after a tasty breakfast we were picked up by our guide for the day and made our way to the train station.  from there we went to the bus station, and caught a local bus to El Peñón de Guatapé, the rock of Guatapé.

see that zipper staircase in the picture above? that is 740 steps from the bottom to the top, which is 220 meters of high.  the best time up was clocked at 4 minutes by some over-zealous runner.  we did it in 30 minutes, and that was just fine.  the views from the top were pretty amazing. 

the rock is quartz, feldspar and mica and was first climbed on July 16, 1954 by Luis Eduardo Villegas López, along with Ramon Diaz and Pedro Nel Ramirez, a doctor and a priest.  in case he fell, he would need a doctor, and in case he died he’d need a priest. smart man. they didn’t have stairs, they used sticks that were fixed against the rock wall, and it took five days. 

after the walk down and a rest, we took “the public transportation” to the town of Guatapé. 

we are in love with this place, and definitely want to come back and spend more time.  i took a million and two photos, and can only share so many here, but here are a couple of my favorites.