ve met that, “you only need a day in Guatape,” and “we stayed a night and it was so amazing!” So as I am learning Obi, I just have to go for it, and figure it out myself! People have such strong opinions, and you want to believe them since you know nothing!…But, you just have to find out yourself to really know.

So I am not too into big cities and I was yearning to get out, so I did!

I headed to Guatape, Colombia, which is about a 2 hour bus ride from Medellin. Guatape is famous for this HUGE ROCK that is there, which is known as El Peñon de Guatape or La Piedra. It is about 670 steps and then you see an incredible 360 degree view of the beautiful colonial city and green and blue landscape below!

I went on a tour which included breakfast and lunch and history. The view from La Piedra was phenomenal!

After the tour, everyone else took the bus ride back to Medellin, but I stayed to spend a night in Guatape. I went to stay at my hostel which had the best reviews on Hostelworld, it was called “Hostel Estaciones” it was actually a 25 minute walk up a hill, or a 4 minute tuk-tuk(yes, tuk-tuks like in Thailand!), and the hostel was beautiful! A little farther than I had hoped, and I learned that I should always look of the hostel is in the town center! But it had a beautiful view of the town and La Piedra, comfy beds, wifi, and incredibly kind and warm staff!

I ended up going to bed at 830 Obi, your Madre was very tired.

Day 23: Wednesday, October 24th
Last day at Estaciones, Guatape, headed back to Medellin

Obi, today was my second day in Guatape and I had no idea what to do! I ended up asking Javier and Jesus for help! Jesus, being a tour guide, said I should take a cheap boat to another small colonial town. So I walked down to town, and tried my beginner Spanish, and thought I did what Jesus said? But later Jesus told me I somehow did the wrong boat?! But it was nice! Went riding through the water and saw a bunch of homes related to Escobar. Some of the homed we saw had been bombed and other places some people who worked with him still live at. Here are some photos:

After this tour I walked around the beautiful town, bought 2 hand made bracelets, and went again to ‘Cafe Sin P’, Obi, everyone has to visit this place when they go to Guatape! First off, the woman, Johanna, who works there is warmest, funniest, and one of my favorite people I have met on this whole trip! She makes you feel at home! She is dressed how the coffee bean collectors would dress back some time ago. The coffee is DELICIOUS. AND the best part is there are literally about 20 different ways to get your coffee and some ways ARE SO COOL. SCIENCE OBI. Look!!!:

After this Jesus met me here since he led a tour today! I then headed back to Medellin with the tour bus. After hanging with the awesome receptionist Miguel and packing I was off to take my night bus to Salento!

But, Obiwan, your Mama struggled. I went to terminal NORTE when I was supposed to go to terminal SOL. I was told to go here by 2 different people! And your genuis mother thought, ‘the traffic was so bad, I’ll just take the metro’ even though I had all my stuff, which means about 70 pounds of weight on my back and front from having a back pack on my back and front…and then, the metro took so long. And I was in pain from my stuff. And when I finally reached the stop…it was a 15 minute WALK?! I was so confused?! So I of course took a cab because my legs were completely dead. And I finally was at terminal Sol, making a horrible circle around Medellin.

Finally I found my bus, and actually fell asleep for once on a bus!

Goodnight my love, hope you’re catching all the mice!

Love,

Carly

Oh P.S.-Obi I met a 3 week old puppy! That’s how old you were when we met!!!