Hostel: El Encuentro: One of my favorite hostels! We stayed in the dorm rooms one night but Kate and I decided to spoil ourselves and get a private room with a little balcony. The hostel was like a lakeside cabin and felt incredibly homey. It had great views, wrap around balcony, and gorgeous sunsets.
Piedra del Penol: This is a huge monolithic rock that is the centerpiece of the town. It has 740 stairs to the top and presents beautiful views of almost the entire lake. From the hostel we decided to rent some bikes and went on a ride through the back country roads. We found out how much we miss our bikes and how hard mountain bikes are to ride with low tires. Nevertheless, it was great fun.
The lake of Guatape was created 50 years when the government damned the river and flooded the valley. While doing so they relocated the original town of Guatape, didn't bother deconstructing the city, and flooded the whole thing. When we got to the town we were a little bummed because the lake was far below its usual height which kept us from swimming because of shallow waters and the foundations of the old houses protruded out of the lake. The reason being was the 50 year contract with the dam had just ended and now they are slowly (or rather quickly) using the power and selling it to other countries. It was difficult to find information on this and we had to keep asking everyone we met to learn the details yet, its concluded that this is the lowest the lake has ever been and the town doesn't know when it will be controlled.
As for the town, when the new one was built they tried to recreate what had been flooded. The houses are a multitude of colors each with sculpted square 3D tiles with and image. The key store has keys, the meat store has cows etc. The taxis are called chivas and are 3 wheeled little go cart things each painted unique to its owner. They rush around town with locals and tourists alike. The place honestly feels like you are in a part of Disneyland.
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