We have found a town that we might enjoy staying for a month or so at the end of the trip, Guatape, about two hours by bus from Medellin. Sunday we took the steep road that curved through the mountains just northeast of Medellin to the town of 5,800 people. On the weekends it bustles with tourists, but during the week it's very quiet.
The lake snakes around lush green hills at this mountain top location. One famous site in the area is a rock that rises over a thousand feet straight up, it's an impressive sight!
The town is very well cared for with an unique style. Each home or business has it's own set of embossed, brightly painted scenes formed into the cement wall. The woodwork over the windows and the balcony handrails are also elaborately painted in contrasting colors. Along with the various pots of flowers, fancy lightposts and cobblestone streets, it creates a very happy place.
Walking down by the lakeside we met a couple who make and sell fresh empanadas from a little building that has been in the man's family for generations.
We stopped to sample a few and chat for a while, very friendly people. They suggested a spot for an inexpensive, delicious lunch so we headed about eight blocks further up the road.
Our lunch was authentic Antioquan food and we were treated to a bit of live music as well.
After lunch we wandered around town and started discussing the possibility of renting a small place here for the month in March after our trip to the coast. We saw a place advertising apartments and stopped in to see a couple of spaces, one of each would suit us just fine.
After we walked back to the center we decided to go back to the empanada stand to ask the couple there if they knew anyone with a small rental property. The couple's young children, a girl aged 7 and a boy of 9, were there and we practiced English with them. The man tried to make a couple of calls to friends of his with spaces and when he was unable to reach them by phone he took his children's hands and led us all down the boardwalk to a nice restaurant to speak with the owner. Again, this is how Paisas operate, never too busy with their own work to help a friend, even if they have just met. We didn't find any housing yet, but we don't think it would be difficult if we returned.
Keith also had his beard trimmed before we hopped back on the bus for the ride down the narrow, winding road back to Medellin.
We had a wierd experience on the bus when a young man standing in the aisle asked Keith to hold his backpack so that he could get something to drink. He pulled out a bottle of the local moonshine and proceeded to take long gulps. After about five of these swigs of pure alcohol he was becoming more and more drunk and obnoxious. Keith told him that he needed to move somewhere else and quit drinking so heavily because he was clearly over his limit, the drunk young person became a bit surly. Luckily some people disembarked so that seats were available and the bus driver insisted he sit down. When he finally decided to get off himself he could hardly walk, a sad situation, he was an easy target for trouble!
On Saturday we took a short tour of the center of Medellin stopping by two large churches including the Cathedral. We were shocked to find street vendors selling hard core porn right outside the church doors, ready for the crowd leaving mass at noon.
Saturday night we went with Charlie and Becca, two young travelers staying here at the Art House with us, to another Intercambio and then the theater. The traffic getting from the bar of the Intercambio to the Theater was intense, passing through many people selling things on the sidewalks, much like an impromptu garage sale in a busy road at night!
We were lucky enough to arrive just before the play started but could only find seats on the extreme side of the small theater so I was unable to hear clearly. Even if I were able to hear every word I'm sure I wouldn't have understood each word. The play was about six individuals waiting in an office for jobs. It was a comedy and the acting was great, even if we missed all the meaning we were able to follow and enjoy. We went out afterwards with Charlie's teacher, Carmen, who we had to dinner on Thursday. Her twin sister, Lina, two aunts and a couple of German girls here to volunteer for a year were also part of our group. What friendly, engaging people, we had a blast teaching them all to say 'supercalifragilisticexpialidocious'. We are spreading the culture of Mary Poppins all over South America!
Another amazing thing that makes Medellin a very livable city is that they close the main highway in the center of town down to vehicles on Sunday morning until early afternoon so that families can ride bikes, walk or skate through the center of the city for many miles, cool idea!
Today we must get ready to move on to our next stop, Cartagena! We have been invited to coffee at GozArte by the owner, Carmen and Lina's cousin, Marale. Another Paisa reaching out to make our stay in Colombia special!
