26 Jun - 21 August - Guatapé, Solento, Colombia – Foster the people, Pumped up Kicks
There are plenty of tidy spots to visit in Colombia, and although I couldn’t hit them all, I got to some of the sweetest ones, and they were not too far from Medellin.
Guatapé and the BIG ROCK!
Guatapé is 2 hours from Medellin by bus. It is a nice man made lake where you can have a super tranquil time. I went for 1 night but ended up staying for 3 at a stunning hostel called El Encuentro.
 The town is famous for the reliefs on its buildings which were created to stop the children from kicking soccer balls against the walls, |  and speaking of the little wonders, here they are, playing in the town square. |
 In the middle of the lake is THE BIG ROCK. They have built a restaurant on the top and it has sweeeet views. |  And there we have it, the view from the top. Here I am pointing to the lake, which amazingly makes 30% of all of Colombia’s electricity! Those smart fishes! |
To sum it up, it is a perfect retreat from the non stop party time in Medellin. The hostel had hammocks and stunning lake views. In the morning I swam across the lake and then went fishing in the afternoon after sourcing some local worms. I recommend…go there! Also the trout is great, I had some for lunch in town, cost 5usd!
Saltento and the COFFEE REGION!!
Salento is 8 hours by bus from Medellin, and is the middle of Colombia’s coffee region. It is beautiful, tranquil and has a regional feel.
Although I only stayed one night in town here, I had a great one. My accommodation was on a coffee plantation called “The Plantation House” where you get free coffee!! YAY!!
 The town is full of cool bars and coffee shops |  which are filled with the nice locals playing poker(illegally) and drinking beer. |
 It is also the start of a Cocora Valley walk, which these cool old jeeps will take you to the start of. |  It was nice to be out in the countryside |
 I had a dog for company, we had a nice stroll, |  saw a few nice waterfalls |
 and some little birds at the humming bird sanctuary. Here you get a steaming bowl of hot chocolate with cheese in it for free (after you pay for entry…) |  which fuelled me up before the decent around the misty mountain |
 and through waxy palms, |  go the dog!! |
Also this is where I learned more Colombian craziness by playing a game called Tejo. In this game you throw metal pucks 30 meters across a room, in the hope of hitting little bags of gunpowder to make them explode. Nice, and yes if you were wondering… I won.
Laters.x.br.ad.
