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!!!

Day 19: Saturday, October 20th
Day 2- Medellin, Rango Hostel

Dear Obiwan,

Look at the beautiful street just where I grabbed a quick desayuno!(breakfast)

Welp, remember the medicine I took last night and then went out? Well, this was a bandaid, and today I really felt my Dengue Fever. And just stayed in all day and night, I really wanted to go out on SATURDAY NIGHT in Medellin, but I had to listen to my body. I also just assumed Sunday would be great too!

Day 20: Sunday, October 21st
Day 3- Medellin, Rango Hostel

Today I had breakfast at the hostel and it was amazing! Like, actual real amazingly delicious bread, tons of eggs, and coffee or juice or tea.

Here are the views from my hostel’s breakfast patio:

After breakfast I headed to the mall 🙄…because your wise mother only brought summer clothes Obi and then just thermals for Patagonia. So, I needed a jacket and some PANTS. I ONLY BROUGHT JEANS. No pants? I was distracted while packing, I’m gonna chalk it up to that.

Yes, here are some mall photos, there was this gigantic blow up tube that I really wanted to jump in and it was DOG DAY which happens twice a month, and legit, a million doggies and everywhere you step were doggie vendors!:

When I got back to my dorm, I didn’t really know anyone so I saw a guitar and started playing in my room. It felt so good to play music Obi for me. I mostly only play music for my patients, and while I love being a Music Therapist, I just sometimes only make music for my patients and that needs to change. So it did! I played a few songs I’ve always wanted to learn and then tried to learn Austurias, hahah, which was hilarious, but I slowly can play the first 4 bars! (Out of probably 4,000).

After this I was excited to go out! Then Miguel at the front desk informed me that NOTHING HAPPENS on Sundays!

Well, I headed down to the bar and ended up meeting great group of people who wanted to go out, including 2 French guys, Gregor and Jeffrey, who knew of some amazing party. The other three people were Laura, who’s in my dorm and is from Holland, and this awesome American couple!

Well, in summary Obi, we went to the supposed amazing rooftop party, and it was closed, or we couldn’t find it. We serached and serached, Gregor didn’t want to give up. But the group to began to divide into let’s find another place’ and ‘let’s keep searching!’ we eventually gave up, went to the main bar area, all closed! Then finally ended up making our own amazing party on the rooftop of our hostel!

Day 21: Monday, October 22nd
Day 4- Medellin, Rango Hostel

Welp Obiwan, due to staying up way too late, today was a tad rough. But, I HAD to explore Medellin. I had signed up for a tour one of my dorm mates told me about, ‘Real City Tours.’ Before doing this I had to change my rooms, due to staying longer than expected.

I met my new roomie, Leeva, who was chill and funny. We mesh well.

Then I left Obi, only with a few hours of sleep, for a 4 hour tour, honestly in hindsight what was I thinking? But I’m glad I did it!

I almost was late but I made it right on time. The tour was amazing. We went around the center of the city mostly and leaned so much incredible and powerful history. Our tour guide, Juan, was so passionate. I also met Jesus, this amazing guy from Venezuela who was hosting a German couple and joined them on their tour today. He leads tours to Guatape and helped me set mine up for tomorrow!

Besides me being a real struggle bus and almost giving up, the tour was amazing. Juan first blew our minds by knowing all of our 25 names after 5 minutes. He also spoke about Pablo Escobar at length but used nicknames for him and other hot topics so citizens wouldn’t get upset. He even shared about when he was 14 and just playing in the streets some of Escobar’s men drove over and shot at everyone, he was shot and was okay, but he lost 4 friends. He acknowledged how he did help the poor people but really focused on how many innocent people were killed due to him. And he ended the tour in this square with some Botero statues (they are all over Medellin!) and one of the statues was destroyed by a bombing from the Escobar time and Botero made another one and donated it for free. Juan talked about this representing many things, including Medellin rebuilding and recreating itself today!

Here are photos from the tour!:

After this I napped the day away and then me and my new awesome roommate Leeva ordered delivery and ate it on our beautiful roof! (Leeva has been solo traveling for about 3 years or something crazy! And she’s 25 or something!) The night ended with Ceasar and Troy coming to hang out before they left for America 😭. It was a wonderful evening, those guys are so funny and warm and Leeva was hilarious and laid back. We all had a great night!

Farewell guys! Till next time!:

I then went to bed very early so I would be ready for my adventures in Guatape tomorrow!

Goodnight my sweet Jedi, love you!

Your Mama,

Carly