A mere two hours east of Medellin lies a tiny resplendent pueblo which feels a bit like a stroll into Candyland…so stinkin’ cute, you just want to pinch its cheeks and don a peppermint costume. It’s even more reminiscent of Candyland and the aforementioned costume when you arrive on Halloween night. It’s arguably the most vibrant place in Colombia, and for us, undoubtedly the most colorful and cheerful place we’ve ever seen…anywhere…even on the 31st of October. In short, don’t move here if you’re a grumpus. Or an evil spirit. It’s just not a good fit.
In this delightfully photogenic Andean town, every single building and surface seems to be a canvas of art. Since 1915, residents have been painting their houses and businesses in a palette of bright colors, and decorating the bottom of every building with fresco-like 3-D panels called “zocalos.” (Not to be confused with the zocalo plazas of Mexico.) As you can imagine, with this kind of character, hundreds of tourists flock here making it a bit of a cluster at weekends, but totally pleasant during the week. We were happy to stay five days for this reason.
When we arrived on that particular Sunday Halloween night, it was perhaps one of the most buzzing and interesting times we could have arrived and yes, it was a fun surprise to hear they celebrate in Colombia at all. It seems that many people, particularly from Medellin, come to Guatape to celebrate Halloween in a safer, family-friendly environment where the kids can freely run the streets and dash from business to business (rather than house to house like in the States) yelling either “Truco o Trato” (trick or treat) or we also heard, “Quiero Más!” (I want more!) ? In Medellin, evidently, the kids trick or treat during the daytime and the night is reserved for the adult debauchery.
Such a fun and lively atmosphere!
We thought this was a little power ranger, until we got schooled from a geeky good friend that this is actually Flash. Look at his tiny Candy pail!
A group of adorable kids getting their loot at a clothing store.
Oh, that’s just creepy. You clearly don’t belong in Candyland.
Everyone is out! When we arrived at 5:00, the bus station was absolutely slammed.
After darting through costumed children and pouring rain, we decided to eat dinner in an adorable food cart type pod, except it was a little different than in the States because there was a menu for all the stands and a server came around and took your order. By the way, tipping is a bit odd in Colombia. When you ask for the check, they ask you if you want to include service. Of course the answer is always yes, but it’s just a bit awkward ?
A creepy little dude was running around as we enjoyed our Club ColOmbia, the National beer, out of a skull glass. How perfectly Halloweeny. Club Colombia is actually pretty decent for a national brand beer. It comes in dorado, rojo or negro (blonde, red or dark).
Mandy went straight for the biggest veggie burger she could find. It cost $5 and split apart like a grenade the moment it hit her lips.
After we finished eating, a dense fog had replaced the rain giving the square an ominous glow.
The Zocalos & Colors of Guatape
The next day all was back to normal in Guatape and we found cheer and rainbow paint blanketing its facades, which are often in the form of zocalos. Zocalos are beautiful 3D depictions of life that you can find on nearly all surface, which serve as the villager’s main point of pride.
Some friezes are simply cute like cows, llamas, birds and horses.
Other zocalos tell about the people who live there or advertise businesses.
For example, bread loaves on a bakery, sewing machines outside a tailor or hats outside a clothing store.
The most complicated zocalos tell stories—often several panels showing a journey—or commemorating history.
Others simply make you go…hmmmm???
And when you’re not gawking at the zocalos, of course, we also have an affinity simply for the doors.
One thing that makes Guatape unique compared to other colorful places is that it’s not only concentrated in the center or on one street. The canvas explodes throughout the entire town and surrounding areas. You can literally spend hours just ambling through the endless streets and soaking in this rainbow gallery.
Even the tuk tuks get in on the action. They are painted to resemble mini-chivas, which are giant 4×4 buses used in rural areas of Colombia. They’re a great way to get around town, although everywhere is completely walkable. And why wouldn’t you, if you’ve got two functioning feet?
The street that gets the most Instagram attention, is one that is laden with a ceiling of dual purposed umbrellas. These come in handy considering how much rain Guatape gets this time of year. In fact, it poured in sheets nearly every afternoon and evening while we were there. Fortunately, the mornings were mostly lovely.
You can see why we loved being there on weekdays.
A different perspective from above.
One of the more popular gathering spaces in the town.
Probably the most stinkin’ adorable fountain we’ve ever seen. (Apologies. We realize this is the first time we’ve ever used the word “stinkin'” in a post, much less twice. But it’s just the kind of place that word was designed for.)
But seriously, these little chaps are just so damn fetching.
A different human in a fountain.
And like in most Latin American pueblos, there is beautiful church in the middle of the bustling main square. This peppermint colored gem is called Parroquia Nuestra Senora del Carmen de Guatape.
And we also saw it depicted in several incredibly detailed zocalos.
There surprisingly wasn’t a lot of actual street art, but the bits we saw were absolutely striking.
You know it’s a tourist town when it offers a 3-D picture window.
But if you walked just a little bit up the hill, it was pretty easy to escape and see a whole different side of the town.
Eating Out in Guatape
Our absolute favorite place to eat in Guatape was Namaste Vegan Express. We loved the vibe, the prices and food so much that we actually returned, which is not usually our style. This amazing meal, which included a veggie empanada and zucchini, carrot and lentil fritters cost 30,000 pesos or $7.95, including tip.
On the opposite spectrum, we also indulged in some fried delights, including this tilapia which seemed to still be swimming at Malecon Beach Restaurant. Price for two fish dinners, two beers, and tip was $17. We preferred Namaste, but it was still fun for a change.
We found it cute that almost all the restaurants had fireplaces on their TV/s but like everywhere, no actual heat. It did get quite chilly there in the evenings and we’re not really sure the “fireplaces” were doing their job.
On Guatape’s Malecon
Guatape also offered a wide strip of concrete, more lovingly called the malecon, on its lakefront for strolling, bike riding, ice cream consumption, an opportunity to risk your life on questionable theme park rides, and as a jumping point for a cruise on a fake Disney boat.
But instead of Mickey Mouse, the town mascot seems to be this jolly little ewe.
Climbing La Piedra de Peñol
Besides the town itself, another reason tourists flood this area is to visit a very large…hunk of rock, seemingly dropped like it was hot in the middle of nowhere some 65 million years ago. La Piedra de Peñol near Guatape, is a sizeable monolithic product of a volcanic eruption which a few years later, magically cultivated 659 steps to the top, complete with tourist-friendly bathroom breaks and first aid stations. Despite it being a Monday, it was crowded and chaotic and perhaps a bit touristy for our taste. But once you reach the top at 657 feet it becomes all worth it and, you are greeted with a stellar view of a lake unlike any we have seen. This is because it’s actually a man-made reservoir called Embalse de Peñol.
Despite the man-made detail, it still has to be one of the most spectacular lookouts in all of Colombia. Hundreds of islets are clustered amongst the sapphire blue water for as far as the eye can see.
The view of the piedra across the lake.
To get there, we took a 15-minute ride tossed in the back of blinged-out jeep from the town square of Guatape to the bottom of the Peñol which cost $5000 pesos or about $1.25 for both us. This added at least a couple hundred extra steps to maneuver as we made our way to the parking lot.
Once we emerged, it was difficult for us not to draw comparisons to Mexico’s pueblo magico of Bernal, which also had a giant climbable rock, where we had made joking references of how the locals liked to “party on the Pena.” With the Latin-thumping music, drinks on special, and people indulging at 10 am, it was quite a similar vibe at the base of this particular party rock. We buzzed onward, pausing to purchase our glossy $20000 peso ticket ($5) and headed toward a set of glute enhancers stitching its way up the rock face.
Just in case you need the motivation, the stair makers also placed convenient numbers so you know how far you’ve gone (and/or how much suffering you have left.) Or, for those really suffering….a first aid station.
Once you emerge at the top, you encounter a rather unfortunate wart-looking addition, classified under “what were they thinking?!” to boost you another 30 unnecessary feet when you’re already on top of a 200-meter rock.
At the top. And yes, despite mandates and signs, mostly no masks. Although locals are usually quite good about wearing them, this seems to be a trend in any place we’ve traveled that are considered “tourist traps” regardless of if they were locals or not. In short, it seems that when people go on vacation, so do the masks.
Ahh…but once you wedge into your own little segment of the railing, you’re greeted with such an astonishing view! And we were opportunely welcomed with buckets of sunshine for this moment.
The lake is part of a national hydro-electricity project and supplies more than 35% of the electricity for Colombia. It also provides electricity, which is sold to neighboring countries like Venezuela.
What a view!
The steps winding their way back down. Fortunately they thought to install two sets of stairs. One for the way up and one down. Brilliant. And kind of necessary. It was pretty interesting to view the structure of how this zippered set of stairs was built as we glided precariously underneath.
Don Luis Eduardo Villegas Lopez was the first guy who successfully climbed to the top of the rock in the 1950’s. We don’t know for sure what year because Mandy didn’t wanna keep the ticket with the information on it. ?
A lovely mural on the outside of one of the restaurants.
If there was ever a party bus to a giant piedra. Rock on. Pun intended. We later learned this is a chiva.
We opted to walk back to Guatape, which was a relatively safe and easy walk of about 3.5 km. Until we got to this bridge. And then we weren’t so sure about the safety factor, but decided to trot (amble cautiously) across after observing the locals do it. Mandy had to pause for dramatic effect. Points if you know who she’s imitating in this photo. A wee bit too smiley though.
Walking back, we ooed and ahhed at the side of this apartment block, which was still remarkably colorful on Guatape’s outskirts. It was about noon, and we were due for our daily deluge of rain which generally dumped from about that time, to the next morning, mas o menos. Ugh. This was definitely a downside.
A little finger of the lake near us. This lake had a lot of fingers.
Passing a pony man on the way. There were a lot of horses and ponies around town. This meant you also had to cautiously watch your feet.
Exploring & Kayaking in Comfama Park
Since we had five days in Guatape, we had to be a little more creative than traditional tourists have time for. We chose to explore the Comfama Park, which is a family-friendly park with no families in it on that Wednesday. Perfect.
For about $7 we had full access to kayaking options to get on the lake, an inflatable obstacle course, tons of picnic spots, fun playgrounds and “ships” to crawl on, and lots of lovely trails all to ourselves.
And no, we didn’t play on the obstacle course. We were not interested in getting that wet as it was a bit chilly and sprinkling!
Many things here made Greg shake his head because he pointed all the things he tried to accomplish at his former park ranging position that Colombia is managing to do perfectly. (Like, you know, fire extinguishers next to grills and life preserver rings?)
